[wax]

Heie - Great the first one. I don´t agree with you. for me Raw is expressed on monumental scale of mountains and clouds in contrast to fragility of human body at the bottom side.

[sakle2k]

I think this conveys the theme of this contest perfectly. One of the most fragile elements in nature is the snowflake. Barely felt on it's own, en masse it's a force to be reckoned with. Close to 2 feet of snowflakes fell in my area and took many power lines and branches down with it. The morning after the storm was beautiful with bright blue skies, but the evidence of the storm was everywhere.

I own the DA 70mm f2.4 Limited and love the image quality and workmanship. I've never had the opportunity use the DA 21mm but I'm sure it wouldn't dissapoint. A very generous contribution to the forum, thank you for your donation.

[Tamia]

This contest is a very generous one, Thomas -- thanks very much for the opportunity, and for a theme which is already encouraging great photos. If by some impossible longshot I win the lens, it would probably become a favorite for capturing scenes like the one I've posted here. Now that I have a basic selection of workmanlike lenses, I'm planning an upgrade to lenses with better image quality, and the DA21 Ltd would make a terrific addition to my kit.



So what are we looking at? Twelve-thousand years ago the last glaciers had melted and retreated from northern New York, bringing the latest Ice Age to an end. But when continental glaciation was in full swing, mile-high sheets of ice had slowly but inexorably ground their way over the Adirondack Mountains, scraping away all vegetation and polishing bedrock. When the sheets of ice retreated north, they trapped meltwater between them and the mountains, forming a huge freshwater lake that was fed by now-extinct rivers. As those rivers emptied into the freshwater lake, they deposited the sediment which had been pulverized from the once alp-like mountains of the former Adirondacks. The deposited sediment formed beaches and deltas that now lie stranded hundreds of feet above sea level.

With glaciers gone, vegetation could once more gain a foothold, but the loose aggregation of sediment proved a difficult matrix. Eventually, thin fragile soils formed and supported mosses, lichens, grasses, and some trees, but this took a very long time to happen. Then, in the modern age, man came and built an electric transmission line. In the wake of the transmission line's construction there came recreational vehicles. The fragile soil and vegetation that took thousands of years to grow was ripped away in the span of a few decades.

Knowing the geologic history of the place shown in this photo, I can see the power of nature -- the ancient beach sands -- and the fragility of nature -- the eroded soils and vegetation.

Thanks for the opportunity to enter this contest, but mostly for the chance to expound on a favorite subject of mine -- geologic history and the evidence that hides in plain sight of the planet's past.

[Ash]

Some compelling entries here. Thanks for running this competition Thomas.
This is going to be one highly contested one.

My submission is a broad landscape of Jervis Bay's Captains Beach - a picturesque sandstone-lined bay with pristine waters and beautiful facade. The prize of the DA 21 would be a wonderful asset to my future landscape photography given the focal length fits quite nicely with the majority of my desired field of view and perspective.

This one was taken with the DA 12-24, a bulky but reasonably lightweight lens that the DA 21 would nicely come in place of for much of my landscape work, whilst keeping the bag light and small on my travels in the future.

All the best to everyone submitting.

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[Heie]

Great pic Heie, I can really feel the theme. It took me a while to see the people that even added more depth and meaning to it.

Thank you very much. I'm extremely proud of the photos to come out of that trip.

Heie - Great the first one. I don´t agree with you. for me Raw is expressed on monumental scale of mountains and clouds in contrast to fragility of human body at the bottom side.

Thank you, wax! I was torn between the fragility of the humans, or the fragility of the clouds. I chose the clouds because that was how I interpreted Duplo's intent - elements in nature. Yes, human beings are part of that, but to me it was the abiotic elements of Mother Nature that I felt were more pertinent to the theme - human beings are something contemporary society regrettably neglects to include from time to time due to our incessant desire to control and manipulate the nature around us (heating systems, air conditioning, fertilizers, etc).

Regardless, the fact that it has been scrutinized and multiple perspectives and opinions have come out of the same photograph means that photograph is a successful one in its own merits (to me anyway). So I thank you for voicing your disagreement

Some absolutely fantastic contributions here. Duplo I don't envy you as the one to determine a winner

-Heie

[meeverett]

I think this photo captures a bit of nature's balance of power and fragility. The power of nature is represented by the cattle. These three beautiful beasts with their impressive horns are Ankole-Watusi, which are able to survive on limited food and water in many of the roughest locations throughout Africa and the world. They are impressive, but they also highlight the fragility of nature in that they have also been exploited for milk production and as a sign of wealth for centuries such that at one point the entire breed was endangered. Furthermore, this picture was captured at a large resort where these animals live in captivity in displays that are created to mimic their native habitats, to which they can never return.

Regarding the lens, I'm sure this contest will be most difficult to judge as there are so many inspiring entries. As for why I should win the lens, I can't think of any better reason than because I don't have one and, if I do win, it will be an integral and well-loved part of my kit. After a long hibernation, I have finally begun to really feel like I'm developing again as a photographer, and a great lens like this will really help me along the way.

[Mace]

This is my entry:


I am working as a geomorphologist. Geomorphologist study how the landscape, the surface of the earth is formed. We study how the landforms, such as valleys or dunes will develop and what the consequences are for society. I mainly work in the Arctic, a very fragile place. During my masters I worked on Svalbard, where this picture was taken. I investigated how rock cliffs develop. You can see, that this rockface is very lose and will release a lot of rockfall. Studying causes and consequences of rockfall is important, as this can present a significant danger for people living in mountainous areas and every year people die by rockfalls or rock avalanches of different sizes. In 1963 around 2,000 people died in the city of Vajont in Italy as a consequence of a rockface instability in a single event. In high mountainous areas, rocks are often frozen and “clued” together by water in the clefts. This is called permafrost. Part of the problem with dangers from rocks walls, is that due to climate change this permafrost is thawing, causing a lot of instability in the rockwalls and an increasing amount of disasters.


Permafrost is also important in another respective. In the Arctic huge areas consist of frozen soil. These areas are flat and thawing of the permafrost due to climate change will not affect us immediately. But these soils contain a lot of carbon, C. At present the carbon is fixed by permafrost, but as the soil thaws due to climate change, this carbon can be released in the form of carbon dioxide, CO2, or methan CH4 and go into the atmosphere. Therefore it could even further enhance climate change. It is thus considered as one of the critical tipping points for earths climate, that needs to be studied. Time is short. The melting rates of permafrost are faster then ever observed before.


This is what I will investigate in my Phd, where I will go to Siberia and northern Canada to see how much carbon is stored in permafrost soils (no one knows exactly) and how much could be released to the atmosphere due to climate change (there is no clue on this figure).


This work is very important for everyone of us. Climate change may make our lives and especially the lives of our children very difficult. Therefore more research of the system earth is needed. Permafrost research is a topic, where the balance between earths fragility (melting of permafrost caused by human beings) and the raw power (rockfalls and climate change) becomes very evident. It is just that only few people know about permafrost at all. Part of the problem is, that we cannot really see or photograph permafrost, but as it disappears we can photograph the disasters that its melting causes.

Scientists sometimes struggle to communicate their research to the public, because it may be less interesting then Hollywood stars or football. Photography is one way to communicate our research to the public and raise awareness of the dramatic changes that currently happen in the Arctic. This lens could therefore be used to really change something!

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[rick79]

Nice one Mace!

[Jean Poitiers]

Nice one Mace!

Great capture and story ... J

[Stefan Carey]

Nature takes us back to our raw state. That is her power over us. Inside herself she is also raw, but also fragile. And this is the fascination. Great forces shape things. Hills, canyons, storms and boulders-broken on faded and cold river beds. All manner of forces gather to reshape and rework, while they also wear and sometimes, unexpectedly break and tear. The forces and their work play a hard game out on all our lands and all our seas.

But alongside these great works, we see the smaller world of her works. The life forms so splendidly resolute - the delicate lines of a hot summer writ on an autumn leaf's veins, the tiny scrimshaw of a hard journey downstream inscribed on an ivory pebble no bigger than a wren's egg, or the rainbow finally surfacing in a tiny pearl of beach foam, droplets finally thrust up from the deep dark swirling reaches of the sea.

But I like to dig a little deeper into what is less obvious. When I walk into nature with my crowded noisy thoughts, it is the inner silence of nature I can hear shouting, challenging me to be quiet. It says "Just stop thinking and look without processing. Just be aware of what you see in colour and texture - and maybe more. Share in this silence of a raw but fragile state."


And if am luckier still, I will have my camera in my hands. And if I am even luckier I will have attached, that gorgeous example of the lens-maker's art as a result of this competition!





Wineglass Bay Tasmania. Taken with a Pentax K-m, and 18-55 kit lens. Tripod, 1/125 at f/8, ISO 100

[vrrattko]

This is my entry:

outstanding...

[dunerunner]

I found this "arch in the making" in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument while hiking around the many canyons. You could only see it when you were right up against the cliff wall, so for me it was quite a find. It may become a prominent arch or it may just erode into dust like so much of this fragile sandstone landscape. The rock slide from the erosion was so loose I could get no closer. It is just as well. I don't feel many have seen this, as it is in a part of Utah where not many visitors go, with few formal hiking trails.
Not the best lighting, but with landscapes, you can't always get what you want! Oddly enough, it was taken @ 21mm on my DA 12-24 which I sadly no longer own.
When I used to shot film, 28mm was my most used lens for landscapes, and the DA 21 LTD would give me a great lens close to that field of view in the apc format for my K20D, and I have coveted it for a while.
Thanks for this thread, I would have posted prize or no prize as I love the idea of it.
Gordon

[Cee Cee]

the sea will win, eroded by wind & sea one day the cliff will no longer be there as we see it now.

hey great theme for a competition lots of great shots here already.

Photography is my hobby, part of that hobby is doing as well as I can within a limited budget which doesn't stretch to "limited lenses". Sure I could make it stretch if I really wanted to but that's not the point. Most problems can be solved if you keep throwing enough money at the problem, including photography. But I take pride when I get a keeper that I've done it on such a limited budget. I see this as part of the hobby. A 21 limited would be put to good use.

cheers all,

[Aristophanes]

Taken at Yellowstone National Park, USA at Mammoth Hot Springs.

We often think of landscape as a vista, a horizon, where sky must meet land or sea.

But a landscape can be much closer, with a density of danger and fragility right at our feet.

These hot springs at Mammoth in the north of the park are beautiful but their power lies in how they shape the land. Millions of years flowing they have laid down, molecule by molecule, a complex and ever-changing new landscape.

The springs appear to be clear and warmly inviting but are boiling hot and the little stream running along its course is a current of lethal water. The minerals and salts have crystallized into patterns and structures no human could ever replicate. If you stepped on these structures, they would shatter and dissolve back into their raw elements ruining the patterns forever. But it would be the last step you ever took. Not raw...cooked!

These springs have been building the landscape since long before humans walked the Earth. That's a humbling power.

Terrific thread. Amongst the best ever on this forum and the kind of thread that makes it a community. This contest is in no way silly. It is righteously cool. Courage to you for such generosity...with a challenge.

[Duplo]

by the many excellent entries in images and words alike so far and hopefully there are many more to come.

Thank you for making this contest nearly impossible to judge, it really means a lot to me.

I will not comment on individual entries until after the contest, but some excellent images, descriptions, stories and interpretations of the theme so far, the variety is amazing and a little humbling too.