[JensE]

Thanks for starting this - your random challenge generator definitely succeeded to make me photograph something I would otherwise never have thought of. Kind of adding the Puzzle to Project 52, which unfortunately hasn't been revived yet. In the Project 52 spirit of giving inspirations for new creations, I would definitely vote to revert

Er... Im going to say "nah - go for anything!" - keep things simple - as long as it's submitted in-time I'm happyI'll edit the rules to reflect it

back to what it was.

I have tossed around several ideas, but as I can only post one, it's going to be the first one right away - taken with the exact prime which I put on before I left (Helios 44M-4), I may have needed 20 attempts before my fingers froze, but this one finally turned out OK ... so here's my Desolat[e|ion] Road in (Self-)Portrait Style.



Hint: Choose a dark theme in the Style Selector.

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Last edited by JensE; 01-18-2020 at 01:33 AM.

[cprobertson1]

Thanks for starting this - your random challenge generator definitely succeeded to make me photograph something I would otherwise never have thought of. Kind of adding the Puzzle to Project 52, which unfortunately hasn't been revived yet. In the Project 52 spirit of giving inspirations for new creations, I would definitely vote to revert
[Anything-goes >> New photos only]
back to what it was.

I have tossed around several ideas, but as I can only post one, it's going to be the first one right away - taken with the exact prime which I put on before I left (Helios 44M-4), I may have needed 20 attempts before my fingers froze, but this one finally turned out OK ... so here's my Desolat[e|ion] Road in (Self-)Portrait Style.

Noice! It was actually a "weekly challenge-calendar" that got me thinking about the random-subject generator in the first place - one of those "Here's 100 photo-challenges!" or something. I was bored one day and wanted to go to the park - but I'd been to the park the last four weekends in a row and I was running short on inspiration, so I took to the internet. "Candy" was the subject, if I recall - but given that I was going to a park, it was going to be difficult.

I spent all-day taking photos and nothing quite fit "candy" - but I had a great time, and it was fun trying to "solve the puzzle" of finding candy in a country-park - and when I got back I originally looked at just having a "style" and "two random words". It worked well, and later on that year I modified the code to make the first word a subject and the second word a modifier. So instead of having "Box" "Tree", it'd be "Tree with a focus on angles" - it's not changed much since that to be honest - mostly just keyword additions!

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I was up at 0500 this morning trying to take a photo for it myself. Certainly a fun excuse to get up early - but I never got quite the picture I wanted! The LED streetlamps were just too bright, and when I HDR'd it, it looked flat and boring. I tried a self-portrait, but it looked more lonely than desolate.

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As for reverting it to "new shots only" - there's definitely a lot going for the idea of having to challenge yourself, and the impetus of going out when you wouldn't otherwise have done so!

I've hum'd and haw'd over it (er, Scottish phrase for "went back and forth"... might be a British phrase, but it's definitely popular in Scotland) and I'm still undecided. What I might do is reword it to say "new photos preferred but not mandatory" as it seems like the best of both worlds - it gives me a chance to see more images than I would otherwise have seen, but at the same time, encourages folk to get out and take some photos.

I might revert that in future, of course! In fact, I can hold a quick vote at the start of next-week's challenge to see what folks think.

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There's a question, actually - should each week have an individual thread, or should it be one running thread? My first instinct is a separate thread for each week - but I thought I'd ask, as I don't want to cause clutter!

[jcdoss]

Kind of adding the Puzzle to Project 52, which unfortunately hasn't been revived yet.

I do miss the Project 52 days around here, and this thread (which I hope will be a perpetually growing megathread, and not separate weekly threads) seems apt to replace the old challenge. Now, where to find a desolate road to take a portrait of?

Nice subs so far, guys!

[graeme83]

Managed to get one in today, set out for a sunny winters day walk and ended up in thick fog.

[cprobertson1]

Sorry for the delay, folks - I've had a bad day - will get the thread updated first thing tomorrow!

Ps - I've noticed an issue with time zones, as im in GMT, it means I'm cutting time of the American continents. It probably won't be a problem unless there are late submissions. What I could also do is say "submit by Sunday and I'll update on Monday" and that covers the time difference

[MossyRocks]

My safety shot. Dakota county CR46 (160th street)
This area is where the old DuPont Munitions plant was during WWII. There is very little left now as every few years some other feature is removed. What we have here are what is left of the old powder houses where the primers for 20mm and larger munitions were installed.


A fairly heavy crop taken with the S-M-C 17mm Fisheye Takumar and K-3ii

[cprobertson1]

Sorry for the delay, folks - I've had a bad day - will get the thread updated first thing tomorrow!

Ps - I've noticed an issue with time zones, as im in GMT, it means I'm cutting time of the American continents. It probably won't be a problem unless there are late submissions. What I could also do is say "submit by Sunday and I'll update on Monday" and that covers the time difference

--And it was lucky I did or I'd have missed MossyRocks' submission!

---------- Post added 2020-01-20 at 01:40 ----------

I originally wanted to write a few comments on each submission - but I've hit a snag! I love analysing things, and it'd simply take too long to write out (I haven't got all day, much to my disappointment!) - in other words, I don't have the time to do them all justice!

Instead, Im going to opt for commenting only on my top favourite image(s). Do remember this is a personal preference and should not be taken as a sleight!

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Here were the submissions - you can click on them to go straight to the individual posts

bremaster15 -- Tyler Mill, CT
UncleVanya
Bruce Clark
JensE
graeme83
MossyRocks

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I had a hard time choosing my favourite:

After much deliberation, I eventually settled on graeme83's submission (post #19) as I feel that it captures the theme most fittingly while adding its own personal touches. Not only does it feel desolate, it feels forebodingly desolate - I like it! It makes me feel uneasy to look at - yet keeps bringing me back to it!

My other favourite is JensE's submission (post #16) - holy moly! I love it! I was actually wanting to do a self-portrait myself, though my planned composition wouldn't have had anywhere near the impact this one did! It was a very tough choice not to put this as my "number-1": and as I went to bed last night I had a pretty difficult decision on my hands...

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So, congratulations Graeme - when you get a chance, you're welcome to submit some keywords to be added to the pool of future "challenges"

You'll also be judging this week's images! I'll post the subject up shortly!

For the keywords, you may submit up to three for each category:

1. Subject: "the thing to be photographed" - the subject of the latest challenge was "road" for instance.
2. Modifier: "the thing to focus on in the subject - something that modifies it" - a concept or adjective - "desolation" was the focus of the last challenge.
3. Style: this pretty much describes how to take the image - simple adjectives work well. "Portrait" was the style of the last challenge.

In addition to this, you may also submit an optional challenge - these are a little bit more involved as they are composed for a number of parts (Title, short-description, long-description, purpose).

I add these for when I want to add difficulty to an easy challenge or to explore some basic concepts. For instance, one of my optional challenges is "strangers" - the challenge is that I can only take photos of strangers that I have sought and gained permission to photograph, which requires approaching them in the street. I've also had a lot of fun with the "30-shots only" challenge, harking back to the days of film photography which I never had a real chance to experience.

If you'd like to add an "optional challenge" to the pool as well, it'd be much appreciated! Just describe it as best you can and I'll convert it into the format for adding to the keyword-dictionary!

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Last edited by cprobertson1; 01-20-2020 at 03:53 AM.

[graeme83]

Thanks so much!
I had this place in mind right from the start, it's not really a desolate place but in the right weather it can be made to look so and I have done a few on the same theme before. When the fog rolled in yesterday it was a no brainer.
I also really liked Jense's submission, hauntingly graphic in its nature.
I shall have a think of some keywords to add and look forward to judging this week's entries.

[cprobertson1]

Week № 01
Duration: 2020/01/20 > 2020/01/26
Judging: graeme83

Subject: PLANTS
Focus on: LIGHT GRADIENT
Style: UNCOMPLICATED
Optional Challenge: Leading Lines - Focus on leading lines in your composition

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This week's challenge will use PLANTS as the subject matter, with a focus on the concept of LIGHT GRADIENT in an UNCOMPLICATED style.

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The optional challenge is: Leading Lines - Focus on leading lines in your composition

All images you take must make use of the leading lines.

To finish off, take 5 photos of the same subject, each using different sets of leading lines.

Repeat the process with another subject or two if you feel confident or want to experiment!

(The purpose of this is to reinforce practical understanding of leading lines)

[MossyRocks]

Subject: PLANTSFocus on: LIGHT GRADIENTStyle: UNCOMPLICATED

This will be a hard one this week being winter with everything snow covered and a cloudy week ahead.

[cprobertson1]

This will be a hard one this week being winter with everything snow covered and a cloudy week ahead.

For me, that's where the fun is! The game is afoot!

The weather's much the same here - though we have cloud cover at about 10'000ft just now - it'll hopefully provide a nice backdrop (it might even give me a chance to get my gradient filters out!)

[cprobertson1]

Go through your files. The rule states that you don't have to take the picture during the challenge.

Tim

Im still swithering back and forth on whether to keep that as a rule - see, the idea of the challenge is to encourage you to take new images - but at the same time, that excludes excellent and creative images taken in the past from the game - and it also means that some folks who are having a bad week might not be able to participate.

If I change the rules in future, I'll probably do it on the 4th or 5th weeks, and I'll make it obvious that there's been a rule change!

For now, I'll sit back and consider things. One should not be hasty!

---------- Post added 2020-01-20 at 06:11 ----------

It has been awhile for me posting anything but this sounds like a fun challenge and I'll start this one off when one from 2018. Portrait mode, a road, and it not only looks bleak it was! Sorry to have used an old photo but there is no way I would find anything in this area at this time of year.

Sorry, should have read the rules before joining the challenge. Didn't realize the winner would have to judge the following week and my schedule won't allow for that possibility as we are usually traveling and don't always have reliable internet. Great challenge though and I will definitely follow along to see what everyone comes up with.

Sorry, I only just noticed you removed your submission! I was looking around for it as well - hadn't noticed the edit!

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What would folks think of submissions marked "NO-JUDGE", indicating the submitter doesn't want their work to be considered for judging at the end of it: id est submitting solely for the fun of it - you'd never "win" but it might be a fun way to participate anyway? My thinking is that participation is as much fun for the average reader of the thread as competition is?

That's basically what I'm doing anway! I don't ever expect to get the best image for the week, but I still want the fun of participating! Oh... I just realised I forgot to submit my submittal last week. ::facepalm::

[graeme83]

I guess if people want to participate but don't want the burden of judging that could be a good idea, or simply pass on judging duties to second place if the winner is unable.

[atupdate]

Sorry but I'm out. When the rules are finalized, I'll see if I'm interested.

Tim

[MossyRocks]

For me, that's where the fun is! The game is afoot!

I never said it wouldn't be fun, only a challenge. On the way into work I had a sideways idea of how to accomplish this, now to find the time to give it a try.