Aug '06 Challenge Photos - "Absence"

[TwistMyArm]

Hey everyone thanks a lot for participating! We have another great group of photos this month. There are 40 photos in all.

Absence (http://www.thephotoforum.com/gallery/browseimages.php?s=&do=browseimages&catid=139&imageuser=0&searchid=&orderby=title&direction=ASC&cutoffdate=-1)

You may notice that in the gallery some files appear larger then 150KB, but every photo included was less then 150KB when uploaded to the gallery.

Please keep in mind that we are trying to keep this challenge anonymous (and unbiased) when it comes to both the submitting and the voting. Please avoid sharing your opinions about any specific photos until after the voting has completed and the winner is announced.

Please read the titles carefully in order to avoid confusion before voting. The photos may not be sorted in the correct order so to ensure you view them in proper order scroll to the bottom of the page and where it says "Display Options" ensure you select Sorted By: "Image Name" Sort Order: "Ascending" and then click on the "Show Images" button.

After viewing the photos please take the opportunity to vote for your favorite. Good luck to all. If there are any questions please let us know.

The winner of the photo challenge will be contacted by Private Message (PM) on the day that the winner is announced. If the winner does not respond to the PM within 30 days they will not receive their prize and it will be put towards a future challenge. If we are unable to ship the intended prize to the winner do to his/her location we will provide another prize of equal value.

The polls will be open for the next seven days.

[MommyOf4Boys]

wow, those were awesome!! Really hard to choose on this one!

[nitefly]

Very hard choice. Good luck everyone.

[mentos_007]

wow! good job everyone!

[Alison]

Wow, some fantastic photos here!

[onlyamemory]

Those are some really good photos!

[thebeginning]

some very nice photos this time, that's for sure. not a whole lot of them convey absence to me that well, but the ones that do, mmm boy! :)

[Boston®]

I agree with thebeginning in that a lot fo the photos have absolutely nothing to do with absence, at least in my eyes, but some of the ones that did were absolutely fantastic.

[Alex Cairnduff]

some very nice photos this time, that's for sure. not a whole lot of them convey absence to me that well, but the ones that do, mmm boy! :)

Which ones do?????

[thebeginning]

Which ones do?????

i'm not allowed to say at this point :)

[Peanuts]

some very nice photos this time, that's for sure. not a whole lot of them convey absence to me that well, but the ones that do, mmm boy! :)

I found the same thing, but then again, there are some where if you stare at them long enough, the individual's interpretation of the theme comes through.

Hard choice everyone :)

[Alex Cairnduff]

I found the same thing, but then again, there are some where if you stare at them long enough, the individual's interpretation of the theme comes through.

Have to agree. Finding the interpretation of "Absence" in each image has really intrigued me. Some are very clever.

[mad_malteaser]

There are some really clever submissions in this months contest. Good luck everyone!

[castrol]

How come some of them don't show up as thumbnails?

[TwistMyArm]

How come some of them don't show up as thumbnails?

Not sure you why you might be unable to see the thumbnails. When you click on the image though you can see the full version?
Try clearing your cache and cookies. If anyone else is having any problems let me know what images you are having difficulty with.

[Jen]

Fabulous, just fabulous! :)

[LCPhotos]

I found some of the images hard to understand also. There are some wonderful images and quite a few of them that to me, expresses "Absence".

I found this challenge to be very interesting. Non-direct themes are very challenging to shoot for, and also to judge. You have to take the interpretation of the Artist into consideration when trying to chose the best.

Do most of you vote based on Technical Quality, or adherence to theme?

[Indecent Exposures]

Interesting to see some people go for the same idea. Great minds and all that.

Also interestinghow many people have chosen black and white for this one...

Chris

[Jen]

Do most of you vote based on Technical Quality, or adherence to theme?

I think both aspects are, or should be, equally important.

[aNgLiaM]

I think both aspects are, or should be, equally important.

agreed. i voted based on both.

[Claff]

I prefer to vote based on adherance to theme, but the pic can't be an out-of-focus cell phone camera shot at the same time.

[LCPhotos]

How long is the voting available? When will we know the winners?

sorry.. I'm new to this site..

[Cloudwalker]

I just voted and didn't vote for my own photo. Geez! What does that say about me?

[mentos_007]

I just voted and didn't vote for my own photo. Geez! What does that say about me?

that you voted probably for mine? :D

[Alison]

How long is the voting available? When will we know the winners?

sorry.. I'm new to this site..

The voting is open for 7 days :) Welcome to TPF :D

[kulakova]

well i realy think that most of the photos are really bad.
probably I didnt understand the topic but anyway there are so many photos that do not means ANYTHING. They are blank. i could choose maybe from 4 or 5 photos, which are really great for composition, technics AND fit the TOPIC. others are not fitting the topic or they are just nothing.

im sorry :meh:

[Mohain]

I've voted now. Some odd pictures but I think the theme was pretty tricky. Also one of those has definitely been posted here before.

[WNK]

This was tricky. There were definately some that I didn't understand

[tybreton]

it 's very hard to choice!!!! ;)

[LCPhotos]

I have looked back over the images a couple of times.. Just to try and see the "Theme" in each and everyone of them. I lay no claim to knowing exactly what "Absense" means, but I have to agree on the comments from above that some of the images make it very hard to see where the theme is. I have even reviewed my own image and feel that maybe it just barely fits the theme.

This was my first Monthly on here and really enjoyed going thru my images, and trying to find the one that fits the Theme. I wish I had made a different choice, but there is always the next time..

This was a challenging theme to attempt. Such a broad definition of the word "Absense" makes it hard for everybody to understand what the other person was attempting to say. I'm glad that everyone here has been kind enough to say "I don't understand how it fits the theme". The reason I say that is kind, is because it shows that you actually studied the image, and not just looked and went past to the next one.

I believe that this is a good forum. Lets keep the positive and even the not so positive feedback coming. It makes us all better in the long run..

[TwistMyArm]

Alright so first off I just want to say congrats to Bogdan Dinca for submitting augphoto12, "Chairs". Great photo Bogdan.

http://thephotoforum.com/gallery/files/96-augPhoto12-chairs.jpg

Thanks to everyone who submitted this month

[TwistMyArm]

I understand how a many people had difficulty understanding how many of the photos fit for this month’s theme. I just wanted to share a few things.
Many of the submitted images did come with optional titles, but because the submitters failed to follow instructions they were omitted. I know many of the images would have made more sense had the photographer’s original titles also been included.
I also wanted to ask if there were any brave individuals that would like to explain why they choose to submit a specific image. I'm not saying we want to judge any specific image here, but just get a better idea as to what the story is behind the image.

[mentos_007]

wooohoo congrats! and....i got 4 votes :D:D:D:D mine was photo 2 :D:D:D thank you all :D

[Bogdan Dinca]

thanks all for your votes. it was really surprising for me :)

[mad_malteaser]

Congratulations Bogdan Dinca! That was the one I finally voted for. Great idea and a beautiful photograph.

I'll be brave and say mine was Photo 11. I went with the idea of absence of a loved one, missing someone. It probably wasn't very well executed and a little bit cliche, but that's what the subject said to me at the time.

[JTHphoto]

I submitted photo19, which has a very personal feeling of absence to me because i took it the night that my grandmother passed away, she was a very special woman, who made everyone feel like family from the first time she met them. I didn't expect that loss to convey in the image, but it was taken at night so I was stretching it with the absence of daylight, maybe that didn't come across either... :lol: i know it was a little different than an empty chair or bench, but if 40 people submitted a photo of an empty chair it wouldn't have been as much fun... personally i was enthralled with all of the different interpretations... :thumbup:

And congrats bogdan dinca... well deserved!

[Jen]

The story behind number 35...

So, my photograph was number 35. I actually liked the title "Absence", so I didn't add anything. My attempt was to portray the absence of a father that was away at war.

The boy is holding a dog tag that his father sent him that says "Operation Iraqi Freedom", but all that is really legable in the photograph is "Iraqi". This was okay with me because I wanted the image to draw in the viewer first, then upon closer inspection, the feeling of absence would follow.

I asked my subject to look sad, to think of his father, and I believe he accomplished that well with the downward cast eyes and the slump of his shoulders. I wanted the image to create emotion in the viewer, but subtly. I didn't want it to look posed, or set up.

Great photograph Bogdan Dinca!

[Claff]

I am doing a happy dance because I got a vote! I fully expected a shutout because what I like in a picture (and what I shoot) rarely appeals to the general public. Among an august group of pro- or aspiring pro-photogs here, where each person only has one vote, to think that someone thought my entry was the best of 40 entries really made my day.

Mine was #38 which was a kinda random shot of empty grandstands at Dover International Speedway. What says 'absence' better than 1,000 empty seats at a sports arena?

One vote ain't bad at all for a non-staged shot with no pretty border or watermark, and (gasp) in color. I'll take that to the bank and think about how to underwhelm the masses this month for "In flight".

[TwistMyArm]

Thanks a lot for sharing people. Maybe I should ask people to share after future challenges as well.

[LaFoto]

You should, Dana, you should! It's good to hear what people say about their photos later, and nice to find out who took which in the end!!! I like this. Makes the challenges even more interesting!

[kulakova]

yeah, indeed

[Mihai]

Many of the submitted images did come with optional titles, but because the submitters failed to follow instructions they were omitted. I know many of the images would have made more sense had the photographer’s original titles also been included.

I'm sorry, but I disagree. I think that I alhtough I followed the instructions, the optional title was still ommitted. I agree that, especially for a theme like this, the title may shed some light over what this photo meant for the shooter (not my case though).

Now, I'm a total noob (don't even have a camera - I just ordered it yesterday, I can't wait for it to come), but I just don't understand the winning photo. I looked, and looked at it and for a while thought that I had them in the wrong order or something. So, can somebody from the 10 people that voted for it (OK, except for Bogdan), tell me why they liked the photo? Or why they voted for it?

For me, I liked 35 a lot (and voted for it). I think that the boy conveys absence more than any other picture. Perhaps only 19 touched me like 35, but that was only after I read its meaning to the person that took it.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no message hidden in my photo (30), actually, too little is hidden there :D. I'm *very* glad that two people liked it especially since it's clear that they didn't like it for its technical quality.

All the best,
Mihai

[Jen]

For me, I liked 35 a lot (and voted for it). I think that the boy conveys absence more than any other picture.

So, can somebody from the 10 people that voted for it (OK, except for Bogdan), tell me why they liked the photo? Or why they voted for it?
Mihai

Wow! Thank you!

I actually didn't vote for number 10, but it was one of my top two. There are chairs and tables stacked neatly. Lines running everywhere with nothing to break them up. It is lacking people and color and vibrance as though it has been put on pause, waiting for the next party or group to come through. To me, it isn't a sad or dramatic absence, but that doesn't make it any less lacking. Technically I also found it to be a good photo which I believe is just as important as the theme.

[Bogdan Dinca]

I'm sorry, but I disagree. I think that I alhtough I followed the instructions, the optional title was still ommitted. I agree that, especially for a theme like this, the title may shed some light over what this photo meant for the shooter (not my case though).

Now, I'm a total noob (don't even have a camera - I just ordered it yesterday, I can't wait for it to come), but I just don't understand the winning photo. I looked, and looked at it and for a while thought that I had them in the wrong order or something. So, can somebody from the 10 people that voted for it (OK, except for Bogdan), tell me why they liked the photo? Or why they voted for it?

For me, I liked 35 a lot (and voted for it). I think that the boy conveys absence more than any other picture. Perhaps only 19 touched me like 35, but that was only after I read its meaning to the person that took it.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no message hidden in my photo (30), actually, too little is hidden there :D. I'm *very* glad that two people liked it especially since it's clear that they didn't like it for its technical quality.

All the best,
Mihai

I didn't vote for my picture :D

[Mihai]

Thanks Jen, I never considered those elements. I think that you "thought" about it, while I went for the "feeling". This picture didn't tickle any of that for me :-). No offense Bogdan.


I didn't vote for my picture


OK, I'm sorry then, but that makes it even more interesting... which one did you vote for and why did you like the other one better?

All the best,
Mihai

[Jen]

Lol. I never thought about voting for my own picture....

[nitefly]

I voted for 20.. 35, 2 and 12 came close though :)