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03/09/2014 09:00:48 PM · #1 |
Many thanks to my creative and cooperative jury:  2mccs  bohemka bvy daisydavid maryo posthumous RKT rooum xianart
A moment about the process for those who are curious. I tried to design a process that subverts choice by "consensus." The site's ribbons are already the best reflection of which pictures are best at reaching a consensus of approval. This process is more about love. Each juror could only pick two photos, so any photo you see in this list had to be truly loved by at least one member of this jury. This left us with 16 photos when you include a couple of overlapping choices. Then we wrote and read comments on all the photos, gaining an appreciation of each other's choices. Finally, each judge gave a list of photos that they would be happy to see win the blue ribbon, no numerical restrictions, as long as the photos were from the pool of 16. The top two were picked mathematically, by the number of lists they made it on. #1 was loved by 6 jurors, #2 was loved by 5. One juror, however, had not chosen either the 1st or 2nd place image, so I picked his choice from the images loved by 4 jurors, so his love would be represented as well.
and the winners are...
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FIRST PLACE
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  passengers by  nick_hinch
Masked by the light and darkness. His seatmate seems utterly unconcerned about sitting next to this masked man. No one but the photographer sees the mask.
This one is still holding my attention...window eye window eye window eye, isolation and all the slick surfaces. She wears a shroud (Is it a she I wonder?)...all of us do, it's just that we don't always see it. It's like a thick smoke choking us off from each other. We ( I mean a general sort of "we" ) isolate ourselves from one another but inside I think we yearn for something simple like just a touch, a nudge... little bits of contact. Or are we afraid of that now too? Unless the plane is going to crash, then we all become best friends. Do we need crisis to make us reach out to other people now? Seems kind of hyperbolic doesn't it? But it seems kind of true too.
I think of when I fly...I don't want to talk to you, but then again maybe I do, if you're interesting. I don't want to hear about your kids or the other mundane shit that happens in your life though. We all have enough of our own mundane shit so I really don't want to hear about yours.If you're reading a Twilight book, then I really don't want to talk to you. If your favorite color is blue, then I want to know why that is, and be specific. It's like being trapped...no it is being trapped. And the darkness, the actual darkness. I want to see more, but the image keeps it hidden and I'm fine with that. It keeps me wondering and that's always a good thing. Plus I think it's just a really cool looking photograph. That's got to count for something.
The dark and light, the window and eye, the porthole and glasses. Repetition of motif with variation, as my art history prof repeated, with no variation. It's an image I could look at for a very long time. Although I think I'd love to see it in black and white.
Fascinating photograph.
I really want to hear that this is candid. If it is, it's one hell of a shot. If it isn't, then it's just kind of silly. I'm thinking it isn't, as the passenger has to be enduring an eyeful of sun, and most people will turn away. I gave the photographer the benefit of the doubt and scored it on the high side. But again, I really want to hear that it's candid.
It's such an odd scene it begs investigation. Sadly I'm not that interested in what's going on. I do like the light and tones from the window, along the seat-back trays, and how it catches the wrinkles in the headrest to the far right. That has nothing to do with the main focus of our attention, though, unless the story is that the main focus exists to show me these subtleties that I really enjoy. This one's a head-scratcher for sure.
I keep thinking burqa. The one eye and the window complement each other and have a symbolic symbiotic relationship that brings me back to burqa. I won't flesh it out here, maybe I'll leave it in my memoirs for future generations to throw out in the trash. There's a despondent look to that eye and all behind it. A fabricated scene in a real and unlikely environment, a waiting and longing, an isolation. Maybe this wretched eye evokes a representation of that same sense in and of our lives. The feeling of entrapment, aisle 2 seat 45d stop being so miserable, please, and for God's sake look out that window into the nothingness like a normal human being. burqa.
An amazingly unusual and interesting image that speaks volumes about travel, modern life, isolation, loneliness. Fantastic.
It's obviously just an accident of light creating this bizarre reverse eyepatch, but it still menaces me, haunts me. This is the horror that surrounds us all the time, but we never notice it.
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SECOND PLACE
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  End of a Cone by aznym
Only in a photograph can an ice cream cone be as eternal as stone. This is a lovely, imposing image. The ethereal embalmed.
On the surface, just what the title suggests. On closer inspection, a microscopic wasteland. A fractured fractal. The crash site of some futuristic vessel. The unexpected dramatic lighting and sci-fi colors help this along. Beautifully, beautifully done.
Cone is lovely. The rich colours and textures contrast very well with the subject matter. Gold and velvet.
Great colours and textures make for an interesting shot. Again, though, not a huge amount of lasting appeal for me but i can certainly appreciate the find.
It's one of those photos that is brilliant in its simplicity. Absolutely nothing is going on here. I don't care about this cone, how it got here, who dropped it, what happened to the ice cream, or the mpg of the SUV that drove over it. It's been processed in a way so that it's just very fun to look at. Maybe I like it so much because it's a refreshing break in a challenge full of weight and stories and interpretations, or maybe even now I'm over complicating things. It's a cool photo.
But where's the ice cream? There should be a melting blob of ice cream. This is untraditional cone killing. It never served its purpose, not even for a microsecond.
God I love the color. I also love food shrapnel photographs...the abstract-ness of it appeals to me. I love the title too...direct and to the point. This really is kind of wonderful.
The colours and the contrast draw me in. The fragility of a symbol so entrenched in modern societies yet so superficial to life. The implied meaninglessness of such an object so easily crushed by the menacingly omnipresent and indifferent machines of a decadent generation that initially created it. An inglorious end to an icon of a race capable of such meaningless distractions. And it's kinda a fun picture.
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THIRD PLACE
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  door play by tnun
A very striking and fascinating image - the third/two third division into black and white is great and there is a lot of mystery going on in the panels.
The graphic-ness of this is appealing and I'm all over what's going on in that window...it's some serious food for the eye, and not of the sugary sort.
Really just fascinating to explore. I'm particularly drawn to the distorted hand shape in the upper right window.
Well composed (look at that circle in upper left!) and the glass section rewards further viewing with its hidden humanity. It's difficult to resolve all the images in that glass. I still haven't done it. I like when an image can do that to me.
An interesting telephoto extraction, composed with an eye for geometry and balance. I feel the left side is a bit light in terms of interest, but maybe that's the point -- a study in contrasts. Very playful.
An intriguing piece full of wonderful things to explore. I like the contrast in scenes, the left side bland and the right side full of maleness and hardware supplies. A good messin' with reality
Show me some contrasty geometric shapes bearing gifts and I will bite. I was drawn to this immediately. After some long stays though I lost confidence my interest was reciprocated, so I drifted. Seemed a bit cold, distant. But I came back. I see a lot of myself in this photo [and on nights when I stare long enough, I really do]. The outside has been framed up and composed to be safe and sound. Rules applied, shapes reaffirming, contrast where it needs to be. This is a reliable photo. No, wait, itâs boring. The sterile framework never actually advertised our hearts would get into it, and the hope of finding it inside is losing momentum as well. The cupboard to the left looks bare, and the first thing I see behind the door is caulking. Itâs looking bleak. But hold on now -- Is that a heart hiding in that layered wooden amphitheater? Are those hands performing CPR to bring this back to life? Letâs put one of those LPs on the turntable. Letâs put a frozen pizza in that oven to share with the flamingo and toss beer tabs into the mason jar. Itâs not boring -- Itâs a hot mess, and the neighbors across the street are watching all of it. Itâs starting to feel a lot like home.
And I step back a few paces and look. It's beautiful.
And the title's a turn-on.
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HONORABLE MENTIONS (listed alphabetically by title)
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  daydream by tome
This image tells an essential truth about children. They are always leaving things behind. The photo allows us an extra moment, mostly just to desire what is lost.
Another really interesting photograph. I like the harsh colour here - the sense of movement.
It's one of those fleeting moment things that smells like coconut and chlorine...or maybe salt water and sounds like splashing water, screaming kids and hollering mamas with a murmur of rolling surf if you're lucky. I ultimately removed it from my top 4 becasue of the border. I'm so relentlessly fickle sometimes...but the border annoyed me and I found it didn't add anything to this really interesting photograph.
Almost the colour companion of 'do you believe in magic'. Vivid hues and vitality push this one up to the top of the pile. The relentless call of youthfulness and freedom, where all is taken as given, the world is their oyster. The border does push it into the holiday snapshot niche, which is its realm regardless.
Mostly what I get from this is hurriedness. A brief flash of a moment that leaves most of the dream unseen.
It conjures memories of carefree exploration and adventure at fun destinations. I wasn't initially taken by this, but the more time I spend with it I'm enjoying the chunky, rich colors, and that weight vs. the delicate, in-focus tangle of hair. I like it more the more I'm with it. Cool photo.
I really like how the photographer captured the buzz and blur of summer -- and how the young lady appears about to dissolve into the colorful background.
 do you believe in magic by jmritz
Magic indeed. The more you try to resolve it, the more it resists. What is that in the foreground? What's dividing the frame? Is the child walking through water? What is she carrying? So many questions, and the answers don't come. I hope they never do. Also, I love the muddy sheen.
Back in time we go! Feels very 1950's to me. Suburban backyard, bit of nostalgic blur like it's a memory. The thing I really keyed in on is the horizontal line. Flagpole, maybe? But I can't help wondering what will happen when she crosses that line.
There's so much to relish in this fleeting glance at childhood play set in awkward architectural surrounds enhanced by a creative slap in the face to the zone system. Old eyes reminisce on a young scene, the effortless but acute split second timing of the viewing that captures the precise moment when a memory is created and when it is recalled, a crossroad in life and of lives. A realisation that you too once believed in magic and are reminded that you never really stopped.
Feels like a childhood dream.
I think this is a really interesting image but I'm not entirely sure what to do with it. That can be great, but in this case I can feel myself sliding toward indifference. The partially obscured view first struck me as being a bit overly voyeuristic of a child, but the patio furniture hints at it being a harmless backyard scene. The zones are interesting, the odd figure exiting stage left has potential, but I'm not finding a whole lot of attachment to it, and the stories I'm creating aren't really grabbing me. I do like it for some intangible reasons, but ultimately I'm unable to reconcile the mix of mystery with a family backyard summertime scene, and I don't like the alternative.
Blurry children have almost become a genre at DPC. The sense of longing is palpable, like a good Wordsworth poem. Any sentimentalism is relieved by the tremendous abstract shapes surrounding the child. It creates a sense of lost control, not for the child, but for the viewer.
The whole childhood memory thing pulled at my heartstrings for a bit then I got over it. The memory kept fading away. The pole in the middle started to annoy me too...I couldn't help it and I'm not usually like that.
Whilst 'Soporificity' is more immersive then expansive, 'do you believe in magic' (no question mark i note - of course not) is immersive then it pulls another trick. It might drag you in and give you a chair but that chair isn't really there and you end up looking around all confused. It's a photograph about memory - fleetingly improvised. At first look the photograph is confused, it takes you a moment or two to get balanced but then you zone in on the child and the childhood dreams and memories tug. A happy, sun lit day. But then there is another moment of confusion - that sharp white line cuts vertically down; like the dividing line in a film strip and another moment goes by before you realise that you are sat in a car or on a bike. Watching. The voyeurism that is inherent in photography shifts into consciousness and it's really quite icky. What's that about? From innocence to something that feels a bit wrong in the matter of milliseconds. That tonal, and emotional, shift in this photograph is what makes it so wonderfully great. It wrong foots you; makes you think about memories, makes you think about sunlight and then, makes you think about photography and makes you think about yourself.
 existential meditations by tvsometime
Building as narrative. Sick buildings. The shadow acting as a scar across white wood panelled face.
This is the product of a wry individual with a keen eye. Fun. The architecture, antenna and power lines remind me very much of where I grew up, so there are nostalgic connections for me. There's a lot for me to like about this, and the longer I look I see more elements that interest me, but to be honest this photo makes me think more about the clever photographer than the photo.
The house has veins. It's funny, I'm always taking photographs like this, then I delete them. I always think they're just kind of interesting...for a little while. I always figure more shadows will come around.
I see a face in the house, with lidded eyes. Sleepy, or maybe bored. The shadow is interesting, but not enough to make me love this.
I instantly saw the windows as eyes, the awnings as droopy eyelids, the shadowy tree as the work of some prankster with a paint can. It's a sad face, one that has weathered more than just this latest assault. But it keeps on keeping on. Watching and waiting. For what? I love when quiet suburban scenes so readily lend themselves to such whimsy.
This actually reminded me a lot of a Peanuts theme from the early 1970's -- the conversations between Sally Brown and her school building. There's a strip where the school building confesses: "I've been suffering in silence for sixty years, kid." I love shooting homes and buildings that appear to be quietly suffering. The stories they must have.
So this had more than just anthropomorphic appeal for me. There's poetry here.
The lines, shadows, shapes are interesting but overall I think just ok.
It is a wonderfully creepy composition, well timed and composed. Environmental juxtaposition meets anthropomorphic architecture.
I often see shadows like this on houses, but never catch it as well as this. This reminds me of Hopper, even though Hopper preferred a more stark light. Somehow, the shadows work as a foil to celebrate the light that causes them, and celebrate the wall that reflects it. Look for too long and the house starts shedding tears of shadow.
 The French Alps by lnede
Did the artist spend days, maybe weeks working on the intricate details of this magnificent etching? I want to see it larger, put it in a frame and hang it on my wall. It started low on my list. Pushed it's way to the top without my consent. Art can be so bold.
I expect to see this as a massive wooden plaque in a mountain hut. I get the sense it tells me more about the people of an area or region than any national identity. Plenty of avalanche paths to explore, and as a map fan I can follow the roads and paths all day. The clouds remind me of old battle drawings. It's incredibly interesting, both in itself and that the photographer could see it this way.
It has a Chinese/Japanese painting effect for me. Intriguing in its immensity but a little too overprocessed.
A unique vision the photographer had for this scene. The processing feels heavyhanded -- so heavyhanded, that I think I must be missing something. The title offers no clues. A series of these could potentially be very interesting and offer more insight into what the photographer had in mind.
I think this would benefit from a different B+W conversion. The warm sepia mushes some of the information I think...or maybe this just needs to be bigger...huge even. Also interesting, I thought this a macro when I first saw...of lichen or something on a forest floor at first. Ultimately I don't like that sepia but it is an interesting study on texture and scale.
Reminds me a bit of a Japanese woodblock print, but the sepia suggests otherwise. Honestly, not sure I wouldn't like it better in it's natural photographic state.
I love etchings and really enjoy looking at the etching like detail in this
The map of a fantasy world. Fascinating. I'm impressed that an airplane window photo was transformed into this.
Lovely painterly feel to this - pushing up the textures by eleven and pushing into into engraving territory. Not too keen on the heavy sepia though.
 full moon surfer by LoVi
A glitch in the system. Bits and bytes gone bad. What the hell is this anyway? Is it even a photograph? Will it be disqualified? If it is what I think it is, then I think it was possible to do without breaking any rules at all. I saw something like it before on another photography site. Someone with a broken Lumix digital camera was getting all sorts of wonderfully wild results from a bad sensor. It's called glitch art, and I can defend it on the same grounds that I can defend all those "darkroom accidents" I've seen presented as art. This is digital working in a similar way; the photographer has lost control to the underlying science. Sure you can do anything in post, but who could or would do this exactly? ------- I don't mean to suggest that any random mess of pixels will stand up as art. The "photographer" here had to look at it and see something appealing. The title suggests as much. And there are fragments of a scene here, so it's not totally random. For instance, there appears to be a sun or defocused light in the upper left. For my own part, the first thing I saw in this was the face of John Lennon. But now I'm thinking it's Warhol.
A little interesting. The loose crayon drawing look in the lower left adds a lot for me.
Some interesting shapes and movements, and i like the idea of 'glitch art' mentioned earlier, but i'm not that keen on the more pixelated computer look really.
I think a fun and clever piece, I can actually make out two of the blighters. A brave contribution in this crowd, but nonetheless has technical attributes that put it in the running. I like how it challenges the viewer to take it more seriously, to abandon clinging to traditional photographic interpretations, a reminder that photography is subject to a youth culture biomorphism and looks great on a t shirt as well as an art challenge.
'80s explosion. I'm having flashbacks, and none of them are pretty. There's a decent amount of chaos vs. order, which is one of my favorite themes. The seemingly graphically produced section of the top left, the organic scribbles below, a fun s-curve, exploding highlights and deteriorating resolution. It's a bar code on acid. Or it's a bar code and I'm on acid. It's jarring in places, soothing in others, and worth a lot more time than it probably receives.
I keep hearing the Steve Miller Band. I think that's a good thing but I'm not quite sure...maybe some ELO too. It's a cool funky sort of image.
This one didn't do a lot for me. Too much neon, I think. Reminds me of the old blacklight paintings popular in the 70's.
I love how violently unphotographic this is. This is photographic Fauvism. It is harsh uncompromise. But at the same time it has a classical S curve embracing a perfect circle of light. A challenging photo. It challenges presumption after presumption.
 Hump Day by caba
I like that I can appreciate this on multiple levels. The repetitive shapes are nice, kind of soothing, the light is great, but what I really like is the progression from dark to light from bottom to top. For some reason it makes me think we're going from solid reality to a nebulous dreamscape. I expect more constant tonality in a landscape of similar shapes, and the fading away just caught my attention and imagination.
At first, I thought these were sand dunes, but now I realize they are something more complex, more inhabited. Interesting mix of nature and humanity and light. And pretty colors.
Amazing depth, wave after wave of beautifully illuminated hills, with a patch of trees here and there to provide gravity and relief. Landscapes aren't really my thing, but now and then one comes along...
It's a really nice landscape - the warm colour and patterns are very pleasing, but it doesn't really move off anywhere from there.
The light is beautiful but not one of my favorites.
Someone out flying with a walloper of a lens and sense of wit. A beautiful shot nonetheless, a study of form and colour at the golden hour. So much to see but so little life, grandeur indeed but I'm left wanting more.
I love pictures of fields of grain. I don't know why but I do. I just like looking at them. This one seems a bit too golden though...again, more of my technical hangups.
The shapes and layers and gradients and haze all add up to a very pleasing and immediately rewarding image. It has a sneaker quality to it -- It impressed me at first glance but lulled on repeated viewings, but the longer I look I am feeling a rich, subtle warmth that is reassuring. It doesn't make me think much [some would say nothing ever has], but I'm really enjoying sweeping my eyes over every undulation. For what it's worth, I see this as the most universally "wall-friendly" of our selections. It really is excellent at a distance, and should perhaps be viewed from there.
 in search of four by bspurgeon
The quietude is perfect. Suspension of sound, movement, breath. A cessation of all except the beating of the wings and heart. The beating point of the stilled world.
The quietude is misleading, as it seems to hide great swirling vortexes of action within within its subtle self.
Mimimal, maybe too minimal. Needs something more. Perhaps if the water were more apparent (darker?), it would add to the bird's levity. I don't think I like the square crop. And I'm left wondering if a short series of these, maybe a triptych, would produce something stronger than the sum of the parts.
This one didn't grab me. Maybe because I've seen other, similar images that really did move me.
A very well done minimalistic photograph but it doesn't really hold a massive amount of lasting appeal for me.
Not sure I like the tone transition in the lower third but I love the one very black wing
I find the composition a little unimaginative, sticking the only subject in the corner, but it is a lovely abstraction of a bird. I do like how extreme the photographer went with the blur, while still having some sharp edges to the blur.
Bird as a mark. I feel like I've seen this before. I do enjoy the inkiness of that wing though.
Lovely negative space & motion blur, a little simplistic which isn't a fault. It has a serenity about it but not enough interest for me I'm afraid.
This ticks a lot of boxes for what I typically enjoy. Minimalistic, motion blur, greytones, negative space. There is no qualitative way to evaluate these things, however, so the concert of these elements hits me in my heart or it doesn't. This one performed a glancing blow. I do like it a lot, but there's something about it I find awkward, and not in a good, off-kilter way. It seems a bit more graceful if viewed at a distance.
Technically this is a wonder. The negative space, the soft tones are perfect. The leading lines of the wings energize the image, using the golden mean subtly and well.
Fantastic.
 Lament by Paul
It's a sigh.
Elegant in its composition and open to all sort of daring interpretations. I like the softness and the grain, and the cool muted tones.
A fitting title to a beautifully rendered scene. It displays so much support in its' technical prowess that it almost becomes clichéd, but that is far from the reality. There is a sad tenderness to this orchestrated scene, I think that is what appeals to me the most. The contradiction of a premeditated and prepared scene that actually hits the mark with its emotive title. The lines, the tones, the graceful but prominent extended arm that draws attention to her beauty and then to the actual setting.
Love the processing
If I ignore the suicidal subtext I can enjoy this photo for the sheer beauty of form in the gentle distortions of water, form of woman and form of tub, so elegant. The subtext I don't care for.
It's funny, I don't see this as a suicide sort of thing. I mean, I did for a split second then talked myself out of that dull notion. That would be just too trite I think. I mean she just did her nails and put on her lips.
She could be doing something else entirely, we just don't see it. Maybe she's missing a lover...maybe. God I love a photograph that keeps things from me and lets me use my imagination.
It's a beautifully made image too. I can't think of a thing that would make it better. I can hear the lazy movement of the water. I can feel the humidity. maybe she's scented the water too. I love the dankness of it. Beauty and dankness...it's a heavy photograph and I like that.
This was an instant hit with me but I was worried it would not live up to first impressions. It's surpassed them. Surprisingly I'm not very interested in the story here, or perhaps I'm afraid of the story. I love this photo for all the qualities that ignore the elephant in the room, and perhaps specifically because they keep me from thinking about the elephant in the room. The composition is really something, the way the tub is framed perfectly to show a rhythmical repeating pattern of black, tub, tub wall, water, arm, and then hair and face. It's like soundwaves, with the only response being her hair near the edge of the frame, calling me back to her face. The surface tension creates interesting light reflections along her finger, her hair, her wrist. Tones, grain and focus set a mood that is undeniably dreamy. I think it's a beautiful image.
In many ways a pretty image, colors, composition. The suicidal idea is somewhat belied by the perfect makeup and nails. Seems counterintuitive to make yourself that beautiful first. Maybe it was murder!
This is a beautiful, noir image. Fantastically shot and processed. The suicide/murder narrative is kind of contrived i guess but i think it's possible to see around that into the simplicity of the image itself.
 Leafy Wings by kasaba
I see a face, maybe a skull, forming, deforming, transforming. Something Daliesque about it too.
There is some great light play across the textures and an interesting ambiguity to what it is - whether it is flora or skin, organic or rock.
I'm not a fan of things just floating in space, but the way the light, texture and colors work in concert here is striking to me. I'm happy to get lost in there, my eyes circling around and around, finding new nooks and crannies. The light, texture and color really is spectacular. I pull back though and I find the overall presentation awkward. It does, however, remind me of Sigur Ros' () album cover, and that's a good thing.
I thought they were bones, then I thought it was fabric...that was about it. I also keep turning my head to see if there is a better way to look at it.
I hate reflection shots, especially when we never get to see what's casting the reflection, but I do like the way this is turned sideways to create a face.
I thought it was interesting for a minute. I don't like the feel of a set up shot.
A wonderful technical display, engaging in its ambiguity. I could and have stared at it for ages and still that's all I can do.
This one grabbed me because I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at, and that's intriguing. It's a wonderful Rorschach test of shapes and I see something different every time I look at it. It's not art as social commentary, that's for sure, but it's fun to look at.
 slaughterhouse redemption by skewsme
Beautiful.
Nicely composed and I like the tones. Not sure if the tack sharp weeds are enough to hold the foreground. It's easy to lose them; as such, they're almost a distraction.
The muted tones and colours in this are warming, subtle and rich. I love the crispness of the foreground plant, the texture of the bokeh in the intermediate, and the surprise flat walls in the background create an interesting dynamic throughout. A subtle and powerful piece.
The focal depth contrast between the foreground and the field and barn is so severe that it almost feels as if these stragglers have been shot in front of another photo, or that this is a composite. I'm finding it distracting. I actually prefer the dreamy quality to the rest of the photo, the extremely nice texture and tones in the rest of the field. I want to follow the golden path to the left to get to the sunlit ridge, but again this foreground is in the way of my eyes. The mood is excellent, and there's a lot here, but I feel like there's a barrier keeping me from really appreciating it.
I hate to say this does nothing for me. I mean, it's pretty in a soft and cold sort of way, but I also think the title is trying to make it something it's really not. Or maybe that is a slaughterhouse back there but this photograph doesn't make me care about that.
This is very moody and is a very lovely image with just a hint of mystery in the buildings in the background.
Love the light and beautiful weeds. But then I look for and appreciate things like that often. Not quite sure I get the title, unless it's in reference to the weed surviving whatever mowing and/or chemical weed warfare went on.
I'm afraid, as beautiful and quaint as it is, it's out on a limb for me. I like the look, I can imagine a relationship between the flowering and the purpose of the building behind but I can't keep that together enough to enjoy. I like the look of the shot all the same.
I'm not a landscape fan, so I do like seeing the background relegated to blur so we can focus on the lovely weeds in the foreground. This looks like the beginning of a scene in a movie. Who will walk or crawl into frame?
 Soporificity by mrchhas
A stunning architecture, has all the things of male fantasy, full curvy lines, repetition, precise dimension, abstractness with order, engineering thingyness with lots of flashy bits, devoid of emotion, a big toy, a statement of power. So perfect in its completeness that how could anyone not want to live in it? Yet it stands empty. I'm imagining this is a cultural and political statement from both sides of the equation. I like it for the boldness and precision but I dislike what it represents, therefore a successful statement.
It does the wonderful trick of being far more than it first seems to be. Some photographs drag you in; this one drags you in, gives you a chair and tells you that you are going to be here for quite a while. It's glossy, superbly photographed in its mechanical, architectural way but has layers upon layers of depth. Compositionally it is repetitive. This is great. I love repetition, whether it is visual, musical, literature or verbal. It's like a mantra. There is a common misconception that repetition fogs; it clouds and muddies to produce a fugue. This is often not the case - a mantra of a number of words repeated a thousand times eventually breathes new meaning and life into each one and each one morphs and changes with each breath. I'm reminded of that with this photo. Each window, each stairwell. There are a hundred stories being told - a knocked over chair, a clicking of high heels down a corridor, a desperation, a closing and opening of doors. The fact that there is not a single person to be seen heightens the glamour and story. It is building as narrative at its best. There is a coldness, of course; the cold steel and sickly yellow insect hum of the light. The sound of photocopiers and printers churning out endless reams of papers to fall in a pile on the floor when no one is there to pick them up. The title, 'Soporificity' does seem to be at odds to my interpretation somewhat. It's a good title but i'd say that this is one of the most uncontrollably awake photographs in the challenge. Of course, often you never feel more awake than when you are asleep.
Limited appeal for me, although I really enjoyed another reviewerâs analysis. He made me aware that this has cinematic, and not just abstract, appeal. I feel like there's probably a pretty good soundtrack to it.
I agree it needs a soundtrack; I instantly heard Red Snapper's Keeping Pigs Together [sound quality isn't that great, but it's an interesting find as well] when I first saw it, partly because of the driving, repetitive rhythm, the stories the track can launch in your mind, and the album cover didn't hurt either. Maybe this is a companion piece. This is like a short film, where every floor is another frame. The lights and door handles move up and down as the frames advance, but overall the scene remains the same. It is a set, a stage, bare and ready for performances, and those are ours to create. I feel like I'm here after hours (and we surely are), and there are stories there as well. It's clean, it's cold, it's empty, it's brought to us with precision. It's pretty damn cool.
I love the color and rhythm and the in and the out. It's cool to look it but it does nothing for me in any sort of emotional way...but it's still really cool to look at.
Have to admit this one didn't bowl me over, although i liked it. The curved staircase is a bit unusual for a tall building like that, the image is nice and sharp, but I want another reason to take a longer look at it. Something really unexpected, like a clown in a window.
I've seen so many of these outdoor wall photos that they don't interest me any longer. I will say that the colors and tones are nice, though.
I like this, like the colors and inorganic feel. Nice choice
 Tight by vlado
I can't believe I am picking a wedding photo, but just look at this. The swirl of people who seem to be creating the bride, not merely costuming her. This is the moment she is fitting into her dress. The symbolism is important here, and she is determined to fit into this role. With good humor, she steels herself for it. The man with white gloves patiently and lovingly guides her into this new state of being. The accident of the photo makes him almost a suckling. I find this image joyful and moving to a surprising degree. Each time I see it I'm surprised.
I don't like wedding photos. I am impatient with them. So why did this wedding photo move up with each viewing? I have a fondness for images that don't behave as I expect. I think I can learn from them. The bride, the dressmaker, both doing what they know has got to be done to complete the job. Their expressions perfectly capturing the awkward moment. His face firmly pressed into her breast. But the job must be done. The wise choice of high key emphasizes the "action".
I love what's going on with the people, I hate what's going on technically. The gray-ness in the corners annoys the crap out of me. I don't want to say it's a vignette though. I think someone was afraid of all the white and didn't have enough faith that the subjects would draw us viewers in...they do, so it was completely unnecessary. You shouldn't second guess your high key.
A great jumble of limbs and expectations here. As a wedding photograph it's great and i would have loved to have taken it. Although i would have preferred a bit of a wider view i do appreciate that the closeness adds to the constriction of the image. I'm also not keen on that grey vignette. It could so easily have gone more high key with this.
I love the moment of this. It has vitality and spontaneity and a realness of humanity. A heartfelt sense of combined effort and unselfish giving despite any of its technical flaws, it could have been a grainy smart phone snap and still retained its life.
It's a great capture of a unique moment in a person's life, and it's done really well, but I'll ruin the heartwarming mood by saying I cannot get past the fact that the dude had to get his face all up in her business like that. In fact I think that's the photo. I can't figure out how his face in her breasts will help her get into that dress, as his hands seem to be in position to do the real work. Perhaps his face is there for support. At any rate, he appears as though he enjoys his work, and has been doing it long enough to incorporate a uniform of white gloves to lend credibility to his role. I don't think the reason we are shown this was to parody this traditional wedding photograph moment, but for me it's a heck of a lot more interesting that way.
The comments made me reconsider this shot, which, admittedly, is easy to dismiss among all the toothache-inducing wedding shots that show up here. The high-key processing playfully tricks the eye and turns this into a fairy-tale wedding of sorts. I'm undecided about the burned white corners.
I see a different story from what most of you are seeing. I see a woman trying to be someone she's not, at least for a day. And the rest are aiding and abetting her. What does it say about a marriage when you start it out behind a facade? She's Scarlett O'Hara. Hope her groom knows that already!
 underground agent by nixter
Someone is going to get it Jack, probably those figures loitering just round the corner.
The anima 'a current of air, wind, air, breath, the vital principle, life, soul'. A rendition of Jungian anthropomorphic archetype of the unconscious mind, an abstract symbol set that formulate the archetype of the Self. Carl himself in the underground on the way to the office. Hercule Poirot would have a field day. Lots of energy and intent here to create whatever story you wish.
For some reason this bores me. The whole incognito thing bores me. It's that hat...it's a trendy thing. I'm loving the grain though. It's nice and crunchy.
I like how big and bottom heavy the shadow man is. He is like a fat darkness (or should I say noir) swallowing the world.
somehow not as powerful as it seems like it should be but kinda like it.
Started humming "Secret Agent Man" before I even looked at the title. His bulk is rather menacing, but there's an awful lot of light in the image, so I'm not feeling the menace.
Large and in charge, our agent glides onto the scene. Some of our view is all business, such as the severe contrast that defines our hero [as Iâve tapped him to be] and his surroundings, the mystery bonus package that is included with a dark figure that is an âunderground agent,â and thereâs no end to the stories of whatâs around the corner and who those people are. The hardline shape of the left side of his hat, in this context, sadly first conjured up a thought of the Schutzstaffel. But itâs my photo now and Iâve chosen to leave that behind and veer to the far more enjoyable right. The delicate grace in which the light bends around his hat from the right is mesmerizing to me. Iâve brushed my eyes over it repeatedly, almost feeling it fall off as I see it fall off. Motion, light, a mix, it doesnât matter.
Heâs not as serious and intimidating as you might think. Heâs Sandeman, but Gary Larsonâs Sandeman. Or maybe Ignatius J. Reilly has gone to the dark side. The lines in the top fifth of the photo show me a world that is squared, grounded, and all the other lines bring us forward with our agent, which is fine, as Iâve bought in and wouldnât want to be in any other company.
Itâs a showcase of negative space. Our agent swallows about 30% of the real estate, and heâs so pitch black and massive that if you lean in close enough you will lose orientation and fall into him. Nothingness. And yet this man of few to no details is as real and clear and present as it gets because of the white space that surrounds and defines him. Sure, the white space is reminiscent of a restroom, but restroom architects have long served as role models for metro architects; this is the world in which we have been forced to live.
Thereâs more than enough grit and grime, lines and tones, motion and CCTV domes, flicks of light and shadows to keep me happy forever. I can rummage around all day and find interesting new spots. But in the end I suppose it really all comes down to the contrast. He and his environment define each other, and one would struggle to exist without the other. From that the stories are endless. The contrast from the left side of his hat to the right side is a story unto itself.
I love this floating mass of black charcoal with the fedora. He's both comical and menacing. Didn't need the title's help. |
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03/09/2014 09:18:15 PM · #2 |
| Great selections and thanks to all the jurors for putting so much hard work into this. It will be great going over the comments for all the selections. |
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03/09/2014 09:23:57 PM · #3 |
| Some interesting choices. |
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03/09/2014 09:28:43 PM · #4 |
Yes quite the job it is really, will have to spend time during the week reading all the insightful comments, Congrats to all those mentioned.
And to nick_hinch you made us see that even in a plane you can take a thought provoking image, I never think to take photo's in a plane, I'm always dreaming of the photos I'm going to take when I exit, now I must re-think that! |
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03/09/2014 10:16:08 PM · #5 |
| Thanks for the effort. Interesting picks... I'll spend time reading the comments. |
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03/09/2014 11:09:51 PM · #6 |
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03/09/2014 11:45:44 PM · #7 |
I appreciate the honorable mention and awesome write up more than the blue ribbon, thank you. FYI, I took this from a high hill called Steptoe Butte, I did use my monster lens with a teleconverter. If you haven't been there, here's a Link I will go back in May to catch the "green" humps.
Thanks again,
Frank "Caba" |
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03/10/2014 12:10:16 AM · #8 |
Well done, thanks for your efforts!
eta: And thank you for the HM. Completely unexpected and in splendid company!
Message edited by author 2014-03-10 00:12:53. |
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03/10/2014 12:53:19 AM · #9 |
| thank you jury peeps for all the work and the comments and the showcasing and my surprising yellow splat. I was so splattergast that I forgot to enter my 3 equal stooges. |
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03/10/2014 03:53:19 AM · #10 |
What a fantastic job, Jury People! Thank you very much! :)
Thanks for the love too :) |
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03/10/2014 04:01:13 AM · #11 |
| Great images. The jury has done well. |
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03/10/2014 04:11:31 AM · #12 |
| Thank you to the jury for the great work and selections! thank you for the honorable mention as well! |
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03/10/2014 05:28:28 AM · #13 |
Thanks, jury members! As always, fantastic job.
Thank you for the HM, I'm humbled to be in this amazing group. |
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03/10/2014 08:03:34 AM · #14 |
A glitch in the system. Bits and bytes gone bad. What the hell is this anyway? Is it even a photograph? Will it be disqualified? If it is what I think it is, then I think it was possible to do without breaking any rules at all. I saw something like it before on another photography site. Someone with a broken Lumix digital camera was getting all sorts of wonderfully wild results from a bad sensor. It's called glitch art, and I can defend it on the same grounds that I can defend all those "darkroom accidents" I've seen presented as art. This is digital working in a similar way; the photographer has lost control to the underlying science. Sure you can do anything in post, but who could or would do this exactly? ------- I don't mean to suggest that any random mess of pixels will stand up as art. The "photographer" here had to look at it and see something appealing. The title suggests as much. And there are fragments of a scene here, so it's not totally random. For instance, there appears to be a sun or defocused light in the upper left. For my own part, the first thing I saw in this was the face of John Lennon. But now I'm thinking it's Warhol.
First of all I would like to thank you for your time and speculations. "What the hell is this anyway?" It started as a drawing of the ocean and my longing to be back in it surfing. I took a photo of my drawing and worked with it in Elements 10. When I did this back in early 2013 I was so excited about what I could do in Photoshop to express myself in a different direction than in my drawings, paintings, or ceramics. I enjoy using photography to take my art in different directions. "Will it be disqualified?" I wondered that myself one year later after I started listening to the participants on D>P>C> when they jokingly suggested that I should read the rules and adhere to them before I enter a challenge, as I may be disqualified. I even wondered, this time around if my submission would be challenged for validation, and indeed someone has challenged it. I'm curious who the jurors are, and who challenged it, but in the end it doesn't matter. I find it an honor to be recognized and discussed at all. I began this with a pure feeling back in 2013 and I understand the rules better this year than I did last year. Oh!!! When I was in NYC, I met Andy Warhol at the Gallery I was working in. I dropped a red marker on his shirt and we stared at each other and then laughed out loud...if you can imagine that. I also saw John Lennon from time to time on the west side....walking along Central park....funny......
A little interesting. The loose crayon drawing look in the lower left adds a lot for me.
Thanks for the comment. Yes...crayons and pencil.
Some interesting shapes and movements, and i like the idea of 'glitch art' mentioned earlier, but i'm not that keen on the more pixelated computer look really.
Thanks for your observations. Yes...it is about movement.
I think a fun and clever piece, I can actually make out two of the blighters. A brave contribution in this crowd, but nonetheless has technical attributes that put it in the running. I like how it challenges the viewer to take it more seriously, to abandon clinging to traditional photographic interpretations, a reminder that photography is subject to a youth culture biomorphism and looks great on a t shirt as well as an art challenge.
Thank you for your observations and comments. I don't feel brave...I just follow where I am led. The spirit in each of us is ageless.
'80s explosion. I'm having flashbacks, and none of them are pretty. There's a decent amount of chaos vs. order, which is one of my favorite themes. The seemingly graphically produced section of the top left, the organic scribbles below, a fun s-curve, exploding highlights and deteriorating resolution. It's a bar code on acid. Or it's a bar code and I'm on acid. It's jarring in places, soothing in others, and worth a lot more time than it probably receives.
Thanks very much for the personal connection shared. Chaos vs. order = beauty in nature. Soothing and jarring.....like the espresso I drank the other morning.
I keep hearing the Steve Miller Band. I think that's a good thing but I'm not quite sure...maybe some ELO too. It's a cool funky sort of image.
Thanks for the comparison. An old admirer of mine called me his "Quick Silver Girl".
This one didn't do a lot for me. Too much neon, I think. Reminds me of the old blacklight paintings popular in the 70's.
Thanks for your comment. If you are old enough to remember those paintings and not like them, then you just might be older than me.... ;-)
I love how violently unphotographic this is. This is photographic Fauvism. It is harsh uncompromise. But at the same time it has a classical S curve embracing a perfect circle of light. A challenging photo. It challenges presumption after presumption.
Thank you very much for your astute comment.
If we do not challenge the waves we are tossed and turned, sucked under by the tides and surf, our faces and bodies dragged along the shore, scraped by the rough shells, sand and stones.
When we challenge the surf, we can learn to ride the waves. The beauty of the dance with nature becomes our purpose, and as artists and photographers we are blessed to be able to share our love. Talking with nikonjeb about energies, love and being, he has often repeated, recently, that we do not find ourselves.......we create ourselves.
Thank you all jurors for your time, shared energies and observations. I am honored by your notice.
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03/10/2014 10:05:48 AM · #15 |
| Thank you all for the hard work and very thoughtful comments. The HM is surprising and appreciated. |
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03/10/2014 10:41:28 AM · #16 |
| Thanks jury for the hard work, I'm honored to be included. Congratulations to all the winners. |
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03/10/2014 11:28:16 AM · #17 |
A novel way of giving the awards. I looked at my top two choices and wondered about a shot that was not loved by any juror and it was a photo of one of the jurors! A very hard work and very well done; certainly worth putting the thoughts into words.
Congrats to all, medalists and jurors. |
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03/10/2014 11:37:19 AM · #18 |
| I love reading over the jury comments. Thanks to all for the work that went into this. |
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03/10/2014 12:13:29 PM · #19 |
| Thanks to the jury for their time and hard work. It's a treat to have comments like this to read through. Great job everybody! |
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03/10/2014 06:47:12 PM · #20 |
| Thanks for taking the time to offer such fine interpretations. Thanks for the HM Splatty too! |
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03/10/2014 10:27:48 PM · #21 |
| A huge thank you to all jury members and others involved. I look forward the "Art Of" challenges every years, for the photos and for the jury comments... truly honour that my entry received an HM splat, from jury members I greatly respect, and alongside photographers and photographs I personally rate far higher than I see myself and my work. It's because of challenges like this, and the effort of the jury and the commenters and those that enter that I love DPC. Despite it's flaws, DPC is a great place to explore photography, and grow as a photographer, and for what this community has done with my photography in my time here, I say "THANK YOU". |
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03/10/2014 10:50:16 PM · #22 |
| Can't you just feel all the love in the room.............great job all. |
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03/10/2014 11:27:05 PM · #23 |
| Congratulations to all the winners as well as to the jury for a formidable job well done. |
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03/11/2014 12:35:52 AM · #24 |
Cheers Jury people!! Nice to be up there amongst such a talented crew, especially that Az guy!
It is an interesting exercise in understanding how others see a photograph, especially when its yours and know the answers.
It would be great to see future challenges in this format from time to time.
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03/11/2014 06:42:56 AM · #25 |
Originally posted by nick_hinch:
...
It would be great to see future challenges in this format from time to time. |
Double the pleasure for sure ... the general voters get pleasure in seeing results from their peers, and then another group get some nice introspect from a select panel of word smiths.
It's kind of like a resurrection of the 'Critique Club' on steroids. :-)
I think it would be fun in the future to have a list of potential jurors posted (those who want to do this sort of thing) and then have a general vote by the DPC community on selecting the final panel of jurors from the pool of interested participants. |
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