"Patched" - PAW 2012 - Week 09
by shutterpuppy

Comment by shutterpuppy:

Originally posted by tjbel05: Nothing like some aged wood for a good subject matter. Is that bright spot in the middle your flash?

A tried and true subject matter. No flash - I sometimes get this vignetting with the Land 250 when I am very close to a subject like with this shot.

"Patched" - PAW 2012 - Week 09
by shutterpuppy

Comment by tjbel05:
Nothing like some aged wood for a good subject matter. Is that bright spot in the middle your flash?

"MPOWR" - PAW 2012 - Week 08
by shutterpuppy

Comment by tjbel05:
Love the textures in this. Do you know what the letters stand for?

Happy Everything
by shutterpuppy

Comment by tph1:
Well said. Nice shot by the way.

"Alley Installation" - PAW 2012 - Week 05
by shutterpuppy

Comment by Melethia:
I quite like it. Call it "Tears of a Clown". Sell it for five figures. Indulge in a fine automobile with the proceeds. :-) But seriously, I do like it.

"Car Park Pollock" - 2012 PAW - Week 04
by shutterpuppy

Comment by Melethia:
I do like the way the snow is perched on the vines. Trying to find a place to sit anywhere it can!

"Bundle of Sticks" - PAW 2012 - Week 07
by shutterpuppy

Comment by bassbone:
the twist of sticks and how it reaches to the corners to create an arch works nicely

"Bundle of Sticks" - PAW 2012 - Week 07
by shutterpuppy

Comment by sfalice:
The composition, with its "V" shapes and depth does give an impression of shelter.
Overall, a pleasing abstraction.

"Bundle of Sticks" - PAW 2012 - Week 07
by shutterpuppy

Comment by HarveyG:
In chaos there are forms of order. Does that destroy the chaos principle? One butterfly flits left in the Amazon rain forest and there's drought in the Mid West.
I'm not sure I agree with that sentiment but I challenge anyone to not find order in chaos. Take a picture from 10 miles up in the sky of floods, and you will find trees all flattened in the same direction...forming a pattern.

I understand your thought process after the explanation, I admit I battled to "get it" too, yet I have often taken an arb picture of something because of how I felt at that moment. My image might never have been shared as yours is/was yet will forever hold a meaning for me.

How did they get here, did nature just discard them after death, what purpose did they serve in life?
Kudo's for sharing. Even more Kudo's for using film and scanning it in. The print must be very earthy, tangible.

"Bundle of Sticks" - PAW 2012 - Week 07
by shutterpuppy

Comment by shutterpuppy:

Originally posted by Diamonds: I'm feeling a little dense this morning, as I'm not getting the message here, sorry. Can you explain more please? I'm looking around for a point of interest but there isn't one, so it must be some interesting thoughts behind the image, thanks, Michele

Okay, the most accurate and least pretentious answer is that I was in a weird mood when I came up with the name. Sometimes weird is good, other times its just weird. Many of the other abstracts I have taken for this side challenge I was drawn to because of some accidental resemblance to actual artist work, but this one I just like the loose, but chaotic, order of the pattern of the subject - which literally was a pile of sticks.

The more pretentious answer is that the "Social Contract" title was a oblique (as well as highly obscure and ultimately unsuccessful) play on the "pile"/"bundle" of sticks idea. I send a PM mea culpa to pamb as well as follows:

Originally posted by pretentious poseur: I was being a little (probably deliberately perversely) esoteric with the title. It was a (highly pretentious) nod to the philosopher John Locke, who is widely considered one of the key inspirations for the United States Constitution. One analogy that he uses was comparison of property rights to a "bundle of sticks." The image is part of a pile of tree branches (aka "sticks"). Locke's idea is sort of an idealized view of personal rights and the interactions of humans in society. My pile of sticks is messy with only a rough organization - more like real life, one might argue. I'm usually not that esoteric with my titles. And as a wise person once said, "If you have to explain the joke, it just ain't funny."