*** the NOVEMBER photo CONTEST is up in GD **************************************

[superconnected]

The theme for November is Silhouettes.

The preliminary round will run until 8am Nov 23rd. The top 10 winners of the three rounds will advance to the final round.

You can click on these links to votes -

*** NOVEMBER PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST - ROUND 1 ***
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2774039

*** NOVEMBER PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST - ROUND 2 ***
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2774071

*** NOVEMBER PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST - ROUND 3 ***
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2774112

[RagingInMiami]

1. Damn, that was fast. Good job.

[F.Gordon]

2. Figured it out? Excellent

:thumbsup:

LOL... I think I'm on track to beat my old record of 2 votes.
:rofl:

[F.Gordon]

3. Ummm

:wtf:

Sumtin' ain't right here. Or, is it just me? Why is there this one photo blowing away everyone else in that particular group? I'm not knocking the photo... just don't understand why a bunch of great Silhouette Pics are being ignored in that group.
:shrug:

Maybe I can't "see" what everyone else is "seeing"? Can someone splain' it to me?
:dunce:

[Blue_In_AK]

4. Dogs and cats always win. n/t

[JeffR]

5. The awwww factor

It's a fine photo and has that added awwww. People go for awwww everytime. Second most popular voting tendency is to vote for purty if you can't vote for awwww.

As you said, no knock on any of the pics. It's just as hard to take a great pic of an animal or something purty as it is to take a great pic of anything, and there are some mighty good examples of both in this contest.

[F.Gordon]

8. Never mind. I just figured it out

It's gone on before but never to quite this degree. Oh well. Sucks that pics like Sunset Deck, etc, etc....

:shrug:

[jhain]

14. Beats me. And it's *mine*

I once had a show in a tiny coffee shop near here...the reaction was the same- people loved and bought the Ahhhhhhhhh shots. An older man was entranced with many of my photos and he declared that they had a sense of PEACE to them. Made me think alot about this issue. Outside of the fellow photographer realm others look for Peace. Happiness. Cats and dogs (Like Bue said) and babies. And flowers. They relate to how the photo makes them FEEL. They do not look for technical aspects like a pro would. I suppose that I am in between the two somewhere. I strive to get balance and depth and all that that techie stuff but I take photos based on how I FEEL about the subject.

And, no, I wasn't cheating by entering an animal- I never even thought about it. Didn't have any silhouettes on this hard drive - I shot that about an hour before I entered it.
Does it make you feel any better to know that the cat stuck his mug into this
'planned' shot?:






And I have to say *~* HOLY CRAP *~*. Is there not something one is required to do if one DOES win ? I am breaking out in a cold sweat- am I remembering reading somewhere that the winner runs the next contest?
S H * T - I have NO experience with that sort of thing.

The 'planned' shot -to me, anyway- is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better and I choose to enter Hobbs because they other one was so cool ( but not as silhouette-y) that I was afraid IT might win and NO WAY do I need to be responsible for setting up a contest.

Oh, Hobbs.

One more thought- the herd mentality is always a factor when everyone can see the vote count. I think it has been suggested that we try to get a poll that hides the results until you vote.

[JeffR]

15. Don't panic yet, and fergodsake don't apologize for a great photograph

The final, which you are assured of reaching, can produce some strange anomalies in voting compared to the prelims. That's one reason why a two-stage contest can be so fascinating to watch.

As to the awwww or purty factors I rambled on about, these things aren't to be sneezed at. No matter what an artist in any medium considers his or her real intentions, once it goes in front of a viewer or listener, all bets are off and the creator of the work has just one opinion among many. The "feeling" aspect you mentioned is a powerful arbiter. I think the way I vote myself on contest entries has much more to do with visceral reactions than any consideration of technical aspects, even though I have some awareness of technical aspects. If it reaches my reptile brain, I'm reached. If not, not.

If you do win, rest assured you won't be able to commit as many gaffes as I did when I hosted. And I solicited advice from the most knowledgeable, reasonable and experienced folks in the group. They gave me a wealth of advice, all of which will be available to you if you have to host the next one.

Of course, second or third place is the real brass ring. Share in the glory, leave the hard slog to someone else! Whatever happens, congratulations on an excellent entry.
:toast:

[jhain]

17. It did take about 20 tries to get

that tongue action.
As many millions of bucks as digital has saved me I do depise the damn delay.

Thanks, JeffR. I do really like the photo - I love the silohoutte with all that color! -and I also understand the head scratching over its popularity thus far. I do try to enter something a littl ebit 'different'.

Here's hoping Hobbs shares the glory as a 2nd or 3rd or 4 th or....

[JeffR]

18. If you have a cat who would stay at the trough long enough

to get multiple shots, then that's an exceptional cat. If you win, make him run the next contest!

[F.Gordon]

20. Seriously, you're afraid of running a contest?

Well, that just plain sucks. I wonder how many other people have the same phobia? You do know that you can pass the "prize" onto someone else if you do win and elect not to host. I don't think it's ever been mandatory that a winner... host. I think it's been more of a suggestion, as all the contest "rules" are.

I don't have that phobia because unless the theme is Strange Photos Even Your Mother Would Hate it ain't goin' happen for me.
:rofl:

What I've been observing has nothing to do with you or your photograph and it goes a little beyond the normal herd mentality. IMHO. Or, it could just be that I took waaaaay too much LSD in my yute' and now it's coming back to haunt me. Excuse me... one of the damn chess board pieces just walked off the board again.....
:smoke:

I don't want to turn this into a toilet thread but I will say that I'm uncomfortable with what's going on in that other thread and it has nothing to do with you "cheating" or any other such nonsense. It has to do with having a little respect for the others.... those that took the time and effort to enter a photo in this contest. I'm being a little vague here on purpose but there are a few here that know what I'm talking about. Or, they're just thinkin'... "you know, I think F.Gordon took waaay too much LSD in his yute'". ;-)

Your "planned" photo is pheen-nom-eel. I'd hang on to that.

I agree with you on the whole emotion and feelings thing. I would also say to you that "technical purity" is highly over rated.

So, again. My comments had nothing to do with you or your photo. In a show of solidarity on my part I went and found this snap.
:pals:



Nothing more to see here. Move along......
:hi:

[insane_cratic_gal]

21. I know your not talking about mine!

*snickers* /sigh I really should not of entered this past contest, I'm guilty of not having a genuine silhouette. But having only 4 votes i'm hardly hurting anyone.

This was a tough assignment for me, and I had no time to go out and shoot so I had to make due with what I had. I now I promise myself, I won't enter unless I have something worthy of entering.I only feel bad that I took someone else's spot who might of had a stronger photo that related to the assignment. The Bear should of stayed in my pile of unseen photos!

btw what type of doggie is that? besides a little one.

[F.Gordon]

23. Hey, I got ya' beat. I have 2 votes

:woohoo:

The Bear works... maybe not as a "pure" silhouette but neither is Dude. And you didn't take anyone elses spot. If someone is late to the party....... heck, I could say the same thing.

I have a bunch of silhouettes but I was trying to come up with something new. Townscape probably would have gotten a few more votes but Dude was a little different and new.

The main thing is that you participated. If you gained some insight into these contest things for yourself then your entry was extremely valuable.

Doggie is a mutant cairn.

[xiamiam]

25. i LOVE this photo...what did Mrs. F have to say about thisone?

[insane_cratic_gal]

22. I love this shot

better then the hobbs one, but no one else would of agreed with me lol.. so tells you how much I know!

It's sort of a minimilst meets feng shui. I really enjoyed this shot.

[Eurobabe]

6. Jhain is gonna win!!

[JeffR]

7. Question re: "top 10 winners of the three rounds will advance"

Does this mean the finalists will be the top 10 in total votes regardless of thread, or will this work according to the standard "top 2 in each thread and next 4 overall in votes" method?

[superconnected]

9. Good question.

How do we usually figure these? Top 2 or 3 in each thread is good by me, with the top 4 (or 1) overall.

[regnaD kciN]

10. Top 2 plus 4 highest runners-up...

...has been the way the group has done it in every contest I can recall that needed three preliminaries, with a 3/4 split used on the couple of occasions with two preliminaries. (The first contest I co-ran, last December's "Extreme Processing" challenge, had four preliminary rounds, and I think we used a 2/2 split that time, although F.Gordon might correct me on that one.)

[superconnected]

11. Then we will do top two plus 4 unless we have a tie and need a split.

hahhahaha.

Sounds good to me.

[JeffR]

13. When I ran a contest I was in mortal fear of a tie

fortunately the voters spared me having to deal with one.

[blueraven95]

12. did you post a link in the Lounge too?

Just so I know if I should be kicking it :)

Also, I have commented on one picture so far (I have no idea whose it is as I did not look at the submission thread) and I will post on others as well in an attempt to start conversation and critical analysis over in GD. I invite you to join me.

[superconnected]

16. No, no link to the lounge.

Okay you got me. I'm biased. I didn't want the lounge lizards abusing us.

[blueraven95]

19. I think most of them don't

but I don't blame you anyway - their joking around can get rough.

[Whoa_Nelly]

27. In defense of the Lounge and previous Photo contests there

Have never read a single unkind word in the Lounge in regard to any of the photos posted for prelims or final. While there may be times when the Loungies get rough or tough with each other, for the most part it's not like that (really...it's hardly GD!), and they have always been supportive and complimentary of the photos posted.

I enjoy the Lounge, and I enjoy this group.

[blueraven95]

28. I think most of us like the lounge...

there were some problems though, which we are trying to make bygones by moving the contests to GD. I also think that sometimes the GD denizens need to "stop and smell the roses" as it were - or in this case, enjoy the silhouettes - the pieces of artwork help bring everything else into perspective for some people.

Also, GD brings us much greater exposure (as well as the greatest page).

But I don't think any of us means to call the Lounge a bad place or write off all the people who hang out there. We just feel that the contests were not always taken as seriously as we would like - which is fine, because that is the atmosphere over there and the reason we moved.

[Whoa_Nelly]

34. I appreciate your response, blueraven

Thanks ;)

[xiamiam]

24. where?

[blueraven95]

26. where what?

If you are asking where I am commenting, I'm doing it in the poll threads - with the hope that eventually people will get the point and actually discuss the photographs.

[RagingInMiami]

29. who?

[blueraven95]

30. people in GD

so we can maybe get some critical feedback from non photographers

[RagingInMiami]

31. when?

[blueraven95]

32. how?

[RagingInMiami]

33. why?

[blueraven95]

35. I've run out of questions

I assume "what" would be a repeat. You win.

[RagingInMiami]

36. win what?

[superconnected]

37. The prelim round is over .

[RagingInMiami]

38. Meow

[Cobalt Violet]

39. An amazing group of photos. n/t