CHAT - Opposites - w/e comp 17-20 Feb 2011

[DigiDiva]

Jinky, you have created my perfect evening...................ICE (for the vodka or gin) and chillies (I love my food so spicy I can hardly eat it)..........And you half stole my idea *sigh* well done, love it!

[kerbside]

Just can't get the image into my head this week so with little time i may pass on this one. but who knows inspiration may hit me.
Did have some Tea lights frozen in ice cubes ready to light but looks like i have been beaten to the theme, Oh well.

[DigiDiva]

I have brain freeze too kerbside! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

In my book do not worry about having similar ideas The world is full of them. It sharpens your skills !! What would happen if the subject was portraits; would we all choose to avoid a human face after the first entry??

Just go with your ideas and interpretations.

[dan123]

i may give this a go if i get the time, have an idea although its probly been done a million times before and a lot better than id be able, but i might have to try it anyway,

dan,

[HinFrance]

Quite agree, give jinky and his frozen chilli a run for his money. If that's your idea, then go with it if you want to.

I now have my idea, but won't be able to get camera time until tomorrow afternoon. So if someone else does it first I'll just have to hope that I do it better

[kerbside]

Point taken from Andy & HF, may just burn the house down tomorrow and hope i have an ice melt to put it out.

[Lepach]

I have noticed the standard of entries in this comp are quite high and I would like to think that by taking part I will push myself harder and begin to produce better work. My only problem is time and commitments which makes the end product rushed and never really to what I possibly could achieve. I guess this is a common problem, but it does pose a question for me as to whether taking part is actually doing me any good? Maybe more time on the technique would be more beneficial to me? I guess some of you are pro's or retired pro's or experienced photographers who are now retired which gives you more time to think and plan. I'm envious as I can't afford to retire yet, but have Grand children and retiree duties, you know what I mean.
After all that rambling, is there a place for a monthly competition on this site as well as this one which would give me and possibly others more time to get an entry in which would perhaps allow me/us to express ourselves fully, rather than an ill prepared entry? I would see this running in tandem with the excellent idea used here, of a poll rather than the previous winner or editor making a decision. I believe It's always better to be judged this way
I would be interested to know your opinions on this

Originally Posted by Lepach

I have noticed the standard of entries in this comp are quite high and I would like to think that by taking part I will push myself harder and begin to produce better work. My only problem is time and commitments which makes the end product rushed and never really to what I possibly could achieve. I guess this is a common problem, but it does pose a question for me as to whether taking part is actually doing me any good? Maybe more time on the technique would be more beneficial to me? I guess some of you are pro's or retired pro's or experienced photographers who are now retired which gives you more time to think and plan. I'm envious as I can't afford to retire yet, but have Grand children and retiree duties, you know what I mean.
After all that rambling, is there a place for a monthly competition on this site as well as this one which would give me and possibly others more time to get an entry in which would perhaps allow me/us to express ourselves fully, rather than an ill prepared entry? I would see this running in tandem with the excellent idea used here, of a poll rather than the previous winner or editor making a decision. I believe It's always better to be judged this way
I would be interested to know your opinions on this

Photography is often catching the moment. Times when you get very little time to think or prepare. While I understand where you are coming from; the week end competition sharpens the response process and accordingly without doubt improves your photography.

If you have taken a few shots in line towards the comp entry, but are still unhappy with the quality of your work (in that you feel you could have done better) there is no requirement to post the entry in that particular weekend. ie. Keep up with the discipline the weekly short time scale provides and enter when you feel you are finally getting cracking shots, or feel you need some critque to fine tune a shot (with perhaps a view to entering it in POTY 2011).

[Drew Smith]

Originally Posted by Lepach

I have noticed the standard of entries in this comp are quite high and I would like to think that by taking part I will push myself harder and begin to produce better work. My only problem is time and commitments which makes the end product rushed and never really to what I possibly could achieve. I guess this is a common problem, but it does pose a question for me as to whether taking part is actually doing me any good?

Lepach - understand your viewpoint entirely, but....

.. are you struggling with coming up with the idea, setting up the idea or shooting the idea?

If it's the first or third then shame on you you have no excuse; as Beauxreflets says, sometimes it is about catching the moment and manipulating your camera settings (quickly or slowly) will only improve with practice.

If you find you don't have sufficient time to 'set up' your vision then simply try a different idea; a simpler one. take this weeks comp for example; if you say, took two wine glasses and filled one with milk or redwine and left the other empty for 'empty/full' Opposites, how long would that take to set up and shoot? 5 minutes? And there would still be a huge amount to learn from such an exercise, I'm sure.

The competition isn't about winning, it's about improving your photography; so chill out and simplify your ideas if necessary and have fun.