JULY Photo Challenge - Comments & Notable Rejects

[Photo Challenge]

This thread is for any comments that you would like to make on the entries in the JULY Photo Challenge submissions.

Additionally, if you have any other shots that you have taken on the subject that didn't quite "make the cut", but you still want to share with the IIS community, then, please, post them here too.

This month's Theme is ... Something from the lyrics of "Sounds of Silence".

:question:

[AstroJunk]

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend....

[sheeny]

That line is probably the main reason for choosing that song for the challenge (seeing as we're all astronomers and therefore like the dark);).

Al.

[RB]

Looks like you've clipped the blacks Jonathan.

:lol: :thumbsup:

[sheeny]

:lol:

[AstroJunk]

Damn it - I always do that! :rofl:

[RB]

Clever entry you've made though.

:thumbsup:

[Photo Challenge]

Clever it is I agree, but an entry it is NOT, until you post it to the Entries thread!!! :shrug:
This is the Rejects thread.

[RB]

LOL, I was referring to his actual entry.
His partner in the rain.

:)

[AstroJunk]

Which could also be in response to the song "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen" due to me standing in the dry with a telephoto taking multiple pictures whilst chortling :)

[RB]

:lol:

[sheeny]

A few rejects from my eye stabbing shoot.

I have other ideas for this theme but this is the easiest to do. The others involve some travel, winter, night time, existing light photography and hopefully (:rolleyes:) poor weather... and maybe cooperation with animals... what could possibly go wrong???:shrug::lol:

So I thought I'd try this idea first.

Al.

[RB]

Yeah, I'm thinking cobblestones.... see if I get a chance.
Good shots Al.

:thumbsup:

[sheeny]

Thanks RB. True cobblestones are a bit rare in Australia - particularly country - but I think pavers is a reasonable substitute.

Al.

[sheeny]

Hmmm... let me see... brick pavers between the dog kennel and the shed (narrow street), a lead light strung over head (street light), night time, a bit of fog or easterly drizzle (to provide the halo) and a cooperative dog (as if! :lol:) (owner of the collar) and a bit of low key existing light photography and I could have a winner! :rofl:

Al.

PS Don't worry about pinching an idea. If I suggest something you think you can do a great job of, feel free. It's all about the photo.

[sheeny]

...actually a black dog called Darkness...

I don't have one of those.:rolleyes:

Al.

[Nebulous]

Great shots, and an intriguing idea. :thumbsup: I thought I'd been through the lyrics fairly throughly but I didn't think of that angle at all.

Cheers,

Chris

[Nebulous]

:)

Just about everything during my attempts yesterday....

When your roles include being the model, the photographer, the lighting man, the set arranger, and the guy trying to get the manual focus right while simultaneously trying to be in front of the camera.... etc... . the range of potential screw-ups is almost infinite. And I found most of them too.

Naturally, there were plenty of out of focus shots, unusable expressions, light in the wrong place, missing the target, and even a flat battery... so the vocabulary got a good workout... ;)


Here's a couple of attempts at "Like silent raindrops fell"

One is two magpies on our front verandah (probably discussing their chances against the Swans in the wet....). But it's a shot from the archives and not this month....

The other one was taken two days ago when the rain came down so hard that it seemed almost personal in its anger.... But not exactly "silent"!

Cheers,

Chris

[Nebulous]

Next attempt was "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls"

Actually it was a skip (dumpster) not a subway, but who's counting?....


Incidentally, if anybody hasn't heard the amazing version of The Sound of Silence by Disturbed it's well worth a listen. It builds and builds. Great voice. Turn it up and rattle the walls...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

[Nebulous]

And then the obvious one...

"Hello Darkness My Old Friend"

I had three goes at different treatments.

The first one nearly crippled me as it involved lying on the floor trying to get the head angle right when I couldn't see how the shot was framed, holding the lockpick with one hand and the the torch and remote control in the other... I may never be able to walk fully upright ever again...

[sheeny]

:thumbsup:

[Nebulous]

The last two attempts on the theme of "Hello darkness my old friend".. were pretty much what you might expect on an astronomy forum - variations on the night sky.

I wasn't sure which of the three to pick so I left the decision up to my wife.

She felt that the one I entered had a relaxed and cheerful feel to it, and was a bit closer to the "friendly dark" theme. And you don't argue with the invited judge, especially when she's such a good wife... :)

So here's the runner up. The clouds on the right were rolling in fast and a few minutes later the stars were all blanketed out..

[sheeny]

Worth the drive I'd say, Tim. Neon sign and all!

Al.

[Suzy]

Tim's shot of the neon God is fantastic! I was thinking to myself, oooh now how would one find find/relate a pic to that and he did it :eyepop:, definitely worth the drive :thumbsup:.

Al, I love your idea with the cobblestones, street light etc, you had me casting visions in my head and very kind of you to let others nick the idea.

Chris,

I thought your lock pic best related to "Darkness". That's a great shot and very creative I think.
I relate to "darkness" as gloom, deep in thought, mysterious, scary. More so, than the happy/feel good feeling with astronomy.
I love your selfie just above too with your open arms and the Milky Way.

------------------------------

I can't believe I missed a good opportunity a few days ago. Outside my house, I was standing in thick fog trying to take pics of the fog. Why or why didn't I think to do a selfie of me standing under the streetlight (right flippin' next to me) amongst all the fog :mad2:. Camera was already on the tripod :mad2:. Think Suzy...think next time grrr.

This is a really fun challenge, so many options, and thanks for getting the song stuck in my head every single day :P.

[Allan_L]

Double Ditto to that !!! :whistle:

[sheeny]

That's OK. The prize money is not worth the legal fees to dispute it anyway. ;):P


Tell me about it...:rofl:

Al.

[Nebulous]

Ah, the perfect picture that got away... almost as legendary as the huge fish that got away.. ;) I bet it would have been a ripper too. :)

How did you go with the shot of the fog? I imagine that it's not easy to capture the look and feel of fog. Did you get anything you were happy with?

Thanks for the kind comments on my shots. The lock pick one was my favourite of the three as well , perhaps because it was such a relief to finally get more or less what I was after and be able to stop the physical discomfort! I also liked the open arms one but it was a composite of two shots. Of course many astro shots are composites of dozens of shots but I'm a bit like Leon in that respect, I'll go for a single shot if I can manage it.

I agree that it's a fun challenge - having so many possibilities is really intriguing. :thumbsup: I'm sure the song would be stuck in my head too... if only I could remember lyrics for more than a few seconds after reading them! :screwy:

[Suzy]

Hi Chris,
Would you believe hubby got the best shot of the fog low on the ground with his phone! By the time I went and grabbed camera & set up on tripod & mucked with the settings, the best of it was gone. But you could clearly see it at down the end of the street so my selfie next to the lamp post may have worked nicely in a long shot :question:, would've been worth trying anyway :). I did get a nice piccy of the Moon though with a Lunar Coronal display. I thought geee, why is the Moon so sharp and clear with all this fog around and then I got told that some of the best seeing can be through fog or light cloud as it acts a filter, who knew :eyepop:!

[Suzy]

Lunar Coronal Display, 7th July 2017.
Captured through heavy fog from Brisbane's southside.

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[zenith]

This is turning out to be a great theme, I'm enjoying seeing the many and varied entries.

Does anyone else feel conspicuous when you do something like stand on the nature strip next to a busy road and take a picture of a Church at night, whilst dressed in black and wearing a beanie? I was sure I'd be telling my story to a police officer:
Me: "Well Sir, have you hear of ice in space?"
Police: "You are after ICE, you say?"
Me: "Ice in Space"
Police: "Spaced out, you say?"

[Suzy]

:lol::lol::lol:

[Nebulous]

Yep! Annoying isn't it... :)

The fantastic thing about a phone camera is that you nearly always have it with you and can be taking shots in a few seconds. And the quality is really pretty good now. A picture I took during the mopping up phase of a local bushfire ended up on the front cover of the official report on the fire. And it was simply that I had it in my pocket, saw what I thought was an interesting composition, and - click! Back in the pocket without stopping work. (Of course the fact that they got the pic for free might have influenced the decision to use it too... ;) )

Intriguing about the filtering effects of fog on the moon. I'd had a somewhat similar experience but didn't know that it was "a thing" that it can work like a filter.

Nice shot, and clever captioning with "That split the night" too. :thumbsup:

[Nebulous]

:):):)

Always good to to some risks in the name of art Tim! Worth it for that splendid picture though. :thumbsup:

I agree about the theme. What an inspired idea to use song lyrics instead of just a single title. It's been especially interesting to see what others have made of sections of lyrics that went straight through to the keeper when i read them. And we're not half way through the month yet.

I hope we get some more "Notable Rejects"on this thread - one entry each on the main thread seems barely enough. :)

Cheers,

Chris

[sheeny]

:lol: Back in the 80's when I had my 8" newt on a samson mount, the cops paid me a visit. The "back" yard was visible from the road, and someone had reported that I had set up a cannon!

They stuck around to have a look at Jupiter and Saturn...:lol:

Al.

[Allan_L]

Absolutely!
Especially as I was on my motorbike, wearing leathers ...
("with my collar turned against the cold and damp")

So much so that I decided not to park it on the side of the road, but to park it in a nearby shopping centre car park. And walk.
But then the sight of me pushing through the bushes to get to the road may have seemed a bit odd to some passing anyway! :eyepop: ;)

[Suzy]

:rofl:So funny Al.


Chris, thank you :). That's a great story and congratulations on your front cover pic, how exciting that would've been!

[ZeroID]

I'm going to have to suggest this kind of theme to the Camera Club, it's just awesome !
And I'll have to enter a pic now ... where's them lyrics .. ?

Well done !! :thumbsup:

[Suzy]

Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again.

One from the archives, selfie taken with a compact Sony Cybershot N50 camera.
Jupiter and Venus conjunction - closest contact.
July 1st 2015.
:)

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[speach]

well we might as well give up now after Suzy's picture

[Suzy]

:lol: You're too kind Simon.
I'll just be happy if I don't get a big fat zero in the voting poll, one vote at least for trying so hard would be good :lol:.

[sheeny]

Sounds like you've had some fun anyway Suzy, so that in itself is the reward.

The vote is just a bonus.

:thumbsup:

Al.

[kinetic]

I am still looking for an entry...
I'm enjoying everyone's stuff so far. :thumbsup:
Wishing I could submit this , as I thought of it as soon as
I saw the song title, however it has been submitted before.

This is 'A' Station, Central Power Station, Broken Hill N.S.W.
Decommissioned in 1986, it supplied the underground mines and surface
workings of all mines in the city.
Now in total silence.

Several relatives and friends of mine worked in this building over the decades.

Steve

[sheeny]

1. Through narrow streets of cobblestone... Istanbul.
2. ten thousand people maybe more... Istanbul.
3. And the people bowed and prayed:P... Istanbul.
4. Through narrow streets of cobblestone... Istanbul.
5. Through narrow streets of cobblestone... Istanbul.

Al.

[RB]

Hey Al, that second one looks like the Turkish Beatles crossing Abbey Road.

:lol:

[sheeny]

:lol: I didn't notice that, but as soon as you mentioned it, yes, I see it!

[Nebulous]

I must be missing something..... :confused2: :screwy:

I've looked and looked again at Suzy's entry and I still can't spot the aeroplane in it..... It's got to be in there somewhere doesn't it?? ;)

[Nebulous]

I've come to talk with you again...

I had a composition in mind with an old woman in her cluttered home being visited by a very young grandson or granddaughter (Maybe even toddler age?). Maximum saccharine cuteness with the old girl looking rapt to be visited and the kid looking seriously fond of the old chook. However, my wife flatly refused to play one of the roles.... and you simply can't get cute and directable kids on demands these days... (The same cast could have posed for "Take my arms that I might reach" you as well....)

So I had to settle for one Googled off the internet. Same title - "I've come to talk with you again" - but different setup.. :rolleyes:

http://leftoverrights.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/trump-call-putin.jpg

[Nebulous]

"And in the naked light I saw, ten thousand people maybe more..."

I also rather like the idea of copying Spencer Tunick's idea and shooting something similar in my garden.

However, only nine thousand people turned up, so I had to just take a few test shots and then cancel. Maybe another day.... :)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/7346113/Spencer-Tunick-invites-over-5000-people-to-pose-naked-on-the-steps-of-the-Sydney-Opera-House.html?image=9

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-tunick-idUSN0626494920070506

[Allan_L]

:lol: So Good!
Lucky that Rule 2 doesn't apply to this thread ( ... or ... hmm ... :question: )

[Allan_L]

I wondered how long it would take for that line to be exposed. ;)

[Suzy]

Al,
Those shots of Istanbul are amazing!!! I especially love the B&W.
I was just showing them to hubby.

[sheeny]

Thanks Suzy. At the time it was a great place to visit. Not sure what the current situation is like for western tourists though.

The biggest regret was not taking my camera when we went for a walk the first night in Istanbul. The back streets and "palaces of the people" (slums) would've made some extraordinary existing light photos.

Al.

[Suzy]

:prey2::prey2::prey2: Urghhhh! Why didn't I think to incorporate one *bangs head*. I had the perfect shot too that I may have been able to incorporate. Perhaps printed it off and hung it in the background or somewhere :question:.
And I was struggling whether to use that shot (I call it "Spooky") as an entry (tho an archive shot) But I decided to get out and have a go & hopefully get something worthwhile from the night.

Btw, those suggestions are awesome! Hubby actually suggested something like that would be fantastic for the 10,000 people or more caption but where does one come across that :lol:.


Disturb the sound of silence .......

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B787-8 Dreamliner BKK-YBBN as TG473 #HS-TQC
RO1 approach, snapped around 2,500ft. April 9th 2016.
Surrounded by a bright condensation display spraying from its wings. Reminds me of a ghost ship in the air :violin:

[RB]

Steve, you're allowed to enter an image that you've submitted before mate.
Nothing against the rules on that.

RB

:thumbsup:

[Nebulous]

Lovely shot Steve. :thumbsup: The silence is almost deafening. It reminds me a little of visiting the Midland railways workshops, here in WA. They were once packed with hundreds of workers building, servicing and repairing carriages and locomotives. All fire, smoke and noise. But now empty. At least they haven't knocked them down yet and there is still some interesting old equipment to be seen there.

Similar view below - but not as striking as yours though.

[Nebulous]

Nice shot of the plane Suzy :thumbsup:

I must say I didn't think of that angle either... Disturb the sound of silence..

I saw "silence" and overlooked "disturb".. :mad2:

I could have had a bawling baby, cars racing, motorbikes, guitar and amplifiers..., a rooster crowing..... even an 'angry bird' shot like the one below. I have nearly as many pictures of birds as you have of planes.. :)

We could do this theme all year! :)

[Suzy]

He doesn't look happy at all does he :lol:. Great capture, Chris!
I find Crows really entertaining in their expressions, I've captured some great ones from the airport; they love to watch the planes fly!
And yes, so much can be done with "disturb " :D.

Here's another one from my archive taken a few months ago.

In restless dreams I walked alone......

215818

[Photo Challenge]

How Prophetic ...



and then there was nothing, but the Sounds of Silence :shrug:

[Suzy]

:lol::lol::lol:

That's gold.

[sheeny]

:lol:

hello hello hello...

Gone quiet hasn't it? asn't it? asn't it?

[Regulus]

That was a fun challenge.