Weekly Photo Contest | March 8 - March 15 | Silence

[_timo_redux_]

I really liked last week's contest — Audible — and not because I "won" (I would actually prefer to have been a bridesmaid rather than the bride, and anyway IMO @coolguy4747 's entry should have won) but because I found so many possible entries when I was looking through my pictures. I had a hard time deciding! To my mind, that's a great theme; hat's off to @kendallm for it and his comments, even if he got the winner wrong.

So for this week, I thought we can stay on the theme of sound, but do the opposite. This week's theme is silence.

Show us your picture that imply a stillness or quiet or tranquility or peace.


As always, standard rules apply:

• The photographs must be your own work.
• You may only submit one photo per contest.
• No commenting or liking photos until after the judging has taken place.
• This contest runs for about a week, starting now.
• At the end of the competition, the judge (last week's winner) will choose a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place photo, providing as much feedback as possible.
• The 1st place winner will start a new thread here with the topic/theme of their choice, and act as the judge for that contest. (Winner has 48 hours to create new theme, after that it defers to 2nd place).
• Be sure to update the Contest Master List as soon as you post a new theme.

Contest closes March 14th at 7:00 PM EDT

 

[goldmac2006]

Where our boss had us go on lunch during my internship in one of the 11 hour shifts while touring UCSD and tech companies. Circa January 2025

 

[C0ncreteBl0nde]

Dawn of the Dead~

 

[SnoFlo]

Eerie quiet. 35mm film.

 

[mtbdudex]

 

[Snowlover]

 

[Strider64]

I remember that day it was just me and this red-tailed hawk in the woods with complete silence.

 

[oblomow]

 

[kendallm]

 

[arkitect]

Olympus E-M10 II
Jupiter 9 85mm f/2.0

 

[goldmac2006]

@_timo_redux_ , it’s the 15th! Isn’t this the end of the contest? Our last contestant submitted their entry back on Wednesday. Or are we still expecting more entries?

 

[_timo_redux_]

Contest closed.

@goldmac2006 I’m thinking about whether the very vertical aspect ration helps this picture feel silent or peaceful; does the far-off horizon line suggest it? Surf too far away to hear? FWIW the tire tracks in the foreground don’t suggest peace to me

@C0ncreteBl0nde “Dawn of the Dead” is an ironic caption for a submission to a peaceful thread, yes? Caption aside, there is a feeling of stillness, and the boundary fence does underscore how there are transitions from one reality to another

@SnoFlo Bravo. This certainly feels still and quiet. Vignetting can be controversial but I like its heavy hand here, with the off-center hazy sun as a kind of pin in the middle of the vignette. Intriguing

@mtbdudex Starry night, with one extra red star on the horizon? The stillness of the water certainly helps us read this as a quiet picture. Lots of blues: I wonder if you find the blue mountains transitioning to the blue sky pleasant? Were it my own picture I think the color balance would vex me a little more. Great idea to emphasis the sky and make the mountains and lake correspondingly smaller

@Snowlover Another effort with a quiet fog in a late fall or early spring context, so we don’t think nature is a-buzz at all, but resting. I’m wondering about the square vignette; seems at odds with the organic picture elements

@Strider64 Calm before the hunt, maybe. Just last week I also sat near a tree watching a hawk, who was, yes, silent in his or her appraisal of me and how long to rest there. Nice composition

@oblomow I don’t know what’s going on here, but wow. Even though the figure on the right has an open mouth, we don’t believe any sound is coming out; maybe more like a silent scream. Are these muses, actors, statues? Also interesting that silent isn’t necessarily peaceful, but of course can be a touch menacing as well. Bravo

@kendallm A peaceful crossing, a reflective moment; I even like the silhouette of the photographer observing.

@arkitect Floating off into the layered clouds; yes, peaceful and even serene. I like the contrast between the delicate blues warming to whites against the more stark balloons; we get something to anchor our eye but also remind us of the immense scale of clouds


3rd @arkitect
2nd @SnoFlo

1st @oblomow

 

[C0ncreteBl0nde]

“Dawn of the Dead” is an ironic caption for a submission to a peaceful thread, yes? Caption aside, there is a feeling of stillness, and the boundary fence does underscore how there are transitions from one reality to another

I hear what you are saying. I was in a cemetery and dawn had just broken so I was alone with the deceased, thus the silence...had I thought about how it COULD be taken, I would have left the caption off.

Good theme...by the time the last entry had been submitted I was thinking "I'd hate to have to judge THESE photos!" Congrats to the winners; all well deserved.

 

[SnoFlo]

Lovely photos, everyone! @_timo_redux_ , thank you so much, and for taking the time to critique and judge!

 

[mtbdudex]

Truly great submissions and judging.
Upon seeing this subject this song echoed in my brain.

 

[goldmac2006]

I’m thinking about whether the very vertical aspect ration helps this picture feel silent or peaceful; does the far-off horizon line suggest it? Surf too far away to hear? FWIW the tire tracks in the foreground don’t suggest peace to me

Hey everyone, I apologise for not realising that all these additional elements weren’t part of the theme. Next time, I’ll make sure to check the description of the next contest and post a picture that better fits the theme to increase my chances of winning.

By the way, I should have chosen a different shot of the La Jolla beach than the one I used, I took these shots during my work trip. I apologise for not reading the instructions carefully.

 

[mollyc]

Hey everyone, I apologise for not realising that all these additional elements weren’t part of the theme. Next time, I’ll make sure to check the description of the next contest and post a picture that better fits the theme to increase my chances of winning.

By the way, I should have chosen a different shot of the La Jolla beach than the one I used, I took these shots during my work trip. I apologise for not reading the instructions carefully.

The themes are very much open to interpretation, both by the participants and the judge of the week. Sometimes even as a judge the criteria changes a bit based on entries and someone entering something unexpectedly on point.

The goal for these challenges isn’t always to win, but to think a bit differently on a given theme. Some people shoot new for the challenges and some use archive photos.

Mostly it’s all meant to be fun.

 

[goldmac2006]

The themes are very much open to interpretation, both by the participants and the judge of the week. Sometimes even as a judge the criteria changes a bit based on entries and someone entering something unexpectedly on point.

The goal for these challenges isn’t always to win, but to think a bit differently on a given theme. Some people shoot new for the challenges and some use archive photos.

Mostly it’s all meant to be fun.

Understandable. He put the beach as an example of a quiet place so I used a pic of it that I photoshopped and then added blue skies on it.

 

[mollyc]

Understandable. He put the beach as an example of a quiet place so I used a pic of it that I photoshopped and then added blue skies on it.

for the life of me i can’t see where beach was used as an example but maybe i’m still tired from traveling.

i really loved @arkitect ’s photo.

i’ll be back in april to these challenges when i’m home again for more than 48 hours.

 

[oblomow]

New contest is up

 

[_timo_redux_]

Hey everyone, I apologise for not realising that all these additional elements weren’t part of the theme. Next time, I’ll make sure to check the description of the next contest and post a picture that better fits the theme to increase my chances of winning.

By the way, I should have chosen a different shot of the La Jolla beach than the one I used, I took these shots during my work trip. I apologise for not reading the instructions carefully.

NO apologies needed, required or necessary. This is Your Vision, you do as you please, and show us as you please, within the forum-based rules of decorum.

There IS, I'm sure, a picture where the verticalness of the shot is in tension with the horizontalness of a beach, and that evokes some kind of meaning. It's not strange or "wrong" to want to explore that, or really whatever you want.

 

[_timo_redux_]

The themes are very much open to interpretation, both by the participants and the judge of the week. Sometimes even as a judge the criteria changes a bit based on entries and someone entering something unexpectedly on point.

The goal for these challenges isn’t always to win, but to think a bit differently on a given theme. Some people shoot new for the challenges and some use archive photos.

Mostly it’s all meant to be fun.

Exactly. Enter these contests, read through the threads, or not, for your own reasons and exact what you can or want from them. That certainly includes fun.

 

[goldmac2006]

NO apologies needed, required or necessary. This is Your Vision, you do as you please, and show us as you please, within the forum-based rules of decorum.

There IS, I'm sure, a picture where the verticalness of the shot is in tension with the horizontalness of a beach, and that evokes some kind of meaning. It's not strange or "wrong" to want to explore that, or really whatever you want.

Exactly. Enter these contests, read through the threads, or not, for your own reasons and exact what you can or want from them. That certainly includes fun.

🤩 alrighty y’all wherever the next contest is I will be there to participate in the next one. Looking forward to it all!

 

[mtbdudex]

Contest closed.


@mtbdudex Starry night, with one extra red star on the horizon? The stillness of the water certainly helps us read this as a quiet picture. Lots of blues: I wonder if you find the blue mountains transitioning to the blue sky pleasant? Were it my own picture I think the color balance would vex me a little more. Great idea to emphasis the sky and make the mountains and lake correspondingly smaller

3rd @arkitect
2nd @SnoFlo

1st @oblomow

At 3am in the morning it was dark-dark, could not see your hand in front of you, and dead silent, literally...

As an astrophotography artist I've chosen the slightly enhanced sky for it's visual appeal, it's a personal choice among many we all make.

btw, also at 3am when you hear a sound, any sound, your human instincts kick in, this is bear country, I did hear some breathing and other after being there for 45+ minutes .. and that's when I truly got scared, made my own noises, and stopped, got in the car and drove back to our campsite - that picture. This was on a family 3 week camping vacation.