Weekly Photo Contest | Nov 27 - Dec 4 | Still Life

[mollyc]

Can you believe we have never had still life as a theme? At least not in the contests on the Master List going back through 2015. So now, here is your chance!

Also, please interpret this as broadly as you wish. You do not have to have an orange or a vase of flowers on a table. I find still life vignettes everywhere, basically as long as there isn't anything that might be moving on its own accord at some point, it is fair game.

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 ends December 4 , 6.00 PM NYC time (EST)

 

[Snowlover]

 

[kendallm]

 

[C0ncreteBl0nde]

"You're Not Worth the Whiskey"

 

[piatigorsky]

From when I'd just begun taking film photography seriously (Ilford HP5+ pushed 3 stops, Nikon F601)

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Wow you post it and I stumble across this image from 2013, almost at the same time. A bit on the cliché side but I'm going with it.

 

[_timo_redux_]

2019

 

[coolguy4747]

 

[mollyc]

25 hours remaining!

 

[oblomow]

 

[madmin]

 

[mollyc]

okay, this is closed. back later tonight or early tomorrow afternoon with results.

 

[mollyc]

@Snowlover A lens is always a good subject! That seems to be a pretty versatile one too. 🙂 Good subject separation with the wide open aperture.

@kendallm I love the rainbow colors in the background. I kind of wish the light bulb was illuminated but still really appreciate the simple scene.

@C0ncreteBl0nde I assume (and definitely hope!) that this was just a fun setup and not a story about your actual life! It's a really well done vignette, the light is great and the details help to fill in the story well.

@piatigorsky Well you know I'll give you bonus points for film! But great depth of field in this and really great details for pushed film.

@OldMacs4Me Pansies are one of my favorite flowers; I can't grow them here because the deer like them as much as I do. A very traditional twist to the challenge!

@_timo_redux_ I really like the idea of this one. It really feels a bit off balance to me, and I don't mean the sandollar and rock. I feel like it's pushed too far to the top of the frame; I think you composed it that way to include the shadow, but I would like a bit more negative space top right. I do love the long shadow you have though.

@coolguy4747 It's amazing you found a play space devoid of children so that the balls are actually still! I really like this scene.

@oblomow Another classic feeling still life, complete with cobwebs. The black and white works really well here for such a vintage location.

@madmin Adorable little birdies. This is another where I think the subject just crowds the edges too much, I'd love a bit more space on the left. But the lighting is really nice on them and shows off the texture really well.

And with that, here are my top three for the week, but really I loved all of them!

3: @piatigorsky

2: @oblomow

1: @C0ncreteBl0nde

 

[C0ncreteBl0nde]

Thank you so much, @mollyc ! Some months ago I was having fun setting up photos to tell a story based on song lyrics. Alas, as you know, life took an unexpected turn last summer and I removed my small kitchen studio since I no longer had the time to use it. So, no, this is not based on my own life event (though it could have been in the past) but on a song by Cole Swindell called "Ain't Worth the Whiskey." I hope in the future I'll be able to get back to doing this again.

Congratulations to @piatigorsky and @oblomow. I loved the wide array of subjects and POVs in all the entries.

I will have a new contest up in the near future. Thank you again for the honor of the number one spot.

 

[madmin]

Thanks and well done MollyC for this very nice edition.

Congrats to all, especially to the very worthy winner !

 

[piatigorsky]

@piatigorsky Well you know I'll give you bonus points for film! But great depth of field in this and really great details for pushed film.

Thanks for the podium finish! This roll dates from almost exactly two years ago, when I'd just begun taking film photography seriously, and often I really didn't have a clue what I was doing with my camera back then—for the most part, I left the camera on full auto I think. Now about 200 more rolls later, I'm sometimes quite surprised by what I was able to do back then. Also, I was using Ilford DD-X as my developer then, later on I switched primarily to HC-110, but now that I know more about film development, and seeing some of my earlier work, I might go back and give DD-X another go.

 

[mollyc]

Thanks for the podium finish! This roll dates from almost exactly two years ago, when I'd just begun taking film photography seriously, and often I really didn't have a clue what I was doing with my camera back then—for the most part, I left the camera on full auto I think. Now about 200 more rolls later, I'm sometimes quite surprised by what I was able to do back then. Also, I was using Ilford DD-X as my developer then, later on I switched primarily to HC-110, but now that I know more about film development, and seeing some of my earlier work, I might go back and give DD-X another go.

Do you shoot any digital, or is it all film? You bang through so much film....I'm impressed. I started in 2021 but didn't really throw myself into it hard until this year. But I also shoot digital, so it's hard to get through massive quantities of film like you seem to. I also don't have as many compelling street scenes like you do, living in suburbia.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

@OldMacs4Me Pansies are one of my favorite flowers; I can't grow them here because the deer like them as much as I do. A very traditional twist to the challenge!

My wife loves Pansies as well, however 2013 was the last year we tried them. Like you we discovered that deer find them irresistible. The bowl is a crystal candy dish that is at least 70 years old. The cast glass insert which holds the poppies mom found at the thrift shop where she volunteered. The L. M. Alcott Books are 1907 and 1908 printings that were given to my paternal Grandmother when she was about 10 years old.

 

[C0ncreteBl0nde]

The new contest is up here!

 

[piatigorsky]

Do you shoot any digital, or is it all film? You bang through so much film....I'm impressed. I started in 2021 but didn't really throw myself into it hard until this year. But I also shoot digital, so it's hard to get through massive quantities of film like you seem to. I also don't have as many compelling street scenes like you do, living in suburbia.

It's funny you mentioned "compelling street scenes", because most of us here generally think the streets and cityscapes of just about everywhere else other than Taiwan are more interesting than what we have here—just this afternoon, when I was showing an older lady some photos I shot in Munich in October, she said that Europe is far more beautiful, and there's nothing worthy of a picture here in Taipei. True, most of our buildings are hideous blocks of reinforced concrete (but with a good reason, to withstand earthquakes and floods), and every single densely packed residential area around the island looks almost the same, but I think on a macro level there's often a lot of interesting scenes to discover.

As for your first question, for the past two years I've been shooting almost exclusively on film, and most of that is in black and white, in large part because it's much cheaper to buy bulk rolls of b&w film. On the digital front, I'm heavily invested in the micro 4/3 format, and I still do bring out my Panasonic GH5 on occasion, especially if I intend to record video. But nowadays I hardly ever leave home without at least one film camera in my bag; for me, shooting film forces me to think about what I shoot, and now that I have full control over the entire process, it makes me appreciate my end products more, and in addition when I do bring out my digital camera, I've found that my technique has also improved. (But film is so much more interesting!)