~~~**~~~ Run-Off Poll ~~**~~

[jhain]

Notes:

I like Whoa Nelly's take on the Surrealism topic:

-"the photos themselves would remain intact, meaning these wouldn't be skewed to have enhancements/changes that weren't in the original photo. I would think it important that the submission be as close to the original photo as possible...should be about submitting the photographer's "eye" in selecting and framing the original piece, and not be about the open-ended possibilities of taking a so-so to great photo and making it something it was never intended to be."

And Tis The Season is NOT be be constrained by "Christmas"

My thoughts:

"'Tis The Season could be snow or cookies or lights on palm tress or ripped up wrapping paper or swimsuits in New Zealand or a poor (forgotten by Bush) vet sleeping on the street."


Jeff R's thoughts:

"retrospective-like. 30 shots of post-Christmas mall lineups, dessicated turkey carcasses, and Uncle Billybob with a lampshade on his head at the New Year's Eve shindig... That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."


So, let's give this another shot, shall we?
All together now:

[F.Gordon]

1. Kick

Yea, like you'd ever get cats to march like that. :P

[superconnected]

3. Have you ever seen cat's gang up against humans for food

when humans are eating? They all work together.

My favorite current incident was nilla - my white cat, coming in all covered in grease spots he got from under some car. He went to bed very dirty and woke up completely clean. I know the other cats bathed him. There is no way he cleaned the top of his head himself. I've seen his mom and two sisters all working on him together before. Could they all march? Who knows.

nilla sleeping

[jhain]

6. I love this one,

he is O*U*T!

Good capture!

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Kickaroo

;)

[JeffR]

4. I take back what I said recently

I'd be much happier with either bugs or feet.

[jhain]

5. try something like this

http://tinyurl.com/yep7zn

[JeffR]

7. Neat.

'Tis the season to be buggy.

[F.Gordon]

8. Reality Sucks!!!

Rise up my non-conformist contemporaries. Rise up and ..... err... do whatever non-conformist photogs do when they rise. :crazy:

[Blue_In_AK]

22. I voted for surrealism

against my own interests since I still don't really have a clue what it is. It just sounds cool.

[RoyGBiv]

9. Well ...

I voted for "Tis the Season" in the original poll, but I'm not voting in this one, but if I did, I'd vote the opposite. "Surrealism" won. I don't think this poll is necessary.

I'd say more, but it would just create (more) unnecessary controversy, so I'll leave it at that.

[F.Gordon]

10. Controversy is good

Shake a few bats out of the attic.... stir the pot.... fire off some warning shots....

There were a couple of polls that went like this. Most recently Fermé Août won.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x18135

... then lost in the run off poll...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x18203

My own opinion is that these pick-a-theme things are too democratic. There. I said it. I'd rather just see the host/ess determine the theme/topic without all the suggestion boxes and polls. It's not like there isn't a barrel of themes that one could reach in and grab a goodin'.

While Surrealism did win there didn't appear to be much of a "vocal" backing for it. I just don't get why it's totally sucking against the Season thing.
:shrug:

It's late. I'm sorry. What were we talking about. :crazy:

[RoyGBiv]

11. I agree there...

From my casual observation, I kinda thought that was one of the perks/responsibilities of winning, choosing the theme of the next contest.

I voted for surrealism in the last poll and only didn't in this one because I'm a "Tis the Season" softy type.

As for some controversy, the thought that pops to mind is that I've seen a lot of comments from people wanting constructive, at least semi-professional critique of their photographs and that they want their photography to get better. I can think of no better way to improve one's art than to take on a subject with which one is completely uncomfortable. This is certainly true of writing.

A lot of people are uncomfortable with that subject, which leads me to believe the results of having that as a theme would be stunningly exceptional.

I've changed my mind. I am going to vote here and vote for surrealism, and I hope this poll is also given extra time so that arguments for/against have time to be advanced and discussed.

OnEdit: As for the subject itself, I truly do not see the depth of the problem. One definition of surrealistic visual art involves depictions of unexpected or odd juxtapositions that nonetheless define a theme. Hell, someone in Austin could go take a pic of that right-wing nativity scene that's supposed to take a swipe at the ACLU and have a perfect surreal picture, although probably not one that would play well with the voters in the contest, but still.

I probably have half a dozen such photographs in my "these are crap pics I took while on vacation" folder, and I expect the talent in this particular group could produce excellent photos with such a theme.

[JeffR]

12. That one sentence articulates it perfectly

"I can think of no better way to improve one's art than to take on a subject with which one is completely uncomfortable."

A Christmas (or holiday) theme is going to elecit some beautiful pix, but what we're going to see is pretty predictable: Christmas lights, decorations, pets with nerf antlers (I have one, I have one!), Christmas trees, snow, snow, snow. If someone gets really adventurous, we might see a decorated store window, kids singing carols, or a table laden with a holiday feast.

Will they be bad pix? Doubtful. If anything they'll be rich with color and splendid with lights.

Do I want to see these pix? No. Well, maybe after Christmas when people are good enough to share their holiday shots with everyone. But as a contest theme? No, because Surrealism and several of the other suggestions would provide a better and tougher challenge.

The real competition in the contests is that of the individual photographer against the theme, struggling to capture something essential but unique. The success or not of one shot against the rest of the entries is secondary. I don't want to take the now-apparent theme-to-be and trash it. There's nothing wrong with the idea at all. But it ensures that the contest will be "merely" a pretty photo competition. I guess that's not so terrible, but I like to see themes that make me strive to shoot new things or shoot ordinary things in a new way, and I like even more to see what everyone else comes up with when faced with the same task.

"Pretty" is pretty, but it's also a bit of a bore.

[Robb]

13. See, I'm with you, but in the other direction

...if that makes any sense. :D

For me, a holiday shot would be a huuuuuge challenge. Mostly because I know I'd eschew lights 'n cuteness and go looking for something out of the ordinary. And, it would drive me batty trying to do so.

Which could be a definition of a good challenge. Robb, nuttier than usual. ;)

[JeffR]

14. Well, nothing nutty about that

but for all that you and a few others will take that approach, you're apt to be swept aside by the tide of "Pretty".

As I said above, the real competition is between the photographer and the them. But it frustrates the hell out of me to see really creative, daring pics get a handful of votes while less creative but prettier pics get the oohs and ahs. A couple of F.Gordon's and alfredo's from previous contests come to mind immediately; art being overlooked in favor of postcards.

[jhain]

18. Like...

Teen Age Mutant Waffle Bakers?:

[NashVegas]

16. F Gordon I'm With Ya

We should let the contest winner pick next month's theme, and let that be that.

[JeffR]

15. And another thing

Since I just can't shut up: why a runoff when there wasn't a tie between these themes? I know it was a narrow victory, but so was Gore's in 2000.

[jhain]

19. a few people suggested it

while responding to the original poll. The two topics were a mere one vote apart, so I took the suggestion. Seems it has been done before.


I wish I could respond to all of these opinions but I have 5 teenagers and a 12 week old choc lab here just now...all about the same developmetally..... none enabling me to spend time in this chair this morning.

The one thing I wil say quickly- why does 'Tis the Season have to be sappy? Why do some people ASSUME it will be just be a big bunch of boring schmuckness?

[JeffR]

20. Not sappy, necessarily

Just hackneyed and predictable. I hope to be proven wrong, of course. But I'm pretty sure I'm right.

[NashVegas]

17. Surrealism is One of Those Topics That Sounds SOOOO Cool

Until the average shutter bug has to actually think about how they're going to go about it.

Without having the exact history, I doubt very much that this was done entirely inside the camera:



But then, I doubt it would win one of the DU contests, anyway.

[F.Gordon]

25. Man Ray could never win a DU photo contest

(I wasn't sure which post I should reply to...)

And no... that wasn't an "in-camera" pic

After the introduction of the handheld amateur camera by Kodak in 1888, patrician gentlemen with artistic ambitions no longer dominated the medium of photography. As an army of weekend "snapshooters" invaded the photographic realm, a small but persistent group of photographers staked their medium's claim to membership among the fine arts. They rejected the point-and-shoot approach to photography and embraced labor-intensive processes such as gum bichromate printing, which involved hand-coating artist papers with homemade emulsions and pigments, or they made platinum prints, which yielded rich, tonally subtle images. Such photographs emphasized the role of the photographer as craftsman and countered the argument that photography was an entirely mechanical medium.

A favorite of mine from the Dada movement. This one just blows me away....

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pict/ho_49.55.327.htm

Surrealism would have been an excellent theme, not just as a conduit for contest entries but to learn a bit about the ways things have gone over the years with photography. How the darkroom transformed photography into a fine art.

FYI: About the run off poll.. I was one of those that suggested it. A couple of reasons... first; I got the sense that jhain wasn't comfortable with Surrealism as theme (I could be totally wrong here) and secondly; I truly believe that the host/ess should pick the theme.... do whatever they want.

There have been (I think) 3 run off polls. I could be wrong.

[Whoa_Nelly]

21. Kudos to jhain--my 2 cents

jhain has done what she thinks is best as the host for the December contest. The opinions of some that as host she should have just made a decision, she did just that; She made a decision for a run-off.

Kudos to jhain. :toast:

[jhain]

23. Thanks, Nelly

This *is* a rough crowd.

I do hope we can all make merry for the contest.

[jhain]

24. Run -off Poll Closed n/t