Am I the only one less than enthused about

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

the flowers theme this month?

I mean, I like flowers and all... but all the pictures look the same to me, you either have the extreme depth of field shots with dew or the minimal depth of field color studies.

Blah.

[F.Gordon]

1. You mean like puppies? They all look cute.

I've liked this theme because up until now I've never had any interest in pointing a camera at a flower. It's forced me to do something I've never done.

I'm sure there will be quite a few entries that will be nothing more than photographs yanked from existing portfolios, but I think a large number of people have gone out and done something new for this contest. I wish every theme would produce something fresh from everyone.

I think you're going to see some very good flower photographs in this contest, with unique perspectives. Personally, I gave up on trying for the "typical" flower shot that you are referring to and have been going for something very different. :crazy:

Speaking of which... I need to go. This will be my last day of flower hunting. Next week I'll start looking for critter and aged object snapshots (in anticipation of future contest themes)

So, get your butt out there and find a perty flower pix. Or are you going to just rest on the success of your kick-ass light and shadow entry? It happens every time... people get successful and then they think... "oh, flowers... that's so beneath me." ;)

:hi:

[regnaD kciN]

13. I think you're going to see LOTS of very good photographs this time...

As a matter of fact, I would be surprised if we don't get thirty pictures that are each worthy of winning. That doesn't mean that they will be hackenyed or predictable. (And I would add that there's nothing wrong with a classic archetype, either.)

You could make the same complaint about virtually any general topic. Landscapes? Seasonal (particularly autumn and winter) images? Barns? Cities? Animals in the wild? You name it, someone's probably taken a photo of it in every possible way. The challenge isn't necessarily to be "different" (though a strong dose of true originality is always a benefit), but to create an image to which others will respond on both a mental and emotional level. Apollonian and Dionysian, as it were.

[F.Gordon]

15. I agree

I'm also guessing that voting will be a lot closer than in past contests. Possibly even a few ties.

It's going to be difficult to predict what will have broad appeal in the voting. My idea of "different'? To find a way to make a flower not look like a flower, or to present a flower in a way that breaks the mold. I know it's not a popular concept but I like it when people look at one of my snapshots and say.... "what is that??"

This has been difficult and fun at the same time. I've enjoyed doing something different but I have not a clue as to what will be a vote magnet. Up close and personal? Bizarre Exotic? Unique gardens? Unusual Color? Traditional Victorian? I've come up with all these "types".... but I'm going crazy trying to pick something.
:dilemma:

[regnaD kciN]

17. You make a good point...

In many ways, it's not just about taking good photos, but about picking the right one. I can honestly say I think I've taken forty-two very good pictures for this contest (as can be found here). Taken as a whole, I think they're pretty impressive. But is any given one of them, taken alone, good enough to even make the finals, considering the likely strength of the competition? I'd say it's a toss-up at best.

And, if you really, really have your heart set on winning, or even making the finals, it means not merely picking what seems best to you (if such a thing is possible), but also trying to read the minds of the Lounge Lizards who will be making the decisions. In some sense, picking the "right" photo is almost more akin to marketing than to artistic judgement, although hopefully without slighting the latter in the process.

[amazona]

2. well it is a classic theme

Flowers are a subject that must be mastered by good photographers, just as every painter should know her way around a still life.

I likely won't enter the Flower contest, not for lack of interest, but lack of skill. My flower photos are not yet where I feel ready to share them. They are a challenging subject, because you struggle with natural (often harsh) light, depth of field issues, macro issues, and then when you get home and get the film developed there's one little itty bitty dead spot on a leaf or even a whole lovebug sitting on the flower.

A good flower photo is a tough job.

[F.Gordon]

3. "Lack of skill" doesn't stop me

The natural light today will be horrible for clicking flower snapshots, but I picked up this Haze Filter that I hope will help. I was told it would.... will let ya' know if I was sold a line of crap.

Damn.. gotta' go. Bye.Bye.

On edit: Just attached it. It's not a Haze Filter, it's a Neutral Density Filter. Just needed to clear that up.....

[F.Gordon]

16. About the Neutral Density Filter

Recommend it. It failed a bit in the light whites and yellows but worked remarkably with greens, blues, and reds. Doesn't beat a cloudy day, but if you don't have that option .... a decent filter for clicking flowers on a bright sunny day.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I wasn't all that excited about flowers either...

...but I got me one yesterday that works on more than one level, quite by accident. Maybe these shots take a little more creativity -- or in my case, LUCK.

[superconnected]

5. I was thinking the same thing

I was thinking the same thing.

I decided I need to find a strong variant. Perhaps in composition, or a very odd flower(if I go with an extreme close-up) or an odd place for flowers and still a beautiful shot.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. I think composition is the trick. n/t

[regnaD kciN]

12. Well, here's an obvious suggestion...

...why not one in black-and-white?

[regnaD kciN]

20. When you say "an odd place for flowers"...

...I assume you weren't thinking of this:

;-)

(Shortly after reading your post, I happened to pass by this trashcan. I have no idea what the flower was doing there, or even how they got it to stay attached that way. :shrug: )

[TahitiNut]

6. Yep.

:boring: :boring:

[alfredo]

8. That's what makes it a challenge. Flowers are beautiful, but

there are more ways to look at flowers. I have posted pictures of flowers in black and white, and just today I posted less than perfect flowers that have passed their prime, turning brown and dying.

Look at the flowers like a kid would. Forget romantic notions that seem to power a lot of photos of flowers. Show a sense of wonder. break off the flower, feed it to a rabbit, then photograph it.

[intheflow]

9. I take a lot of flower photos, and love my florals, but...

I agree with you on for the most part. I'm looking at all these flower photos and they all look like something I could or would take--hence, they all look pretty much the same to me. What I have enjoyed about the contests with broader themes is that most of the photos have either been things I wouldn't have thought of shooting for the theme, or photos I haven't the skill to shoot. There are many ways to shoot flowers, but I don't think they take any particular skill to get a beautiful shot.

And then, flower shots are so subjective. I worked in a frame shot for 8 years and most people would frame the most god-awful ugly floral prints. No other subject brought out such bad taste in people. imho. :P

Mind you, I'll still enter a photo... :)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

10. Oh, I am sure I will enter one

but what I have seen and taken so far does not do it for me

[amazona]

11. "what I have taken so far does not do it for me"-- EXACTLY

We are talking about how flower shots are zzzzzz but the truth is the flower is one of the most challenging of subjects. My flower photographs make me weep and tear my hair. This is indeed one of the most challenging assignments we could be giving ourselves. It may appear to be deceptively easy but a fine flower shot probably represents hundreds of hours of education in taking good photographs.

P.S. Yay, I found my sig line!!!

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[regnaD kciN]

14. Agreed...!

This is indeed one of the most challenging assignments we could be giving ourselves. It may appear to be deceptively easy but a fine flower shot probably represents hundreds of hours of education in taking good photographs.

I've spent quite a bit of time over the past few weeks gathering material for this contest (as the "help me pick my entry" thread I started earlier today should make clear ;-) ). Now, I've been doing photography, including professional work and photos exhibited in galleries, on-and-off for around thirty years. In other words, I think I was pretty good at this to begin with. And, yet, I think I've learned a lot about photography, both left- and right-brain issues, during the past few weeks. When I started out, I thought I was taking some very good flower photos. Now, I would consider most of those to be fair, but not up to the quality of my more recent shots. And I think that my other, non-flower work improved as well, during the time I went through this process.

[ET Awful]

18. Maybe the subject should have been flora instead of just flowers :)

that would have opened up entire new realms of possibility :)

[GOPFighter]

19. I picked "flowers" because it came in second...

..in the themes poll taken last March...AND...because my flower pictures SUCK! Since I can't enter this month's contest................:evilgrin:

[electricmonk]

21. I have a few flower photos to chose from

Unfortunately I used my favorite one back in the first DU photo contest so I'm not going to enter it again.

This was the one. It was taken at the March 2003 anti-war rally in DC and I turned around and saw this girl walking by with a sunflower so I focused on the flower and grabbed the shot.

[superconnected]

22. ah Ginsberg, Sunflower Sutra.

Sunflower Sutra

I walked on the banks of the tincan banana dock and
sat down under the huge shade of a Southern
Pacific locomotive to look at the sunset over the
box house hills and cry.
Jack Kerouac sat beside me on a busted rusty iron
pole, companion, we thought the same thoughts
of the soul, bleak and blue and sad-eyed,
surrounded by the gnarled steel roots of trees of
machinery.
The oily water on the river mirrored the red sky, sun
sank on top of final Frisco peaks, no fish in that
stream, no hermit in those mounts, just ourselves
rheumy-eyed and hungover like old bums
on the riverbank, tired and wily.
Look at the Sunflower, he said, there was a dead gray
shadow against the sky, big as a man, sitting
dry on top of a pile of ancient sawdust--
--I rushed up enchanted--it was my first sunflower,
memories of Blake--my visions--Harlem
and Hells of the Eastern rivers, bridges clanking Joes
Greasy Sandwiches, dead baby carriages, black
treadless tires forgotten and unretreaded, the
poem of the riverbank, condoms & pots, steel
knives, nothing stainless, only the dank muck
and the razor-sharp artifacts passing into the
past--
and the gray Sunflower poised against the sunset,
crackly bleak and dusty with the smut and smog
and smoke of olden locomotives in its eye--
corolla of bleary spikes pushed down and broken like
a battered crown, seeds fallen out of its face,
soon-to-be-toothless mouth of sunny air, sunrays
obliterated on its hairy head like a dried
wire spiderweb,
leaves stuck out like arms out of the stem, gestures
from the sawdust root, broke pieces of plaster
fallen out of the black twigs, a dead fly in its ear,
Unholy battered old thing you were, my sunflower O
my soul, I loved you then!
The grime was no man's grime but death and human
locomotives,
all that dress of dust, that veil of darkened railroad
skin, that smog of cheek, that eyelid of black
mis'ry, that sooty hand or phallus or protuberance
of artificial worse-than-dirt--industrial--
modern--all that civilization spotting your
crazy golden crown--
and those blear thoughts of death and dusty loveless
eyes and ends and withered roots below, in the
home-pile of sand and sawdust, rubber dollar
bills, skin of machinery, the guts and innards
of the weeping coughing car, the empty lonely
tincans with their rusty tongues alack, what
more could I name, the smoked ashes of some
cock cigar, the cunts of wheelbarrows and the
milky breasts of cars, wornout asses out of chairs
& sphincters of dynamos--all these
entangled in your mummied roots--and you there
standing before me in the sunset, all your glory
in your form!
A perfect beauty of a sunflower! a perfect excellent
lovely sunflower existence! a sweet natural eye
to the new hip moon, woke up alive and excited
grasping in the sunset shadow sunrise golden
monthly breeze!
How many flies buzzed round you innocent of your
grime, while you cursed the heavens of the
railroad and your flower soul?
Poor dead flower? when did you forget you were a
flower? when did you look at your skin and
decide you were an impotent dirty old locomotive?
the ghost of a locomotive? the specter and
shade of a once powerful mad American locomotive?
You were never no locomotive, Sunflower, you were a
sunflower!
And you Locomotive, you are a locomotive, forget me
not!
So I grabbed up the skeleton thick sunflower and stuck
it at my side like a scepter,
and deliver my sermon to my soul, and Jack's soul
too, and anyone who'll listen,
--We're not our skin of grime, we're not our dread
bleak dusty imageless locomotive, we're all
beautiful golden sunflowers inside, we're blessed
by our own seed & golden hairy naked
accomplishment-bodies growing into mad black
formal sunflowers in the sunset, spied on by our
eyes under the shadow of the mad locomotive
riverbank sunset Frisco hilly tincan evening
sitdown vision.

Allen Ginsberg

Berkeley, 1955

[Placebo]

23. Yes! Holy Mary Mother Of Hay-Zeus Crisco YES!!!

Flowers just get so damn boring after the first couple shots. Not that they don't make for beautiful shots, they do, they definitely do, and the DUphotogroup is brimming with beautiful flower photos, but for me personally, I've been at a point for pretty much the past week or two where it's like:



Can't wait for the next "theme" or contest or whatever. :)

[superconnected]

24. on second look at the flowers so far posted

this is going to be a very bold, colorful, beautiful contest.,