Competition Night at the Camera Club

Well, I entered my first competition photographs for the year. Entered four prints and came home with two ribbons, a first in Out of the Box and a second in the assigned category Streets/Roads. Bragging is not really the purpose of this post but I do it so well. Terry Conner’s came up to me before the judging began and commented that I had guts to enter a Lensbaby shot. As he put it, “You know they don’t like Lensbaby shots.” I replied that yes I knew they did didn’t like Lensbaby shots and that I would not have entered it had “they” been doing the judging. This is the first time this year that we have had a guest judge so I knew it would not be judged by the members of the camera club.

I Shall Go Away and the Birds Will Still Be There, Singing

 The Lensbaby shot was the one that got the first place ribbon. Chuck Thompson, the guest judge, was not taken necessarily with the title but he liked the print. With all his references to “the rules” it is understandable that the title would escape him. I generally agree with most of his picks but for much different reasons which is why I refuse to be a judge in the monthly competitions.

The title is taken from the first line of Juan Ramón Jiménez’s poem, The Conclusive Voyage, which I feel fits the photograph perfectly.

I shall go away. And the birds will still be there,
Singing,
And my garden will be there with its green tree
And its white well.

Each afternoon the sky will be blue and peaceful,

And the notes will ring out as this afternoon they ring out
From the bells of the belltower.

And those who love me will be dead,
And the village will renew itself each year,
And in the corner of my flowering, whitewashed garden,
My spirit shall wander nostalgically…

And I shall go away; and be alone, homeless, with no

Green tree, with no white well,
With no blue and peaceful sky,
And the birds will still be there, singing.

Untitled, Streets/Roads Category

 The second place was for an untitled print in the roads/streets category. Although Chuck implied that it was in monochrome because it may have been an “oops.” Meaning that the color was not very good. That was not why I chose monochrome. Debi Beauregard entered an almost identical shot in color which she took at the same time I took mine. He did not comment unfavorably on Debie’s color and mine was quite similar so I am assuming it was not an “oops.” I chose monochrome because I thought it was stronger. Since it placed and Debie’s didn’t I assume I was correct.

Anyway, here is the shot in color.

Straight Out of Camera



In the SOOC shot above I did lighten the sky area and removed a large flare spot, but the colors are essentially as captured.

As Processed

Of course this is only one of many processing options. I looked at it with the roadway both warm and cool and chose this one because it was more in line with the original capture.