Monthly #146 - Food, Glorious Food! Competition

Well, the wide scope of the brief produced a wide range of interpretations - and not one of them like those portraits of plates of food that are posted to certain social media sites! I thoroughly enjoyed judging the entries and struggled to pick an outright winner, but it had to be done and the winner is ... Autumn's First Apples by kasperbergholt. Congratulations .

Here are some comments on each photo.

Autumn's First Apples by kasperbergholt: Beautifully soft and impressionistic, letting the eye find the apples guided by the branches and patches of light rather than fillling the frame with apple. It succeeds for me both as an abstract image of light and pattern and as a striking and unusual picture of an apple tree.

Barley by davidwozhere: Impressionism with spikes! Lovely light and nicely composed so the eye is drawn to the horizontal ear of barley just left of centre. This very nearly won, I just have a slight preference for soft rather than spiky impressionism today.

Wedding Feast by RayW: I'd never have been able to get away with a mobile chippy for my daughter's wedding! Photographically, I'd like to have seen a bit more space to the left so the raised hatch cover isn't cut off and either a bit more or bit less at the right so the rear corner of the van is either fully visible or not at all. But definitely an intriguing shot of a happy, family occasion and one to look back on in years to come.

FOOD by MHOL190246: A lovely shot of butterflies sharing a flower. Well done on getting both of them before one flies off. I'd like to have seen the butterfly on the right slightly at an angle rather than head-on as it seems to get rather lost compared with the one on the left. Also, the brighter blades of grass are a bit of a distraction. But that's the way nature is, you've got to grab whatever it offers you (I've got the scars to prove it!).

Cream needed by Noelcmn: I've been rather enjoying the strawberry season this year so find these rather tempting! I can't quite convince myself that the lighting is as good as it might be, the bottoms of some of the strawberries seem to merge with the dark base while the bright LH edge of the background is rather distracting. But hey, add some cream and I'll fight you for them .

English Market Cork by dewsburya: Nice to see a shot along the counter rather than the usual 'across the counter' view. And the look of boredom on the face of the stall holder says a lot! It's a pity that most of the tubs appear to be empty, my eyes are continually jumping between the full tubs at the bottom and the bored stall holder.

Herb Garden - The Farm San Beneto by rbuckell: A beautiful, relaxing photo of what looks like a beautiful, relaxing place. Framing, composition, exposure are spot on for me. The only niggle - which you couldn't do anything about, of course - is the direction sign. It's a big distraction from the kneeling worker, who would otherwise be the focus of the picture.

Dining out by Flan: Ooh yes, no food but definitely about food. Clever. And well executed, too. Just one little niggle - the spoon looks so clean that it could have been placed there for the photo shoot. I keep thinking that the photo might be improved by some visible signs of use. Perhaps a hint of ketchup or bit of debris from a chip??

Well done to all. I'm now looking forward to what September brings!

Steve

Well done to Kasperbergholt for the win and the wonderful comments by host Lubbyman.
I did not choreograph the fork photo as it happens , it was just there but the rain washed it clean.
Sounds like, doth protest too much

Thanks for the comments , I think if I had potted up that many olives I would have a look of boredom , it was late in the day

First of all, thanks to Lubbyman for arranging a great competition with a seasonal focus, allowing us to capture what August looks like in different parts of the world, insightful reflections on the pictures, and lastly, the honour of being chosen as the winner

A new monthly competition on Art has been setup. For some reason, I got it setup twice and am unable to delete one of them. Perhaps someone with more access can step in and delete it?

Congratulations to the winner and podium places. Taking on board your comments concerning the butterfly on the right, try as I might I could not persuade it to change its angle of feeding. The look it gave me was along the lines of, 'Look mate, I am putting up with that ruddy great lens interfering with my lunch, so do give me a break. If you think I am going to waste energy, moving my head so you get a better shot, you have another think coming!!' I did briefly consider cutting back the grass to improve the shot, but I decided against it for fear of disturbing their feeding. Does anyone on the forum speak butterfly? If so, do you give lessons?