Weekly #512 - Olde World Competition

A bumper crop of entries this week and no last minute surprises. Although one entry that seemed to be valid vanished so wonder what happened to it.
It's been a tough yet pleasurable job deciding the results as everyone's photo looks to be bang on topic which meant I couldn't eliminate any for that reason to reduce the task somewhat. As I also like them all I feel I've been given an impossible task to select one as winner... but I have to and can only choose one so have to say in advance, sorry to the rest of you! Its great to see some entries from names new to me even though they've been forum members for a long while; so if this is your first foray into the competitions, welcome along and keep up the good work. Regret there was one ineligible non Pentax entry (probably trying to catch me out or their Pentax has contracted a virus!)
I'm surprised how many went for a monochrome image. As to the entries in order submitted;

WW2 Portrait by michaelblue
A very realistic WW2 era look on this portrait which really looks like it could have been contemporary. It has the appearance of having moderate film grain, something like FP3 which adds to the intended feel. I'm not sure that the lady behind helps the photograph; although she is just as WW2 looking as the main subject, (to me) she intrudes into the portrait rather than being part of it. Dare I say it looks as though she is photo bombing the photo! I appreciate that is how you came by the scene and it isn't always easy to manipulate what may well have been a grab shot and not under your control. It's a good capture though and I do like it.

Blacksmith by pipinmels
The blacksmith shop given a film look. Had the forge been working it might have looked good in colour. This is a good and interesting photograph but has a couple of distractions (for me at any rate.) The image looks very slightly soft, but without any exif present it is hard to ascertain a possible reason unless it was intentional. The other is the distracting highlighted roof which I feel could be safely cropped off or alternatively use the vignetting to tone that down quite a bit more. Not withstanding, a very interesting and well captured photo of something not often seen nowadays.

full steam by stu62
The irresistible view of the Swanage Railway from Corfe Castle, a competent photograph which certainly fits the theme. It's just a shame that the loco is not producing any smoke or steam (I appreciate not the photographer's fault) for if it had it would have made for a more magical image.

Going fishing by wozfromcov
I really like the idea, it is very evocative of seaside holidays and going off rock-pooling. Also the treatment making it look like a photo in an old family album is appropriate. To me the flip-flops and bucket distract a little being slighly out of frame but still a nicely crafted photo with a strong period look.

'Mayflower' at Wanstead Park by smudge
A steam loco passing around north London, that's something you don't see every day now yet it truly looks like a photo taken 50 years ago.
You were lucky to have it provide you with a good head of steam and smoke and the early morning lighting was coming from just the right direction to highlight it. The composition is good by me and your cloning handiwork has worked a treat (can't spot it.) Very Well done with this. FWIW A birdie tells me the train was heading from Southend to Southall where it changed locos before continuing to Bristol.
I've often wondered why they named that station Wanstead Park when it isn't in Wanstead or anywhere near the park, oh well!
(PS I went to school in Wanstead so I find the photo quite interesting being close to my old home area.)

Graber Olive Tractor by Dtmacias
An interesting old tractor. I wonder if it still runs? This is certainly a high contrast scene and detail has been held from the bright outdoors to the dark shadows where it is stored, so well done for that. Put some gas in and lets see it go! For a 1/5th of a second exposure it is very sharp so presumably you had a tripod or a steady surface to hold the camera. Some would have upped the ISO to get a faster shutter speed but keeping it at 100 had provided great detail. Well done.

Brassed Off! by paulinesunlady
At first I thought the Brasso cans were cans of beer! Regarding the oval vignette, it certainly works fine by whatever means you achieved it, however you'll find Photoshop can achieve a vignette without resorting to scanning a separate mount, but hey ho, its the end result that matters and you have produced a great photo of the loco being spruced up. Unfortunately though, I can't consider it for a placing as it was taken on a Sony (so says its exif.) Sorry about that.

Grandad making biscuits by davidtrout
David's invented colour photography, or at least the first person to submit one, a rare sight this week!
I do like this very much and you'll gather from the competition announcement piece that photographs taken in living museums might do well.
It seems that some sort of dish is being prepared for cooking in the featured range. Hope the two lads won't have too long to wait for dinner or they'll be chanting 'Why are We Waiting' and probably getting a clip round the ear as a result! A great image and perfect for the theme. Excellent.

Civil War by vic cross
Well done for capturing this Vic. I know only too well how hard it can be to press the shutter at the right moment and I had to resort to video to capture a similar photo recently. A super capture and well presented.

Whats your poison? by ken2390
A timely capture given this week's theme! It does all look so authentically Olde Worlde there, ideal. Hope you had twopence-halfpenny to pay for your poison; what is it you're buying? Blood Mixture, yuk! But can I find anyhing wrong either in or with the photo? No I can't! Good stuff (but not your bottle of blood.) Thanks for thinking of the competition and making a great entry for it.

A Life-Time Ago by i-Berg
Hey, colour again!! Some fabulous rust textures and great colouring. From a technical viewpoint this is excellent. It does though come across as being either a museum piece or a restoration project rather than looking like an item taken in a bygone age. I'm not criticizing the photo per se as it's really good, it's just that while the subject is definitely old, its setting/presentation isn't. Hope that makes some sense!

still life by velimir
For what this is it is done well. While taken on digital it appears to have been processed to give it a film look. This certainly could have been an old photo of family heirlooms (perhaps it is!) From a compositional point of view I'm wondering if a third element to the photograph might have produced a more balanced image with the items arranged in a triangle. Now what would have been good for that third element to it? A candle perhaps? That would make a photographc triangle - camera + exposure timepiece + light source.

Kendal Old Tea Room by Johnwnjr
I can see why you thought about entering this photograph; it is a fine old building with period features, but this doesn't really come across as looking like a period photograph. That's not becuase it is in colour rather than black & white but because there are many modern elements to it such as the style of signage, the LED decorations in the window and a burglar alarm. It's also unfortunate that the person holding onto the dog has been cut in half, one needs to try not to get a strong subject element right at the edge of the frame as it draws your eye out of the picture. The technicalities of the photo are fine, i.e. exposure and the fading Christmas week daylight looks great. I feel the real subject of this photograph is the dog so if you could have made the dog and its owner waiting by the door the main feature you'd have quite a really fine image. But it is what it is and what you have is a special photo to remember what I suspect was perhaps a memorable occasion the Christmas before last.

Wood Carvings by paulb531
To present this successfully as a black and white image I'm guessing was quite tricky with regard to getting the carved figures to stand out. It has been very carefully cropped to prevent getting too much clutter in the photograph which might have been a danger given the setting. It must have been quite a feat for the Grandfather who made the carvings and the image does his work justice. Splendid.

St Sebastion by ramseybuckeye
I feel there's good and bad with this. The good is that the scene does have a very period look, it has good composition and a detailed sky. What spoils the image (for me) are those intrusive wires which might be better hidden with some judicious cloning. Then while you're doing that it might also be worth fixing that halo round the spire which occurred as a result of the HDR treatment and straightening up the building as it has a slight list. I'm not intending to sound bad about it, it's still a good photograph, but its just up against some tough competition this week.

The Spinner by go4IT
A great time gone by image that looks to have been taken in tricky lighting conditions. I'm wondering if working with a scan of the original 6x7 negative might have provided more shadow detail than from a copy of the print from it. Not withstanding that its a fascinating image that would grace the wall of any period home.

The House on the Hill by johnjm
A des-res near Bolton, if you're a pigeon! First time I've been made aware of this building and I'm going to have to put it on my must visit list. The treatment looks very period, like an early 1900's postcard, which is actually when it was built. On first viewing I thought is was a copy of an old postcard thinking nothing like this could still exist.. but it does. Great, and thanks for the heads up.

Steam t'rashin' by drofmit
This has the look and feel of an animated period photograph of a traditional harvest at the beginning of the industrial Age when steam took over from horses to which a bit of foxing has been added to the edges to give it an look old. It is a very convincing 'period looking' image, well done.

Knock Knock by AndrewA
I've been trying to work out what they're doing! The PP has made the photograph look a bit like a school textbook graphic from the 1950's so one cannot argue that it doesn't have a historical feel to it. Anyone who feels the DA55-300 lens isn't sharp at 300mm needs too look at this photograph as it is spot on.

Simple Opulence by johnriley
I see John has entered a photograph taken of his drawing room at PU towers. All very period, can't quite make out if the lighting is by gas or electric! Nicely sharp and great rich colours with the vase of flowers being the focal point. All on a Q as well, it can be highly surprising what quality images the Q can produce.

The old fisherman by Noelcmn
This appears to be a photograph of either a Vintage Swedish Oil Painting named 'Gammal Fiskargubbe' dating from the 1800's or a copy based on it. While a good technical exercise and I like it, I think I would have preferred to see an original image rather than a photographic copy of a painting, albeit this has been well presented.

There was also an entry early in the week titled Eloise by tyronet2000 which appears to have vanished. It was a really lovely high key portrait with treatment to match the model. I wonder what happened to it?

As sometimes happens with the placings there's a need to cheat a bit!

1st: Whats your poison? by ken2390
Clearly a photographer who goes around with a pound note in his pocket rather than one of those new fangled coins to purchase great photographic opportunities like this!

2nd= (I couldn't choose between these excellent entries and all could have been winners as well. Listed purely in order of submission,)
'Mayflower' at Wanstead Park by smudge
Grandad making biscuits by davidtrout
Civil War by vic cross
Steam t'rashin' by drofmit

3rd= (Again all excellent entries but slightly less wow factor than the 2nds!)
A Life-Time Ago by i-Berg
still life by velimir
The House on the Hill by johnjm
Simple Opulence by johnriley

And HCs to the rest

Please be aware that these thoughts and comments are purely my own, I'm sure we all have our own ideas which will surely differ to mine.
Thank you all for taking part and ken2390 will perhaps let you answer his question in the coming week.

Such excellent and constructive critiques here, well worth a detailed read to add more knowledge to photographic technique and composition! Great stuff JAK, and a hearty thanks for that. Wonderful images in this wonderful theme, and as noted, very high standard quality images. Congratulations to Ken, and image that evokes a lot of memories of those horrible visits to pharmacies that induced fear and trepidation way back when! Love the details in that image, and a wonderful portrait spot on for this challenge. Congrats extended to Smudge, Davidtrout, Vic and Dromit for their 2nd places, and i-Berg, velimir, johnjm and Johnriley for their 3rd spots. Great stuff all!

Congratulations to ken for coming on top amongst a lot of excellent shots. Many thanks to JAK for doing a great judging and the comprehensive feedback.

Paul

Thanks for the joint 2nd. JAK. A lot of excellent entries this week. It's good to be 2nd. as there is no responsibility for setting up the next challenge and judging it. I'm useless at that but you made a great job of it. Congrats to all who entered this week a fine set of images. CHEERS Vic.

Congrats Ken, the 2nd and my fellow 3rd placegetters all, along with the very generous John of course.

The star of this show for me has been JAK whose comprehensive critique and amazing ability to fill in background information not supplied by the photographers on many of the images has been quite staggering. Well done that man.
Also some great images and a good set subject.
Congrats to Ken and the dangerously overcrowded occupants of the podium. Thanks for including me in their number.
David

Hear hear David.

PS - was that you standing on my foot then?

A bit like the relay race podium!

Oh Blimey ! What have I done. Thanks so much for my placing, quite unexpected. Well done to the runners up. Now I will have to put on my thinking cap. (ref the blood, I only take it at night)

Apologies for entering a Sony in error. I was convinced it had "died" before the Victorian Weekend. Will check photo details better in future.

Well done to Ken and to the other podium placers, a great theme to so thank you John

Bit late, busy, busy, busy.....
Great competition and congrats to all, really... lots of inspiration to draw from.
The foxing and fading around the edges of my entry were to "camoflage" the rather too obvious 21st Century peepilz!!
Going to be too busy to enter this week.... roll on the time when everything is planted!!