Weekly #704 - Monochrome Moments Competition

Monocrome Comp:

What a fantastic set of photos.
There was not one photo that I did not fully enjoy. Thank you all for your entry. I am honoured to have shared what I saw and felt as I studied each photograph that was posted. I always learn new things when I take the time to look closely at others work. Nothing demands that you pay more attentions to another pieces then judging it. I do ask you to remember that it is only an opinion of another humble photographer, me. The fun part of doing this work, is that what pleases me and what knowledge I have, I do get to make a choice based on that! Again, thank you one and all.

Long Exposure Expedition Group
Nigilk:

I really like this photo. It has such an interesting look. It has a feel of having texture added, which on a study of the photo, it does not. It was like viewing a piece of art, and I wanted to understand what the artist has conveyed . I love when a photo draws you in. I also love to see experiments done with cameras, lights. timing and movement. Being in black and white, there are no distraction of colour and the movement and faces are indeed the focal. Fit the brief well. Well done!



WHITBY:
PRYorkshire
Oh my goodness, how fantastic is this frame. The first thing I thought of, as a child we would take the "wishbone," of a turkey, which is the fusion of the bird's clavicles right above the sternum. Two people would pull the bone apart, the person who had the longer part of the bone was able to make a wish. That bone look exactly like this whale bone. What a nicely balanced photo. It is just perfect the way the castle or church is centered. The first thing you see is that bone, but then the eye is pulled into the centre , and it is delightful to then study all the rest of the landscape. Lovely indeed.



Snuffed:
daviswozhere

This is like a piece of magic. You certainly have to have a understanding of good lighting to capture smoke in the soft billows of waves. How clever this is done, leaving the candle and snuffer dark and not defined. Without the details on these objects, you immediately see the patterns and softness and loveliness of the beautifully lite smoke. The many shades of grey look illumines and magical. I truly enjoyed looking at this. A masterpiece in lighting!

Peace Bell
Perspicador

A peace bell has to be a good thing! I kind of want to know more, but since it is not a history lesson, and a photo comp, I must make do..LOL. I am trying to guess how the angle was achieved. I feel like I am looking down toward the ground…. But that makes no sense.. So it must be on a wall and take at eyes view. I am kind of sorry the ding dong is cut off. I imagine that is no mistake and it was the way you wanted to compose this shot. I think a black and white photo really work for the bell and concert. I really like the texture of both.


careless owner
MikeInDevon

Oh my goodness Mike, I am sooo in love with the texture of this car. It looks like it might be made of concrete. That is a neat thing about using black and white, with the colour gone our eyes see the depth of other things, like texture and light and blends of objects. This is a perfect and beautiful example of monochrome enhancing a photo and showing off detail that might otherwise be missed. You photo is so sharp till I felt like I could reach in and touch the car. I loved your framing of the car, because the headlight (eyes) drew me in, as though it was saying "look at me, I am tired right out!” This photo is done in the most clever way, and I thank you for entering.

Deer Family
JAK:

What a lovely 3 D effect this photo has. The dark bokeh of the forest makes your animals just pop. Kind of reminded me of a view finder we had as children where 3 D pics were the wonder of the world! (Back in the 1960’s) LOL. I am glad that you shared this, took the time to transfere it into the digital world. What a capture to come upon. I love your grey tones, and the way the whole scene is setting. Thanks for such great share.

The Laird of Balgonie Castle
Johnriley

He is a stunning character to behold John. I love the fact that as soon as one sees this photo, one is attracted to his face first. He is pondering over something. It is as though you came upon him and captured him, without his awareness. That makes the photo full of interesting. He is not looking into the lens, smiling or otherwise. What is he doing? The signage under his hand gives us another part of his story. The only thing I might shift, is I think the top of his head is a bit blown out…but what an easy fix that is. The whole photo has a storytelling feature to it. That is what photography is all about really. Pictures telling us stories. Fantastic photo full to the brim with pleasure.

A Chess Match
MHOL

I cannot think of a more classical black and white photo then a chess board game. It is as though it belong in the monocrome world! The pieces in this game are beautifully done. I absolutely love that you have them so engaged, they look like they are interacting. Taking a photo is one thing, but bringing a photo to life is another. You sure succeeded in that. Simply put, a lovely photo that is very well done.

Greek Fisherman
Vic cross

My first thought on opening this photo was… Oh dear, so much noise… However the more I looked at it, the more I really liked it. The truth is the noise in no way effects the detail, the emotion, nor his expression. In fact, I feel like I might have glimpses into the past and had it speak to me. Upon seeing this, I really felt like I learned something new….. that being, that the noise adds a dimension of richness. I try so hard to keep my photos sharp and clean, that I have become too rigid in doing so. He is amazing, and I am incredible pleased that you entered him here. Thank you Vic.


Mean streets
davidtrout

This is art. This is emotion. This is a successful piece that lets us know how and why a picture is worth a 1000 words. Everyone might in their own way, intrepid the story via how they feel as they look at the photo. I love that the face in the foreground is not focused, and that he is not looking at the mess of trash . Maybe it is because he just does not want to see it. The connection between the blurred figure and the man walking though the trash, is the same. Neither of them are focused nor giving any emotional heed to the mess that is right in front of them. However YOU as the viewer of this photo cannot do that, because the first thing you see is all that mess, and no matter if you like it or not, you cannot do what either figure in the photo was allowed to do…. Ignore it, and look straight ahead. Street photographer is not easy to accomplish. I am amazed at such a capture. WOW.


Pensive Zebra
Noelcmn

How do you think of such a clever way to frame your work. I do not believe, if left to my own devices that I could achieve this. I would need a course in compositions and framing to even come close. You should consider teaching a master class, I am serious. How interesting is this to look at, to study this piece of photography. My eye could not chose right away, between looking first at the hair on his crown, or his eye ball. I chose the hair first, but needed to look at his eye straight away. It is amazing. I am trying to imagine how you got that close. You must have know it was a brillant shot as soon as you took it. I would stop in a museum to admire this, it certainly has the WOW factor! I am listening if you care to share more on the how and when of this photo. I am total enamoured.


Rocks
retsoor

Big sky, big rocks, big landscape that totally work in monochrome. This is so lovely. Look at all the texture that shows. Each rock has its own feel and and its own shade of grey. I like the way the large rock is dead centre and you have to peek around it to see what is beyond the depth, adding anticipation and interest. In landscape we must be aware of the light, and how it works when we go black and white. A landscape too dark and there is nothing much to see, and landscape with too much light, it fades and becomes flat, holds no interest. It might seem to someone that all you need to do is click the B&W button, nothing can be further from the truth. It has to be balance in the frame as well as balanced in the light, and it must have beautiful depth. As this photo here does. Well done on all accounts!

FIRST PLACE: Pensive Zebra by Noelcmn

SECOND PLACE: Mean Street by davidtrout

THIRD PLACE: Rocks by retsoor

High Honours: Snuffed by DavidWozHere and also careless owner by MikeInDevon

A care-taking, considered and delicate Adjudication, Many thanks JudithAnn! Congratulations to those who took the accolades in this wonderful competition. The Peace Bell can be seen on the interior wall in Coventry Cathedral, a present from one of many countries beleaguered by strife and keen to maintain peace in perpetuity - a trans-European endeavour which should not be blown off course by any 'Brexit' contrivances...

Heartily agree with you JudithAnn, (though I disagree with the choice of winner ), what a fantastic array of images in this challenge, my own choices fluctuating as I view each image. Really like Retsoor's image, as well as jojhnriley's old man-he has some character. To give a few details-Ancient photo from 2015 . Rietvlei Nature Reserve and Dam (one of the largest Urban Wildlife Reserves in the world) affords many photo opportunities. I visit there often as it is only a 45 minute drive. The Zebra's, unlike most of the other game, are quite tame, and often you can easily reach out a hand to touch them, so familiar are they with cars and people. They are also of course not exactly the most exciting animal to capture, unless you catch them frolicking in a dust bath, or the males engaged in a fight for dominance. Or a lot of them drinking at a water hole like this [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/8494/29058499943_f8f27b350c_o.jpg[/img][/url]Zebra's a drinking ! by Noel Bowers, on Flickr]link
At that stage, Rietvlei did not have any predators large enough to hunt Zebra, and the jackals there will only target the very young Zebra. So no chance for an action shot. (Since then Cheetah have been introduced as part of a breeding program and that certainly gives lot of opportunities for action) So I was after some creative or unusual portrait shot of them, and this one afforded that, as he watched some other animals pass by, and I was able to capture this angle. A friend and I were just watching what was going on, and the opportunity arose for this angle. The ancient Sigma 170-500mm affords getting closer than usual, and if I remember correctly, I raised myself up through the window to get a higher angle, just so I could get the eye in focus. I still consider it a fluke, as I've tried to duplicate this a few more times, no such luck. Then Auto exposure and focus helped.
I'm chuffed with the win, thank you very much, and congrats to davidtrout and Retsoor, and not forgetting the HH's Davidwozhere and MikeInDevon. I echo Perspicador's perspective "A care-taking, considered and delicate Adjudication". I'll have a new challenge up shortly.

Thanks JudithAnn for a great competition with a thoughtful and enthusiastic critique. Thanks also for my unexpected 3rd place. What a wonderful and deserved winning shot from Noel. The crop is excellent and the fact that although the Zebra is facing away with the eye facing the lens gives it an almost abstract effect . Well done also to davidtrout for another great photo-made for black and white, and to DavidWozHere and MikeinDevon for their Hc's

Thanks JudithAnn for the competition, which attracted excellent entries, and for your insightful comments. My congratulations to the winner Noel, what a striking mono, to Retsoor for third and to David and Mike for their High Honours. Thanks also for my 2nd place.
David

Hi JudithAnn, many thanks for a great competition and for your very thoughtful critiques. Congratulations to the winners and DavidWozHere, what a very strong showing throughout! And thanks for the HH mention. Great fun.

Cheers
Mike

JA

Wonderful set of photos. I instinctively scrolled down to read the expected string of comment beneath "mean street" - but of course, there isn't any! Nice Zebra Noel, congratulations and to Retsoor for those lovely rocks. Thank you for your nice words about my candle smoke Judith and for a great collection of comments which must have taken a fair while to type up.