Weekly #842 - Castles Competition

Here goes the results!
Gorey Castle by garethjmorgan – The impressive thing about this is the feeling of oppressive weight as the castle looms over the small town. At one time the castle would have dominated every aspect of everyone's lives, but now even the hulking remnants show their pervasive power. An image well carried through in its design and its feeling of power.

Stokesay Castle by davidtrout – This one is very familiar to Sue and myself and we have been there many, many times. This is an excellent viewpoint, showing the castle and gatehouse in a way that could have been hundreds of year ago. The monochrome treatment enhances this effect and although the lighting is difficult you have handled it extremely well.

Doyden Castle (National Trust) North Cornwall by davidwozhere – Utter calm emanates from this image, coupled with lovely graphic design in the composition. All the islands break the horizon, a very traditional compositional detail, and it works. The proportions of the various blocks of silhouette also work, being just the right amount. Magnificent.

Lowther Castle by sueriley – I was there, unsurprisingly, and did not produce an image as good as this. Great tonal values are enhanced by whatever effect Sue has used to enhance the image further. The sharpness of the image is also spot on, giving a nice crisp effect without overdoing it and running the risk of spoiling it.

King Johns Castle River Shannon Limerick by Flan – A great composition, beautiful light and a really good job done with the processing. As before, the amount of sharpening is just right, so we can enjoy the crispness without aretefacts creeping in.

Donnington Castle by RayW – Shot on film, and why not, exploring every aspect of photography is all part of the whole and film can have a particular look of its own. As it has to be digitised anyway, this can be somewhat diluted, but in the end it is at least an intersting exercise. This shows the barren and sanitised look of a typical ruin very well, and to protect the stonework it has to be so, although we might yearn for those brilliant Victorian days when the ruins might have been covered in foliage and even have trees growing through them.

Dover Castle by retsoor – There is such a lot to like about this. The letterbox format works brilliantly. The viewpoint of the castle is perfect. The inclusion of the church on the left completes the image. The whole is crisp and sharp, very nice indeed.

Castle Corner by noelcmn – What a fascinating story – a castle that cannot be reached, but which is well known and tantalisingly there. All the concept is great, but unfortunately the image is rather noise/grainy and not particularly sharp.

Criccieth Castle by PRYorkshire – A shot that shows off the castle very well, and shows how it dominates the town. I used to park outside that cafe when I was in Criccieth calling on a customer. A very long time ago now, so thank you for the nostalgic moment with a highly competent image.

And speaking of thanks, we've had a very short competition week, so a special thank you for everyone who has entered at such short notice. It seems like a good moment to ask if those who do enter please be aware that you are expected to set the next competition and judge it a week later. The sooner the process turns over the better the chance that more will join in. It's unfortunate that we've had a few winners who have disappeared at the critical moment, no doubt for very good reasons, but it does stall the flow of competitions.

So, for this time, who is the winner?

THE WINNER is
Doyden Castle (National Trust) North Cornwall by davidwozhere – Truly magnificent!

SECOND PLACE is
King Johns Castle River Shannon Limerick by Flan – Lovely crisp shot

JOINT THIRD PLACE
Stokesay Castle by davidtrout and
Lowther Castle by sueriley – two very different but equally fantastic monochrome interpretations

Very well done to our winners and also to all those who shared their very fine images.

Now it's over to davidwozhere!

Well done DavidWoz and all that entered, I knew that horizon line was special, great photo technique,
Thanks also to host John for hastily having to take charge for comments and critique, thanks also John for my first coveted runners up spot

Congratulations David... and the other podia....
Apologies John.... got up this morning and realised it wasn't Sunday after I saw the school bus go past!!!

Thanks John for stepping in and for the excellent judging and comments. Congratulations to David, a magnificent photo. Well done also to Flan, David and Sue - all great entries.

I must say that I expected Stokesay Castle to run off with that one. Well done David - and Sue. I didn't know Lowther Castle and now I want to see it, Congratulations on 2nd Flan and Thank you for the 1st place John and your extra work in saving the day and for those concise and pertinent comments.

Congrats Davidwozhere, beautiful silhouette! Worthy winner-the tonal range there is very nice, and that bit of cloud adds some magic to the image. Congrats extended to flan, davidtrout and sueriley for their respective podia places. Thanks johnriley, not only for stepping in with this challenge, the judging and C&C's, as always, much appreciated.