Weekly #914 - Summer Competition

I chose the theme of Summer in the hope that a few more members would be encouraged to join in and help us anticipate the warmer weather. There have been some lovely shots submitted, and many thanks to everyone for letting us enjoy them.

Here goes the judging!

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside the Sea Side by sueriley: The lighting in this shot of Whitby is absolutely gorgeous. The composition is basically a whole set of horizontal zones, cleverly held together by some vertical elements and given scale by particularly the lone figure on the beach. A very well thought out shot.

Summer style NZ by Stevistds: This is just what summer feels like as we walk in the gentle countryside. The grasses at the foreground give scale, the vastness of the plains up to the mountains provide the backdrop and show the feel of the landscape that we are walking. I can almost hear the sound of the bees buzzing or the crickets rubbing their back legs together. Of course that is essentially an English response, and the sounds of NZ might be quite different, but the feel translates across effortlessly.

Oats in the barley by davidwozhere: My goodness, this shows so little and yet says so much about summer. The depth of field is aided by the use of a compact camera with its tiny sensor and the sharpness throughout is as much a part of the image as the composition within the pattern. There is a focal point, there are sunsidiary rareas that catch the attention and guide our eyes when enjoying the overall structure. Very clever and the area is well selected.

The river walk by Flan: Monochrome is an unusual choice for depicting summer but it does make for a striking image that has mood and carries our eyes along an imaginary path right around the water to perhaps meet up with the bridge in the background. My thought is that the mistiness in the distance could be any time of year, so although it's a fine image in itself perhaps it is not totally hitting the spot in terms of the subject of the competition.

Harvest time on the allotment by MHOL190246: This catches the attention, with its bold, bright colours and the basket brimming over with stuff for the summer salad. In full sun, the image is brash, but thet enhances the vigorous heath of the produce. Very appetising!

Sunny Road by ArsenAl: What a wonderful glow of warmth. What a lovely model. I'm not so sure about what beauty we might find in the windfarm, but that is a personal reaction. As always, the photography is impeccable and of such satisfyingly high quality.

Weston Super Mare by simonmac: Great photography, and no doubt whatsoever that this is portraying summer. This is the summer of coach outings, children making masses of noise, ice creams and Kiss me Quick hats. Whether it's Weston Super Mare or any of dozens of similar seaside locations makes no difference, it can represent them all and it is bang on the theme.

Pale flowers in the horticultural gardens by kasperbergholt: A good example of Garden Phlox, also known as Summer Phlox. My feeling is that it would be stronger if the top right flowers were cropped out of the image. The monochrome treatment is unusual for flowers and plants, but it does make the image stand out as a result.

Young paddle skier by noelcmn: A charming, gentle study of a child enjoying the warm summer day whilst out on the lake. The darkness of the background enhances the image of the child, concentrating our attention on the main subject of the image.

Visitor from Africa by Lubbyman: The fist Swallow and we have summer well on the way, a novel way of setting the timing of the image for the competition theme.

Choosing the winner has been a very difficult choice as my personal style of summer is very different from the style that is going to win. The theme is summer and the one shot that screams summer louder than the rest is my winner, and that accolade goes to:

Weston Super Mare by simonmac. Great photography, right on the button with the competiton theme.

Second place is earned by Summer style NZ by Stevistds, evoking where I can feel the lazy warmth of a summer's day in the calm of the countryside.

Third place is sueriley for her Oh I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside, Whitby at its summery best.

Highly commended have to go to these honorable entries:
Oats in the barley by davidwozhere
Harvest time on the allotment by MHOL190246

That was a great selection, many thanks again for joing in, I enjoyed those and hope we all did. Over to simonmac for the next competition!

Congratulations to the winner, and thanks for setting up the competition.

I really appreciate the feedback and critique. I tried the suggested crop—and it definitely makes the image stronger.

Well done Simon - as soon as I saw your entry I knew it was a winner - summer holidays encapsulated in a single frame.

Thanks for the second place John and doing the critiques - you're right about the sounds no Tui's singing in the uk!

Steve

Hi John

Thank you so much for awarding first place amongst a fine set of photographs.

Setting a competition and making observations can be daunting, but also educational and fun.

Thinking hat on for the next theme.

All the best