Weekly Competition No. 354 -- Standing Alone Competition

Thanks to all the entrants to this week's competition.  I enjoyed the variety of interpretations. 

The usual health warning: the comments that follow, and the rankings I've chosen, are of course a personal response.  I can only follow my instincts.  Others would almost certainly have done it differently.  On another day, I might have done it differently myself, so good are each of the placed and HC photographs.


Needs a coat of paint, by walkeja
No arguing with the title, and the picture is bang on the theme of the competition, with the inclusion of sufficient context to sustain the claim that the postbox is, indeed, alone.  The colour-pop technique has critics galore, but one thing it can do (and does do here) is separate a subject from an uninteresting or muddled background.  (Is your background perhaps almost too self-effacing? A little more contrast might have 'lifted' it a bit.)  

Pinnacle, by tyronet2000
This strikingly shaped rock catches the attention, and (usefully for the photographer) has also caught the sun.  Its aloneness is self-evident from its context, ranging from the nearby rocks (which do not appear to be made of the same stuff) to signs of human activity in the far distance.  Although having some foreground is a Good Thing, I'm not sure the ribbon of OOF grass is quite up to the job here.

Water pipe? by ken2390
I have never seen such a pipe -- whether that owes more to an urban upbringing or inattentiveness I can't say.  It's an interesting item in its way, but inherently difficult to translate into an arresting photograph.  The framing might have been slightly more generous.

Lonesome road, by johnriley
It surely can't just be accident that the spread of the railways and the birth of photography happened in the same era. They are made for one another. The figure in a pink jacket in this photograph satisfyingly stands at our eyes' destination. Tantalizingly, it is obvious her vision exceeds ours.  What is round the corner?  I like, too, the set of points that now lead nowhere, with the track seemingly taken up.

Enigmatic Heron, by Perspicador
This seems to be a fine specimen of a heron. It is just a pity that it chose to stand against such an unappealing background, which, for me at least, degrades the resulting image.

Standing alone, by toner_monkey
Improbable as the positioning of the pieces may be for a game of chess, I like the visual effect.  The reflective nature of the board helps make things interesting and the almost translucent quality of the opposing pieces contrasts with the metallic surface of the audacious pawn.

You looking at me? by Lifespicer
The meerkat has certainly clocked you, and looks as endearing as meerkats usually do.  The animal itself, then, is fine but its surroundings perhaps less so. The obscuring of part of the animal's head is a pity, and I found myself distracted by the regular white lines (man-made?)  in the background.  The perennial difficulty of getting animals where the photographer would ideally like them to be .

Rebel without a cause, by mudge
Well spotted and married up with the competition's theme.  At first glance, it's difficult to imagine anyone/thing 'standing alone' in a diner like that.  But James Dean fits the bill to perfection.

Timket participant, by Dr Mhuni
The subdued colours and the dappled light work well, with the subject given plenty of space to stare into in the right-hand side of the photograph.  I imagine Timket is usually a busy, collaborative occasion, but this man is standing apart, perhaps contemplatively.  A good shot.

Atlas, by aliengrove
This has impact. The Rockefeller Center's Atlas is well-known, so the challenge is to work out a treatment that is a little different from the usual.  Wide-angle, angle of view, and B&W all help, but what clinches this photograph's difference is the addition in processing of those wonderful fracture lines. Atlas, of all people, stands alone.

Alone in twilight, by davidstorm
Capturing the beauty of flowers requires as focused an approach (not to mention lens) as any other kind of successful photography.  This shot makes good use of the evening light and reveals the petals' texture (notice the gentle undulations at the top of the most conspicuous petal).  Well separated from its companion tulips, the image of this flower almost transcends its two dimensions and persuades us it has three. 

Lone flier, by trrywisn
I like the idea behind the shot -- but, without the help of the title, I might almost have thought your sensor needed cleaning.  The main subject is vanishingly small and only a longer lens would have stood much chance of giving the flier any kind of prominence.  I appreciate that disparities of scale are probably part of the point, but visually I'm afraid it doesn't really play for me.

Pompe d'essence, by DrJeff
Nice to find one of these old pumps.  They probably stood more or less alone even when in daily use, with today's multi-nozzle, multi-island pumps far in the future.  The photograph suffers from the visually busy context in which the pump finds itself -- competing with chairs, electrical ducting, signage, butane bottles -- and the image itself is quite soft (explained by your comments about the lens). 

West pier dawn, by DrOrloff
The gentle colours of dawn and a long exposure impart a pleasing tranquility to this carefully composed shot of the abandoned and swiftly disintegrating pier.  Long exposure as a technique can be over-used by photographers, but here it aids the mood.  The whole scene is rather elegiac.  It is hard to imagine Brighton's proposed 'replacement' i360 tower providing a comparably appealing study of decay in the twenty-second century.

Dunnock, by JAK
A good shot of a dunnock.  The background is well out of focus and allows the bird to be seen without distraction.  The bird itself is in sharp focus and the overall composition well-judged.  

Man on the pier, by Blythman
An accomplished shot, with a strong leading line and good detail both below the horizon and in the sky.  The photographer at the end of the pier is rather inconspicuous, but that matters (if at all) only in relation to the competition's theme, for within the photograph itself the figure offers a point of interest at the end of a main sight-line.

Whose line is it anyway? By simonarron
I was slow-witted, not at first seeing what was going on.  The red car had all my attention.  But now the clouds have cleared, I can smile at what you've shown us.  Well spotted.

A world of her own, by paulb531
The likes of Apple, Samsung etc propel many of us, some more than others, into worlds of our own.  The young seem particularly afflicted.  I wonder whether your photograph might have benefited from a larger aperture, so that the busy background would compete less insistently for our attention.

The red bean, by Noelcmn
The red bean stands out strongly against a background that comprises more subdued colours. The fully revealed red bean would be visually even more prominent (and 'standing alone') if the photograph had been cropped at top and extreme right, to remove two of the other beans emerging from their pods.

No girls in sight, by drofmit
A handsome cockerel like this one surely won't have to wait too long.  He looks his best in the sunshine against the spring grass, though a more generous framing (if possible) would have cemented his claim to be standing alone.


I've already referred to the difficulty I've had with the rankings.  Still, the nettle has been grasped and the results for this week are:

1st:  Atlas, by aliengrove
Although I did not think I was in favour of adding graphic effects to photographs, it works supremely well here, giving an already strong shot even more power.
 
2nd: West pier dawn, by Dr Orloff
Deceptively simple, the simplicity achieved through careful work and good judgement.  Simple ... and highly effective. 

3rd Lonesome road, by JohnRiley
The moral here is always travel with a companion wearing a jacket in the red spectrum.  A good yet reasonably standard shot has been elevated  into a rather special image by that addition.... as well (of course) as fitting the theme of this competition.


HCs to Timket participant, by Dr Mhuni; Alone in twilight, by davidstorm; Man on the pier, by Blythman

A terrific winning shot, strong opposition and some thoughtful analysis: many thanks,. Christopher.

Congratulations to the Winner and other places. Thanks to Christopher for the interesting subject, judging and comprehensive comments

All good stuff, well done everyone. Many thanks for the prompt judging and for the third place!

Excellent shots. Congratulations to the winner and those placed. Thank you for the judging and for the HC

Another good subject, some excellent entries and a superb winner from Jon. Congratulations to Jon and to the places and HC's, thanks for the considered judging and the interesting theme.

Regards
David

Thanks for the win, and congrats to the other podiums and the HC's! I've just landed after a long flight, will try and pick a new subject pronto! Great comp!

Well done AG and other mentioned. Thanks for the judging, the place and the comments Christopher. Yes, the i360. I don't get that, just pop up to the Downs or the maternity ward of the Royal Sussrx and you get the same view. Progress, bah.