Entries for Fortnightly Competition #52 - Classical Music

Greetings all,

This fortnight is about one of the performing arts - music. Specifically, classical music (the 'lay' definition is fine - if you wish to focus on Baroque, Romantic, or any of the other genres within the commonly understood term of 'Classical', that's perfectly acceptable).

How you interpret the theme as the photographer and artist is a matter for you - for example, you may wish to consider the instrument, a performance, the musician, even a dedicated venue, or perhaps the many other facets &/or accoutrements that are associated with classical music. Plese note that this is not an exclusive list - you've probably got even better examples and ideas. Feel free to explore them.

I'm seeking artistic interpretations with photographic skill and merit combined.

Everybody is welcome to submit an entry
Entries must be taken with a PENTAX Camera (or its equivalent Samsung)
Entries close Wednesday 13th October 2010 at 6 pm Blighty Standard Time
Image must have been taken during the life of this round of the competition (ie, this fortnight) to be valid.
The appropriate EXIF data is attached to or accompanies your entry.
If you enter, then please be prepared to host and 'judge' the next fortnight's comp.: There WILL be a winner, and that may be YOU!
Did I mention that everyone is welcome?

Bonne chance!

We're half way through! Bump...

OK, I'll start. This one is of a musician in Oxford. He is playing classical guitar (and he played it well, too).




Pentax Kx, D-FA 100mm f2.8, 1/800 @ f3.5, 400 ISO, -1 EV

Taken on 30 September 2010 at 11:32

Details on Flickr

Herewith some of my Classical collection on vinyl from the 60`s and 70`s before cassettes arrived and cds had been thought of...................



IMGP9639 by Tozza27, on Flickr" class="comment_image" />



Pentax K20D hand held with 18-55 AL DA II ,fill flash,f6.7, ISO 400,1/30th sec , Matrix metering mode.

Nigel K

[IMG]http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s30/Hyram_Hare/IMGP1824-1.jpg[/IMG]

A Nigel Kennedy CD.

Taken 09/10/2010
K10D
Sigma 105 macro
ISO 100
1 second
f16
Improvised lighting effects.

Could use it as a CD cover

guitar




10 october 2010
pentax k-x
smc m 135
f 5.6
iso 100

Last call!

Thank you for participating in this week’s competition.

I'll re-state the criteria here - "This fortnight is about one of the performing arts - music. Specifically, classical music (the 'lay' definition is fine - if you wish to focus on Baroque, Romantic, or any of the other genres within the commonly understood term of 'Classical', that's perfectly acceptable).

How you interpret the theme as the photographer and artist is a matter for you - for example, you may wish to consider the instrument, a performance, the musician, even a dedicated venue, or perhaps the many other facets &/or accoutrements that are associated with classical music. Plese note that this is not an exclusive list - you've probably got even better examples and ideas. Feel free to explore them.

I'm seeking artistic interpretations with photographic skill and merit combined."


The shots fit the criteria, so this will be short and sweet. As my evaluation is quite subjective, your own opinions may differ, and that’s likely a good thing! Errors, typos and other problems are entirely mine.


Mecrox – Classical guitar player

Classical guitar is undervalued IMO – Messrs Grigoryan (x2) and Williams (John) et al are proof sufficient of its value. I’m glad you picked this theme, and I’m pleased to be having a look at it. The composition is very good, although the tangle of strings on the RHS distract just a little. What draws me in though is your choice of focus – the fingers on the frets, and simultaneously the concentration so evident on the musician’s face. It is so natural, and so authentic, that I can virtually hear this fellow playing while I look at the picture. Well done.


Tozza27 – Half-century old vinyl

My vinyl is the same age Tony – scary eh! In fact, now that I look at it – have you been raiding my collection?!! Just for a bit of mischief, you could have placed an i-Pod on top of the records. That bit of mat on the RHS is a bit of a distraction – another record on that side would have covered it up and provided some symmetry as well, but you may have had a cunning plan that totally escapes my pedestrian brain of course! The way you’ve got the depth of field sorted is effective for me.


Hyram – Nige

Don’t mind a spot of Nige – saw him in Melbourne and Adelaide (the latter a better concert by far IMO). This image is lovely and sharp, and for visual impact, takes advantage of the rainbow refracted from the inside surfaces. Well done. The black background was likely the only way the disc was to be contrasted effectively – it works for me.


Luke Skywalker (backwards) - Guitar

This is a very small resize for the image – a larger one may have done justice to your entry, Iqbal. I like the way the light catches the strings, but the body of the guitar suffers by way of contrast – it is in the shadow, and needs some ‘punch’. The composition is OK, I think., and the bokeh of sky and foliage is very pleasant in the background.


Summary

Each entry had a good take on the theme, but as we only have four entered, the placings are correspondingly shortened. The abridged results of course in no way reflect on those that did enter! So the results are (my entirely subjective opinions, as stated):

1st: Mecrox – ‘Classical Guitar Player’

This gives a real human interest to the subject. It is an effective composition, and great use of aperture to give you the dof needed for this shot. Good choice of lens too btw . Congratulations.


2nd: Hyram – ‘Nigel K’

This has the bite, colour and sharpness to attract the viewer – a bit like Nigel’s hair really . Congratulations.


Please feel free to disagree!

Congratulations Mecrox and well done iBerg. Shame about the lack of entries. I think many of us (well, me anyway) are too uncultured to have anything interesting to say about classical music

Thanks i-Berg - bit of fun and comments noted - nothing wrong with your brain and certainly not pedestrian !
Mecrox was my favourite too and well done to you - sorry the entries were not flooding in this time to give you a fair run.

Regards

Tony

Many thanks for the judging, i-Berg, and well done everyone who entered. I too wish there'd been more entries but I'm lucky in that the centre of my home town is full of music and culture on display so it's not hard to find with a camera.

Congratulations to mecrox and many thanks to i-Berg for the competition.

Shame about the lack of entries but not an easy subject IMHO

No you're right, stretched too far I'm afraid!