Fortnightly Competition #31 - Juxtaposition

Hyram
Bodies: K20D (2), K10D, Super A, ME Super, Auto 110 SLR, X70, Optio P70
Pentax Glass: DA* 300, DA* 60-250, DA* 50-135, DA* 16-50, DA 70 Ltd, FA 31 Ltd, DA 35 Ltd, DA 18-55 (2), DA 12-24, DA 10-17, M 200, A 35-70, M 40, M 28, Converter-A 2X-S, 1.4X-S, AF 1.7, Pentax-110 50, Pentax-110 24
Other Glass: Sigma 105 macro, Sigma-A APO 75-300
Flash: Metz 58 AF-1 P, Pentax AF160FC ringflash, Pentax AF280T
BTW I missed out Xmas in my post above (I was tired!). It should have read 'traditional last minute Xmas rush' - I wasn't moaning about late entries! Quite the contrary, for a while it looked like I'd only have a few to choose from, which was disappointing. I think that if I'm setting a fortnightly again I'm going to have to go for something blatantly wide (tried that!) open to interpretation. I'd thought that Juxtaposition was broad enough to encourage lots of people to unleash their Pentax, but even some recent regulars haven't posted. I guess - as with the judging - the Xmas rush probably hasn't helped (and I know that Prieni at least is on holiday). Anyway, on to judging...
I’ve been quite surprised by people’s interpretations – which is a good thing. Just one entry used juxtaposition in the way that I anticipated would probably be a common interpretation – juxtaposition of near and far objects.
Hyram – Ancient & Modern
Great sign – I guess you really have to watch out for those surfers at high tide down Porte St. Thomas! And an interesting juxtaposition of something harsh and garishly modern and something soft and aged. I do feel your usual knack of capturing great light hasn’t really happened here. The light’s a bit dull in the f/g, and rather harsh in the b/g (is the sky blown?). Good humour content, though!
Bob & his Pentax – Red Arrows collecting coffee to go
Boy, those Red Arrows seem to be able to fly in the tightest spaces! Good example of how much you get in the frame with Fishy – no other (current) lens could have included all the planes. Though, of course, this brings compositional challenges which are also demonstrated here – the severed people and escalator, and the blown window area on the right. I also find the light a bit dull in this shot – looks like it would probably be boosted in levels (have you used these here?).
David Trout – Security & management
Quality shot with a nice injection of wry humour (always a big bonus in my book). A really interesting juxtaposition too – helped by the well-chosen title (which is fine – it’s photos that require commentary to persuade you of their relevance that are problematic for me). I like the B&W conversion too which I’m sure works much better than in colour – here we can really concentrate on the people and their expressions, which are just great. Love the guard’s shifty sideways glance in particular – almost like he’s expecting trouble. If I had to be picky, I think the guard’s face is slightly less crisp than the management’s (perhaps he moved) – but really who cares, the important thing is you captured the moment.
Lilly – Two wet cholis
This was a pleasant surprise – an entry from Lilly in India-aargh! Had left a brazen hint (to drum up entries) about the juxtapositional content of a photo you posted in Your Photos and you go one better by posting something completely new. Another quality image (no surprise there!). The more I look at it the more I like it. And there’s a number of juxtapositions going on here – colour, height, in focus/oof. Lovely light and great detail on the two figures. Nice bokeh. And the wet cholis are the finishing touch. I might have played about with brightness and contrast, darkening it slightly, but could well in the end have opted for the image as is.
Thoughton – Two lenses
Good, well composed, juxtaposition of old and new lenses – I think I know which one captures better images! Contrasting colours too, which is good – I like the way the Takumar is set against a white b/g which includes the iphone. Looks like a nice lens too – these are the kind of things I dream of having access to here in Sri Lanka.
Oppenheimer 45 – Old & new
Good juxtaposition in the style of buildings here – the dancehouse really is quite a contrast with the old warehouses(?). I think I probably would have cropped out more of the wall at the bottom (and perhaps done some judicious cloning) – IMO this improves the composition. Also the lighting doesn’t look too favourable – front or side lighting on the buildings might have transformed the scene. And I would have chosen a higher aperture – there’s evidence of the 18-55’s vignetting here.
MikeW – Untitled
Contrasting fruits – crisp, of course (what else from MikeW?!). A simple composition, but effective. Good light and simple b/g accentuating the fruit nicely. I like the detail on the avocado. Everything’s technically just so, but while it’s a pleasant image I don’t find it especially compelling.
Hefty – Redhead & Mr. Green
A quirky take on the subject, but certainly juxtapositional. Like the placement of the coloured lighters with the flatter plainer ones behind. As with Mike’s though, in the end I don’t find the image particularly compelling. I won’t ask what Ms. Redhead and Mr. Green got up to after the shoot!
Draken – Shadows among us
Not something I remotely anticipated in setting this theme, but I like this a lot. The shadows are great – I particularly like the balancing knife and the glass & tap. Actually – just looked again – I like them all! I think the sepia treatment and the added grain works really well here too. My one reservation is the crop – I can see why you have gone for this, but I’m generally not a fan of long narrow crops. Not sure if this is possible, but I would have tried to make the dark areas at the top and bottom of the frame symmetrical.
Anvh – Hate letter
We’re now getting to some welcome late entries. This is a super shot. Lovely light and the vignette works well to set this off. The contrast in colour and form of the handwriting (nice handwriting!) and the drawn heart are great. It looks to me that you pretty much accomplished all you set out to achieve in this shot – no mean feat! I bet you had a tired hand by the end!
Tony-O – Party posters
Interesting shot. I’m trying to work out why you’ve decided to use this kind of filter/effect (not sure exactly which). It strikes me that this image could stand up well without it – though perhaps not (was the tree problematic?). I like the old man walking into the frame and his hunched stance, and the posters look interesting behind though it is difficult to make out the detail with this treatment. In the end, with this kind of shot it’s down to whether you feel the filter/effect works in the context, and my instinct is that I want to see the untreated image here.
Womble – Fences
A really last minute entry from the last minute specialist (posted whilst I was posting my message above – I didn’t even notice it last night as my message appeared on the next page). It’s also the only entry to juxtapose in the way I thought would be most common – near & far. Love the close-up of the snow on the barbed wire - and the contrast with the far oof fence is good. A bit more contrast in the snow would have been nice – though this might be down to the size of the image. Is that dust on your sensor?!
Right, to the places. This is quite tough as there were three entries I really liked a lot: David’s, Lilly’s and Stefan’s (Draken's would have been up there too with a slightly different crop). Images with people generally have the edge for me so I narrowed it down to David’s and Lilly’s. Narrowing it down further was a lot tougher as these are both high quality photos. Aesthetically Lilly’s has the edge; though David’s captures the moment superbly. Tough one! In my opinion it’s more challenging to capture people head on than from behind (from a brazenness rather than a photographic point of view!), so on this slight distinction I’ve gone for the following:
First: David Trout
Second: Lilly
Third: Anvh
HC to Draken
Mhuni
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I did love Anvh's also, I though such an original and creative and original image.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Its 1000am here Christmas Eve and there are the sounds of Christmas carols drifting through the roof tops of Jaipur, India unbelievable!
love Lilly

website
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Pentax: K20D; FA50mm 1.4; FA135mm 2.8; FA 17-28mm; FA 80-320mm; AF360FGZ
Sigma: 30mm F1.4EXDC; 10-20mmEXDC ..... LENSBABY 'Composer' ,
Happy Christmas all.
K.
Kris Lockyear
It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lots of film bodies, a couple of digital ones, too many lenses (mainly older glass) and a Horseman LE 5x4.
My website
Happy Christmas to one and all.
Regards
Rob.

Many thanks to Dr. M. for setting and judging the competition.
The old, walled city of St. Malo is a surprisingly difficult place to photograph in mid-Winter.
A large part of the city inside the walls is in shadow.
We were only in Brittany for 8 hours, with quite a bit of time allocated to Christmas shopping and eating

I would recommend a couple of days with the right weather, to do justice to St. Malo .
Hyram
Bodies: K20D (2), K10D, Super A, ME Super, Auto 110 SLR, X70, Optio P70
Pentax Glass: DA* 300, DA* 60-250, DA* 50-135, DA* 16-50, DA 70 Ltd, FA 31 Ltd, DA 35 Ltd, DA 18-55 (2), DA 12-24, DA 10-17, M 200, A 35-70, M 40, M 28, Converter-A 2X-S, 1.4X-S, AF 1.7, Pentax-110 50, Pentax-110 24
Other Glass: Sigma 105 macro, Sigma-A APO 75-300
Flash: Metz 58 AF-1 P, Pentax AF160FC ringflash, Pentax AF280T
Womble – Fences
A really last minute entry from the last minute specialist...................
I think I know what Kris's New Year's resolution should be

Hyram
Bodies: K20D (2), K10D, Super A, ME Super, Auto 110 SLR, X70, Optio P70
Pentax Glass: DA* 300, DA* 60-250, DA* 50-135, DA* 16-50, DA 70 Ltd, FA 31 Ltd, DA 35 Ltd, DA 18-55 (2), DA 12-24, DA 10-17, M 200, A 35-70, M 40, M 28, Converter-A 2X-S, 1.4X-S, AF 1.7, Pentax-110 50, Pentax-110 24
Other Glass: Sigma 105 macro, Sigma-A APO 75-300
Flash: Metz 58 AF-1 P, Pentax AF160FC ringflash, Pentax AF280T
My entry was shot in appalling weather and for security reasons (my security) I was standing well away from the shop doorway, its quite a big blow up.
I loved all the other interpetations of this subject and your thoughtful comments. I enjoyed Lilly's colourful entry and admired her dedication in entering from her trip to India and was entertained yet again by Womble's deadline-dodging antics. I'm off to look at the list of previous subjects - I just hope I can come up with something as challenging as Dr Mhuni's choice. You'll hear from me soon.
david
PS: A happy Christmas and prosperous New Year to you all - and don't forget your next fortnightly entries.
PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout


Congrats to the winners as well. Really impressive street shot David! I doubt I would have had the courage

Tim
AF - Pentax K5, Sigma 10-20/4-5.6, Tamron 17-50/2.8, Sigma 30/1.4, Sigma 70-200/2.8, Tamron 70-300/4-5.6
MF - Vivitar CF 28/2.8, Tamron AD2 90/2.5, MTO 1000/11
Stuff - Metz 58 AF1, Cactus v4, Nikon SB24, Raynox 150, Sigma 1.4x TC, Sigma 2x TC, Kenko 2x macro TC, Redsnapper 283 tripod, iMac 27”, Macbook Pro 17”, iPad, iPhone 3G
Flickr • Fluidr • PPG • Street • Portfolio site
Feel free to edit any of my posted photos! If I post a photo for critique, I want brutal honesty. If you don't like it, please say so and tell me why!
Well done David and Lilly,the stand out ones for this competition. Regards Tony.

K7,DA*50-135, 35mmLTD Macro, 21mm Ltd, Voightlaender 58mm 1.4 NOKTON SL,Ricoh GRD,GRX, Zeiss 100mm f2 Makro Planar.Zeiss Ikon ZM,Zeiss f1.5 C Sonnar.
It ain't no sin to take off your skin,and dance around in your bones.Tom Waits.
Womble – Fences
A really last minute entry from the last minute specialist...................
I think I know what Kris's New Year's resolution should be

Not to have a power cut for 44 hours I hope. We now have a rather large generator thudding away just over the fence. My phone went flat, my laptops went flat, and I even had three flat camera batteries. The temperature in my flat fell to a bracing 10 degrees and I had to boil water on my neighbours log burner to have a cup of tea. I shot a lot of film yesterday as a result!
K.
Kris Lockyear
It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lots of film bodies, a couple of digital ones, too many lenses (mainly older glass) and a Horseman LE 5x4.
My website
Dr. Mhuni
Member
Geneva
I'm afraid you folks are going to have to bear with me for the judgment. What with the traditional last minute rush, I've not written anything yet. And it's now 1130, and I'm kind of knackered having been up since 6 am. So I'm afraid judgment won't be posted till tomorrow morning. Expect it around 1 or 2 am your time (if you're in Europe - 7 or 8 am for those in India!).
Mhuni
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