Weekly Competition # 136 - "Suffering"

I'm a bit torn here

Over the last while - since early 2008 in fact , I took a series of photos of my husband in hospital and at home , all of them show suffering in its many differing forms. The final one I took in April last year was different - I was actually pleased with that one - it showed his strength and his refusal to give in . After that I took no more I felt that any others would be a gross intrusion .

The one I posted for the competition I felt showed how a family had suffered - but not the actual suffering .

I think you can show suffering , but it can also , to an extent , be non-invasive if you like .

im afraid its actually turning into a gruesome display of sadness..

LIGHTEN UP GUYS !

There are various kinds of suffering and it doesn`t always have to be tragedy or sadness surely ?

My contribution is hopefully an interpretation of the word from the point of view of the little dog having to undergo the humiliation and fear of its first bathtime - as an observer it was actually very amusing at the time but Willow was NOT amused.
Sadly,the little hairy twit, having wormed her way into my affections was hit by a car some months later and fatally injured - the shots I have are my reminder of a fun and frustrating Christmas with Willow and her owners.
My suffering is more long suffering as portrayed by the patience of a very frisky puppy..............

Tony

Hmm Tony that's pretty tenuous for human suffering.

Tim - Pauly's shots weren't in general about suffering per se just documenting people who chose to live on the street. Indeed not many of his shots that I recall dealt with suffering more difference.

mikew - I was not trying to link the relationship between human suffering or any other kind - just trying to justify a slightly lighter contribution to the competition whilst still within the bounds of the parameters set down by mattox - I`m sure if he disagrees then I will be judged accordingly.

Tony

I must have misunderstood - I'm not the world's most thorough reader and in this case I got a bit depressed in teh first few words!

Pauly's work is brilliant, but rarely hinges on 'suffering' as the central theme... he treats his subjects with dignity and respect which sees their humanity come across, ot just their predicament.

I think the theme HAS to be interpreted loosely, creatively. There are several ways of doing this without chasing your local 'rough sleepers' around with your camera. For instance you could shoot a model. Or, as someone has done excellently, focus on sculpture of the human form.

Difficult issues around this theme, making it quite an interesting challenge.

I don't think that it can be loosely interpreted because the judge has set very specific parameters.

I agree with Hyram but we aren't judging which makes all the difference.

It will be interesting to see how mattox judges the week's entries.

Well Hyram, I think mattox has gone for the no-nonsense interpretation...

As you say Alun, although there is no individual comment on each entry.

Well I guess that here is the place to thank Mattox for choosing my submission for the "suffering" competition and to congratulate the other entrants. The new competition subject has been posted so I'm off to read up on the rules - hopefully I've done things correctly so far!

Steve

somebody give him the harsh news...