G'day and welcome Adam - sweaty palms not needed here . It's pretty constructive and supportive, and provides learning opportunities galore.

The place for customary banter and repartee, which I will vacate upon submission of the first entry.

All the best.

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!

Thank you David, it was quality not quantity this time round, as you've observed. Well done to Mecrox and Tim, and the other four entrants.

Now it's off to the phone box to change into the cape, and blue & red suit with the big 'P' insignia...

No 2 would be my pick - it's less busy, and the pigeon very sharp.

Fare thee well then - you never know, a K system might tempt you back one day...

G'day & welcome from a part of the world that is a little closer to you!

G'day and welcome.

Top discussion this! I am challenged thus:

What are the intrinsic merits of, say, Cubism? Or Pop Art (remember Andy Warhol and his Campbell's Soup-tin)? Or Surrealism?

I'm not a big fan of any of them TBH. And I'm sure that, when they kicked off in their own diverse directions to that which was mainstream in their day, the establishment would have looked down their noses. Perhaps in a similar fashion to the one now greeting street art in some parts?

So what differentiates the merits of these respective (and respected) styles from street art?

Is it the fact (for example) that Picasso was responsible for creating well known Cubist works? And if so, is this about the famous artists rather than the merits of the work?

Or is it perhaps the location: Do we need a gallery to validate our notion of 'Art', and permit ourselves to see it as such? So, art can't be out 'in the street'?

Are these - any of them - 'better' (and what is 'better', and who determines it), than street art @ graffiti? Why so?

I photographed the St Ali's street festival in South Melbourne earlier this year. St Ali's (successful coffee roasters and cafe) invited popular and talented street artists to do almost the entire laneway walls with their street art. I watched them do it. It looked great - and still does.

It looks so good that needles, litter and the occasional bit of excrement now look out of place in the laneway - it's transformed it. Quotes Marshall McLuhan - the medium is the message...

Agriculture

[IMG]http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy9/i_berg/Broken%20Drought/_IGP1842-1-2R.jpg[/IMG]

Remains of horse-drawn 'Sunshine' harvester under a dying Grey Box (E. microcarpa), Outback New South Wales.

Taken September 24, 2010 with FA31 on K-x, f5.6 @ 1/350 sec, ISO 100, -1.0 Ev, handheld. Post in LR3.