This will be weird. A thread I can't look at for two weeks .

Oh well, good luck everyone .

Robert.

This is the first time I've done anything like this, so please forgive any ineptitude.

I'll be looking for a photograph that captures the spirit of a lunch break. Hopefully it's a fairly open subject, and will attract a reasonable number of entrants.

This competition will close at 18:00 GMT on Wednesday 26th of November 2008. I forget to put this in the first time, hence the edit.

Originally I'd thought of doing "A Drug Deal in Progress" so that I wouldn't have too much judging to do, but I thought this might get someone killed.

I should just mention my other half, who is also a keen photographer when not working too hard. She's helped with the photos I've posted here, and I'm relieved she'll be able to share the judging with me. I'm hoping there's an obvious winner, or there might be trouble.

Sorry for the delay,

Robert.

I thought it might be useful to have a summary of the previous competition subjects, so here they are. I couldn't find the first three until I twigged they were before the competitions section was created.

I'll aim to update it from time to time.

Weekly

1. The Number Six
2. Play
3. Heat
4. Flight
5. Self Portrait
6. Wood
7. Age
8. Reflection
9. Water
10. People Communication
11. Solitude
12. Hard and Soft
13. The Industrial Landscape
14. Motion
15. Favourite Places
16. Patterns
17. The Mark of Man
18. Shadows
19. The Monochrome Landscape
20. My Day
21. 'Something' on toast
22. Red
23. Light
24. Recycled
25. Christmas
26. Buildings
27. An abstract, subject matter: any plant in MONO
28. Watching the watchers
29. Paper Scissors Stone
30. One of My Best Photos
31. The Eyes Have It
32. Love is...
33. My Town
34. Street Furniture
35. Sky's the Limit
36. Spring
37. Movement
38. Long Exposure
39. Wildlife
40. Upside-down
41. Natural Light
42. Our House
43. Local Shop & Keeper
44. Rain
45. Blue
46. Public Transport
47. Sea and Shore
48. Tools of the Trade
49. Decay & Dereliction
50. On Ice
51. The Street
52. The Ugly
53. The Pleasure of Summer Holiday
54. Sleep
55. The World Today
56. My Home Town
57. Proverbs
58. Sweet Tooth
59. Contrast
60. Alone
61. Bridge(s)
62. A Touch of Red
63. Cute
64. Mysterious
65. Desktop Backdrop
66. Colour of Autumn
67. Evening
68. Children's Expressions
69. Architecture
70. Transport
71. Music
72. Contre Jour
73. Glass
74. Brewing up a Storm
75. Boots and Shoes
76. Still life in black & white
77. Feelings & Emotions
78. New Year's Eve
79. One Hundred Yards from Home
80. Nearness
81. Flower Power!
82. Bicycles
83. For Sale
84. A Face
85. Italy
86. An Instrument of Time
87. This Modern World
88. Reflections!
89. Abstract
90. Heavy
91. Made of Steel
92. Long Exposure
93. Vegetables
94. Woods and Forests
95. Orange
96. Used
97. Smooth
98. Protection
99. People at Work

Fortnightly Competitions

1. Vistas
2. Product Shot
3. Lunch Break
4. Something Wooden
5. Christmas
6. A Night Shot
7. Scales
8. Frozen water
9. Doors
10. Everyday Object,from a Weird,Unusual,Puzzling Perspective
11. Something Wide
12. Your Best Shot Ever
13. Relections
14. Night
15. Fruit
16. Art in the Community

The reality of "Entering these things is certainly easier than having to judge them!" is really starting to sink in.

Robert.

Oh no, what have I done? Winning the competition with the best judge's write-up I've seen. How am I going to follow that?

Well done to the other entrants, there were several I'd have picked ahead of my shot. In fact, I feel rather lucky. It was only B&W to solve a problem with the yellow wall behind reflecting in the glass, and the DoF was so short because I couldn't get enough light on the scene to use a smaller aperture.

Currently lots of thought is going into the next subject, which will be announced before too long.

Right, after all that water I'd better rush off to get the keys to the company washroom before seeing Miss Moneypenny. She'll probably be giving me instructions to go off and shoot someone soon. Photographically that is.

Robert.

I thought I'd give a plug for one of my favourite tipples:




Taken at 18:57 on 11.11.08
K20D, 50mm, F2.4, 1/180, ISO 100.

Phew!

You were probably only joking about mixing the three cleaners together, but I wouldn't try it. There is the potential they'll react together and release something obnoxious like Chlorine, which you wouldn't want to breathe in .

Robert - in danger of becoming part of the nanny state .

I like this shot too. Including the gate adds something, sort of an invitation into the picture. I'd like to see it with a bit cropped off the left and bottom though, as womble suggests. Might be slightly better.

This is completely off topic, but I think this monument lead to the naming of a band a used to play in when I lived in Durham. The others in the band went off on a trip somewhere and came back with the name "Beyond the Parthenon", and I'm pretty sure they visited Penshaw monument. After all this time I now know what it looks like.

Robert.

Douglas Adams fans will be pleased to see we ended up with 42 entries. That's assuming I didn't lose count.

Good luck to David with the judging - it's going to be time consuming I would think.

Robert.