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12/25/2006 12:38:09 AM · #2526 |
Here's my first Christmas present of the day.
Your Occupation II
Votes: 3
Views: 4
Avg Vote: 3.3333
Looks like a brown ribbon winner! |
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12/25/2006 12:40:43 AM · #2527 |
I'll hang out with you, Julianne:
Votes: 9
Views: 19
Avg Vote: 4.6667
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12/25/2006 12:41:57 AM · #2528 |
Originally posted by bmartuch:
The interesting thing is that  zoomdak left a comment saying he thought the processing was interesting and he liked it. Even if one person likes it, it makes you feel good. |
Yep. That's the key for shots not in the typical ribbon-winning vein. :)
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12/25/2006 12:43:33 AM · #2529 |
I did, and I get my family photo. Professionally done. Well, olan mills anyway. I even get the 27yr old in it, so all 7 kids and hubby. :)))))))))))))))))))))) grinning from ear to ear.
Question, do batteries and fire mix...........? Prolly not. Gonna shoot for a challenge this week as work has eased up a bit thru new years.
Message edited by author 2006-12-25 00:46:20. |
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12/25/2006 01:47:13 AM · #2530 |
I know I've let Team Minus down lately, but I do have an entry in Pattern 2 for this week. Is there a special prize if both I and my team get Brown Ribbons?
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12/25/2006 03:37:49 AM · #2531 |
Originally posted by liltritter:
Question, do batteries and fire mix...........? Prolly not. Gonna shoot for a challenge this week as work has eased up a bit thru new years. |
No. Depending on the battery they are likely to explode. I'd certainly not recommend being anywhere near that with your camera and / or face. |
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12/25/2006 06:28:58 AM · #2532 |
Congrats to  wildcard for her first 6!
Sticky
Team Novice --  
Team Minus --  
The Hoovers -- 
Out of Focusers --
Team Entropy -- 
Chasing Butterflies -- * 
Message edited by author 2006-12-26 11:51:05. |
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12/25/2006 07:59:30 AM · #2533 |
Wise words from Sheffield. Let's all drink too much and eat too much and talk too much just as much as we can stand - and then some - for this holiday season, but be bloody careful. From now on the sky gets lighter (except for antipodeans, but you'll just have to enjoy what you've got).
As incredibly important as pictures are at the time of creating them, which is right and proper, they're still not as important as the person making them. Which I just threw in there as a way of adding to (muddying the waters of) this discussion about wanting to improve/get higher scores.
'Improve' is a bit of a non-specific term and I think it's safe to say that everyone wants to improve. It also works pretty much across the board to say that high scores are better than low ones.
If you want to improve your 'self' and a whole load of people start telling you how to do it (stop laying around in bed, don't talk so much, make sense, drink less, make lists, plan systematically your assault on the ramparts of your self-improved future etc) then you might be forgiven for wondering just how much 'self' remains after doing all these things. Chances are quite a lot, but the question should probably be asked.
All of which is by way of saying that it's not ourselves (directly, at least) that we're out to 'improve' by participating in chellenges etc. We (oops, speak for myself) I want to improve my photography. As important as it is to learn graphic and photographic techniques along with technical and esthetic factors in the production and evaluation of images (and I really am learning, even if it doesn't show), it has no value if the pictures are no longer mine. I think maybe levyj413 (or someone?) already said something like that about wanting to get the idea in your head out into the realised photograph. The whole business of personal choice or personal expression or whether the camera or the photographer takes or makes the picture can get very complex. That is not of itself a bad thing, but the average score received in a challenge is far less complex and a distinct and isolated element in a complex and inter-related whole. That's not a bad thing either - it's precisely because it is a distinct element that it is objectively useful. It is precisely because it is not more extensively inter-related with everything else that it only gives a very limited measure of the whole.
The next paragraph is obviously important and revelationary, so I'll leave that out because it's Christmas and our brains need the rest.
Happy hols and congrats on being here and, of course, the collective Christmas slideshow!!!
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12/25/2006 08:24:55 AM · #2534 |
Brown
Votes: 167
Views: 202
Avg Vote: 5.3054
Comments: 2
Your Occupation II
Votes: 37
Views: 54
Avg Vote: 5.0000
Comments: 2
Just waiting for my kids to wake up, so I thought I would check in. My Occupation score is higher than I anticipated! |
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12/25/2006 09:58:13 AM · #2535 |
Originally posted by raish:
As important as it is to learn graphic and photographic techniques along with technical and esthetic factors in the production and evaluation of images (and I really am learning, even if it doesn't show), it has no value if the pictures are no longer mine. |
Exactly right, Peter. That's what I meant about taking pictures of Washington, DC monuments at night. I know how to take pretty ones. But they've been done 10 million times, so even when I do, I'm looking for some individual angle.
What's nice, at least at the level I'm at now, is that I know I can take those pictures. That tells me my basic skills are in place. Now I'm free to explore different avenues. I still go for the score sometimes, but sometimes I just try something to try it. My two current entries in Pink Floyd and Occupation are examples of that. They're sharp and well-exposed, but not necessarily attractive to the average voter.
And sometimes, I take a shot I just like a lot or has meaning for me. Don, you listening? I finally got around to carrying out my "punishment" from whichever side challenge you won. :) When the patterns challenge ends, I invite you all to spend some time reading my rather lengthy description. That shot is part of a growing body of work on a particular theme that's important to me.
I'm off in 30 minutes for CO for three days of skiing. I'm hoping to get a shot to rival my current high scoring picture. See you all next weekend. Until then, have a glorious holiday! :)
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12/25/2006 10:52:53 PM · #2536 |
For Christmas, I got a 160GB Maxtor external hard drive. Boy did I need that. I was running out of space on my internal hard drive. Was Santa good to everyone else?
Also, I entered a shot in the Patterns challenge. I didn't get carried away with my usual processing this time so we'll see what happens. I'm just not sure that it's that captivating of an image though. Oh well.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas! |
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12/26/2006 02:50:22 AM · #2537 |
Hey gang! Merry day after Christmas! You all did a wonderful job with the Christmas poem - that was awesome. Kind of like a long distance phone call with extended family members, you know? Great writing, Don.
I didn't get visited by Santa - I installed the modem (waited 'til Christmas morn to do so), but still no internet. Is there a New Year's figure I can pin my hopes to or do I have to wait for the Easter bunny? I really have no idea why it takes so long to get internet connections in Germany. But with no internet, I did manage to finish emptying all the moving boxes in the house. Note that I did not say I put anything away - I just emptied the boxes.
Jeff, belated Happy Hanukkah.
As to improving - I agree with lots of the comments and responses made to Jeff's inquiry. I do think I pay a lot more attention to some of the stuff I do since I started "playing" here - but more importantly, I've learned from simply enjoying what others do. I also echo someone's sentiment that we (the Team Suck bunch) do tend to see things in pictures that others don't. I think that's pretty cool.
I plan to be in pattern, if I can get access (with upload allowed) this afternoon somewhere. If not, well I'll just say the shot was great and would have scored at least a 5.2 assuming those who like it could overpower those that will see it as DNMC.
And yes, all it takes is one person to see what you saw in a picture to "score" here, I think. :-) And even if you don't get that, do you still like the picture? Does it say to you what you wanted it to say? Do any of the comments received give you a way to make it better but still keep it as yours?
Great bunch of folks here - hope to be back on a regular basis within the 2007 time frame! |
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12/26/2006 04:14:30 AM · #2538 |
I had a visit from Santa and he left me a light tent and some lamps, so I may be able to stage some cute macros. Which is nice.
Can't fold up the light tent, mind. ;) |
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12/26/2006 08:10:33 AM · #2539 |
My husband went overboard and spoiled me rotten for Christmas. I'm so excited I don't know what to do with myself. I got a Sigma Macro 180mm F3.5 lens - this baby is incredible, as it is like a macro and telephoto combined. I can't wait to take wildlife photos with it.
AND he found a treasure on Ebay - a medium format Mamiya (film camera) with three lenses and all components for under $500. Never even been used - some guy in Kentucky just had it sitting around in a box for the past 30 years. I'm a little intimidated by it - having never used anything beyond 35mm, but can't wait to try it.
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12/26/2006 11:14:12 AM · #2540 |
WOW...my Occupation score is amazingly high...(for me)
Votes: 94
Views: 149
Avg Vote: 5.7979
Comments: 2
Favorites: 0
Wish Lists: 0
Let's hope it stays there! Have a shot in for AA, may get harsh environments now that we have snow at last.
How's everyone's Xmas? Santa been good to you? |
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12/26/2006 04:02:06 PM · #2541 |
Brown
Votes: 191
Views: 227
Avg Vote: 5.3089
Comments: 2
Your Occupation II
Votes: 98
Views: 153
Avg Vote: 5.0612
Comments: 2
Just got asked to validate my occupation entry. I don't think I went to far, but we'll see what SC says.
I pulled my pattern entry and put one in AA instead. A little edgy, but I like it. Would have liked it more with advanced editing, but it will have to do.
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12/26/2006 04:27:33 PM · #2542 |
Originally posted by noraneko:
AND he found a treasure on Ebay - a medium format Mamiya (film camera) with three lenses and all components for under $500. Never even been used - some guy in Kentucky just had it sitting around in a box for the past 30 years. I'm a little intimidated by it - having never used anything beyond 35mm, but can't wait to try it. |
That's a serious bit of kit. You might check and see if it's possible to fit a digital backpiece on it (but if it is, I bet they cost more than $500).
Congrats :) and kudos to hubby.
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12/26/2006 06:21:54 PM · #2543 |
I have a question for fellow team suck members:
What do you feel your biggest downfall as a photographer is?
I have a bunch of little things like, I don't have as much time as I would like. I don't have a studio etc. But I think my biggest problem is that I don't have the EYE. I just don't seem to have the ability to see things that the really good photographers do. I just can't see something and think "wow, that would make a great picture" unless it reaches out and slaps me across the face.
I know there has been much talk lately about how to try and get better but I'm not sure the artistic ability or the ability to visualize can be taught. I'm thinking that it has to be a natural thing. However, I do look at things more from a photography stand-point but I feel my abiltiy is greatly limited.
What does everyone else think? |
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12/26/2006 07:53:08 PM · #2544 |
Bob, this week I took a step back and didn̢۪t enter any challenges wondering what I have been doing wrong. And what I realized might help you also.
I take photos for fun, yet it seemed like work for DP, Now I̢۪m going to have fun and somehow make it fit challenges.
#2 Not everything I shoot is going to appeal to everybody. Case and point
The Mona Lisa is worth millions.
I would love to have itâ€Â¦Ã¢€Â¦. to sell.
But I would never have that ugly thing hanging in my home.
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12/26/2006 08:04:25 PM · #2545 |
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12/26/2006 08:16:37 PM · #2546 |
Well, I'm barely still hanging onto a 5 in Pink Floyd. I even got a comment asking how it related...sigh (if you don't know, google it dude!). I just entered Pattern, Harsh Env. & Free Study. I got them all today! Yea me!
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12/26/2006 09:24:24 PM · #2547 |
trying so hard to catch up after days without Internet...
I must say something about "improving."
Improving is a wonderful thing. It's also something that DPC in general handles very well. Personally, I see Team Suck as filling a gap that I see in DPC. I think Team Suck is more about "growing" and/or "exploring" than "improving." Team Suck is about what a positive comment can achieve, instead of a negative one.
Now improving and pointing out flaws are perfectly lovely, useful things, but you don't need to be in Team Suck to get those!
That being said, that's just my point of view. Use Team Suck as you wish. I never saw it as a place to graduate from, but Giorgio managed to do so with great flair, and others are free to do that as well. Hopefully, though, most of us here see Suck as a way of life. It's who we are, not where we are. But even "who" changes. No one knows that better than a sucker. After a hundred licks we might be nothing but a stick.
Dang, this was all so clear and well-structured in my head. Now, if I'm to have any hope of entering "Patterns" I must get out of here...
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12/26/2006 11:58:57 PM · #2548 |
| I got a very last minute entry for patterns so I'm not expecting much from it and it's OOB, but I'm still just hanging on to a PB for Floyd. |
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12/27/2006 01:54:21 AM · #2549 |
Don, it makes perfect sense. And if no one objects, I'd like to request a lifetime membership to Team Suck. (Still no "approval" for internet at home... sigh... But it does give me incentive to get to work early, there's that!)
Message edited by author 2006-12-27 01:54:54. |
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12/27/2006 03:43:21 AM · #2550 |
Really, I like the Team Suck thread. It's always fun to read.
Also members of the team have done well recently, showing some decent sparks of genius. I noticed some good results for us in Pink floyd - just about to read through brown now. |
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