OK, so predictably enough I set a new personal worst with my hate entry:
I think quite a few non-UK people have the pleasure of not being familiar with the large yellow object in the picture, it's a speed camera. It's purpose is to sit menacingly by the side of the road and take pictures of people it thinks are going too fast on the dubious assumption that this makes them dangerous and the others safe. Victims receive a fine and "points" on their driving license (usually 3 - these accumulate and if you get to 12 you lose your license).
I hate these things with a passion as do many others. I hate the way that speed is characterized as the only contributing factor to danger on the roads despite copious evidence that it's far from the case. I hate the way that arbitrary limits set more than 20 years ago are enforced as the line between "safe" and "not safe" despite the vast improvement in car technology since that time and the clear variation in what constitutes "safe" based on road and weather conditions. I hate the way that these things are put up as a cynical money-making exercise. I hate the fact that you can drive past one whilst drunk and talking on the phone in a blizzard and not get caught while someone else can get a fine for driving 1mph faster on a clear day. I hate the way a large number of drivers slam the brakes on instinctively whenever they see one leading to congestion. I also hate how the feedback loop is so open, even if you accept the aim of slowing people down to some arbitrary speed, the way you get a ticket two weeks after the offense just doesn't make sense to me.
And this leads to the title of the photo - I just don't think these things make sense. I'm trying to convey how strange and twisted I think the world is where they do make sense, hence the desat and tilted horizon (and yeah it was deliberate, it wasn't straight in the original and I tilted it even more in pp).
So yeah, it's not the best photo (and I made a bad decision to submit one with the camera out of focus). But at least to me it met the challenge, and I got enough comments indicating that people didn't understand it to think it was worth posting an explanation.
I'm not desperately bothered by the score, I did know it would bomb before I submitted it after all.
splidge
p.s. I've never had a ticket from a speed camera, so my hatred is not motivated by a bad experience either! |
