Photo Competition! VOTING CLOSES SUNDAY

[ultrazapp]

[ultrazapp]

Okay confession time!!

Yes these are all my photographs.

And I have plenty more I would like to share with you all.

I carry two cameras with me all of the time; I look around constantly at what our planet has to offer. Occasionally I am fortunate enough to document on film the wonders that Mother Nature has to offer.

To be honest the chances of me taking a good enough photograph within the conditions and time scale set down by the moderators for this competition is near impossible.

Therefore it is only right that I hold up my hands and say well done to all of you guys who have uploaded photographs within the rules of the competition. And state for the record.

“Do not vote for the evil ultrazappâ€

[AXJ]

Okay for the tecky people.

Cannon A1 Tripod mounted, aperture F16 and the time set to brief or "B"

The madness to my method was: Watch were the strikes were most common, then set the time to "B" this holds open the shutter manually until it is closed, the set the aperture to its smallest so that the minimal amount of light can enter.

My mums house has street lights which would affect the amount of light entering the camera. This had to be limited. The night was pitch black apart from the lightening storm.

I basically pointed the camera at the place that the lightening was most likely to strike, with the shutter help open with the smallest aperture allowed.

I the crossed my fingers then I crossed my chest and then "Bang" it was there.

Some say lucky, some say good planning. I go with the lucky statement.

I would say good planning coupled obviously with luck. Your method is the same as I would use, but I don't have a digital camera with those features, and 35mm pentax setup which it top notch, is no longer an affordable option. I keep dreaming of getting a digital back for it, but it is so low down the list of priorities I can't see it ever happening.

One way or another, the lightening shot is fantastic. I had a look at the gallery you have a link to on your profile.. some nice photos there

Any reason why the AXJ family is not on the list of votes, and JR is although unfortunately JR does not have a photo showing?? is this the Zimbabwe voting system LoL

[mybarnconversion]

Gonna toss in another for the fun of it...

[Shirley]

ok - AXJ I've no idea why you were missed off the list... can only blame human error etc..... I've remedied it now though.

[AXJ]

ok - AXJ I've no idea why you were missed off the list... can only blame human error etc..... I've remedied it now though.

Thanks, I voted for the picture of the chap in the garden with his BBQ and umbrella... great humour.

[the.fee.fairy]

Thanks for that Shirlz - i must have got the wrong user with the pic when i was going through.

Sorry about that...

[AXJ]

I don't think my daughter was expecting to win, in fact she thought I was taking the compost liquid... untill I explained the rule of thirds.. etc etc etc (like a really boring sad ex-professional photographer), how one could see the sunny breaks, the dark sky, the recent rain.. the flowers and fields illuminated for a brief moment by a gap in the cloud cover, a moment she captured perfectly (given the equipment) and survives uncropped. Whether that is weather, or just a nice view is open to intepretation.

[Shirley]

AXJ - I think she's done exceptionally well with that shot.. I hadn't actually noticed (because I just skimmed through and looked at the photos) that it was your daughter that took the pic... she could be doing a bit of following in your footsteps I reckon!

How come you gave up the photography then?

[AXJ]

Thanks

My dad was a pro too. I gave it up to focus (pun not intended) on graphic design, typography, book production etc. With the advent of auto exposure, auto focus, more tolerant film, cameras that everyone has... (digital was a dream), everyone had become a "photographer".

Then I moved on to web development, and thence that new fangled multimedia... and finally to be a full time parent, with a bit of design etc on the side to supplement. I still take photographs, almost never on film these days, can't afford it. There was a time when I had my own dark room, and took quite literally hundreds of pictures a week.

Maybe next time I'll have a picture of my own, I had loads of images of weather I could have put in the competition, lightening, dripping spider's webs in ultra macro, amazing UFO type clouds included, however none of them were taken in the time frame stipulated by the rules LoL

I think that having a strict time frame for such photo competitions is a really good idea, otherwise people like me just leaf through our archives putting others who may be just starting out at a real disadvantage, after all it is just for fun, and it levels the playing field nicely.

It's funny, when daughter asked to take the camera on the school trip, I nearly said no. I will never forget dropping and temporarily breaking my dad's medium format rollieflex on a school trip, I didn't take another photograph after that for 10 years!!

[JR]

Sorry, vote for me....

I had moved some parts of my webspace and the photo dropped off.

[MKG]

I voted. But it does strike me that there are people out there who are really proud of their photos, because some of the pics offered here had nothing whatsoever to do with the weather. Nothing wrong with the photos - just not exactly on-topic. Which tells me in rather large writing that there SHOULD be a gallery area for Selfsuffientish. Hmmm - time to examine the Suggestions area, I think.

[Annpan]

I voted for the one that I though summed up the topic perfectly


MKG - I think there are some issues about web space and things for a photo gallery - there is going to be a few big changes to the site soon though perhaps after that it might be considered again.

[AXJ]

I voted. But it does strike me that there are people out there who are really proud of their photos, because some of the pics offered here had nothing whatsoever to do with the weather. Nothing wrong with the photos - just not exactly on-topic. Which tells me in rather large writing that there SHOULD be a gallery area for Selfsuffientish. Hmmm - time to examine the Suggestions area, I think.

Hey MKG put your money where your mouth is, which ones are off topic, which ones are breaking the rules of the 'competition', which ones are both?

As far as a gallery is concerned, as long as the people who wish to show thier pictures are hosting the images else where, there is no hit on the 'ish' server, nor any use of 'ish' band width.

Personally I vote for competions of recent pictures, it's fun, it's free (if using digital). Jesu a photogallery is like popping round to a friend's house and being expected to watch the latest holiday video.

But if that's what people want, then go for it, just make sure that they link from off the 'Ish' server. You could just set up a section, called photography, and just start adding topics to it for different subject areas such as: Plants ... garden ... family ... holidays ... livestock ... funny ... machines etc etc etc. People just add their pics in the same way that they have in the competition thread.

[AXJ]

If you want an honest opinion, it is a moment well captured, but ALL out of focus. The depth of field was a good attempt, but you missed. Nice try but no cigar.