POTN G-series Speed Challenge #226 - Cemeteries

[chisel]

Challenge #226 - Cemeteries

Graveyards, Cities of the Dead. Stunning places for photography. Tranquil, trancendent, comforting or disturbing.
Memorials, monuments, flowers, landscapes, quiet visitors, squirrels; these cities have it all. Surprise me!

http://STONECARVER.com/flyertalk/entries.jpg
______________________________
10 Megapixel
Very strong shot. Moody, perhaps a bit too symmetrical, something about the way the sky is centered on the memorial and the angle of the shot presses down on the viewer, giving a slight claustrophobic sense. I can't decide if that is disturbing or if it actually adds to the overall effect.

Gotak
Beautiful lighting; I've tried shots in similar locations and it's very hard to get both the tracery and the lettering to be well lit and clear like that. Again the perspective makes it press down on the viewer. The sepia tone really helps, gives it a timeless sense.

I would have preferred if it were cropped up from the bottom, (right at the "spring line", the line where the arch starts bowing in from the supporting columns) eliminating half the lettering, as that would help the composition. For me, that is all it would need to put it over the top.

Michael Wells
The sunlight behind the cross is good, the square bushes in the middle hurt the composition. Is this HDR? colors seem just a bit too saturated for my taste. (perhaps if the bottom half, with the memorials, were less saturated, with the sky remaining the same it would be stronger?) However, the way you have it creates a relation between the sky and the marble, and that is quite interesting. Good title too, "Many sunsets here".

Car
The rich grass color and things at the bottom distract, I'd like it a bit simpler, with more contrast between the lettering and the granite; all the elements fight each other. Perhaps this one could use that low perspective angle like in 10 Megapixel and Gotak's pix, something less static.

Fergie
That tilted tree, with everything else so vertical, is startling in a good way; keeps it from being static. That really adds a wonderful touch to the composition. I'd prefer a closer crop on the graveyard itself, with less tower, and then brighten the foreground just a bit.

Teekay
I've always been partial to B&W; you really catch the cold and the mood. There is a very interesting sense of movement in the foreground.

Kevan_G9
A bit of a secret garden, we peer around the gate. Very good composition, I wish the gate was a little more in focus, and had less color to it, to really emphasise that sense of a gate, the sense we are looking into a special private place.

Marie
Good composition, captures the mood as we peer in to the graveyard. The fog is almost too perfect, like a postcard or Hollywood movie shot. Cloning out the fence in the background would have let the shot drop off into the infinity of the fog, adding more mystery.

Lanton
It's striking how the crosses become the sisters, lined up in their white habits. It brings their memory to life.
______________________________
THIS WEEKS WINNERS:

1ST Marie

2ND Kevan_G9

3RD Lanton

______________________________
Photo Submissions

Camera -- Canon G-Series Camera (G1, G2, G3, G5, G6, G7, G9, G10) or Pro 1 only.
-
Time -- any on-topic photo taken at any time is eligible, although photos that have won other competitions should NOT be entered.
-
Size -- photo must be EXACTLY 800 pixels on the longest side, with NO BORDERS.
-
Post-Processing -- do whatever you like and the host will decide if it works.
-
Posting --
One photo per photographer in each challenge.
Photo Title in the message subject line.
Camera model.
EXIF data, if you like.
Commenting -- No commenting on photos by anyone, including the photographer. Once the winners are declared, photographers can add comments to their images and everyone is invited to discuss.
-
Photo Display -- Photos must appear in this thread to be eligible.
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Cemetery


One challenge every week, on the following schedule:

New Topic ... As soon as possible after winning.
Posting Starts ... Right after topic is announced.
Posting Stops ... Monday noon GMT
Winners Announcement ... Tuesday noon GMT.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please consider turning on Private Messaging in your profile.
This will allow the host to contact you about winning or ineligible photos. You turn this feature
on by clicking "User CP, Edit Options, Enable Private Messaging"
(about a third of the way down the page).
Thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click this sentence for Hosting Rules and Winners List. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=113480)

Click this sentence for Discussion of Rules thread. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=59640)

[10megapixel]

G10
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3383/3586670605_b7fd6d4d10_o.jpg

[gotak]

G10
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/3587416637_c630129c3a_o.jpg

[Michael Wells]

G9
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2467/3591477846_1e5ae4d4c7_o.jpg

[Car]

G7

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc306/biya_photos/GreyfriarsBobby.jpg

[Fergie]

G9

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee209/38fergie/Canon%20Website/SteepleRW.jpg

[teekay]

G1

http://community.netidea.com/teekay/temp/SleepingCold.jpg

[Kevan_G9]

G9:

[marie]

Pro 1
1/125 f/3.5


http://www.pbase.com/image/113473287/original.jpg

[lanton]

G10

[chisel]

Many thanks to all that submitted their pictures.

The challenge #226 – Cemeteries is now CLOSED for judging.

Winners and comments are now posted in the OP.

[rpolitsr]

Bravo! chisel, you set those pictures in stone :). Your presentation is a colorful allegory of a graveyard for the challenge entries. It is an ingenious idea.

Congratulations marie, Kevan_G9 and lanton for the top places.
Welcome to POTN and to the challenges, lanton

I missed the challenge again, I’m sad for that.
I will return soon to this thread to re-read the comments and find those always interesting ‘how to’ posts.

[chisel]

Bravo! chisel, you set those pictures in stone :). Your presentation is a colorful allegory of a graveyard for the challenge entries. It is an ingenious idea.

I suspect anyone who has had to judge one of these challenges would agree it's easier to bury the evidence than to keep them above ground and try to pass judgment.
:lol:

[Michael Wells]

Congrats Marie, Kevan, and Lanton...really fine shots by all of you! Great job hosting and judging, chisel, and quite an interesting topic you picked! ( I love your "graveyard" presentation of the photos! ) re: your comments on my shot...yes, that was my first ever attempt at HDR, and there is a lot wrong with it...the other one I took that night is even worse!:D I had a lot of fun going through the process, and didn't have time to try for anything else this week so I let it ride. I've never shot in a cemetery before, so it was an interesting experience...as in...OK...I'm in a cemetery...now what? I'm not really a superstitious type, but the black cat suddenly showing up out of nowhere right at sundown was a little creepy:)! As always, I really enjoyed everyones shots this week.

Mike

[teekay]

Congratulations to the winners and particularly Marie for the #1 shot - a wonderful combination of light and mist. My own entry was the only one I had of a cemetery and really needed something in the centre foreground to improve it - I even considered "moving" a gravestone or two. An excellent topic - cemeteries are great places for all sorts of shots and I've got lots of good ones from various places but not with a G-series camera.

[lanton]

Hey thanks! I enjoyed this and look forward to participating in future challenges.

Glad I found this forum, it's been helpful in many ways.

[Kevan_G9]

I’m with Michael on this one…it was creepy walking through graveyards looking for photo ops. Hey Brown family, “Say cheese!”, …click. All I got in response were stony responses.

Like many of my photo finds, this photo was due to a bike ride I did a couple weeks ago that took me to Pecksland Rd. in Greenwich CT. In this neighborhood, you barely smell the flowers, through the scent of all the money that resides here Anyway, tucked in the crook of a sharp bend in the heavily-wooded road is this very charming and undoubtedly mystical abandoned cemetery. This spot only caught my eye because my riding partner asked that we slow down so he could momentary visit a bush. I prefer to leave people to their own devices on such occasions, so I soft-pedaled ahead, giving him his space, when I spied this little plot. When this challenge was announced a few days later, I knew exactly where I had to return.
It was a cloudy morning, promising to clear as the day progressed so I opted to take my scooter to work and with a slight detour did some photo taking. When I got to the plot it was just after 7a.m., the sun was breaking over the horizon and the cloud layer was parting. There wasn’t much light with the early morning and abundance of trees so the camera had to be held extra steady. This was my first visit to seriously spend some time taking pictures of a cemetery and tombstones and I was uncomfortable with the idea of trespassing on this neighborhood’s little plot. So I started taking photos from the street and the old stonewall and steel gate intrigued me, including them in many of my shots. I should mention here that I didn’t bother removing my helmet because I figured I wasn’t going to be there very long. Having done what I could from the road, I stepped up the embankment towards the gate and startled a doe that was resting against the inside wall, under a honeysuckle bush and it jumped up and ran off only going about 100 feet when its curiosity got the best of her. What was that white-headed monster with that black thing stuck in front of its face ??? The deer craned its neck hard for a better look, giving me a long hard stare. I stood there for a while watching her watch me, then looking over the entire scene, as she turned and ran off, a shiver ran down my spin when I got to thinking maybe there was some connection between the woman, Sarah, and the deer.

Chisel, that was a very strange and entertaining challenge you offered. Thank you for the second place. After I download all the photos to my PC, the first thing I do is go to the file folder and simply look at the un-edited shots so I can weed out the obvious misses. This photo grabbed me the most and when I showed the survivors to my wife for her opinion, she too pointed to the same. Initially, I agreed with you, I wished the gate had been in better focus, but as the photo wore on me, I liked the fact that it was out of focus. It gives the photo more depth and because the gate almost takes up a third of the photo the fuzziness attempts to lessen its importance to the entire scene, giving credit to the stone marked “SARAH”. The gate, the tree, its leaves, even Sarah’s neighbor, giving her the nod, points towards her. She must have been some special person, even in the here after.

The photos that everyone presented here are really good, and boy… was glad I wasn’t you. Congrats to the other winners!

[marie]

Challenge #226 - Cemeteries

Graveyards, Cities of the Dead. Stunning places for photography. Tranquil, trancendent, comforting or disturbing.
Memorials, monuments, flowers, landscapes, quiet visitors, squirrels; these cities have it all. Surprise me!

http://STONECARVER.com/flyertalk/entries.jpg
______________________________
10 Megapixel
Very strong shot. Moody, perhaps a bit too symmetrical, something about the way the sky is centered on the memorial and the angle of the shot presses down on the viewer, giving a slight claustrophobic sense. I can't decide if that is disturbing or if it actually adds to the overall effect.

Gotak
Beautiful lighting; I've tried shots in similar locations and it's very hard to get both the tracery and the lettering to be well lit and clear like that. Again the perspective makes it press down on the viewer. The sepia tone really helps, gives it a timeless sense.

I would have preferred if it were cropped up from the bottom, (right at the "spring line", the line where the arch starts bowing in from the supporting columns) eliminating half the lettering, as that would help the composition. For me, that is all it would need to put it over the top.

Michael Wells
The sunlight behind the cross is good, the square bushes in the middle hurt the composition. Is this HDR? colors seem just a bit too saturated for my taste. (perhaps if the bottom half, with the memorials, were less saturated, with the sky remaining the same it would be stronger?) However, the way you have it creates a relation between the sky and the marble, and that is quite interesting. Good title too, "Many sunsets here".

Car
The rich grass color and things at the bottom distract, I'd like it a bit simpler, with more contrast between the lettering and the granite; all the elements fight each other. Perhaps this one could use that low perspective angle like in 10 Megapixel and Gotak's pix, something less static.

Fergie
That tilted tree, with everything else so vertical, is startling in a good way; keeps it from being static. That really adds a wonderful touch to the composition. I'd prefer a closer crop on the graveyard itself, with less tower, and then brighten the foreground just a bit.

Teekay
I've always been partial to B&W; you really catch the cold and the mood. There is a very interesting sense of movement in the foreground.

Kevan_G9
A bit of a secret garden, we peer around the gate. Very good composition, I wish the gate was a little more in focus, and had less color to it, to really emphasise that sense of a gate, the sense we are looking into a special private place.

Marie
Good composition, captures the mood as we peer in to the graveyard. The fog is almost too perfect, like a postcard or Hollywood movie shot. Cloning out the fence in the background would have let the shot drop off into the infinity of the fog, adding more mystery.

Lanton
It's striking how the crosses become the sisters, lined up in their white habits. It brings their memory to life.
______________________________
:)

Congratulations to all this week

especially to # 2 and #3 winners Kevan_G9 and Lanton
very good
what a beautiful peaceful layout you done with the showing of the pictures Chisel. looks almost better then how they were originally shown
really lovely. the restful background sets them off so well. very artistic
the colours all look so good together , the black /white adding contrast beautifully (in your layout of them)
:cool:

thank you very much for hosting and having to choose between the pictures. its almost always not a very comfortable situation
many thanks
I know what you mean about the fence in the distance (in my shot)
:)
terrific pictures from everyone
thanks all
your shot is beautiful and unusual Teekay
I only now saw your picture and the title you had.. 'cold sleep'
it was sheer coincidence I used the word cold also. and the frosty shot
great clarity in the detail in yours megapixel and Gotak ...... < welcome to the challenge
all lovely and very interesting photographs

the beautiful deer looks good in there Kevan....... its a great sight to see especially in a cemetery
( probably wished to wear your hard hat in case of crash against a headstone)

maybe the deer is re 'cycled' (pun)... & just after rising from the dead :shock:
no wonder you were shivering :confused:

I guess Sarah would have enjoyed seeing you both dancing around
lol

I will get back tomorrow with the next challenge:eek:

mercy

lol______________________________

[chisel]

Kevan_G9, deer seem very comfortable in cemeteries, as evidenced by this family I encountered some years back.

I try to visit cemeteries everywhere I go. I spent half a day in a fascinating one in Zagreb in April, and there is one in Genoa where I spend a lot of time. At first my wife thought I was strange; then, about 15 years ago we were in New Orleans for a stone industry trade fair. At breakfast with about a dozen others, someone asked what we would be doing that day. She, somewhat nervously, said that I wanted to visit a cemetery. Seven or eight people piped up and said, "we did that yesterday, you need to go to X and Y..." Several others said they were going the next day. They were all quite enthusiastic. At that point she realized I wasn't so strange after all.
;)
Of course, for me they are primarily wonderful museums of stonework, so I'm mainly shooting pix for reference, for ideas and study, but they are limitless places for photography.

I spent a few hours with some colleagues touring a great one in Bedford, Indiana last fall, comparing insights on the work. That's where I found out that Bill Clinton had another wife... please don't tell Hillary!

[Kevan_G9]

Chisel, I came across one stone that had an interesting Adirondack-type style relief to it that I'll post here when I get home tonight. Very simple in a appearance, meaning it probably was quite difficult to pull off; it was just a rough stone including the family name. Very handsome.

[Car]

Congratulations Marie, Kevan_G9 and Lanton and Thanks to Chisel for hosting and judging - and the beautiful presentation of the entries.
Unusual topic Chisel but fascinating nonetheless. You're right - there are some amazing stonework in them - especially the older ones. There is one in Glasgow that is full of outstanding pieces but I've never got around to photographing them - one day I will.

[chisel]

You're right - there are some amazing stonework in them - especially the older ones.

I go to cemeteries for the stonework, but from a photographic standpoint, they are also wonderful for the vast variety of composition, landscape, lighting, and mood you can find there.

[marie]

;)
Of course, for me they are primarily wonderful museums of stonework

I spent a few hours with some colleagues touring a great one in Bedford, Indiana last fall, comparing insights on the work. That's where I found out that Bill Clinton had another wife... please don't tell Hillary!

:lol:

'The First Noel'

great story and photo
we all know we are mad photographing certain things but really if its of interest to us... I guess that justifies it
we'd never see certain gravestones etc if nobody took any photos
:cry:

talking about stones
here is the raw bare headstones of the time
cemetery grounds are 6th century
(shh.....don't mention it within hearing of Kevan but its St. Kevin's very own place (lol) where he prayed like forever in a cave further up the mountain)
( future photographers were high on his list)
:mrgreen:
http://www.pbase.com/image/113473530/original.jpg

[marie]

Congratulations Marie, Kevan_G9 and Lanton and Thanks to Chisel for hosting and judging - and the beautiful presentation of the entries.
Unusual topic Chisel but fascinating nonetheless. You're right - there are some amazing stonework in them - especially the older ones. There is one in Glasgow that is full of outstanding pieces but I've never got around to photographing them - one day I will.

your shot is beautiful Carolyn and so easy to read whats on the headstone
is it a doggy cemetery or a one off to a special dog ?

in the mountain area here too there is a place of rest for pets

[Fergie]

Congrats to the winners and to all of you for the posting of great photos.

I envy you the natural ability that so many of you have for spotting such wonderfull shots.

I live in hope and will keep trying.

Cheers

[Car]

your shot is beautiful Carolyn and so easy to read whats on the headstone
is it a doggy cemetery or a one off to a special dog ?

in the mountain area here too there is a place of rest for pets

Thank you! It's a one off to a special wee doggie! Here's the story Marie:)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_Bobby

[Kevan_G9]

(shh.....don't mention it within hearing of Kevan but its St. Kevin's very own place (lol) where he prayed like forever in a cave further up the mountain)

Well, seeing that that Kevin is now elsewhere, a new roof, some fresh paint, toss in some throw pillows and flowers...It'll be ready for move-in.

Howdy neighbor!

[Kevan_G9]

It's a one off to a special wee doggie!

Some proper training was all that was needed.

Umm...sorry, it wasn't to make light of a wonderful story.