08-24-11 – Barren Macro

The barren macro police might be busy this week. Just how dead does stuff have to be? Would a pressed flower work? How about an old leaf that has been worked over by Japanese Beetles so that only the veins remain? What about one of my spider web pics with the dew on it?

I arranged these in ascending order of barren-ness. Where is the line drawn? Or is this going to be bubbles and rocks and metal stuff? What if the stuff is on grass?

I don’t have a strong opinion. I’m just trying to define the playing field. It might be best and easiest to just make sure that the subject of the photo (as opposed to the background) is dead. And not just pining for the fiords.

Here was my thinking when I suggested the contest: “We’ve seen the bugs, we’ve seen the flowers. What haven’t we seen?”

I’ll grant, we’ve seen a few things like light bulb filaments and crystals close-up, but I wanted a theme that focused on such things–and not the bugs, or leaves, or flowers, etc. Personally, I wasn’t looking for stuff that is ‘dead’, but rather stuff that was never a piece of ‘life’ to begin with. Trying to draw some fine line between ‘dead enough’ (old wooden furniture, fossils, etc.) is just too much hassle, to me.

I’m sure there will be some pics that have elements of life somewhere in them, but I think the voters will get the idea of the theme by the majority of the pictures people submit, and ultimately, they will decide what is most fitting (as they always do, in the end.)

I don’t think there’s much need policing beyond the blatantly obvious this-picture-is-about-bugs-or-flowers. Use your best judgement and may the most creative and artistic expression of ‘barren macro’ win!

Yes, YE GODS, this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I kan haz a gold star 😀 ?

I don’t see why this one needs hair splitting; it’s one of the more cut and dried themes we’ve had. Either it’s alive (or was at one point) or it isn’t. Spider webs aren’t alive and never have been, so I think they’re fine. Unless there’s a spider in the image. Fossil shells might be ok since they’re not a fossil of the actual life form but rather its secretions. Fossil skeletons or trilobites or the like are obvious life forms and shouldn’t qualify.

I’m not opposed to fossils–they aren’t the animal or plant, but rather the mineral-infused replicas of the beings that once were (no different to me than a D&D figurine not being a ‘wizard’ or other life form, but rather a representation of such, and would be fine contest subjects.)

But elsewise, Elsinore‘s assessment hits it on the head and is exactly what will guide my voting, at least.

What about fake representations of living things. I was thinking about my daughter’s extensive collection of plastic bugs. I have a ton of other stuff so I’m not attached to this in any way.

What about fake representations of living things. I was thinking about my daughter’s extensive collection of plastic bugs. I have a ton of other stuff so I’m not attached to this in any way.

Models are fine, so long as it’s not so life-like that it would be mistaken for ‘real’ (same goes with silk plants). That said, given the theme, I don’t know that they would do well with the voters. You never know, though. YMMV.

Ahem. I have had access to mammoth bones and tusks but not since I had a DSLR (dammit). I also have access to fossils of very small plants and animals. But to avoid any sort of confusion or controversy, I’ll stick to things that were never alive to begin with.

I stand corrected. 😳

Who knew? 🙄

Sure. It’s a shell–it’s not the living thing. Kinda like clothing. Do consider that the voters may not (or may–who can tell?) agree. If I had a shell shot I were proud of–I’d use it, regardless. (I don’t though.)

I searched flickr for “barren macro” in hopes of inspiration. Fail. Thousands of shots that were neither barren nor macro and two ice-covered dead-tree landscapes.

/Still got nuthin with a few mediocre ideas. May run with the light bulb filament if that’s not going to step on anyone’s toes.