[CauseISaidSo]

Bigger – http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/601/thedistancebycake.jpg
Bigger – http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/884/thewallbypinkfloyd.jpg

Hah! I’ve got a feeling we’ll be hearing this a lot this contest, but I thought about both of those, too. I couldn’t figure out how to do The Distance, so good job there!

Here’s my “Another Brick In The Wall” from my b-sides:

[CauseISaidSo]

have my three and am just waiting to post them. for the first time in a while i’m excited about a contest.

Yep, I’m looking forward to this one, too. All new entries for only the 2nd time.

This one forced me to get creative and I ended up with another half-dozen ideas that I’d liked to have tried but ran out of time.

[CauseISaidSo]

OK, I’m confused now. If they don’t all have to be taken at the same focal length, what’re the restrictions for those of us who are primeless?

[CauseISaidSo]

For Summon the Heroes, any kind of picture of veterans or a veterans statue, maybe?

For The Olympic Spirit, perhaps some kind of home-made replica of the Olympic rings logo? Or maybe something that resembles an Olympic torch?

[CauseISaidSo]

i don’t think about stats except when reminded of them like here. i do however enter meh like i did tonight. there is little chance that my autumn shots from south louisiana will compete successfully with ones from a northern climate. but i wanted to play with you guys and it’s only once a week.

And I’m glad you did, Curious, because in my opinion that’s what these contests are about when you get down to brass tacks – having some fun, sharing something that you created, maybe learning something from others, and lastly a little good-natured competition. If the fun’s not there, there’s just no point to the rest of it. I mean, the paycheck’s the same win or lose, right?

It’s kinda like any competition where there’s a possibility that soosh will throw out one of his aurora borealis shots. The voters freakin’ love those shots (and rightly so), but even assuming the rest of us could compose the shot as well as he does, we’ll never know because we have no aurora to shoot, so you throw out what you do have and hope for the best.

Same thing with my football entry tonight. I know from past experience that football shots don’t go over too well with the voters. But you know what? I like that shot and the theme asked what autumn meant to me, and by golly that shot answers the question so I entered it.

two schools of thought there; 1) what you said re entering to maintain stats and dragging the whole effort down and should be abandoned, 2) there are no prizes, fabulous or otherwise, so the stats are a means to keep score over time. IMO stats are interesting but shouldn’t be obsessed over. if you start obsessing about your standing the fun goes away fast.

I think #1 tends to take care of itself. If you’re that concerned about stats that you enter anything just to keep your stats up, I think you’ll quickly find that it’ll have the opposite affect. It’s better for most stats (except recent top ten most votes and similar) to sit out than to enter a dog that drags down your average standings and votes/entry.

#2 is really just echoing what I said above – if it’s not fun, there’s no point to any of it. Have a little competitive edge? Great, then check your stats, use them to push yourself , but don’t obsess. Just want to share your art? That’s fine, too – ignore the stats.

[CauseISaidSo]

I’m liking the entries so far, in particular Mopsy, Eden… (the blurry one), and Because I Said So had ones I particularly enjoyed.

Thanks, rav! If you liked those, all of my bees are from that same trip.

And while I echo the sentiments on your fencepost shot, your Golden Toasted Sunset was the one that grabbed my eye first. The leaves are almost like little flames licking up from the bed of stones, aren’t they?

[CauseISaidSo]

SilverStag (or anyone with suggestions, really), can you give me any specifics on what you’d like to see differently or additionally?

[CauseISaidSo]

lists quit being fun when i fell off the top ten all time vote getters 🙂

I feel your pain, brother! I’ve never made (and probably will never make) the top ten all time but have been on the top ten recent and fell off a couple of weeks ago.

Regarding vote rankings, I agree that they’re mostly worthless because of the variance in the total number of votes. Getting 30 votes in a contest with only 900 total is obviously more significant than getting 30 votes in a 2500-vote contest. To even that out, I’m going to use a “normalized vote tally”, which will be something like either a percentage of total votes or the number of votes you’d have gotten if the contest total votes were 1000.

I do think votes can help some as long as one doesn’t totally base his/her worth as a photographer on it. I know that the entries I’ve put the most effort into have (mostly) performed better than those I’ve just dug out of the archives.

And your final statement is exactly what I’m looking for. Writing software does make me happy (for the most part) and that’s why I’m doing the stats site. When I get it up (preemptive that’s what she said!), if the rest of y’all find some use or entertainment from it, then that’ll just add to my enjoyment.

[CauseISaidSo]

You’re absolutely welcome, Curious. I’m really just doing this for me, so if anyone else finds it useful or entertaining, then that’s just gravy.

And I hear ya about wanting to post each week. For some reason, I feel “compelled” to post 3 entries if I enter at all and sometimes I feel the third (or even second and third) of those entries is somewhat “meh” and the votes usually end up reinforcing that.

And I hope you didn’t interpret that list as trying to shame anyone or inforce hierarchies of any sort – it’s all meant just for fun.

[CauseISaidSo]

Good grief, man, where are your priorities?!? 🙂

You’re not too far off those lists, though:

UserName   FirstContestID   LastContestID   ContestCount   EntryCount   TotalVotes   Participation

orionid    119              289             112            328          5619         65

That places you #23 on the contest count list and #28 on the participation list.

[CauseISaidSo]

Wow indeed. When I first looked at them, I thought, “cool, but your standard NASA sun photos.” Then I saw that they were taken by an amateur in his backyard! Unbelievable.

[CauseISaidSo]

other than my results and checking out other people’s work, I don’t often delve into it.

I do keep a close watch on the stats usually, and I’ve been wondering for weeks why you weren’t already on those lists (you’ve been on the recent highest vote getters for quite a while, but not the others).

I haven’t looked at your earlier stuff, so I had to assume you must’ve posted quite a bit of low-vote-getting stuff earlier that was dragging you down. If so, you’ve certainly come a long way as that’s not the case any longer.

So, congrats on your well-earned entry to the lists!

[CauseISaidSo]

I didn’t see any other shots (on the voting results page anyway) that looked like they used a “slow shutter while driving” technique, so I assumed it was targeted at mine.

Regardless, please accept my apologies for the earlier outburst. I’m normally a live-and-let-live, to-each-his-own kinda guy, but you caught me on a bad day. I really just wanted to let you know that there was some “artistic” thought put into it, regardless of the actual outcome.

And you’re in good company here wondering what drives the voters. When you get it figured out, please let the rest of us know! 🙂

And in all sincerity, I’ve been a fan of your work for quite a while before you came to the forums. You’ve posted some really nice shots.

[CauseISaidSo]

Speaking of colors, rav I really liked your origami shot – colorful and a creative idea.

[CauseISaidSo]

On another note, just to gripe: I’m still disgruntled how many voters consider slow-shutter shots while driving as “artistic.” Guess there’s something to be said for altered states of mind………..

Really? See, I thought art was about pushing boundaries, exploring new territory, trying new things as an “artist.”

You like negative space; well, I like bold colors. Colors and their interplay have always fascinated me since I was a child. I’d thought about doing yet another long-exposure of moving traffic but then the idea came to try it from the other side of the wheel and frankly I liked the outcome. I like the bright mix of colors against the dark background and evidently a few other people did as well.

And there was more to it than you’re implying. It took several test shots to see how the colors would get exposed and mixed, it took adding a ND filter to extend the time without blowing out the colors, and it took experimenting with different sections of road to find the right mix of colors.

I’m sorry you didn’t like it. Personally, I didn’t find much “artistic” about several entries this week (great shots, but lots of standard landscapes and the like). But then I didn’t come here to complain about them either.

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