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I didn’t have time to take pictures of my geek stuff (work was busy), so nothing from me this week.
I suddenly realised I could take a picture of my manga collection, which is fairly large, but I haven’t unpacked it since moving. A year ago….

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I just pulled a few books from my bookshelf. In my current apartment there is only 1 shelf of books, so not a large selection to choose from, but I was able to make something very, very geeky. (Featuring a FFXIII Elixir)

And then another entry is geeky in how I use the picture, and what is in the picture.

I fear my entries are going to revolve around books.
And what is that drink like? I keep seeing it in the convenience stores here, but I haven’t got around to trying any yet.

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Photography is probably my biggest geek thing…Take a picture of myself taking a picture?
I suppose I could do something with my researxch area of translation studies, but I am having a hard time figuring out how that would translate into an interesting shot (geddit? Translation studies…translate into….ah, nevermind).
This topic has really stumped me.

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what? no cream cheese?

Cream cheese also goes well with salted bonito entrails (“Shuto”).

/just throwing that one out there

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Only 3 thus far on the one missing all words ‘Fark’ from the webpage. Does nobody get it, or is the composition so terrible that it’s just not getting votes?

And how does the missing 8 ball on page 3 get more votes than my missing 8 ball on page 1?

Sour grapes, I know; but I really tried to be creative here and am disappointed to have fared so poorly. I’d expected a much better response.

Pretty much everyone has said it, but the voting in these competitions is weird. I got one of my highest places ever this week with a simple shot involving toilet humour. A far trickier shot I entered got just 3 votes. That’s the way it goes. I think most people don’t vote on the technical aspects of the shot, but the “wow” factor.
To look at it in another way, I don’t photoshop, so in photoshop contests I don’t vote for what may be technically brilliant photoshops, but simply ones that make me laugh.

And if it makes you feel any better, I gave you a vote, but I had to look at it twice to “get” it, and when I “got” it, I liked the idea and execution. The other missing 8 ball photo was far more obvious, which is probably why it got more votes.
Talking of “getting” a shot, I’m afraid I only “got” bucky_bacon‘s bread and jam shot today. It’s missing peanut butter? Peanut butter and jam/jelly sandwiches, right? We don’t really do those where I’m from. My wife looked at it and asked me what was missing, and I my first answer was “A cup of tea”… 🙁

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Here’s a few from the heavy snowfall over Christmas and the New Year in the UK.

That had to hurt on landing

Uncle’s daft lab catching snowballs. He loves it, don’t ask me why.

Waterfall in the local park. Taken with ProviaX film.

Same Park, same film. I was using a 50mm lens, so you can imagine how close they let me get.

Cow and Calf rocks in Ilkley, W. Yorkshire. Sensia film, IIRC.

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I liked the second one of the great blue Heron in particular. The out of focus bird in the background is a nice touch.

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I think the “how much posing is allowed” should be left up to the voters, someone making a face might be a really interesting picture.
For example, I am a giant white guy in Japan away from Tokyo, so I simply don’t blend in, making it very hard to get pictures where the people aren’t reacting to me in at least some way. (Kids stare at me pretty much everywhere)

The farm picture I would say is off limits, that isn’t public in any way. That was just an example of how a wide-angle lens changes things.

Probably the simplest way to say what I am thinking of is places where people are not yet at their destination, so people in streets, sidewalks, parks, subways, trains, in their cars, etc..

I have the large white guy in Japan away from Tokyo problem too, which was one reason I asked. Anyway, I get the idea, and yes, I thought pictures where the subject is staring into the lens or showing awareness of the camera may well be popular with the voters.

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How unposed do the shots have to be? If I want to get close to someone with a wide-angle, they often start posing for it. How “candid” does the shot have to be?
Also, this may be a silly question, but is the environment limited to “streets”? The guy in the article sleeping linked had a picture of a bloke on a farm, for example. As long as it is outside, and of people going about their daily lives, is it ok?

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One of my entire posts seems to have disappeared. It was of a small train station in the snow (No Catchy Nickname). Is due to a glitch in the matrix, or did it contravene rules somehow? I am pretty sure I have never posted it before in a competition (I only took it a month or so ago).

If your image broke, the post would be deleted automatically. If you believe your image location is in good health it may be possible to restore your post. Sometimes a post will get deleted due to a temporary glitch in something like Flickr, so it happens.

Okay, thanks. When I checked yesterday, it was my leading vote winner 😥
Which goes to show that I really have no clue how people vote, as it wasn’t my favourite by a long shot.

/also, thanks for the update, Elsinore

[LeicaLens]

One of my entire posts seems to have disappeared. It was of a small train station in the snow (No Catchy Nickname). Is due to a glitch in the matrix, or did it contravene rules somehow? I am pretty sure I have never posted it before in a competition (I only took it a month or so ago).

[LeicaLens]

I always vote for my own shots. If I didn’t feel they were worth a vote, why put them out there?

That was one of the great conundrums for me: is it bad form to vote for my own entries. I think in this week’s competition it should be compulsory! After all, it’s about shots youlike that nobody else does.

Anyway, none of my entries did well, so I guess I stuck close to the theme.

/I’m not being 100% serious about the compulsory part. 😉

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I take it that after the first frame, all the other frames require the same amount of turns? Sounds like a lot of work, but rewarding nevertheless.
And I still love the use of Lego 😛

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For the IR, I modified a camera(Fujifilm F20) to only do IR by replacing that high-pass filter with a low-pass filter, so it is expensive (The cost of 1 camera, if done successfully).

Ah, you modified a digital camera. Did you put in a replacement filter so you can shoot both IR and normal, or is it fully IR (not needing a Hoya R72 or similar filter on the lens)?

I look forward to seeing your IR stuff anyway. It is something I want to have a go at this year.

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My thinking on that difficulty was that generally people have significant emotional attachment to their family or pets, and wanted something a tad bit more interesting. Otherwise it would probably end up being a “My cats: let me show them to you” theme, and I wanted something different from that.

I was going for styles of pictures, like orionid‘s 3D pictures and my pictures of models, for example.

I might enter some of my Infrared stuff as well.

Thanks for the explanation. I see what you mean. You are likely to get lots of “Here’s my dog/cat/rabbit/hamster/piranha. I think he’s cute, but you may not” pictures.

It does raise the question of what to select. Is there any need to ask for an explanation of why the submitter doesn’t think it will gain votes?

As for IR, do you use film or digital? I really want to give that area of photography a try, but it looks costly and difficult if done with film. Digital looks tricky due to the IR filter most DSLRs have in front of the sensor.

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