Be Excellent To Each Other

Hello lovely people!

Today sees our first ever Eurovision style vote for this fortnight's photography challenge on the subject of dilapidation and degeneration.

How the eurovision style vote works

It couldn't be simpler. Really, it couldn't. Decide which are your favourite three pictures, in order. In the poll click on the link that matches your MOST favourite picture (which will get three points), then, after that, click the link that corresponds to your SECOND favourite picture (which will receive two points), and then the third (one point). You MUST click in that order though favourite>second favourite>third favourite.

Simple dimple, yes?

Oh, and you can't click 'photo X' three times and award it all six points, that would be cheating! (and it is set up to prevent this, anyway... )

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This month's topic of 'Degeneration/Delapidation' was chosen by Dimrill

Please don't forget to enter this fortnight's challenge on the subject of 'Sharp'.


OK, here are this month's entries:

PHOTO ONE:


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PHOTO TWO:


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PHOTO THREE:


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PHOTO FOUR:


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PHOTO FIVE:


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PHOTO SIX:


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PHOTO SEVEN:


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PHOTO EIGHT:


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PHOTO NINE:


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PHOTO TEN:


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PHOTO ELEVEN:


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PHOTO TWELVE:


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PHOTO THIRTEEN:


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PHOTO FOURTEEN:


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PHOTO FIFTEEN:


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PHOTO SIXTEEN:


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PHOTO SEVENTEEN:


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Oooh, lots of good ones, there. That was a hard choice. I've voted, is there any way of seeing the running totals? It just has a list of who I voted for at the moment.

Five past midnight and entries are closed because I need to go to bed

Think about it...

Maybe Sheepeh needs to go to bed too?

Oh, I'm being a spanner and it's showing totals! I blame Grim... what kind of UI design was that? Put a "Running Totals" title on it or something.

Damn codemonkeys, going around making stuff too obvious.

(I voted first, from the looks of it so I didn't know it was showing totals! Honest!)

I suddenly have a lot of love for Sheepeh

This is exactly the sort of thing I would do

Loads of good ones, there. Tough choice. Well done, photography-inclined types.

I love number six. Just because it looks like a happy drainpipe smile, with that screw for an eye.

Some awesome pics there. A real good range. Probably for the best that mine didn't make it given the quality. Really well done, photo bods!



Genuinely can't pic between them at the moment. I went through thinking that if I kept a shortlist I'd be fine... but there were seven on the shortlist!

Bah!

Aw, if I'd noticed that before I voted that would've been my three-pointer fo' sho'.

It's like the photographer was taking a picture of something far away, and he just lunged in from the right saying "Hey, how's it goin?"

Number 3 has evil Welsh on it. Gayyyyywoooddd!

I think the drainpipe one looks like Pac-Man... It'll be one of my choices I think but don't know which yet. I also particularly like the wind farm, the phone box, and the drooping flower (I nearly did that myself). The syringes in oranges I don't get and I'm looking forward to having that explained to me. Lovely deep rich colours in that pic, which has been a cunning move as half the entrants this time are black and white. Well played that guy I also like the rotting passenger liner -- fantastic subject which I am looking forward to finding out where it is. Someone did well there.

And there are other Welshies on the board, y'know, Dimrill!

For the first time ever, my photo is my favourite of the bunch, despite the excellent competition.

(I didn't vote for it, though.)

That drainpipe is Pacman!

I've renamed all the photos in the Eggwan gallery to the entry numbers in the poll here. This makes it easier to see how each photo is doing, as you can flick back and forth between the poll results and the thumbnail page.

More votes plzkthxbye

I liked the abandoned wind farm best, for the excellent pun on degeneration

3, 13 and 14 are wonderfully moody.

3 particularly seems quite 'oppressive'.

Another excellent selection (and well done for the Eurovision voting -it works really well from the user side)

Some amazing stuff here, I'm going to have to think on this a bit longer. I think currently the wind farm, fenced security signs and curiously the grave stones are ranking high for me right now. I do like the liner, 'pac-man pipe' and junkie-orange quite a bit too. Hmmm, toughie!

I really like the Playing Fields one as a symbol of how this country has gone to the dogs. </Daily Mail>

I find thirteen amazing because it looks dimly post-apocalyptic, with a symbol of a marvellous green future all broken and rusting. Seventeen is also amazing, because it looks a bit like a bombed-out TARDIS. So I voted for those.

I chose three at random, thus invalidating the voting method. If you win, it could be because I randomly clicked your button! Mwah ha ha hahahahahahah!

I shot a gravestone pic too but didn't use it:



It's not as interesting as the one someone entered. Too much plain lichen covered stone I think. Nice headstone, though.

I really like what the Eurovision style voting has done to the way the scores break down. There is much more competition at the top, and a much better spread than we've had in previous competitions.

Me too - I may not be setting the scoreboard alight, but at least I've moved off nil points!

Pfff. It's all right for some!

I am pleased to note that none of the ones I voted for are in the top three.

Great pics people. Voting system is much nicer. Excellence all round.

My big question is: Can I haz those Hero Zombie figures plz?

I love 14 and 17, black and white suits them and certainly adds to the atmosphere of the first!

Excellent voting system there too Grim... well done chap.

I initially liked photo 14, but didn't vote for it because I didn't think the range of tones suited it. The levels make the ship(?) look wrong against the sky. At first I liked this effect for it's oppressiveness, but on subsequent views I liked the effect less and less. I also am unsure about the top of the chickenwire fence in the foreground - I am not sure if it serves to give it depth, but it is barely creeping into the picture. I think it should be cropped out or made a feature of, but it isn't committed to either.

I think it is in some ways the most awe-some shot, but I think in turning it to black and white some detail has been lost and the tonal quialities have failed a bit - if the camera could have been lifted higher, or the shot could have been managed through the fence, I would have liked it tot he point to have asked if I could put it on my wall.

I voted for the telephone box, the 'surveillance cameras' sign and the piece of machinery detail that looks like the tin man from the Wizard of Oz.

Within about half a second of me sending the link, dbsnappa said it's been dropped to B&W by some unsympathetic software. He blathered something about using more of one of the primary colour channels than the other to preserve more of the detail. He's annoying like that. I once sent him some pics of Llanthony Abbey I was pleased with and within ten minutes by return email I had three of them back, one dropped to black and white, one with tweaked contrast, and one that had been recropped to vastly improve the balance between visual elements. They all looked much better. Git.

Edit -- oh, and I voted for (in this order) the maybe-a-drain-pipe Pac-Man face (for making a humdrum subject interesting with clever composition and excellent use of macro), the faded flower (good macro again, and I liked the fade in the colours over the petals), and the phone box (a great subject. I would like to see it in colour). The wind farm narrowly lost out there, I really liked the composition of the tops and bottoms of each towers, forming converging lines off to the right. It feels like a lot of time went into composing that picture.

I don't really use Black and white unless I thin the picture will very much benefit from it, and then I tend to drop it down a channel at a time and then shift the levels until I think I have the contrast and range I want. "Desaturate" settings usually give an OK approximation, but they do vary wildly from software to software, I think. I assumes that the saturation had been dropped manually and the levels altered manually to give the effect. I assumed that the effect of the dark sky and contrast levels was by intention rather than something imposed by software automatically setting the levels for the black and white.

It is a great picture, though. If it was indeed shot in colour I'd really like to see the original once the contest is over if the snapper would allow.

Who is dbsnappa?

I'm DBSnappa

http://www.davidjboughton.com

Hi DBSnappa. You are quick on the case!

I shall click your link and pray it doesn't take me to goat porn, or anything.

I'm Spartacus! And so's my wife.

DBSnappa is the aforemention photographer mate of mine.

Let's hope not, I run that site (it's on the same server, in fact, as the Eggwan gallery...)

Wow, no goat porn, but you are amazing

Will you marry me

I think there's a line for that.

Welcome, DBSnappa

[VOTE:Craig]

We need to nobble this one first, folks.

I was thinking I may have crossed it, jokingly. However, my wife would run me down with her horse if I were being serious

I think he means line as in 'queue' ComicalGnomes at least is in the line before you, and I think someone else put their name down a little while ago, and Craig is currently taking up most of my attention what with calling for cups of tea and the like (and he is poorly, bless him)

Crossing any lines in taste and decency here will be very difficult for you - they were all crossed and raced over, trampled upon and erased a long, long time ago. We have no morals to uphold

Yes if anyone sees the line could they point out where it was?

That's always gratifying to hear - I'm no fan of holy beef, tbh

Shucks, and I just went and bought you one of these as a welcome present:

I like your photo of DJ Paul Oakenfield as it makes me want to beat him to death with his own soggy spleen even more, and I didn't think that was possible.

I don't know a great deal about him, tbh. Funnily enough, as in real life, most people aren't very comfortable with having their picture taken - actors are the worst, I find. Also, you usually don't get a great deal of time to take the pictures - sometimes as little as 15 mins, which nowadays in the age of digital is infinitely more acceptable than a few years ago when I was still shooting most stuff on medium format and using polaroid and lights. Anyway, I digress - my point is, although sometimes you do get to spend time with people you shoot, you usually don't, so it's pretty tricky to get a handle on what your subject is like. My point being that although I didn't have much time with him, it was long enough to ascertain that he isn't someone I would choose to spend much time with as he appeared to be very self-absorbed and dare I say it, under the influence of that most cliched of substances, Peruvian marching powder. That's a polite way of saying coke snorting arse

HOLY COW! That's very generous of you. It'll come in handy for my next BBQ