August 2007 Photo Assignment -- Discussion Thread

[CJ Swartz]

If you want to make a comment about someone's entry in this month's competitive Photo Assignment, "Sunrise", please post in this thread.

SwampDonkey, thanks for submitting another topic that allows us a wide range of subject.

[Gary Richardson]

You've gotta have some sun to get sunrise pics.

Weather we've been having over here lately "Rainfall" would have been an easier brief to fill.

Hope we have some sun in August, cos we sure didn't get any in June or July.

[SwampDonkey]

Originally Posted by Gary Richardson

Weather we've been having over here lately "Rainfall" would have been an easier brief to fill.

Exactly!! "Rainfall" would have been far too easy.

It's been pretty good here down south for the past couple of days and I hope it spreads up to you guys. Hope you enjoy the challenge.

Pete

[Gary Richardson]

Funnily enough we've just had a couple of bright days as well, now if I could only convince myself to get up early then maybe I'd get a shot or two.

[CJ Swartz]

Originally Posted by Gary Richardson

... now if I could only convince myself to get up early then maybe I'd get a shot or two.

Ahh, yes -- that's always been the hard part of "sunRISE" for me! You have to get up early enough to get to your spot before sunrise, and that makes it pretty early during the summer months. I need to find a good spot really close to home

[CJ Swartz]

According to both ScubaMargie and MysticalOne, this is not the season for people in Tasmania to get up and photograph the sunrise either. Both of their images increase my desire to visit Tasmania -- but I'll try to avoid the wet/cold season.

[Gary Richardson]

Both of their images increase my desire to visit Tasmania -- but I'll try to avoid the wet/cold season.

Once visited Hobart in the early 1970s, I seem to remember having had some success in the Casino there. Other than that I don't recall too much about Tasmania, other than it's mostly very sparsely populated, and the people you do meet all sound like Aussies .

I suppose it may have changed a bit since then.

[SwampDonkey]

I must apologise to our southern-hemisphere competitors. I'm afraid I didn't really take their winter into account when I chose the theme. Bad me.

But then again, "It's no fun if it's too easy", as they say. Probably

Pete

[CJ Swartz]

Originally Posted by Gary Richardson

... Other than that I don't recall too much about Tasmania, other than it's mostly very sparsely populated, and the people you do meet all sound like Aussies .

I suppose it may have changed a bit since then.

I hope it hasn't changed too much -- "sparsely populated" is an attraction, the landscape images I've seen are gorgeous, and since Tasmania is an Australian state, I'm sure the accents are still lovely also. Add a visit to the casinos to all that, and it sounds like a fantastic place to visit.

Oh, I didn't get up before sunrise today either -- maybe over the weekend...

[Mystical One]

Originally Posted by Gary Richardson

Once visited Hobart in the early 1970s, I seem to remember having had some success in the Casino there. Other than that I don't recall too much about Tasmania, other than it's mostly very sparsely populated, and the people you do meet all sound like Aussies .

I suppose it may have changed a bit since then.

The inland and (especially) west coast are still very sparsely populated, which tends to ensure the survival of rugged and wild landscapes, beautiful lakes, big hills (we call them mountains), and simply spectacular scenery all around.

Winter is nice, with plenty of snow across the high country, but very chilly.

Stay out of the main cities, bring a camera, and you will never want to leave, nor have enough time to take all the different kinds of photo's you would like to... even after 20 years.

[CJ Swartz]

Originally Posted by Mystical One

...
Winter is nice, with plenty of snow across the high country, but very chilly.

All Gary would want to know is -- How's the skiing?

According to an internet page, here's an answer to that question -

Tasmania's major downhill ski resort is at Ben Lomond National Park some 60 kilometres southeast of Launceston. It is an hour's drive along the North Esk River Valley and is more than 1300 metres above sea level.

The Ben Lomond ski resort offers a full range of facilities for downhill skiing, snowboarding, and cross-country skiing.

The snow season is from the middle of July to the end of September.

[Mystical One]

Well researched Cj. Not the biggest ski resport region in the world, but very pretty, and currently about a 49cm coverage LOL

[Gary Richardson]

Originally Posted by Mystical One

Well researched Cj. Not the biggest ski resport region in the world, but very pretty, and currently about a 49cm coverage LOL

Not big enough, not enough snow, too far to travel.

Though I do remember the Northern coastline of the island was very beautiful. Saw it only from the sea, as we "looped round" Tasmania whilst heading from Hobart for Melbourne (I was an Officer working on a BP Tanker at the time).

[SwampDonkey]

Poor planning, this.

Got up at 4am yesterday to drive to a location I've had in mind for sunrise shots. Sunrise time was 5.35 and I got there at 5.36

Despite this, not a complete waste of my morning since the location included a hillside full of poppies. A quick check in Lightroom suggests that there were a few usable shots on the card so that's encouraging.

I'm most looking forward to playing with a 10 shot-wide panoramic, the shots for which were also bracketed. These 30 images will hopefully come together to create an HDR panorama.

A picnic breakfast on the riverbank of the Thames made it a worthwhile morning too

I'm gonna have to think again about the sunrise shot. I really don't want to have to dip into archives for this theme. It turns out that yesterdays location wouldn't have been that spectacular during sunrise anyway.

Pete

[Mystical One]

Originally Posted by Gary Richardson

Not big enough, not enough snow, too far to travel.

Though I do remember the Northern coastline of the island was very beautiful. Saw it only from the sea, as we "looped round" Tasmania whilst heading from Hobart for Melbourne (I was an Officer working on a BP Tanker at the time).

If you thought the northern coastline was nice... you really should see the rest. My partner and I think the northern coastline is the most boring and least interesting section of the island. LOL

Poor Swamp Donkey, but at least it was not a complete loss

[ScubaMargie]

You definitely missed the best part of Tassie, the west coast. It is the most rugged and most beautiful of Tasmania I think.

[Gary Richardson]

Well if I ever get down that way again (which isn't too likely) I'll definitely try to give the West coast a visit.

Trouble with working on a ship is you didn't get much time for sightseeing. You're generally in and out of port within 24 hours, so there's a whole mass of places I'd like to go back to and look around at leisure.

Sorry to say though, if I was coming that far south of the equator again, New Zealand would be top of my list. I had some great times there and would really love to revisit some of the places I got a brief glimpse of in my youth.

That's not a slur on the attractions of Tasmania, just that I spent a bit more time round NZ and got to see a bit more of it.

[Mystical One]

Would still have been a most interesting job, even if the port calls were short.

Can understand your desire to visit NZ, Tassie has never been well marketed and remains a bit of a hidden jewel.

[Gary Richardson]

Would still have been a most interesting job, even if the port calls were short.

Don't you believe it. A great deal of time at sea is spent trying to find things to do to combat boredom. If you're not working there's little else to do.

The only fun bits were the runs ashore, unfortunately as far as owners are concerned a ship in port is just losing money, so they always try and make time in port as short as possible. Modern ships spend even less time in port than we used to do (though that's not the impression they like to give when they're recruiting). So I'm glad I served when I did, and glad I got out when I did.

Having said that, my horizons were considerably widened by the experience of going to sea, and I did get to see a whole lot of places (however briefly) that I wouldn't have otherwise.

[ScubaMargie]

Very nice colours Nikolas, nice pic. :-)

[CJ Swartz]

Okay -- Janet posted a "sunset" instead of a "sunrise" --- anyone who wants to comment, please go ahead. If anyone knows how to tell the difference, please tell us. I know one is in the east, and the other is in the west, and one is in the morning and one is in the evening, and one requires me to get out of bed in the dark while the other makes me drive home in the dark, but can anyone tell from a photo which is which? [Thank you, Janet, for admitting to a "sunset". ]

[Mystical One]

Technically speaking the entry by Janet is not on the theme, but at least she was honest about it, which is probably the only way anyone would know the difference. I guess when time comes to vote, one of the criteria that the average person would probably use for selection is "howwell does the image fit the theme?".

Apart from it being a touch on the cheeky side, I am certainly not going to play the fascist and demand it be removed LOL

[ScubaMargie]

I have no problem with leaving Janets' pic in the contest.

The only difference I can see in the shots entered is that the sunrises, most of them, have more of an orange colour. Janets' seems to be more pink.

I found this link while trying to discover what the difference was between sunrise and sunset, don't know if it helps, but have a look and see what you think.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasc...0/phy00893.htm

[SwampDonkey]

I'm not certain that it makes too much difference. The competition is all in the name of fun more than anything else. If prizes and/or reputations were at stake then things would be different.

I'm certainly not going to get bent out of shape about it

Pete

[ScubaMargie]

Really cool picture Pete.

[SwampDonkey]

Originally Posted by ScubaMargie

Really cool picture Pete.

Thank you

[CJ Swartz]

The photo that received the most votes was submitted by fpellerin -

Congratulations, Frank! You are the winner of the August Photo Competition!

You get to choose the subject for the next competition.

First Place - fpellerin

Second Place - CamillaK -- Congratulations on your submission!

Third Place - SwampDonkey -- Congratulations!
__________________

[Janet Petty]

Congratulations Frank! Very well done. Beautiful picture.

I agree with CJ, each one made me think, "I wish I'd done that."

Janet

[ScubaMargie]

Well done Fpellerin, CamillaK and Swampdonkey