Assignment #52 - Isolation - Congrats Jonathan

On behalf of Assignment #51 winner Brian (Bgood) and Jan (Sheiky-who is moving into a new house) this is Assignment #52: Isolation

As described by Brian:

Isolation is the theme, but images are up to you. Does it mean creative use of bokeh to focus on your subject? Or, does it mean a lone tree in the meadow? Or, does it evoke emotion and if so, how do you portray that feeling in an image? Any of this is fair game.

The usual rules apply:

• Multiple entries are welcome, but only one will be judged, the first entry will be judged if you do not specify your entry
• Submissions will be welcome for approximately 4 weeks, until Sunday September 8th.

Thanks and good luck. I look forward to the entries.

UPDATE: Here are the finalists:

Jayson and his picture of the feather. Motivation: This is a great use of bokeh to isolate the subject and a great use of water and color to capture my eye and continually bring it back.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-r...37278-Edit.jpg


Jonathan's solitary tree in the snow. Motivation: This is visually very intriguing and is interesting to me from a shadow and pattern perspective even without the tree. With the tree, my eyes keep playing tricks on me, going back and forth between a tilt-shift lens and a normal lens perspective. Great capture.

http://www.huyerperspectives.com/Lan...A39Q8692-L.jpg


DavidWare's self portrait. Motivation: This image was a creative view on the isolation subject. I feel for David as he left his gear on the other side of the stream, unable to rescue it from any danger. He, like Jonathan saw in my examples a love for the outdoors and captured how I feel when I am out in the mountains / woods, the kind of rejuvenating isolation that I need after a tough week.

http://i.minus.com/ib0HC4MkvJMb4E.jpg



Voting will end in one week.

...on an island

http://photos.deghaye.com/photos/i-R...-RzKr72c-L.jpg

I've been thinking of trying something new, and it will work perfectly with this assignment. Plenty of time to perfect it as well. Looking forward to see how everyone interprets this.

I Walk Alone
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8111/8...9cd35168_b.jpg
Surfboard Pothole by ernogy, on Flickr

The puffin cruise I did last Friday took us out to Eastern Egg Rock, which is a small flat island that usually has hundreds to thousands of birds flying around it. Not this time. All the birds were either very high up above the island or floating in the water just off the island....except for 5 eagles that had taken up different positions....I took this shot with this assignment in mind:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7315/9...1aff9dda_b.jpg
small-5956 by kayaker72, on Flickr

This is a feather recently lost in the yard. It had been wet by a morning mist. I stood it up and snapped a couple shots.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-r...37278-Edit.jpg

I'm cheating a bit here by pulling one out of my archives: A scene along the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park, from February. I'm pretty sure this is the only landscape shot I've done with my 500 mm lens. This area is a gigantic rock pile, from an ancient landslide. So in the winter you get very cool snow formations... great fun for those with an eye for abstract art.

http://www.huyerperspectives.com/Lan...A39Q8692-L.jpg

Jonathan, that is cool in more ways than one. Great shot! It almost looks like a shot made miniature in post.

Johnathan, I was thinking of entering this competition, but after seeing your entry, it's a lost cause. Fantastic shot, definitely the winner so far!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DavidWare

Johnathan, I was thinking of entering this competition, but after seeing your entry, it's a lost cause. Fantastic shot, definitely the winner so far!

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+2 Really nice Johnathan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DavidWare

Johnathan, I was thinking of entering this competition, but after seeing your entry, it's a lost cause. Fantastic shot, definitely the winner so far!

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Thanks very much but I was hoping to have the opposite effect --- encouraging others to enter as well! I like the assignments and other challenges on this site... the great entries inspire me a lot. So please keep them coming..! I'm looking forward to seeing lots of other creative ideas for this unique assignment topic.

I was going to go for something completely different for my entry into this contest, but I couldn't find a location that suited my idea. Maybe next time. Anyways, I'll submit this into the fray. It was probably one of the scariest moments of my life, leaving around $5k of gear on the edge of the water while I ran up the trail and over the rocks to get into position with my remote.

http://i.minus.com/ib0HC4MkvJMb4E.jpg

Two more days until the entry period closes!

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3665/9...7e0b85a5_c.jpg
Isolation-4643 by westmichigan, on Flickr

Hey everyone! Haven't entered a comp for a long while but this theme reminded me of a shot I took off Vancouver Island in February. I've never really had a use for this shot until now so here we are.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8521/8...abc3a1e8_c.jpg
glass by Ben__Taylor, on Flickr

Great images everyone. The entry period is not closed and we will wait for Bgood to make his selections.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kayaker72

The entry period is not closed...

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:confused::confused::confused:

Haha :D The entry period is now closed.....

I voted for John's photo. I am curious what else was around and what other pictures John took in that area that day.

I like Conropl's picture better, but I don't get a feeling if isolation from it. It seems to evoke the majestic nature of the swan in the wilderness, rather than isolation. The lake and forest are full of life, while the snowy field, not so much.

Congrats to the finalists. I really like all three shots and they are all very different.....

Just a reminder, voting is open until next Monday

I'm surprised to see i was able to steal 2 votes away from Jonathan thus far. Absolutely stellar shot.

Just wanted to bump this thread. Today is the last day to cast your vote.

Voting is now closed.

Congratulations Jonathan!

I'll send you a PM about the next topic.

Jonathan - Great winter scene. This would not be an easy shot for us mere mortals of the photog world to get the exposure and shadows correct. I know snow has a tendency to throw metering off a lot... but you got it perfect (as usual). This one is so simple, but still one of the best winter scenes I have ever seen; and I do believe it is deceptively difficult to get right.

David - Great waterfall shot alone, but throwing a portrait in the middle of it brings it over the top. Great job.

Pat

Thanks Pat and thanks everyone for your votes --- that's a high honour coming from a group such as this. This was one of those fortuitous occasions where I happened to have a shot in my archives that exactly matched the assignment topic. I'm impressed with all of you who actually used the assignment to generate new material.

The spot on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park where I got the shot is a huge pile of quartzite boulders, from an ancient landslide. Here is a shot taken in the same area in the summer:

Attachment 2007

...with the only difference being that in this area the boulders are spread out quite a bit, compared to my winter shot. The winter shot is the only time I've ever used my 500 mm lens for a landscape photo. It was funny because I was standing on the side of the road, and several cars slowed down to see what on earth it was I was shooting with the big lens. I was fortunate that it was a bright sunny day, to provide the contrast I was looking for. The exposure was a simple matter of watching the histogram and dialing it up until the whites were as bright as they could be without blowing out. In the summer, an overcast sky is ideal for this location.

Thanks again and thanks to Brant for organizing this assignment. I'll come up with a new topic shortly.

Congratulations Jonathan! That was a great photo. Amazing to see what the difference is between winter and not winter at that location. You certainly do live in a beautiful area.