Visitors who have suffered this blog for months, years in some unfortunate cases, may recall that I am a regular contributor to a British photo-mapping site called "geograph". Click on the logo below:-
In a typical week, around 5,000 new photographs are submitted to the site and every week there's a competition to decide the photo of the week. Last year, I achieved this accolade twice - both pictures being snapped in what has become my beloved Peak District.
Last month, though I say it myself, I captured a series of marvellous pictures from Stanage Edge during a temperature inversion - when cloud hung around stubbornly in the Hope Valley. Right place, right time. I noticed a man squatting on the nearby moorside - half hidden by a heather mound. At first, I thought he was obeying an urgent call of nature but as he stood up I realised he had been making final adjustments to his remotely controlled model aeroplane. He released it and the thing whizzed manically around in the January air.
It was difficult to capture that little plane in my viewfinder but I managed it three or four times and this was the best result:-
A beautiful image of the landscape around Stanage, with a cloud inversion over layers of wooded hills greatly adding to the atmosphere of the shot. I do not know how a model aeroplane came to stray into the field of view, but this makes the image something special, with the angular shape of the plane contrasting nicely with the softer shapes of the landscape below – in all, a moment in time well captured by the photographer. The limited colour range of the shot is also noteworthy – the image could almost be described as an “honorary black and white” My congratulations to Yorkshire Pudding on a worthy winner of this week’s competition.
My prize? A flatscreen TV? A dirty weekend in Canton, Georgia? A bottle of champagne? No, I am afraid not. The prize is simply to pick the winner from next week's shortlist. After all, we are all amateur photographers and "geograph" is non-profit making.
Clever dick
ReplyDeleteActually, if I might be so bold your earlship, my first name is not Richard!
DeleteIt is to me!
DeleteWell done, Mr Pudding. Save that one for your book about the Park District.
ReplyDeleteRecently I did make a book - containing dozens of my best Peak District photos. I was very pleased with the outcome but it was a one-off photobook. I posted about it on October 13th last year.
DeleteYour photos always make me homesick. And I don't even live there. Thank you for adding to the beauty of the world.
ReplyDeleteYou have hit on something there Jan. When I think about it, when taking photos I am indeed usually seeking to portray something nice - something good about our world - in all its many guises. Thank you.
DeleteExcellent, congratulations.
ReplyDeleteAdrian - I don't know if you have ever been tempted but geograph would be a great place for you to display a wide selection of your brilliant pictures - from all over the country.
DeleteYP. I've joined Geograph. I'll have a go at it tomorrow.
DeleteAlthough I have not seen the other pictures entered in the competition, I am not surprised yours won.
ReplyDeleteOf course, your story about the model plane flyer hardly sounds convincing. Why not admit you staged it on purpose, promising the owner of the plane a share in the prize if you won? (Half a flat screen, half a dirty weekend AND half a bottle of champagne must have made him dizzy with greed and anticipation!)
Okay you got me Arian. It was all staged and even that misty landscape was on a large canvas - painted for an old production at The Crucible Theatre.
DeleteCongratulations. Your original photo was one I enjoyed immensely. The plane does add a certain additional interest though. You have reminded me that I registered some years ago with Geograph and then never submitted any photos. I must remedy that.
ReplyDeleteWith you and Lord Adrian Snowden on board, I guess my chances of ever winning another geograph award have just floated off down the swanee.
DeleteAs modesty is not a virtue you are over endowed with I am loathe to say this but that is an outstanding photo.
ReplyDeleteCoyly I flutter my eyelashes from behind my fan.
DeletePerfect title to this post.
ReplyDeleteYes Helen - beautiful feeling, the judge called my picture beautiful and I hope that it was.
DeleteI love Geograph, and found it purely because I was so homesick for my county of birth. So keep it up please, I bet there are lots of other people like me who are very happy when they find photos of fields, streams and lanes that they love.
ReplyDeleteIncreasingly I think we amateur photographers see things and get to places that professionals often miss. We know our patches.
DeleteCongratulations!
ReplyDeleteCheers Red!
Delete