[ApparentlyNothing]

Take a portrait of someone.

Rules:

• They MUST be looking at the camera. None of this fake, pensive look. Really capture the essence of the person. No candid shots. Let's leave that for a future challenge. This challenge is all about genuinely interacting with the person in the photo - you the photographer and subsequently the viewer of the photo. They can be expressing any sort of emotion to any degree you want.
• It can't be a self-portrait. Let's leave that for a future challenge too.
• Photo must be taken between 2/4 and 2/18, keeping EXIF embedded in the photo.

Entries:

dogfood


natedawg5280


RipVanWinkle

[ApparentlyNothing]

Personally, I don't think dogfood's meets the challenge, but I included it for the chuckle/people seeming to want it in anyways.

I'm voting for Rip's. For constructive criticism, I'll say that I'm not a fan of the yellow lighting or the brick wall, and I think the shadows on his face are distracting. However I do feel it's the best portrait that was entered. It's subtle and well composed, and works well. It also shows some preparation and interaction with the subject.

[RipVanWinkle]

I voted for natedawg..

ApparentlyNothing...It is a bit yellow, but it was also shot at night without flash...the lighting is from a light up high on the building...and I do feel the shadows to be a bit distracting as well

[ApparentlyNothing]

Originally Posted by RipVanWinkle

I voted for natedawg..

ApparentlyNothing...It is a bit yellow, but it was also shot at night without flash...the lighting is from a light up high on the building...and I do feel the shadows to be a bit distracting as well

I figured so. It's a pretty good shot anyways. Ideally we'd all have an amazing lighting rig that would just follow us around all the time.

[Fandrew]

I'm voting for dogfood, mainly because I'm amazed he actually got the cow to face the camera.

[ApparentlyNothing]

I hate to be the proverbial wet blanket/taking this competition too seriously/criticizing other people's votes, but should anyone really be voting for dogfood? No offense to him of course, but this competition was about taking a photo of a person, not an animal. By definition, a portrait is of a person. Even if we are lax about the definition, honestly it's not even a good photo of a cow.

Feel free to jump on me for taking this too seriously, but I think the difference between Brandon's joke entry for symmetry and this one is that his didn't actually take votes away from other valid entries.

[Ordinary Sarah]

Obviously it isn't making much difference, because Ripvanwinkle's already got more votes than the other two combined. But if you really felt like it was not a valid entry, you should not have included it.


I voted for Natedawg because I feel like it was the one that met the criteria of actually interacting with and capturing the relationship between photographer and subject. Ripvanwinkle's is a "Hey, can I take your picture? Okay, stand like this... smile..." kind of thing. And then of course, how much interaction are you going to have with a cow, right?

[Fandrew]

Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing

I hate to be the proverbial wet blanket/taking this competition too seriously/criticizing other people's votes, but should anyone really be voting for dogfood? No offense to him of course, but this competition was about taking a photo of a person, not an animal. By definition, a portrait is of a person. Even if we are lax about the definition, honestly it's not even a good photo of a cow.

Feel free to jump on me for taking this too seriously, but I think the difference between Brandon's joke entry for symmetry and this one is that his didn't actually take votes away from other valid entries.

If you didn't notice, I merely mentioned my voting for dogfood without actually placing a vote. I really do like his picture, and I think it did in fact meet the written requirements. However, I didn't vote for him, because I wouldn't want to pull votes from someone who met the spirit of the challenge.

[ApparentlyNothing]

Originally Posted by SarahTheGuitarist

Obviously it isn't making much difference, because Ripvanwinkle's already got more votes than the other two combined. But if you really felt like it was not a valid entry, you should not have included it.

I'm not in charge, I just came up with the challenge. Since everyone in the entries post seemed to think it should still be entered in, and I am not a majority, I included it. I also thought it would be more of a joke to include it, not that anyone would actually vote for it.

Originally Posted by JayCarrfan

If you didn't notice, I merely mentioned my voting for dogfood without actually placing a vote. I really do like his picture, and I think it did in fact meet the written requirements. However, I didn't vote for him, because I wouldn't want to pull votes from someone who met the spirit of the challenge.

portrait
noun
1 a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, esp. one depicting only the face or head and shoulders.

person
noun ( pl. people |ˈpēpəl| or persons )
1 a human being regarded as an individual

A cow is not a person, therefor his photo is not a portrait. That's why I have a problem with it. The challenge was to take a portrait. Yes, I should have said something earlier before the voting started, but I've been quite busy the past week, and I didn't think it would actually get any votes.

[Art]

I voted for Rip. In his picture, the background elements seem to enhance the picture, which in Nate's, they are distracting to me.

[Rainer.]

My personal take on these challenges is that I'll let any picture into the voting thread that a person chooses to enter, because in the end, the votes will go to the person who the masses believe best represented the challenge. It also allows people to be open with the challenges, even if a little too open.

Jeff's is the only one that I really think is a portrait.

I had a few shots that I could have used for this but 1) my digi camera is broken and 2) I haven't been able to use a darkroom to print in the past couple weeks.

[Art]

I think Jon's point is really what I was getting at. Rip's was set up well as a portrait, whereas the other really looks like something that was just taken, not so much like a portrait.

[ApparentlyNothing]

Originally Posted by Rainer.

My personal take on these challenges is that I'll let any picture into the voting thread that a person chooses to enter, because in the end, the votes will go to the person who the masses believe best represented the challenge. It also allows people to be open with the challenges, even if a little too open.

I don't have a problem with that, but there should be a line. If the challenge is to take a picture of something green and I take a picture of something red, there's no reason why it should be allowed in.

[Rainer.]

Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing

I don't have a problem with that, but there should be a line. If the challenge is to take a picture of something green and I take a picture of something red, there's no reason why it should be allowed in.

Of course, that would be an annoying challenge for someone like me who does mostly traditional B&W photography.

I think that stretching the limits of a challenge can be stimulating, and while something might end up being wildly out of place, I think it's still a valid entry if the artists intends for it to be a valid entry.

[Ordinary Sarah]

Hey, you still set up the voting. And it was your challenge. If you felt that strongly that it didn't meet the requirements and that it was just a joke, then you shouldn't have included it. If you were willing to include it, even though you thought it was just a joke, you should accept it if people vote for it.


Also, not everyone is a hardcore photographer, and not everyone is aware that "portrait", according to your definition, applies to only humans. In fact, there are lots of professional photographers who do "portraits" of animals. What do you call a photo sketch of an animal, if it isn't a portrait? Just a picture?