Weekly Photo Contest - Dec 20 2018 to Jan 3 2019 - Hit Me With Your Best Shot! (2018 Edition)

[gaswerks]

Let's end the 2018 weekly contests with your single best shot of the year.

The usual rules apply:

· The photographs must be your own work.

· You may only submit one photo per contest.

· No commenting on photos until after the judging has taken place.

· This contest runs for an extra week (given the holiday season is upon us), starting now.

· At the end of the week, The Judge (last week's Winner) will choose a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place photo, providing as much feedback as possible.

· If the Judge is unable to complete the selection within 48 hours of the deadline for close, then a vote will be carried out to select a winner. This will be based on the number of "likes" each image has. In the event of a draw, the second place winner from the previous week will choose the tiebreaker.

· The 1st place Winner will start a new thread with the topic/theme of their choice, and act as the Judge for that contest. (Winner has 48 hours to create new theme, after that it defers to 2nd place).

I may need some assitance updating the Weekly Contest Master thread, @kenoh?

 

[kenoh]

Let's end the 2018 weekly contests with your single best shot of the year.

The usual rules apply:

· The photographs must be your own work.

· You may only submit one photo per contest.

· No commenting on photos until after the judging has taken place.

· This contest runs for an extra week (given the holiday season is upon us), starting now.

· At the end of the week, The Judge (last week's Winner) will choose a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place photo, providing as much feedback as possible.

· If the Judge is unable to complete the selection within 48 hours of the deadline for close, then a vote will be carried out to select a winner. This will be based on the number of "likes" each image has. In the event of a draw, the second place winner from the previous week will choose the tiebreaker.

· The 1st place Winner will start a new thread with the topic/theme of their choice, and act as the Judge for that contest. (Winner has 48 hours to create new theme, after that it defers to 2nd place).

I may need some assitance updating the Weekly Contest Master thread, @kenoh?

Your wish is my command - done

 

[akash.nu]

I see what you did there! Making it hard for all of us as well. You get busy with that turkey while we search all around our albums to find the “best”.

This is gonna be a difficult one.

 

[deep diver]

I see what you did there! Making it hard for all of us as well. You get busy with that turkey while we search all around our albums to find the “best”.

This is gonna be a difficult one.

Hard for us = harder for the judge.

 

[Hughmac]

Precisely the subject I would have put up if I was judging

However, looking back in my archives, 2018 seems to have been a crap year for photos

Cheers

Hugh

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Shot and edited with iPhone SE

 

[Apple fanboy]

Precisely the subject I would have put up if I was judging

However, looking back in my archives, 2018 seems to have been a crap year for photos

Cheers

Hugh

You think you have problems! I hardly took any!

 

[Hughmac]

You think you have problems! I hardly took any!

Yeah, but you did some fantastic long exposure landscapes hint hint

Cheers

Hugh

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Somebody likes pain and suffering...

 

[Hughmac]

This is probably my favourite photo of 2018 mainly because it was unplanned and unexpected to see such a scene.

I was driving around the Cambridgeshire fens on my way to pick my wife up from her best friend's house, saw this sight as I crossed a bridge, and had to backtrack and park up to get the shot.

The place turned out to be called Three Holes and this is the junction of the Popham’s Eau and the Middle Level 16 Foot River.



Three Holes junction by Hugh Russell, on Flickr

Taken with Nikon D5200 and Tamron 18-400mm @ f/8

Cheers

Hugh

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Precisely the subject I would have put up if I was judging

However, looking back in my archives, 2018 seems to have been a crap year for photos

Cheers

Hugh

Actuality same for me. I created photo calendars as gifts for Christmas and went through all my shots of the year. I’m not very impressed. I hope next year will be better.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Had a select few to pick from, but I’ve made my choice. This one required no edits—essentially straight outta camera. Just resized it to be forum friendly.

 

[hbruss]

 

[Robotti]

I had some difficulties deciding, although I knew it was going to be one of the jumps. We’ve done so many this year, and I love them all. In the end, with this one I received some recognition outside the country, so this is it, then.

 

[akash.nu]

I think I’ll just sit the one out to avoid embarrassment.

 

[mollyc]

Well I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like they are trying to choose a favorite child for the year. I have a number of favorites, and actually 2018 was a really good year for me in terms of growth and thought process with photography. For the past few years I've felt rather stagnant, and I put in a lot of effort over the second half of the year, and I think it is finally paying off. I'm still not consistent with my "good" images but I am much more mindful than I had been and I'm better at visualizing and getting what I want, and I have more keepers and fewer to cull.

In the end, I chose this photo. During the year I read something that asked about defining your why to photography. In the past, I'd only contemplated my what, but never my why. This was a really hard question for me, but ultimately I came up with a statement.

"I shoot to quiet the noise. The noise of life, of responsibility. When I shoot, I just think about shooting. And when I am shooting, my preferred images are ones that capture a bit of quiet; a singular moment. Oh sure, I love photos that show happy people laughing, etc. But my favorite photos are about quiet."

This photo best represents that quietness for me, and although it's actually quite different from most of my photos that are filled with color, this is still the best image to represent me and my thought process. All the reflections and noise that goes on in one's head on a daily basis. But with my camera, I can tune it all out and focus just on that.

 

[tizeye]

You think you have problems! I hardly took any!

If you just took one...well, that's your best shot which makes it easy. Two or more is like the flight attendant's comedy routine for the safety briefing - oxygen mask drop, decide now which child you like best for attaching the mask first after attaching yours.

 

[0970373]

Photographically speaking, 2018 sucked for me. But I'll sneak this one in. I don't know if it's the best, but it's my favorite.

 

[themumu]

I’m gonna cheat and pick the youngest child as favorite.

Shot earlier today along Big Sur. Finally traversed it all the way from north to south.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Hmm, this is actually really hard as I have a few favourites, but I feel that this is my best photographic image of 2018, well, it's the one that makes me smile the most every time I see it in our dining room, printed at A2 size.

 

[fcortese]

The setting, my first use of a shift tilt lens to create a vertical long exposure pano, left side-right side, made this one eke out as my best of the year.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Actually looking back I did have a few that I liked. What I liked about this shot was it was quiet and early and I had all the time I needed to play with my settings. As opposed to there were people around and I felt rushed. Also the fact that I got up early and actually headed out somewhere rather than just thinking about it! (thanks for the reminder @Hughmac)

_DSC6728 by apple fanboy1, on Flickr

 

[Janichsan]

Not sure if it's my best this year, but certainly my favourite:

 

[inkmich]

I really wanted to select another picture but in the end I'm going with this one, a picture taken and edited on my iPhone 8.

Hancock Center - Chicago by Lance Randall, on Flickr

 

[swifty168]

It's been a tough year in many ways, and as a result I have shot very little creatively.
I've already shown this in the Dec photo a day post but as well as being one of the relative few shots I've taken outside of home this year, I like it to be a resolution for the new year ie. I'd like to create more ops to be the guy in my shot.
Cheers everyone, a Happy New Year and happy shooting!!