...and the winner is
And so the warm glow of being chosen in the Weekly Photo Contest turns to the dread of having to pick a top three the following week.
Much as I love photography, when it comes to other people's work, I know what I like, but I always find it difficult to explain why, so please excuse any waffle here.
hfmutlu: Unfortunately we never got to see your picture, as it seems you posted a link to your local c: drive.
Keleko: A good optical illusion, this one. I spent quite a while looking at this trying to work out why all the lines were going in the directions they were. It finally dawned on me that there are a couple of rectangular openings in the front wall.
acearchie: Lovely crisp picture - you've picked a good time of day where the sun was in the perfect place to light this scene, and a mix of cloud and blue sky that photographers dream of.
Cheese&Apple: The backlighting on the letters gives a very pleasing 3D effect.
LongSticks: Iconic letters, and a reminder of a very agreeable day I spent in Dublin. I would have gone for a shot more perpendicular to the gate (if space and security allowed).
jkramerbob: Old school indeed. A classic photograph that could enhance the wall of any public space. Also reminds me of our local industrial museum which has an old print room full of antique press machinery.
sidefx: Nice and clean - a well chosen angle with no background distraction from the subject matter.
deep diver: This has good depth to it, with a lovely out-of-focus background which still has plenty of detail to add context to the picture. It would have been nice to have not cropped the left side of the coach's arm, but that's really just being picky. I also like the subtle interpretation of this week's theme.
samwich: Nice colours, and a good mantra. If I'm being picky again I'd say crop the bit of green wall from the right hand side.
ijohn.8.80: Beautiful lines in this photo, the tinted b&w serves it very well. That's a strange law of not being allowed to show the full name of the building - presumably it's available on Google street view.
dmrowley: Indeed this is an all too familiar sight on our high streets today. High contrast B&W adds to the sense of abandonment.
MacRy: Beautifully exposed - and a fantastic subject. I like that the shift key actually says 'SHIFT KEY', and not just 'SHIFT'.
Melizard: A festival of colour, and one of those photos you can spend a while finding new things in.
Indydenny: Good use of shadows and lines. If I were to change anything, I would maybe try and use the glasses to draw attention to a particular phrase or word.
fireman32: This is great - you've captured the backlighting on the keyboard beautifully.
Apple fanboy: A good, fun interpretation of this week's subject. A plain white plate would distract less from the subject matter (although I presume this was a meal for your children, so a patterned plate is inevitable). This picture triggers all sorts of ideas (using alphabetti spaghetti to spell out 'messy' or 'whoops' on the table, clothing, etc).
JDDavis: I like the ghostly appearance of Lincoln's statue in this photo. If I were to be picky I'd say get a little closer and more central to try and get all the words in and improve symmetry.
And now the tough bit. I hate having to exclude anyone from the top 3, but here are my choices, based purely on my very non-scientific method of 'eyecatchiness':
in third place, sidefx
in second place, MacRy
and this weeks number 1 spot goes to jkramerbob.
I often judge the Photo of the Week competition privately. I never realised how tough it was when it's actually your turn. Anyway, thanks to everyone who submitted a photograph.
