Three Stunning Images Take Top Spot In Waterways Photograpy Competition

[Guest]

 

Yes you can get some excellent images by using auto but a camera has to assume many things when it chooses what settings to employ for that photo taken on auto. There will always be something that is a compromise when taking a photo on auto. I had no idea just how much compromise until I started using my current camera, the first SLR or any kind I have ever used. I am astounded at how many people have cameras with a lot of capability but never take it out of auto mode.

 

 

I confess to being a bit of a lazy photographer and use 'Auto' quite a lot - but I also use some of the 'scene' modes quite a lot too. Thus you can get some great pictures with the camera choosing appropriate settings required for a given situation, of course there isn't one for every eventuality and I doubt there would be one on my Lumix Z48 to cater for the situation you described re the shot through the bridge, I really must experiment more with the manual settings on mine.

[mango]

Congratulations to everyone whose photo features on the CRT website. Whatever we feel about the relative merits of the various photos, there is something there that everyone can enjoy.

[bottle]

Well having looked at the 'winners', I do not like any of them and wish I had saved my mega bytes.

[Timleech]

Thanks to the mod (presumably) who edited the all-caps title

[cheshire~rose]

Thanks to the mod (presumably) who edited the all-caps title

 

Agreed!

 

I am so glad I am not the only one who finds it rubs me up the wrong way!

[cheshire~rose]

 

I agree it's a nice shot in that it captures the essence of what a busy canal can be about. People on the water enjoying it and people just enjoying it watching what is going on around them no doubt some of them wishing they were on the boats too. Before we had a boat we used to spend many a happy hour or two doing exactly what those folk are doing.

 

 

This photo did nothing for me at all. I am of the school that says if you can't say something nice about something someone has created then don't say anything at all. I have been pondering on why this photo doesn't work for me and I finally realise what it is. How do we know all these people are enjoying themselves? We can't see any of them smiling!

 

Just one smile somewhere on that shot would make all the difference to me personally

[carlt]

 

We can't see any of them smiling!

 

 

The building covered in ivy looks very surprised, though.

[Barry]

Totally not understanding what the judges saw in the 3rd one

 

 

Not really playing the devil's advocate here, it's just that if you read the premise of the competition "to inspire people to visit and enjoy their local towpath or riverbank" and look at the pictures in that context, the Kingfisher photo probably has the least merit.

 

 

It seems obvious to me that photo three was chosen as a winner, not for its quality, but for the political message it carries.

 

There are far more people using the canal on the bank than on the water so it is an ideal example of CRT's ethos. It would appeal very strongly to Tony Hales who is probably far less interested in photography than he is in pushing CRT's mission

[cheshire~rose]

The building covered in ivy looks very surprised, though.

 

It does! It's mouth is wide open gawping at whatever it is that has surprised it!

 

OK so now it has that caption I love that photo - it has made me smile!

[Gingerbeer]

The picture of the Kingfisher is stunning. There are some more fantastic pictures by Daniel Trim in his blog.

 

http://500px.com/danieltrim

 

He has some stunning pics.

[Athy]

 

 

 

Just one smile somewhere on that shot would make all the difference to me personally

 

I hear what you're saying, but perhaps you have been watching too many TV adverts. People in real life do not go around grinning like cheshire* cats when they're happy.

I do like the way he's captured the group in the left distance - totally natural, and looking like figures from one of those computer-generated architects' impressions. That may sound paradoxical but I hope you see what I mean.

 

* Other cats are available.

[Mrs Trackman]

 

 

 

I think it is all too easy to say that the Kingfisher one was taken with a lot of expensive kit and patience. It is a stunning photo. I also think that this is exactly what makes people want to visit waterways. They see them on Countryfile and people who live in Birmingham, Manchester or London can't always just nip out to the Western Highlands of Scotland to see wildlife in the flesh. They can nip down to their local canal though. Yes herons are great but so easy to spot. People need to learn to open their eyes, be quiet and have patience to spot the things that might be just a few feet away from them if they had not noticed

I totally agree. I thought the same yesterday when we used the digbeth branch and the grand union to Salford junction, amongst the derelict and modern buildings, the canal is a corridor of wildlife, the vegetation must be a haven for many creatures. We didn't see many people but there were some taking advantage of breaks from work to walk along the towpath.

 

 

I think it is all too easy to say that the Kingfisher one was taken with a lot of expensive kit and patience. It is a stunning photo. I also think that this is exactly what makes people want to visit waterways. They see them on Countryfile and people who live in Birmingham, Manchester or London can't always just nip out to the Western Highlands of Scotland to see wildlife in the flesh. They can nip down to their local canal though. Yes herons are great but so easy to spot. People need to learn to open their eyes, be quiet and have patience to spot the things that might be just a few feet away from them if they had not noticed

I totally agree. I thought the same yesterday when we used the digbeth branch and the grand union to Salford junction, amongst the derelict and modern buildings, the canal is a corridor of wildlife, the vegetation must be a haven for many creatures. We didn't see many people but there were some taking advantage of breaks from work to walk along the towpath.

Sorry Cheshire Rose, I tried to quote your last paragraph, didn't mean to take it as mine. I'm clearly not techie enough

[Guest]

It seems obvious to me that photo three was chosen as a winner, not for its quality, but for the political message it carries.

 

There are far more people using the canal on the bank than on the water so it is an ideal example of CRT's ethos. It would appeal very strongly to Tony Hales who is probably far less interested in photography than he is in pushing CRT's mission

There is likely more than a grain of truth in that, but to be fair I am not surprised because it's spot on.

 

CRT can't just rely on boaters, and that photo encompasses what a Sunday afternoon on or near the waterways is all about.

 

We were encouraged to become boaters by many an hour 'gongoozling' and as result became licence payers....if only more could be encouraged to do the same.

[cheshire~rose]

I hear what you're saying, but perhaps you have been watching too many TV adverts. People in real life do not go around grinning like cheshire* cats when they're happy.

I do like the way he's captured the group in the left distance - totally natural, and looking like figures from one of those computer-generated architects' impressions. That may sound paradoxical but I hope you see what I mean.

 

* Other cats are available.

 

 

I watch very little TV and when I do it tends to be BBC2. I avoid anything with adverts like the plague.

My photo's often include people. Not always people I know, just people involved in whatever the subject of the picture is. I am fascinated by the facial expressions frozen in time. People who are happy do not have to be smiling like a Cheshire (or any other nationailty) cat. Their eyes do the smiling without their mouths having to. The group on the left you speak of are exactly the type of group that appeal to me in a photo. They are far too distant for us to see their expressions though and the other people who's back view feature so strongly take your eye from that group.

[steven wilkinson]

Must have been on saturday then. Very sadly, the gallery closed on saturday after 13 years The closing down party was fun though ;-)

 

It was on Sunday. We were walking past the gallery, and a chap called Lee was packing away all his stuff into his car! We were admiring the posters outside, and he invited us in to see what remained inside! Quite a sad atmosphere actually.

 

The Gas Street snow scene took Mrs W's eye, so we bought a copy!

[Jerra]

My first impression on seeing Number 3 was it looks like a publicity shot. I can't help feeling it was chosen not on photographic merit but because they fancied being able to use it for publicity material. It also feels/looks set up to me, some unusual clothes for boating, nobody looking towards the camera and people laid down on stone where they will barely see anything.

 

I am not saying it was set up but I am saying the feel of it being set up makes it an unattractive shot for me.

[carlt]

 

 

I watch very little TV and when I do it tends to be BBC2

I believe it is against the law to smile on either BBC2 or BBC4.

 

That sort of behaviour is strictly for the likes of BBC3 thank you very much!

[matty40s]

My first impression on seeing Number 3 was it looks like a publicity shot. I can't help feeling it was chosen not on photographic merit but because they fancied being able to use it for publicity material. It also feels/looks set up to me, some unusual clothes for boating, nobody looking towards the camera and people laid down on stone where they will barely see anything.

 

I am not saying it was set up but I am saying the feel of it being set up makes it an unattractive shot for me.

it wasn't set up, it was any busy Summer day at that lock, beer bottles strewn around, people sat on and in the way of gates, getting the hump when they realise that they have to move. The girls on the boat on the right were smoking weed and high as kites , one was flashing her breasts to all and sundry.......

it was 2010 btw.

[john6767]

I get the reason for number 3, it gives a connection with the general public who don't have a boat, so I can see why it was chosen and I suspect we have not seen the last of it. However I have to say that when I look at it all I see is the woman in the white dress standing where I would not let anyone stand, and the fact that there is no one on the bottom gates, so who is closing them? Not that I am bitter, they did not pick my BCN photos sob.....

Edited October 4, 2013 by john6767

[Guest]

It was a photography competition not a lesson in boating....

 

 

Sheeesh..

[Dave_P]

 

It was on Sunday. We were walking past the gallery, and a chap called Lee was packing away all his stuff into his car! We were admiring the posters outside, and he invited us in to see what remained inside! Quite a sad atmosphere actually.

 

The Gas Street snow scene took Mrs W's eye, so we bought a copy!

Lee was the owner, and a truly excellent guy. I hope he gave you a discount?

[steven wilkinson]

He did indeed seem like a very nice chap! He said he was selling stuff off at half price! I thought I got a bargain!