Atherton & District Amateur Photographic Society

COMPETITION #76 FREEDOM

I was begged by two young ladies in the club to pick an emotional subject for the next completion. Whether it be the feeling of the freedom of an eagle when she flies or the emotion you experience when celebrating being released from doing a stretch in Strangeways or Styal, the choice is enormous, I want to see an image of what FREEDOM means to you. So let your imagination run freely with this theme and I’ll look forward to seeing your images. Good luck to all.

Closing date Midnight 15th Oct.

Best regards, Tom.

Waiting for freedom,
A sad but emotional image,
Bert.

Statue of Liberty

Free as a bird, Pendle Hill from the air .... you dont get much freer than that!

Here's my shot of the Statue of Liberty.

The war is over.

Freedom To Roam

Keys to the door

Freedom...under a Big Sky

Freedom of the waves.....

Title: "Tom is going to kill me for this"

Freedom of Expression:

My idea of freedom - Glencoe, Scotland

Thank you for your very imaginative response to the competition ‘Freedom’. As you can imagine it was extremely difficult to judge because of the wide variation of interpretation you used to express yourselves.

Bert. As you said an extremely sad and emotional image. May I add evocative and thought provoking to that. I visited Auswitch and Birkenau and it brought back memories of this horrific time. Terrific expression on this mans face which you have capture so expertly coupled with all the technicalities, which are spot on, makes a terrific image.

Tracey. An extremely unusual image taken from the top of the Statue of Liberty. Lets face it, there’s not much else to capture from there, is there? But you did very well to come away with something good. Everything is correct, the composition, exposure, DOF, colour and a kind sky makes an interesting shot and reminder of your visit to the Big Apple.

Dave Hutchinson. Again an unusual shot of a familiar location and gives us a view of Pendle Hill many of us will have never seen. The strong shadows from the trees tell us it was a bright sunny day and perhaps you could have cranked the saturation up to confirm that. Well done.

Stelee. A more conventional view of the ‘Lady Liberty’. Why did you perform an amputation of her below the knees? I know you can fit everything in the frame from that angle and I feel it would improve the composition if you had perhaps included the whole statue and some of the stone base. Everything else is as good as you can get, well exposed, nice and sharp, can even see ‘July 4, 1776’. A good shot and taken from the best angle available

Myra. A cracking good candid shot. I like the way the "Just William' kind of kid and the flag is lit and contrasts with dark grimy LMS carriage. The angles of the uprights of the windows, arm and the flag ‘pole’ all combine and counteract to make this a very well composed image.

Steewood. I wish I’d have been there to see this. What a cracking location and foreground subjects provided free of charge. The composition is good, perhaps cropped a bit too tight at the bottom. The colours seem a bit garish on my screen but other than that a super pic. You were very lucky to be there.

Gill Blower. I like this kind of image, very simple, yet so effective. Unlike you many people would walk by not seeing the possibilities presented here. It’s a pity the light wasn’t too kind to you on this occasion because if it had been it would have enhanced the fabulous texture of the wall. Off camera flash? I think it would work well in B & W as well. Full marks for observing the little things that can make good images which so many others ignore.

Pammie. Not have you only taken a great skyscape in my favourite B & W, but you have reshaped the world! On my monitor the horizon is curving the wrong way. I’m just thinking what some sarcastic judge, whom we both know, would say. Easily corrected in PS. Exposure blob on, capturing details in all areas, which is usually difficult to do with so much sky in the frame. Well taken.

Ianuk50. Freedom of the waves? Very small waves on my screen. Nevertheless I see what you’re getting at. One does have a sense of freedom when out at see. You were fortunate that the colour of the boat was yellow making it contrast with grey/blue of the sea. I think I would reach for the crop tool and chop off much of that dull redundant sky with some of the left hand side and perhaps bring the boat ‘closer’ to us giving it more impact.

KT. What a brave man. I know the two dogs featured and they have a habit of jumping up and sinking their small but needle like teeth into any of your appendages which may be dangling about. There is an old photographic axiom which states that the subject should be moving forwards to the front of the image rather than having his back to us going towards the background. I’m sure if you get Steve to let you retake this in that way it would generate much more interest! Weird, interesting, unusual and a colourful image, a bit like the author methinks.

John. Why do you do this to me? I’ll forgive the blown out top left hand corner and the lack of differential focusing to subdue the junk in the background and just ask why. WHY? ‘Excuse me my dear would you mind positioning yourself upside down like a fruit bat for next ten minutes or so, whilst I exercise my freedom of expression. Not at all, kind sir, I do it all the time” – the mind boggles. If you stand on your head and look at her expression, comfortable is not an adjective which springs to mind, to describe it, I'll let you decide, But still good fun, imaginative and good pic for a write a caption competition.

Mancunian61. Ah, back to sanity at last. Excellent landscape of one of my favourite places. Glencoe where the famous massacre took place. Only 39 people were killed and they’re still singing and making a fuss about it. The composition is good and the colours are true, coupled with an exposure which gives us detail in the shadows on the left as well as the clouds make this a well executed capture. One point, if you could get someone, thing, cow or other beastie to stand in the foreground it would improve this super shot enormously.


As I said it was an extremely difficult competition to judge because of the huge variety of interpretations made by a very imaginative bunch of photographers. MY thanks to you all.


!st Myra. – by the skin of her teeth.
2nd Bert Haddock - extremely powerful.
3rd KT - for the cheek of it.

So it’s over to you Myra to set the next subject.

Best regards.

Tom.

Good job all...well derserved Myra, I agree with the judge for this winner (for a change^^).

Also very much liked Berts and the Glencoe images, but most of all, I loved the topic of this competition and how each person interpreted it differently. I personally was getting a little lackadaisical (yes I spell checked that) with the forum competitions, so pat of the back for Tom for giving us something to chomp at.