18th Photographic Competition

Good evening

I admit that I do not have a good track record at setting subjects for competitions. I still wake up sweating when I recall the nightmare that was the diptych disaster.

So this time, I consulted the cultural expert in the family, aka Mrs M.

My first suggestion was ‘Revolution’ or ‘Change’ in honour of the day that it is today. I still remember the excellent celebrations which the Russian Society held every year on the 7th November during my time at the Uni of Embra. This used to get played at the end of the night.

Anyhow, Mrs M. was not impressed with that one mainly because she still remembers the condition that I was in when I fell back through the front door after said celebrations. For the avoidance of doubt, I attended these functions as a fully paid up and dedicated member of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist party and they never managed to turn me, however much drink they poured down my willing throat.

Anyhow again, I offered Mrs M. my back-up, knowing that she was a sucker for the boy and his lollipop in his time.

 

She let that one past. So, here’s your challenge.

‘A photograph that tells a story’

Please feel free to tell the story yourself or to leave it to the viewer.

Deadline midnight Central European Time +1 (the time zone formerly known as GMT) on 28th November 2011

34 thoughts on “18th Photographic Competition”

  3. It’s been a long day, Bearsy. I knew that I had forgotten something but could not work out what it was.

    Your CW is 27th November. Is it OK if I put 3 weeks on this and go for the 28th?

  5. Araminta :

    Yes, sir, Mr. Mackie!

    I like it, but how many points for the story?

    Hi Ara

    Has to be nul points, to be fair, given that it’s a photo competition but it would be nice to hear the relevant tale being told.

    In my opinion.

  8. This is not an entry, because I didn’t take it, but it fits the requirements absolutely –

    “Every picture sells a Tory.”

  9. Great idea for the competition, John… and I love that one you’ve put up, Bearsy. Would have been so good to have been that photographer!

  12. This has been seen before, but it always conjures up memories for me of hot summers, smoking barbies, chilled wine and good company.

    OZ

  13. Youā€™ve lost that lovinā€™ feelinā€™

    Yes, I most certainly had! After queuing with them on our starboard side for forty minutes to go through a lock one Regatta Saturday, the novelty had indeed worn off!

  14. Thanks for the entries to date. Four serious contenders and Bearsy’s ineligible entry which has, for the avoidance of doubt, already strolled off with the Packing Room prize.

    Had I but been able to enter myself, this would have been my entry.

    Taken this summer/Aussie winter in Byron Bay. Still not sure myself what the story actually was but the bit that I really like is the reflection to the left of the ATM of young Aussies in the last week of their June break, queuing for the bus to Nimbin. That’s a real rite of passage, in my opinion.

    Keep those entries coming.

  18. Pseu :

    Is that Llama called Ddali?

    Hi Pseu.

    I had thought that the ‘llama’ was actually an alpaca. Thanks for the confirmation, Bilby.

    Notwithstanding and nevertheless, the resemblance to the boy Salvador is quite remarkable now that you have drawn it to my attention.

    I still treasure my memories of our trip to Figueras. Gerona had palled after four days, so we hired a car and drove over the border to Perpignan for lunch. This was pre-euro so we had to queue up to buy francs. By the time that the inept French bankers had changed our traveller’s cheques, Perpignan had closed for lunch. Ravenous and suddenly, albeit only temporarily, total Francophobes we drove back over the border to the delights of the Dali museum.

    It ended up as a magic day.

  22. Good evening.

    Just to nudge your collective memory.

    There is still time to enter the 18th Photographic Competition. For those of us annually-challenged enough to recall it, however hazily, the immortal Max Bygraves had a catchphrase, ‘I wanna tell you a story’.

    That’s your theme. Please give it a whirl.

    Five strong contenders now. You could still be the winner.

    To pass the time, I’m starting to put my Oz portfolio together at long last. Here’s one from the Rocks on the second day as we made our way to Circular Quay and the ferry to Manly Beach. First Aussie ibis that I ever saw.

  23. Delighted to hear it, JM. I can’t wait to see the piccies and read your observations on life downunder. šŸ™‚

    Haven’t seen many ibes in Sydney myself, but there were lots in Adelaide and there are some here in SEQ.

    When Boadicea and I went down to Redcliffe the other day for lunch, there was one playing with a delighted female tot outside a cafe, next to a pedestrian crossing. The speed limit there is 40 kph, so it was easy to slow to allow the ibis to safely cross to the sea side of the road, when it suddenly decided it had had enough. After we passed, the tot waved a piece of food, so the ibis looked both ways and then strode back across the crossing. Aussie ibes are quite bright, I guess.

  24. I have a photo somewhere in this machine of a pelican sitting on a bollard outside a marvellous seafood restaurant midway between Brisbane CBD amd the airport – just before the racecourse, on the right hand side. OFFS! Brain failure. Bearsy – Help!

    OZ

  25. On Kingsford Smith Drive, or on Lancaster Road?
    Bretts Wharf? Wilsons Boathouse?

    Give us a break, Brissie has grown since you were here – and sprouted lots more roads!

    Did you ever go across the Houghton bridge – Bramble Bay – to Clontarf, Woody Point, etc? It’s about 3kms long and, quite often, every lamppost will have a pelican sitting on top. They watch the shallow water from their perch and then swoop down on the poor unsuspecting fish.

  28. Aawww! You’re makiing me all nostalgic now.

    Nighty night Bearsy and a big cyber-hug to she-who-must-be-obeyed.

    OZ

  29. In 2003 I was driving along the Sunshine Coast back from Noosa Heads. About an hour south, I guess it must have been near Bribie Island, I cam across a colony of Sacred Ibises that was larger than anything I had ever seen. There were thousands of the buggers. Individually, or in small groups, they are quite attractive, but in the vast numbers that existed there, they became positively unpleasant. The place was dirty and smelly. I felt sorry for the human residents who lived close by. I guess it was a sanctuary of some sort.

  30. This photograph is story about Africa. I was recently in Zimbabwe to attend a Halloween Party (though it was two weeks early) of some friends whose house had burned down. They lost just about everything from photos and heirlooms to computers, passports, clothing etc. They are great friends and I thought it showed such resilience and character that they should have a ‘final fling’ in the burned out ruins of their once beautiful home. Immediately prior to the party, they had to erect some emergency roofing, just in case it rained. I was particularly struck by the laissez-faire attitude to electrics shown by the local workers. Can you imagine what a health-and-safety inspector from the West would have said to such an arrangement? I particularly like the fact that the ‘yellow and green’ earth wire is plugged into the ‘live’ socket. Who says we have a colour problem in Africa? Ironically, it was an electrical fault that caused the fire in the first place. I say ironical, since electricity is a rare commodity in Zimbabwe.

  31. number 22… that ibis looks as though it has its eye on the bag while his friend the seagull distracts the punter with acrobatics….

  34. Not quite closing time yet is it?

    Part of the recent activity on the Chester River here, a battle between the locals and the revenuers 1780 style..

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