CHAT THREAD 'CONNECTED' Weekly competition 24 - 31 March 2014

[Reinardina]

CHAT THREAD

This week's theme is CONNECTED as in JOINED, but ... I want MONOCHROME images and a SQUARE format.

Any way you want to interpret this. And of course no restrictions on pp, as long as the end result is a square monochrome.

Pictures to be taken between 00.01am Monday 24th March 2014 to 23:59 Sunday 30th March 2014.
Pictures to be posted in the entries thread no later than 23.59pm Monday 31st March 2014.
Poll will be up Tuesday 1st April 2014. (Not joking!)
Winner to be announced Saturday 5th April. 2014.

The Rules for the weekly competition are...

By entering you agree to take responsibility to
Post a topic on the Sunday following your declared win
Create an entries thread
Create a chat thread
Create a poll for that weeks comp and declare the winner on the Saturday
(if for any reason there is a problem and no subject is posted by the winner by Monday night admin will advise second place winner to post the topic asap, do the poll etc.)

In case of a tie, the first entry posted wins.

Photos to be taken during the specified dates, ie Monday xx to Sunday xx

Pictures to be posted in the entries thread no later than 23.59 Monday night.

[DigiDiva]

Square & monochrome - different. You have to think so much differently about the composition of a square crop. The rule of thirds seems to go out of the window.

[Reinardina]

Square & monochrome - different. You have to think so much differently about the composition of a square crop. The rule of thirds seems to go out of the window.

I never break my head too much over composition, just shoot what 'feels' right. Mind you, over the years I have of course absorbed many of the do's and don'ts, so I suppose I apply the 'rules' subconsciously. But rules can be broken to great effect.

[Andrew]

If i manage to 'connect' with my camera this week - i'll be submitting an entry...

[Hinfrance]

Shame I can't get any reasonably priced film here for my Semflex TLR, and even if I did find some it would be impossible to get it developed for less than the price of a small car.

Will definitely have a go at this one.

[Reinardina]

I have just entered my back up shot, as I don't think I'll get round to getting another image.

I am in with:

Mother and Child.

[Hinfrance]

Had bigger plans, but there are trees that need cutting down and logging, so this is my holding, but probably final, effort.

[kerbside]

Away for the weekend so i have done a quick shot that needs refining but at least i will have something for an entry.

Lock & Chain

[jinky]

Well I finally got around to doing an entry - a downer for you all I am afraid! My mother in law Joyce, as some of you know, has been sent home from hospital with only a short time to live as she has cancer of the pancreas / liver and other organs. All discovered at what we thought was a routine scan whilst we were in Cuba so quite a shock. She is a brave woman who just wants to be at home as long as possible and whose only regret is that she will miss my eldest daughters wedding. Sue , my wife, and my daughters decided to spend their last Mothers day with Joyce and having initially planned to go to Newcastle to see my old mum I decided to go down to Bedworth with them again. They are running in a Cancer Research Race for Life event down in Guildford soon and were going to get a snap for their Just Giving page and sponsor forms so I said I`d do one. I had all sorts of plans for a low key shot of them a la Queen on Bohemian Rhapsody but given it was broad daylight with Joyce still confined to bed it ended up being a challenge. Anyway I suddenly realised it would also fit the brief and so an entry is in - I will follow up later with a link to their Just Giving page when completed in case anyone is keen like them to fight cancer.

Sorry it is a downer and please do vote on the quality of images not on the story when it comes to it.

My entry in full B& W


and how it will look on the just giving page if all works smoothly

[oggalily]

I'm sorry to hear that Paul, but you've captured a lovely memory.

Continuing the mothers theme, I captured mine at a Mother's Day outing at Hampton Court yesterday.

[jinky]

Thanks Chris - yours is a lovely shot too.

Here is a link to my girls` Just Giving page if anyone would care to donate to Cancer Research and support them. Every little helps in the fight against this horrible disease.

http://www.justgiving.com/dishmanladies

[kerbside]

Removed my image as it was not square format and I have nothing else to offer so a no show this week I'm afraid.

[Reinardina]

Removed my image as it was not square format and I have nothing else to offer so a no show this week I'm afraid.

A 'no show'? One of your images is IOTW!

[kerbside]

Sorry Reinardina butv had nothing in reserve and it looked rubbish as a square crop.

[jinky]

I`ve got a wedding tomorrow and will be editing most of Sunday so that I can get down to Bedworth late Monday to visit my mother in law again. Whatever the result of the weekend competition in the end ,can I say I thank you for at least having my shot in the lead until yesterday. Joyce is not used to being in photos and couldn`t believe that a picture of her was actually winning a competition. Alright I didn`t tell her it was just a small weekend one for a handful of people. It really cheered her up at the time - even more so when she heard that my girls had already smashed their target for their Race for Life event. First time we`d seen her smile in some time.

Unfortunately in the last two days she has suffered two strokes and relatives were called in this morning as they thought that was it. She is now conscious again but seems to have lost movement and sight. If she does stabilise a palliative care bed is being sourced as she is beyond care at home for what time she has left. All very sad and so sudden considering she was only diagnosed with cancer at the end of February. I talked in another thread of pictures being special depending on the time / circumstance known only to the photographer and I am so glad I changed plans and risked ill feeling from my own mum to go down to Bedworth for Mothers Day and capture this image for the fundraising page which also ended up being suitable for the comp. Time  and space in the bedroom meant it wasn`t quite the shot I planned. It`s not the low key Queen Bohemian Rhapsody type shot I went for (they didn`t like that version  ) and my eldest didn`t like it because her eyes are not fully open(room in darkness with one snooted flash can do that ) but this was probably the last shot I`ll ever take of my mother in law and her girls and despite the pain she was able to shuffle up the bed and lean against my wife Sue leaving us with an image we`ll cherish.

If anyone wants to help fight cancer I post the Justgiving page again but if not thanks anyway for those votes as it did briefly help cheer her day.


http://www.justgiving.com/dishmanladies

PS If I win - I`ll find time on Saturday night or Sunday am to post a theme for next comp - already got one in mind