Competition #79 - Religion

[Tracey McGovern]

Hi All

Well, I've been scratching my head a bit to try and come up with something that has not already been done in the previous 78 competitions and as it is coming up to our most religious time of the year I thought this fitted in well.

The topic "Religion" should cover a wide range of areas to have a go at: churches (of all faiths), grave stones, statues, events, infact anything at all with a religious or faith connection.

Hope to see many entries, the closing date is midnight on Sunday 18th December.

Best Wishes
Tracey

[John]

"Towards The Light"

[Paul Jones]

[Ianuk50]

"Angel guide me, every day"

[stelee]

Taken at Atherton Parish Church.

[Myra]

Christ in the Cave.

This is a painting on a cave wall on Davarr Island just off the Mull of Kintyre.

[Janice Freeman]

Sanctuary Knocker - Durham Cathedral. In medieval times, persecuted individuals who required a place of refuge could bang on the knocker and would be given sanctuary in the Cathedral for 37 days.

[Des]

: Shadows of Christ :
Greystokes Village Church Cumbria.

[paulinefisher]

Bible inside the old church at Felbrigg Hall Norfolk.

Bible for web.jpg (237.7 KiB) Viewed 25404 times

[angie.eldon]

The solemn moment when the priest blesses the eucharist before offering it to the new bride & groom. Taken at Liverpool Catherdral from the TV gantry.

[KEASLA]

Church and Graveyard by KEASLA, on Flickr

[bazzasmeg]

Stained Glass Window, St Annes Church, Manchester
Regards, Barry

[keith richardson]

The Scott Memorial.

memorial sunlit.jpg (235.7 KiB) Viewed 25277 times

Memorial in Liverpools Anglican Cathedral to Gilbert Giles Scott, the cathedrals architect.

Keith.

[Tracey McGovern]

Hi All

Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit their pictures into this months competition. Now for the judging:

John - Towards The Light
This is a lovely shot of Christ being bathed in sunlight, as though the light is guiding him to it. This must have been a difficult shot to take, you have the dark areas of the church in contrast with the bright sunlight coming through the windows which has has been handled very well.

Paul - Untitled
This shot has also been handled well, these stained glass windows are extremely difficult to take but you have managed to capture the detail and colours really well and I particularly like the angle you have captured this, not the usual full on view that most people take, instead picking out a particularly colourful and interesting detail instead.

Ian - Angle Guide Me Every Day
This is a nice subject to have captured with the angel looking down on the cross, which fits the brief well. I think the image would have benefitted from a tad more contrast, this may have helped to lifted the statues away from the trees in the back ground and would have helped keep our attention onto her and the cross.

Stelee - Untitled
This stone sculpture also fits the brief very well, you have captured the detail of the carving well whilst maintaining good contrast so that the image has depth and is not left flat.

Myra - Christ in the Cave
I don't know how old this painting is but it looks very old and must have been difficult to capture with little light available. The colours are good and you have captured the textures in the stone very well.

Janice - Sanctuary Knocker
This is a nice detail shot with good textures of the wood and the brass of the knocker. It looks like you may have used a flash which has washed out the colours in the image a little, these could have been brought back in Photoshop using levels and / or curves.

Des - Shadows of Christ
This is a good mono conversion showing great detail in the rocks and statue with the light coming in through the window on the left, which has created some lovely shaddows to give the picture depth.

Pauline - Bible
This is a well composed shot with great clarity, you can virtually read every word on those pages, the only thing that lets it down a bit is the right area at the top right but I'm not sure what you could have done about that, but I like the subject and it fits the brief very well.

Angie - Untitled
This is a good shot of a religious event, capturing everything that is happening, it is obviously a wedding with the bride and groom and the priest and his staff, it looks a very important wedding with so many people in attendance. It's just a pity they are so far away but having said that, there wasn't alot you could have done from the position you were in, nor would you have got everyone in with a tighter crop.

Keasla - Untitled
This is a nice moody shot of a church yard scene, the mono conversion works really well adding to the atmosphere of the place and the subject matter fits the brief very well.

Bazzasmeg - Stained Glass Window
You have captured the detail and colours very well with no blown out bits, which are difficult to maintain with this type of image. The subject suffers slightly from converging edges a bit, but again, I appreciate how difficult it is to control these when the windows are usually very high up so you have probably levelled them out as best as you could in the circumstances.

Keith - The Scotts Memorial
Another difficult shot to capture due to the lack of light in some areas whilst bright light beaming in through the windows in other areas. You have managed to retain the detail in all the brickwork and the memorial itself which is an interesting shape and you have handled the converging edges really well.

Thanks again everyone for your entries, now for the results............................

3rd - Pauline, I really like the subject matter and the fact that the writing is pin sharp
2nd - Stelee, I like the simplicity of this shot and you have managed to retain an almost 3D quality to it
1st - Paul, this one has remained my favourite throughout. I particularly like the angle this has been shot at and I like the vibrancy of the colours

Over to you Paul for our next subject

Tracey

[Paul Jones]

Paul - Untitled
This shot has also been handled well, these stained glass windows are extremely difficult to take but you have managed to capture the detail and colours really well and I particularly like the angle you have captured this, not the usual full on view that most people take, instead picking out a particularly colourful and interesting detail instead.

1st - Paul, this one has remained my favourite throughout. I particularly like the angle this has been shot at and I like the vibrancy of the colours

Thank-you Tracey. I'm flattered that you like it.

Church interiors and stained glass are quite hard to take well and it's a subject that I've never really pursued. The shot was taken in St Conan's Kirk, Loch Awe, Scotland - famous for its life size effigy of Robert The Bruce.

As you said, instead of trying to capture the whole window, I just picked out interesting details, and by tilting the camera tried to make it a little different.

I'll post a new competition later....


Joyeux Noël et bonne année