Photo Challenge Thread (PCT): True Grit

[AWR]

The theme for this month is TRUE GRIT.

Let's take a hard detour from the beautiful, sentimental, inspirational, or abstract.

The theme of this month's PCT is about grit, hardscrabble, the underbelly. Edgy, raw, rough, uncut, untethered. Settings, persons, objects. Quick grabs, might be B&W, might have a blur.

One doesn't have to travel to the ghetto to get a snap for this PCT. The back entrance to a Chinatown massage parlor, the front entrance of a shutdown union hall or church, a broken light, sign or heart, a dodgy supermarket, or rubbish on train tracks will do. Rain, oil, shadow. Spent.

Let's see some shots that make us feel uneasy in our own way.

The rules are as usual. Entries welcome and encouraged from any and all 'Novians, regardless of whether you have participated in the challenge previously. All entries must be taken during the period of the challenge itself. No heavy editing or photoshopping. Entries will be accepted until the end of the day (11.59 PM - North American Pacific Time), Friday, July 1, 2011.

[Chinney]

Great topic. I'll have my entry in.

[turtle]

I have ideas for this one already too...

[evan]

To me, sports represent the indomitable human spirit as well as anything, and who better than to showcase this than the fans, taking to the streets, finally triumphant after a long season?

http://gallery.me.com/evan.wingfield/100037/_MG_5176/web.jpg?ver=13068657250001

[murbot]

This hawk catching lunch 15 minutes ago sitting here right above my truck at work definitely has some grit. heh.

Yeah I know the picture sucks. I managed to take it within 20 seconds of seeing it, had zero time to even check a setting. (can't say for sure that would have helped, but still) It was the only one I got before he screamed and carried away his meal.

I also took it before knowing what the current theme here was. (obviously) :lol:

[PB PM]

I cannot take all the credit for this, the artist is the true winner with this!

http://robdphotos.smugmug.com/photos/i-nj8ZjMb/0/L/i-nj8ZjMb-L.jpg

[Xaqtly]

Got this picture of a completely destroyed TV in the desert a few hours ago.

http://xaqtly.com/tv.jpg

[murbot]

Didn't want to pay to recycle it, eh? ;)

[AWR]

Bump.

Hey guys, nice pictures so far. Let's see some more! Keep the flash off and get the the shutter clicking. Surely there's more grit among us.

[turtle]

I was out taking some pics today as a matter of fact...I should have one posted by the end of the night. :)

[turtle]

So here's my entry for now...I might change it, but this was the best I got from today's outing that closely fits the topic.
http://turtle2472.com/an/IMG_9340.jpg

[Chinney]

I have had a quick opportunity to spend a few days in London, which I have visited only briefly in my life previously. London certainly has its gritty sides. I have take a few gritty shots - and some less gritty ones. I will post a gritty one as my entry when I get back.

[Dorian Gray]

Only a few days left, but that's the only time I start to care. :lol: Gonna get a pic up here, even if I have to shoot one of my loo.

Anything good from London, Chinney?

[Ryan]

I’ll throw mine in.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6016/5878192758_d56b16d29d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryan_tanner/5878192758/)

[Dorian Gray]

I'll put up these two, taken tonight, as a placeholder for my real entry. ;)

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/3057/dollarsp.jpg




http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/450/iloverien.jpg

"Rien" in French means "nothing" (for those who speak even less French than I).

[Chinney]

[...]

Anything good from London, Chinney?

Just got back home late yesterday and everything is still in the camera. I definitely have some candidate photos and will have my entry in by the deadline.

My wife was amused by my attempts to get gritty shots - I was not pointing my camera at the usual London tourist fare. Still, I tried to find some beauty in the grit - that was my own take on the theme. I'll see how that turned out once I see the pics on a full size screen.

[AWR]

It's all ramping up now, with Chinney's passed out chav in the wings. ;)

DG is waiting for the right light in his john....

There's still time for the road trip to Flint, MI, especially for some of the Midwesterners.

[Chinney]

For better or worse my itinerary and my timing in London kept me a long way from any chav culture highlights. I was in and around the financial district (“the City”, as they call it) and the touristy districts much of the time. Mind you, as we were coming back in a cab from a show on Friday night, we did see a businessman–at least I assume it was a businessman, wearing a black suit–sitting in the middle of the road bleeding as he was being attended to by a police officer, while another guy in a black suit was being heaved up against a wall and was being handcuffed. But I did not have my camera out for that.

In any event, my real mood for picture taking was more ‘the beauty of grit’ or as it turns out ‘the beauty of garbage’ than it was ‘true grit’. This picture was taken of a trash bin on a balcony at the Tate Modern Gallery as the sun was setting. Let's just say that I was inspired by the art inside. My wife would say so too, although in her case she would probably interpret the photo in a negative way as a commentary on what was inside the gallery since she does not always have a lot of patience for modern art, and she certainly did not that evening.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5142/5883180960_9a9804baff_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/18678497@N03/5883180960/sizes/l/in/photostream/)

I am going to post a couple of alternates in the Color Photography Thread, but the photo above is my actual entry.

[Mac+]

I'm not sure if this is appropriate as it could be construed as sentimental... but our little girl is really building some upper body strength. She can't quite crawl yet, but her determination in exploring how to coordinate and get everything together is true grit enough for me.

Some nudity...
http://images.instagram.com/media/2011/06/29/899a8090746a43158b06b31e27c6d22b_7.jpg

[Chinney]

A different meaning of true grit, but certainly a recognized one. AWR is the judge, but my own view is that it ought to be a legit entry. Besides, my own recollection of what I was cleaning up from their bottoms when our own kids were that age is that it was...perhaps gritty is not exactly the right word...but pretty dodgy to say the least. :lol:

[AWR]

Entries will be accepted until the end of the day (11.59 PM - North American Pacific Time), Friday, July 1, 2011.

:D

[evan]

great pictures everybody! let's get a few more :)

[Dorian Gray]

Unfortunately I didn't get any other pictures. So for my entry I'll go with the first of the two I posted: the one with the $ sign. It seems appropriate, because today was my last day at work. :lol:

Have enjoyed the other photos, though only evan and Mac+ squeezed human beings into the frame. AWR's write-up to start the thread deserves a mention too!

[Chinney]

No winner announced?

[AWR]

Sorry - away for the weekend, now kids out of school, me still at work! :wtf: To find 30 minutes.... I'd like to say more than just announce a winner. Today!

[AWR]

From the top:

Evan, your shot is my favorite among the bunch submitted for this PCT. So many things to like about it as a moment and as a photo, not just because it's Barca. :lol: For present purposes though it stumbles and fails to meet the grimmer criteria of this month's PCT. :)

Murbot, yours is also a nice shot, but not grim, just gross.

PB PM, I give your shot of the swigging cowboy the Honorable Mention of this PCT. It's not real edgy, raw or rough (this is exacerbated by the exceptionally clear capture) but a fine portrayal. This dude’s human doppelganger has seen some long hard days and will feel like shit in the morning. More like the theme as intended.

Xaqtly, your shot has some elements of grit. The desert can be evocative of this feeling by itself. While I like the shot, for the thread purpose it lacks a fuller story.

Turtle, did you bother to read about this month’s topic? This looks like a shot from drewprops’ house in the Hamptons. Just joshing, but true grit score very low. :p ;)

Ryan, with a nice shot as is now expected from you; handsome composition, light, B&W too (NB. turtle); no true grit though, no story, just construction equipment.

Chinney, yours is also a nice shot exhibiting little grit. Nice colors, but the subject seems to be signs of affluent people on vacation. Points for getting this shot with your wife accompanying you overseas though.

Mac+, of course yours is in, and very cute, and exhibiting extraordinary strength, grit even, but thankfully I’ll add that it’s not edgy, raw, rough, uncut or untethered.

Dorian Gray, your shot I Need $ is this PCT’s winner. I liked it when you first put it up. Nice framing I thought, combining lines, colors, and textures. Seems like the shades are down at this establishment. Some trash and a dog-end adding a little more crummy. And the message is dead on.

Many thanks to all, and for your patience!! Congrats DG, over to you!

[Chinney]

Congrats to Dorian. His probably came closest to the original spirit of the thread and is an interesting and well-composed photo too. And thanks to AWR for the theme. I wish my photo could have come closer to the original spirit, but that was just not how my camera was seeing things. All this beautiful garbage and dirt, but no true grit.

[drewprops]

I'd just like to say that my house in the Hamptons has FAR more moss than what you see in Turtles' shot.


...

[evan]

thanks for the kind words AWR! I guess my picture is more the end result of what having true grit can get you, rather than true grit itself.

anyway, another great shot by Dorian Gray (and everyone else of course). Can't wait for this month's challenge!

[PB PM]

Congrats to DG. Not sure I really understood the theme fully, but that's okay.

[drewprops]

I expected to see a lot of black and white shots using fast film so you'd literally have a "grit" to the image, preferably portraits because they're fascinating to study.


...

[AWR]

Me too, drew. My plan was to see less focus and color, distracting precision, more signs of suffering. Anyway, I still enjoyed, and there are many variants of this theme should someone else wish to run with it at some time. Might even coax Gspotter back!! :p ;)

[PB PM]

Hmm, interesting. From my perspective the description of the theme was very open ended, almost unclear in some ways.

[drewprops]

Part of the charm of this game is that there's enough wiggle room for the players that the person who sets the challenge is often surprised by the submissions. :)

...

[turtle]

Yeah, I was thinking along the lines of ruins covered in moss from years of neglect. Guess it didn't work well if no one else saw that. :p

[Dorian Gray]

Thanks! I'm just glad I didn't have to suffer one of AWR's withering critiques, above. :p (You took it well, turtle.)

I thought AWR's theme was clearly expressed and also rather well written.

I'll endeavour to put up the next PCT theme tomorrow. By the way, if anyone has any ideas how we should best deal with the inevitable creep of the competitions from one month to a bit over, making the dates messy, please air them!

[Chinney]

I say keep the variable dates. I like a bit of messiness.

[PB PM]

Fixed dates don't really work, it doesn't give the winner much time to come up with a new theme. Keep variable dates.

[Dorian Gray]

Okay!

New theme arriving in moments...