* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #900 / Revived #120 on 2025 07 16*

My first thought was "waffles" before I saw your caption, then I knew. My grandson plays guitar and I've tried various images, though none came out this interesting (and I don't have all those interesting old lenses anyway). Nice color (blue and orange even when diluted work well together. There is a row of compositional lines (the strings of course) leading to the explosion of light along the left upper corner. Not sure how the reflection was done but it worked!

Lovely landscape images that get better and better as we move through the photo essay. The "hidden valley" in #4 is so alluring with that pool of light bracketed by the towering trees and mountains. The 5th has such beautiful rock formations that are echoed by the mountains. And who can resist those spotted cows in such a setting?

As the grandmother of a kid with a serious Lego hobby, I will say that's an impressive build. To capture it beneath those soaring arches makes it even more impressive and ties the model to the structure that houses it.

Congratulations on the gallery arrangement. It sounds like it will be beneficial in multiple ways. Do show us your winners! These make quite a nice triptych, all sharing similar components of glass vase, single flower in a primary color, white table settings; the angles and arrangements are enough different and alike to work as a group. Clear pure colors and pleasing lighting. Nice set.

I always love fog, and you've got enough there to create its mystery. I like that you've crowded all 3 of your subjects into one corner, and allowed the rest of the frame to express the solitude and peacefulness of the morning. Nicely done.

I would hardly call this a wilderness. It seems to me to be a garden designed with such meticulous care that it is almost surreal. It's a beautiful place and a beautiful composition. You've got a little bit of haloing going on in the sky that might disappear if you relaxed the high dynamic range effect just a bit. Of course your colors would be less vivid but it would be just a lovely a scene, maybe more so.

Thank you Chris.

Thank you minniev. BTW I do not see halos in the sky.

Chris, Mike, Alan, Minniev,

Everyone who has offered encouragement, thank you!

One more week to wait for news! Driving me crazy.

If any of the three submissions get accepted (or not) , I'll share them down the road.

But it's a little complicated. The intent of the gallery (any gallery) is to make sales. My initial submission was by sending jpeg files to them by email. The physical, framed prints come after acceptance of any of the email submissions. They don't want any of that to appear anywhere on the Internet (for now). While the copyright always stays with the artist, the gallery asks that the artists protect the gallery's interest in the potential monetary value of works that hang there. That means not "showing" them "elsewhere" for a while.

Rich

As an adult with a serious Lego hobby himself (oops), I can concur that it is an impressive build, enhanced of course by being in that wonderful location.

On a technical (lego) level, the build is actually pretty basic: stacking of bricks, plates and slopes on a fairly regular blueprint without crazy angles.
It is well done, but not on a level with (for instance) the lego sets of the Notre Dame, Neuschwanstein (brand new) or the NYC Guggenheim museum (older).
Without bragging too much, I feel like I could almost come up with the techniques required for this build, if I had access to the enormous quantity of bricks needed.
What does elevate the build, is the fact that the buildings are surrounded by such lovely landscaping.

Photographically there is also one aspect really worth mentioning: the way in which you married the lego diorama to the exhibition space.
The arches of the ceiling can be seen in two directions: as leading lines down towards the lego diorama, or as fireworks bursting up from the buildings.

Fingers crossed on your gallery adventure.
I like what you did here with this restaurant table top triptych.
Simple, elegant and eloquent.

Thanks, Roel!

Rich

Your angle of view captures the spirit of the place. It is not a romantic fairy castle, but a craggy ruin on a rocky outcrop. I think the clouds help too, as a sunny blue sky would be a bit out of character.

This works really well, as the bokeh renders the strings with a small sharp point and then increasingly blurred, so that they seem to be vibrating! Excellent.

The composition is cool, with the three subjects far on the left hand side, balancing against a broad expanse of sand, sea and sky, which emphasises the emptiness. It looks as though the horizon is sloping, so it would be worth checking.

I’m not surprised you are excited, it is exciting to have your work honoured, but when it comes out of the blue like that without you even entering it in a competition, then it must be a glowing feeling. I wish you luck and the jury good judgement.
And those three photos from the restaurant are delightful and form a great triptych.

Admittedly, I may not have noticed the wolves, if you hadn’t mentioned them, but the photo is actually like real life. If you don’t observe, you will only notice the obvious(the trees, which are nice enough), but a bit of effort rewards with finding something rare, which is the family of wolves in this case.

I agree. There is a lot to be said with making a decision on a lens and staying with it. Fretting about which lens to use leads to missed shots and a stressful time with photography,whereas trying to make shots work with the lens you have and choosing subjects suitable for the lens is a boost for creativity and very satisfying if you get a good photo with the “wrong” lens.

I agree with Minnie. Just a bit less saturation in the sky would help a lot. Otherwise an attractive shot.

Thanks, Pete!

Rich