534th Show & Tell Competition: The Common Man - WINNER

[gillk]

I've really enjoyed the submissions in this competition. The ones I have chosen zero in on the person doing their thing. The Honourable mentions, in no particular order.
Amoxtli - woodworker. So appropriate for this time of year - could be Santa


Grompem - I love the ambience of the scene with the gentleman enjoying his pint and the warmth of the fire.


Heffa - Such a neat shot with man and dog stepping it out with the hint of an exotic location.


Luxun54 - a nice quietness about this man sitting on a bench that looks as old as he is.


peterschmidtab - Grandad enjoying a quiet moment - the light works so well here.


Schultzy - I really like the composition and colours in this shot.


Mardoli - 3rd place. Theo - what a great portrait.


Stevemaz - 2nd place. I love the use of the fisheye here - neat shot.


Kzaret - 1st Place. The accommodating fishmonger - great shot.


So, it's over to you Ken - congratulations !

[mardoli]

Thank you for appreciating one of my pictures.
It was a very pleasant competition

[amoxtli]

Very good entries with a lot of variety. Thank you for the HM.
Regards,
Walter

[luxun54]

Thanks for the HM, and thanks to you and Marisa for back-to-back cool topics.

[kzaret]

Thank you for selecting the fishmonger photo! Lots of excellent entries. I will post a new contest by tomorrow.

Best regards to all,

Ken

[peterschmidtab]

Congratulations to Ken and the other winners, well deserved. Thank you for the HM.
Arnie

[irislynx]

Congrats to all winners and runner ups! .. I have to mention, I have been gone from PB for a while and then came back again some months back, I use to watch show and tell all the time and have seen many different entries by a lot of different people, And have seen different people win through the years, Now , As I have been watching , It seems to be mostly the same individual people entering now, And the same individual people winning all the time, I can almost tell who is going to win/be a runner up before it's even posted by "what name is on there". That's kinda really sad!.... A short while back, I had entered a photo which I had a lot of response to on web sites, I entered that photo just to see what would happen if I posted it on show and tell, I showed others and told others ' Watch, Not only will mine not win , It won't even get an Honorable mention! .."I was right"! .. Not that it matter's that much to me that I got neither, The point is.. I knew It wouldn't!!( Not The Right Name it seems) I took a quick look at all the contest's going back some months, And it seems its almost 'Always" the same four or five names over and over again! And if anyone looks back through past contests, They will see its the same names again and again that keep winning and getting HM's! … Not that other people from pbase that post there images for show and tell don't have Great Images , As many of them surely do! ( To me anyway) But, For some odd reason, They never win/ And a lot of times get no HM. Just keep seeing the same names over and over again winning and commenting, Sad to have to see this and pretty unfair to other members who enter …… I'm not going to say if any picture is good or bad , But, What I will say is, Certain pictures always seem to win over others no mater what , And it's usually always by the same names over and over! It just seems to change between the same 4 or 5 individuals continually! …. Seems to leave little chance for any of the other members who would like to enter and have a chance to win! Geesh!!

[gillk]

Hi Iris,
I am sorry you feel as you do. I would like to just lay out how I judge a competition. I follow MEAT:
M for meets the theme
E for emotion captured
A for Artistic merits
T for technical merits
Quite often one of these is outweighed by another - but I feel this is the way to go. I certainly do not include who the photographer is. It is disappointing that more people don't compete.
GillK

[irislynx]

Hi Gilk! I remember you from way back on here … "Meat" .. Well, I think that's the first time I heard of it put that way, But, It's good that you have your own personal way of judging. One photo definitely has to be outweighed by another when photos are being judged. Though you may not include who the photographer is, Does it seem a little odd to you that many of the same ones are winning/getting the Hms and posting new contest's over and over?? I don't know how anyone else feels about it, But, It surely does stand out to me. I know there was a lot more people who competed at one time, I don't know why they wouldn't be now, It certainly has dwindled down quite a bit!! I know I will be joining them and not bothering entering anymore as I truly feel the scale is tipped, I have seen some amazing photography get passed by from some of the members that had entered , And it seems there was a reason it got passed by. I for one do not want to bother entering a photo contest where I don't have a chance of winning, Not because my photo is bad, But, Because someone who won 2 or 3 (sometimes more) contests before the newest one will end up being the winner again. .. Take a look a ways back through some of the contests, Who's names do you keep seeing?? I think If people looked at some of the images from past contests and did some comparison I think they would be a bit surprised ( Just my opinion of course) I don't know if other people are seeing it too and not bothering entering anymore or not as it really has dwindled down so much from what it used to be, But, I know I won't bother entering anymore seeing what I've been seeing on here, I wouldn't even have a chance it seems no matter what! Very upsetting, Especially seeing I pay to use this site To learn from and enjoy ….

[cits_4_pets]

I know there are popularity contests and I know at least one person who would never one even consider any of my images.... Fun to win here but I appreciate my wins at N4C & RPC, PSA, much more, as the creator of the images are unknown to the judges, so a bit more fair.

[irislynx]

cits_4_pets, (Good to see you again!) I appreciate your reply, And I know exactly what you mean by the 'popularity contests" ( Or not in the "click" to win) Another sad aspect of unfairness unfortunately And It surely is more fair when the creator of the image is unknown, much more appreciated! I'm happy to hear that you are winning at other sites where the creators of the images are unknown! I'm sure it means a lot to you seeing it's a lot more fair that way! …

[kzaret]

Hi Irislynx, sorry to hear your sentiments. I try to use the approach of Gillk, judging images based on those intangible characteristics that attract our individual eyes, instead of the names. My own feeling about the decline of PBase is that it is largely due to a troll named Scott, a number of years ago, and then a huge delay in adding a swipe feature to the photos. On the other hand, most other photo sites hit you with popup windows and efforts to join, whereas with PBase people can outside the community can look at your pictures freely. With swipe now in place, hopefully things will stabilize; though Instagram takes away a lot of the younger viewers.

All of that being said, I looked at your pictures and was particularly attracted to your flower shots. So that will be the topic of the next contest!

Ken

[irislynx]

Hi Ken, Thank you for your thoughts on the matter, We all have our different views. I guess the same people have images that have those intangible characteristics that attract our individual eyes , I just have a different outlook I guess that's making me not see it. But, Regardless, I'm happy you picked a subject you liked for your next contest. A lot of people like flower images, Maybe you'll get a good response from it and have a lot of nice images to decide on ….

[stevemaz]

Hi Gill, what a great competition subject.
Thank you for the 2nd place.
This is quite special photo for me for 2 reasons: I love fisheye and I used to play double base in my youth.
What a chance to have 2 such unlikely elements coming together.
This busker is very good musician, I bought his CD recording from him.
Cheers