Challenge #25 - Creative distortion

Thanks all for your votes...

This week's theme is a transformation of the famous expression "creative destruction", which says that difficult economic times (like these days for instance) generally produce a wave of innovation and creativity, despite the destruction of capital.

So please, exploit the distortion of your lens, your environment or your imagination!!

Deadline for submitting: Monday, April 6 midnight
Vote: Tuesday April 7
Results: Wednesday April 8

The winner of Challenge # 24 - Spring Cleaning is...

Louis! With a whopping 63% of the vote! Congratulations! Please pick our next challenge. (Sorry this was so late, guys, Sandy totally forgot to post the results. Bad slut.)

Here are the winning photos:

Challenge #24 - Spring Cleaning VOTE!!

I'm really happy with the number of submissions, guys!! Louis, welcome back!

Bloom

Contrary to Paul, I do not think flowers are lame. Behold:



I like its textures, and the buildings that I had been avoiding actually add some balance and context to the shot I think.

A Spring, Cleaning

I tried to come up with something interesting in nature first. Maybe a bird picking up some trash. Maybe a bug on a flower eating another bug. A squirrel cleaning its own face. Stupid nature wouldn't cooperate. Still, I took lots of pretty pictures that don't fit this challenge.

Instead, I went with the pun. I had to work pretty hard to sneak up on a Slinky spring toy in the act of vacuuming my living room. I think it looks startled.

First an action shot to show the cleaning:


Then a close-up of that surprisingly helpful spring toy:


You can see the rest of my candidates on my flickr page. They're mostly just shots of flowers and trees and birds. Lame. But there are also many more action shots of the spring, cleaning.

Spring cleaning... products

After a few weeks (read: months) of inactivity, I'm happy to say that just like springs, I'm alive again. I found it difficult to keep up with my photography this winter because it was dark and cold. But hey, spring is back and so am I. Here's my contribution for this week.

Spring Cleaning - The District

As our seasons turned to spring, so did my interest in taking my butt outside (away from the nightclubs) to shoot some photos of our beautiful city. So today I wandered downtown in search of something being cleaned. And thankfully I came across our wonderful downtown sidewalk janitors out and about doing their thing.

And off they go...

Challenge # 24 - Spring Cleaning

"I'll polish the leaves
Make 'em green again,
Shake off the trees,
Change the scene again.
Spring cleaning,
Gettin' ready for love."
- Fats Waller's Spring Cleaning, as composed by Walter Samuels, Leonard Whitcup, Teddy Powell (1937)

Jason pointed out to me that this was the time of the vernal equinox (Mar. 20th), so that the challenge of Spring Cleaning seemed particularly appropriate. Hooray for almost equally long days and nights! If you're near the equator, this will be really obvious. And I hate you for being near the equator.

Anyway, take those two words and run with them! Maybe clean off your camera if you haven't submitted in a while, because of course only new photos are allowed.

NOTE: I believe Ann told me that the deadline is Wednesday, voting on Thursday, like the last time.

BONUS POINTS: bring the equinox to mind.
EXTRA BONUS POINTS: show the entire planet half-bathed in light and dark.

(remember, the bonus points don't matter, but if you get the Extra Bonus points, you'll probably win.)

The winner of challenge #23 - Panorama is...

Pason! AKA Jaul! It's a tie between Jason and Paul! 50/50, right down the middle.

Paul, good luck contacting Jason while he's in Italy. Send messenger pigeons if necessary. If not, go ahead and make an executive decision, and hope he doesn't bump you off you with his new mafia skills when he returns. Death by gelato....

Challenge #23 - Panorama - VOTE!