On Thu, 12 Aug 2004, Michael Levy <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I say NO to contests here... we have enough I'm better than you on this
>list as it is!  :)
>
>This should be a friendly neighbourhood, so let's just continue to show
>the photos and leave competition of such a subjective field out of it.
>What hope do we have of coming to any conclusion with all members as
>judges anyway!
>A contest will not make the pictures any more pleasing and may well make
>the environment here less so...

100% behindya ya there.  Like those who post links to piccies - Bjorn,
Russ, John Nitrox, Chuck, Alfie ... whoever, the fun is sharing with
others wot ya seen.  And, as we all know well ... beauty is in the eye of
the beholder.  I've lost count of the number of non-profit organisations
that have asked me for uw piccies for various campaigns .. when chatting
to the head guy later on it is interesting to hear back what was their
favourite pic.  Usually it is something I personally think is 2nd rate ...
and the pic that I myself think is bleedin wonderful they doan even
comment on - beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Actually talking of what appeals to some and not to others .. WAUPS had
its annual brunch meeting a few Sundays back. Trotting across the road,
after a scrumptious feed, we went to the museum to view the previous years
winnings shots from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wildwin/2003/

In the Animal Behaviour: Mammals section none of our group liked the
winning shot ... while it showed movement we all felt it was too much outa
focus .. in fact we all admitted that if it had been our shot it would
have ended up in the bin.  Needless to say we are not re-thinking that
method .. maybe its the ones we chuck in the bin we should be submitting
for competitions ;-))  We could not understand how the Specially Commended
pic by Howie Garber did not win as that got the top vote from all of us.

>On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 09:10:27 -0400 M. Bevelhimer wrote:
>> Nice pics, Viv!   I especially liked the white-spotted jellyfish.

Now isnt that funny ... those jellyfish are so common we normally don't
even bother taking pics of them.  We get them in plague proportions at
certain times of the year here in the river .. they are harmless
fortunately.  I am normally caught looking up inside them trying my best
to see if there are any juvenile feeshies hiding within them for
protection.    My favrite pic is the bubbleshell.  In all my years of
night dives in the Swan I've only chanced across a LIVE bubbleshell ONCE.
In fact, I blew off half a roll of film on this one shell in all its glory.

>Maybe you should get a Scuba photo list going for that purpose, try
>calling it UWPhoto? ;-)
>Oh shucks that list already exists, without the judging thankfully.

I lurk on that list ... and sponge up all the good tips :-))
Viv