Relax folks...it just means Happy Holidays from King!

@cferroni...I see three round objects. Round=360 degree curve.

This is part of a series of photographs I took in the area of Big Bend National Park, Texas, a few Christmases ago. A friend gave us a snowglobe that I took with us and photographed in various settings:

http://www.kingdouglas.com/Snowglobe.htm

The photo above is the McDonald Observatory near Alpine, Texas. I thought the snowglobe fit in nicely with the observatory domes.

hehe, very, very witty series!

It's funny King, you left some really flattering comments about my entry and the only 'negative' point was the potential irrelevance to the theme. I find this whole relevance thing really intriguing. You are obviously correct, three globes do carry an awful lot of curves indeed! Yet my emotional response to this image is more along the lines (oops) of 'clever, quirky, xMas' certainly 'curves' is not what this communicates to me.

Again, I am really intrigued by 'what is relevance?', is it just a 'there are curves in this shot' or more of a 'is *curves* the first thing that springs to mind when I look at this shot' ?

I think both are perfectly valid interpretations, and subjectivity is certainly the name of the game here!...

Very curious to see how/if Vazaar alters this.

cferroni,

Notice, please, that I did not say that I thought your beautiful image was low on Relevance, but that others might.

I'm not a stickler on Relevance. I'd much rather be moved and inspired by an image that is low on the "Relevance" category than one that goes overboard on "Relevance" but doesn't move me.

I think that, in aggregate, WS photographers are sticklers (that is, they take a narrow view) of the Relevance category. Photographs of perspicacious relevance are more esteemed than other, perhaps better photographs, that are weak on Relevance.

I don't care too much about this and am not put off by having to squint my eyes and ponder an image for a while before its relevance becomes clear.

err... It's Carlo BTW... ;-)

I was genuinely VERY flattered by your comments on my image and coming from you (I love your work) they were genuinely appreciated, hope I didn't come across as defensive. Mine was just a blubbering about relevance in general.

Carlo, thank you for the permission to use your first name.

I understood the nature of your comment regarding relevance and I didn't think you were defensive at all. I got the impression your wanted my view, so I gave it.

Thanks very much for your appreciation of my photography.

hug, hug...;-)

So, now KNOW who's behind the green curtain...

Doesn't this make three featured responses for this theme, King? Good job!

@SeekingFocus,
I lucked out with this third image, really. I'm a student of the WS rating system and it seems that I have figured out what buttons to push to get higher than average ratings, even when those who comment seem to be ambivalent. Okay, to be fair, those buttons include paying attention to things like digital noise, that I got slammed for in my Rain image. I'm attempting to toe the line regarding digital noise. I despise myself for that, but it helps my ratings.

This photo was submitted without the least idea of getting featured. It's a holiday notion and that's all. But it scored much higher than my nude behind the shower glass. Imagine that.

Thanks to everyone who helped this photo get featured, and thanks for all the comments, and happy holidays to one and all.

I gave high because of 360° and in hope of a "christmas" image in this theme :-)))

I'm glad it's featured!!!

bur never ever thought that king is behind this one :-))))

congrats and merry christmas :-)

I think the fake snow detracts from the curves theme, but do like the smoke behind the white globes. Why can't you see through those white snow globes? I've never seen those kind before. Do they sell those in Texas as All Snow Globes?

What a great image Mr. King. Congratulations on something so fun! Merry Christmas!

Mark,

Let me up. Not smoke...clouds. :>)
Your other jokes went over my head.

It's a clear snow globe. The fake snow rests on the bottom until you invert it, then it gently floats down. I inverted it just before shooting this, by the way, hand-held shot. Snow globe in left hand, Minota X-700 in the right, 28mm lens prefocused, take a deep breath and click.

Thanks for the good wishes--and my first name is King. I'm Mr. Douglas.

Mr. Mark,
Now I get it! The white snow globes = observatories. You got me, you did.
Hyuk, hyuk.

CraigMartin asked elsewhere, "King - so, if you don't own a digital camera (aside from your scanner ;-)), how do you get all your amazing shots into digital form?"

For film images, I have five methods, four of which are good only for posting images on the web.
1) If I need a high quality scan, especially from 120 film (Hasselblad), I take the film to my lab (and wait).
2) I have a flat bed scanner that does a pretty good job on prints.
3) I have an HP S20 film scanner that does a pretty good job on 35mm film and slides. It doesn't have Digital Ice, though, so I have to clean up a lot of dust and scratches in Photoshop.
4) For large format transparencies, I have a fully masked backlit setup and make copy images using my wife's little Lumix digital (a very nice camera).
5) Last, I copy 16x20 museum-grade prints using the Lumix in direct sunlight, outside--that works great.

I count on Photoshop and Noise Ninja to get my scanned images to look *approximately* as they were in their original form. I'm a purist, and rarely use Photoshop for things I couldn't do in-camera or in the traditional darkroom. I'm working hard to become a Photoshop expert.

Thanks for asking, and thanks again for the compliment.

Mr. King and here I thought you were intelligent! I use to get my kids snow globes from places I would travel. They have over 50 each and I'm sure that at some point they'll display them for their own kids. I really laughed when you were ever so patiently and kindly explaining how they work. DUH! And I know your last name, but Mr. King sounds so much better than Mr. Douglas. I'd never confuse you with other Mr. Douglas who married Catherine Zeta Jones!

Mr. Mark,

Like I said, you got me. You're the better man this time around. Merry Christmas.

I sure felt like a fool when your lame joke about the all-white snow globes became clear. The only reason I was patiently explaining is that I know where you grew up.

King, thanks for the detailed answer to the question!