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21-DEC-2007 Kelly Bellis

2nd Place "Ovum Erratum" By Kelly Bellis

Ellsworth, Maine






May it please the Queen: Highlights blown to smithereens!!

Upon the commandment of the Queen, we were charged to brazenly break a traditional photographic rule with gusto and so I began by thinking a bit in reverse, how can I create an image that illustrates such a contemptuous disregard for, in this instance, proper exposure? But simply having a big blast of light is insufficient; it still would need a context in which to be contrasted. Without context, words are meaningless utterances and chaos no different than the mundane. Of course, it is neither contempt nor disregard for so-called “proper exposure”, but rather a greater reverence in the search for an understanding of it. Long live the Queen!

With his head bent downward, the trembling voice of the photographer on bended knee was heard to say "Justification of the so-called broken rule is entirely in the subjective eye of the Queen. Any feeble attempts by her humble servant to justify this image's existence and compliance with The Rule shall be destined to fail miserably and therefore I have no other recourse but to throw this image on the mercy of her omniscient and most passionate judgment."


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ctfchallenge30-Dec-2007 17:30
Thanks for your comments Fred and RK.

Fred, thanks for the nitpick - I had repeatedly thought about cloning it out, but with each vacillation, I kept coming back to the feeling of it being almost trompe l'oeil-like - even after I printed it! - Kelly
ctfchallenge28-Dec-2007 00:01
Great concept and love the execution. - RK
ctfchallenge27-Dec-2007 21:16
Cool shot and great idea. Well composed too. The blown highligts works with the concept. Too nitpick a bit, I think you could clone out the small grains in the grey areas between the shadows from the eggs.
Cheers! Fred
ctfchallenge24-Dec-2007 21:06
Did I mention qualified? :) ~ Lonnit
ctfchallenge23-Dec-2007 16:16
My Queen's pleasure is all that matter's to me, but I worry that it's Her Majesty's Lexapro kicking in that has saved my image from the dark realm of Pending. Nonetheless, I pray my loosened tongue has satisfied you. Your humble servant.

Thanks Rod, John, Armin, Penny, Jano and Tom for your very kind remarks.

John, I agree with your impression of Lonnit's intent and if nothing else, we all will have benefited by at least thinking about articulating things typically left visually imparted. I must disagree; however, please stop hanging family members in your house, there are laws, even in Texas regarding hangings. :D - Kelly
Guest 23-Dec-2007 06:36
I'm thinking the the blown highlights(rule), are what was needed to make half the eggs disapear(reason). Thus creating the wonderful contrast of total blowout to shodows. Nice job Kelly. Aren't eggs fun to work with?
ctfchallenge23-Dec-2007 03:22
This is awesome - took me a bit to figure out what it was but for me the shadow cast is the winner here. jano
ctfchallenge22-Dec-2007 19:55
this is amazing.
Penny Street
ctfchallenge22-Dec-2007 19:35
great one - a very interesting shot! :o)
Armin
ctfchallenge22-Dec-2007 19:16
Kelly, thou hast pleased thy Queen immensely. Thine kiss upon my ass hast savethed thin hide most temporarilyest. I have accepted your image on the condition that you do give a brief explanation as to its success. Yes, you are 100% correct, that the reason for the effect should be self-evident. However, being that we are in a learning environment, part of the test requires that you explain. In school, did you merely write "you know why" in the answer blank where you were supposed to show your math work that led you to the correct answer? The purpose of this challenge is to help us all think more about the way we are presenting our art, in the hopes of gaining a greater understanding, and a expanding of our bag of tricks. I know that you know why this works, but others may not. They may look and say it's well done, but not quite understand what it is about the process that makes it work. Or they may have their thoughts on it, and those thoughts differ from yours, and you are both right, and perhaps you didn't realize an added benefit of having broken the rule. And the simplest reason of all for explaining is simply because it is a condition of qualification and the queen has made the rules and therefor you need to follow them - your talent doesn't put you above the rules <she said in her best school-marm voice! LOL!). If Jay Maisel were to enter, I'd make him justify too! LOL! ;) Most excellent entry! ~ Lonnit
ctfchallenge22-Dec-2007 15:28
I am blown away by this image and your title. The title alone should get you qualified ... Ovum eggs ... really. The overexposure speaks for itself. I have seen nothing from you so far that didn't seem planned and intentional while others like me luck into things on occasion and don't realize why. So while it is clear your intent was to overexpose one corner for dramatic effect everywhere in the picture and only a single word "overexposure" need justify this picture, for many of us less skilled we need to do a lot more to justify our pictures. I think Lonnit's good intention is to teach some of us to be better photographers even though some others like yourself already are. This picture is something I would hang in my house but I only hang our own families because they are more personal. John
Rod 22-Dec-2007 04:02
:-)hehe I agree Kelly. I'm too scared to say if a shot looks good now as every time I've done that it ends up in Pending. So hang in there mate you may be onto a winner as I think the shot works great..............Oh no I've said it........Sorry Kelly:-)
ctfchallenge22-Dec-2007 00:17
Thanks Maurice, Tom and Sue Anne. It's been good getting to know you folks ;) - Kelly
ctfchallenge22-Dec-2007 00:15
Thanks Rod, I appreciate your vote of confidence. Seriously though, requiring a justification statement as to the validity of a "broken rule" indicates the image's inability to adequately articulate its "justification". If the purpose of the "broken rule" isn't self evident in and through the image itself adding a verbal layer of poo doesn't alter the ineffectiveness of the image, at least that's how I feel about it and if this image is cast into the utter darkness and temporal world of Pending, so be it. I'm prepared for the gallows - let the drum roll begin! - Her Majesty's humble servant.
sue anne22-Dec-2007 00:12
Cool and creative - its the 'sun of the eggs.' :)
and the BH is hurting my eyes.....
ctfchallenge22-Dec-2007 00:08
More Apocalyptic imagery... all those unborn eggs at the moment of the blast. It even seems to burn the border. If this doesn't quality with L's unruley topic, then I'm lost. -tv
ctfchallenge22-Dec-2007 00:05
The light and shadows creates a good abstract around the eggs! great idea!
......Maurice
Rod 21-Dec-2007 23:59
That's a great blurb Kelly, well done. See you in Pending:-)