Trees – October 2022

This month’s challenge has the theme of “Trees“. In the same way, we had a guest judge select their favourite three images for previous Challenges, we have also arranged for this trend to continue.
The guest judge for this month’s challenge was Francisco Neto, Manager of The Almancil branch of EGK (Exclusive German Kitchens) representing high-end brands of Poggenpohl and Leicht. If you don’t know about these brands, we suggest that you head over and take a look. Absolutely beautiful kitchen designs, colours, and use of space. Francisco jumped at the opportunity to judge and selected the following three images as his favourites.
Many thanks for your time and for providing us with a few words as to why they appealed to you.

Great to see more entries coming in from members this time around. Well Done to everyone for participating.

Our next Exhibition (Print) will be in November and will have a theme “Free Choice”.

Selected Images

19 Camelthorn by Robert Pool

Francisco said, “This image stood out in particular because of the creativity to photograph what the tree provides in its natural environment, ie shade, as opposed to photographing the tree itself.
In a clearly very arid, dry, and hot environment, this tree provides shade and rest for the photographer/ viewer. Given the angle of the shadow, it suggests the sun is going down and hence a nice sunset will be forming behind the picture.
There are only a select number of other trees in the shot, which reiterate the importance of this one in the environment.”

28 Life Goes On by Daryl Gabin

Francisco said, “The title of the photo says it all, “A Vida Continua”. After the devastating fires, nature is taking its course and reviving. It looks as if the picture has been taken on a slightly foggy morning, where the sun is rising again and making way for new life.
The huge number of tall and large trees damaged by the fire reminds us of how quickly what we take for granted, can be damaged and destroyed beyond repair, but the green sprouts on the ground also give a sense of how quickly nature finds a way to recover, giving a sense of balance to the shot.
The photographer gave a good focus in the middle of the shot, with almost a funnelling circle of focus in the centre, with everything else outside of it going out of focus. If you look into this “bulls-eye” central focus, onto the central vertical tree, it almost gives a sense that the plains are green again, the sun is rising up behind it, the fog clearing up and that life has indeed continued as the title suggests.”

10 Ficus Macrophylla by Ernst Neidhardt

Francisco said, “The tree itself is incredible and full of detail. The exposed roots at the base are nearly as large as the tree itself, suggesting how strong the tree is in its roots. The detail of the roots is immense, and hence gives the viewer plenty of things to spend time looking at in this photo. The tree gives us a sense that it has aged and developed strongly in its environment and that it has “laid down its roots” and settled in.
The grayscale photo adds to the sense of age and time of the tree and reiterates that the viewer is looking at something that has been long in the making.”

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