Gloomy Nature competition over:



The deadline for the competition was a few hours ago and no more submissions will be accepted. The results will be announced as soon as possible.

Also, a Happy New Year to everyone!












...Over and out...

Solkku

Gloomy Nature competition:



A while ago I organized a pre-competition in which all of you had to think about a theme for the big competition. I got a lot of nice theme suggestions, but the one I liked the most (as autumn is turning to winter, and it's getting darker) was the suggestion by =kukko, who suggested "Gloomy Nature". So congrats to you, you will recieve the prize of the pre-competition as promised!

So what does "Gloomy" mean? As can be seen here, it means the following things:

1. dark or dim; deeply shaded: gloomy skies.
2. causing gloom; dismal or depressing: a gloomy prospect.
3. filled with or showing gloom; sad, dejected, or melancholy.
4. hopeless or despairing; pessimistic: a gloomy view of the future.

So, simply put: Your task is to incorporate gloominess to a nature photo. Here are some examples:




Rules:
* The competition deadline is 31st December 2006 at 24:00 hours Finnish time (GMT +2).
* Submissions after the deadline will be disqualified.
* The photo must be a nature photo!
* The photo must be yours! (And must be available on deviantART).
* You are allowed to submit older artwork which are still online.
* You are not allowed to submit photos you have entered with in my two previous competitions
* You can submit only one photo to the competition.
* You may not manipulate the photo further than what could be done in a darkroom. (Temperature, Tint, Exposure, Brightness, Contrast and Saturation). However, a frame and text on the actual photo is accepted.
* Black & White photos are accepted as they often portray gloominess.
* After the competition's deadline the jury will decide on the top three.
* Jury members may not participate in the competition.
* Disallowed photo types: Photo manipulations
* The organizer of the competition (*Solkku) is allowed to change the rules at any time if needed.

Hint: The jury looks for gloominess, originality and details.


How to Enter:
Send a note to *Solkku with the subject "Gloomy Nature submission" between 26th November - 31st December 2006 24:00 Finnish time (GMT +2).


Prizes:
1st Place: 1 Year subscription + Premium Print Account + Secret Special Prize
2nd Place: 6 Months subscription
3rd Place: 3 Month subscription

Also, some of the jury's favorites will be given honourable mentions.


Jury:



Advertising this competition:
If you want, you can help spread the word about this competition. To do this, the only thing you have to do is include a link to this journal and tell what the link is about, or include the stamp as a link (for subscribers). All helpers will be rewarded when the results are announced (your avatar will be included in the journal). Just send me a note with the subject "Competition Help" and a link to your journal in the note.


My Previous Competitions:








Over and out,

Solkku

Birthday:
Yay! It's my birthday today, and I turn 26! We are going out with my pals for a "few" beers and celebrate.


Competition news:
Tomorrow I will launch the competition I had planned on launching for a while now. The theme is still not chosen, so you can still suggest something. Remember, it has to be nature-related.

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I updated my journal, but it's about time also don't you think? This journal will include some good news, but sadly also some bad news. As the new CSS feature is available, I decided to try that out.

A lot of great things has happened since the last update; I recently reached the 120,000 pageviews barrier, got over 4,000 watchers, 10,000 views on a photo and 1,000 favs on a photo. Thank you all for your constant support, I really appreciate it.


Quick Pre-Competition:
I'm going to start my next nature photo competition in the very near future, and have been trying really hard to come up with a theme for it. I wanted to host an uniquely themed competition this time around, so for this I need all of your braincells. Don't think you will go unrewarded if your suggestion ends up as the theme. The prizes are as follows:

One of my prints of the following size:
25x25cm, 20x30cm or 30x20cm sized print of your choice from my store. Note: You must live in a country to where dA ships prints, and you must also have a wishlist on dA.

Or a subscription:
3 months deviantART subscription

So, put on your thinking cap and show me what you've got! The theme must be unique and nature related. The theme mustn't be too "narrow", I want everyone to be able to join. So themes related to mountains, rivers, desert etc. are unfortunately out of the question. Be creative and please post your suggestion with a comment to this journal. That way it's fair to all members, and everyone can see what already has been suggested. The great jury members for this competition are already selected.


A Photo Got Ripped:
Recently I found out that a photo of mine got ripped. I think many of you already have heard of the site called Vietpix. I found one of my photos on that site; Petals of gold:



I will contact the admin of that site about this matter, and hope to get direct contact information to the person that ripped it. The site seems to be closed as of now though.


Some favourites:
Here is some pretty nice work by amazing artists. Please check them and the artist out!





My Current Photo Gear:




Previous Competitions' Stamps:
I've had the complete joy and honour to have got to host a few nature-related photo competitions on deviantART already. In the future there will be more for sure.






...Over and out...

Solkku