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 receive 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.</a>

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) with a link to your submission.

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 ~Solkku a note with the subject "Competition Help" and a link to your journal in the note.


Over and out,

Solkku

Sounds of Nature competition results:
The results we all have been waiting for are here at last! The jury has worked hard the past two evenings, and the top 3 was really tight resulting in a shared second place, only two points from the winner of the competition. With no further a due, I present you the top 3 of the competition:

1st place (37pts):
(Because $ewm is a staff member of deviantART with a subscription that never expires, I clearly had to bend the rules about the first prize for this competition. Therefore, I have decided to give her a 20x30cm print from my store.)

by $ewm

*RS-foto's view on the photo:
You can definetly feel and HEAR the rhino rumbling towards you, when I first saw this photo I knew it was a potential winner. Also the fact that it was shot in a zoo amazes, it really feels like you're in there with the angry rhino, scary... I usually prefer 'real' b&w photos over digital ones, but this one really does it for me, I couldn't imagine it in color, b&w works so well here.

2nd place (35pts, 1 month subscription):

by ~elementality

~Solkku's view on the photo:
What struck me first when I saw this photo, was the colours in the sky. All of that orange and red just looks so good against the coolness of the water. Then I started looking at the lower part with all the big waves rushing to shore, with what seems to be, great sound and speed. I also feel that this photo is very well balanced with the big dark rock on the right side and the brightest colours in the sky and the waves on the left. Overall a very pleasing photo to the eye, and to the ear.

2nd place (35pts, 1 month subscription):

by ~souk1501

~Yaninah's view on the photo:
The angle of this magnificent photo is something new and special. I think that's one of the reasons this photo is in the top 2 of this competition. It also has some really nice details, which makes the photo interesting. This is about as far as you can go from boring, and you really can hear the water flowing in this one.

Honourable mentions:
These are honourable mentions given out to photos that did not reach the Top 3, but are great photos (and suit the competition).




Competition info:
I would like to thank everyone that participated in the competition. This time, when I narrowed down the theme a bit, the total amount of submissions was 109. Thank you to everyone who entered, helped and to the great jury too! And of course congrats to the winners!


The finalists:
I would also like to present you the other finalists of the competition (in no particular order):
:thumb37165541:
:thumb36990622:

:thumb27974855:



The great Deviants that helped out with advertising this competition:

The deadline for the competition was last night, and therefore the competition is now over. The results will be announced as soon as possible.

Just as a reminder, the competition deadline is after 4 days.. 31st July at 24:00 hours Finnish time (GMT +2). So if you haven't yet submitted your entry, hurry up!

Photos don't transmit sound. Yet there is a world of different sounds in the nature, wherever we are. I now announce a competition in which your mission is to take and present a nature photo delivering sound to the viewer. We, the jury, want to be able to imagine the sound of your nature photo without actually hearing it.



Rules:
* The competition deadline is 31th July 2006 at 24:00 hours Finnish time (GMT +2).
* Submissions after the deadline will be disqualified.
* The photo must be a nature photo.
* The nature photo must be yours! (And must be available on deviantART).
* You are allowed to submit older artwork which are still online.
* 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.
* 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 originality, details and SOUND.

An example of a photo that will be immediately disqualified:
A photo of a forest with singing birds which you can’t see. A “There was beautiful singing voices of birds” won’t cut it. We want to actually see the sound.

How to enter:
Send a note to *Solkku with the subject "Sounts of Nature submission" between 14th - 31st July 2006 24:00 Finnish time (GMT +2).

Prizes:
1st Place: 3 Months Subscription
2nd Place: 1 Month Subscription
3rd Place: 1 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.

Colourful Nature competition results:
The results you have been waiting for are finally here! The jury had a very long discussion about the winners and the finalists, and the desicion was very hard. But we finally got to a decision. With no further a due, I present you the Top 3 of the competition:

1st place (25pts, 3 months subscription):

by ~waleed-DP

~Solkku's view on the photo:
Many have said that photography is like painting with light. This photo is a perfect example of that theory. The composition and lightning with the foreground rocks, the sea and sky are all in perfect harmony with eachother, and all play a role in this photo. If you'd leave one of these parts out of it, you'll end up with a boring one for sure. The colouring is spot on, very beautiful and fascinating, which was one of the reasons this photo succeeded in this competition.

2nd place (24pts, 1 month subscription):

by ~mightyflup

~Bavenmark's view on the photo:
This photo has it all, great contrast, lovelly colours, fantastic light, perfect exposure and the atmosphere is very mysterious which gives a lovely mood and feel to it. I love the soft wind breeze which gives a nice movement effect on the grass.

3rd place (22pts, 1 month subscription):

:thumb34519145: by ~ohTHATaaronbrown

~ageofloss's view on the photo:
I think the greatest strength of this picture is the contrasting colours – the blue sky and brownish ground. They fit well together. Also the textures of stones and sand are fascinating as are the clouds. I think the lighting is also quite successful, bringing about long shadows all over the picture, thus making it look more alive. The only thing that I'm not that pleased about is the composition and I think it makes this picture a bit boring, but all in all this is really good.

Honourable mentions:
These are honourable mentions given out to photos that did not reach the Top 3, but are great photos (and suit the competition). One honourable mention / jury member was given.

:thumb34725677:


Competition info:
I would like to thank everyone that participated in the competition. As the first competition held by me, I got 249 entries, which is a h*ll of a lot. Thank you all! And of course congrats to the winners!


The finalists:
I would also like to present you all of the finalsists of the competition:

:thumb34519145: :thumb34725677:
:thumb34864161: :thumb33396194:
:thumb19529945:
:thumb35259103:



The great Deviants that helped out with advertising this competition:

...Over and out...

Solkku

This is a reminder of the competition for all of you who wanted to take part in it, but haven't sent an entry yet.

I decided to hold my first competition here on deviantART. As I love colours in a photo, I decided that the theme would be "Colourful Nature". This includes everything from macros, sunsets to scenery, as long as it's a nature photo.

Rules:
* The competition deadline is 30th June 2006 at 24:00 hours (Finnish time).
* Submissions after deadline will be disqualified.
* Send me a note with "Colourful Nature submission" in the subject line and the link to your deviation in the note.
* The photo must be yours! (must be available on deviantART).
* You are allowed to submit older artwork which are still online.
* 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)
* 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, Infrared photos and black&white photos.
* The holder of the competition (me) is allowed to change the rules at any time.

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

Prizes:
1st Place: 3 Month Subscription
2nd Place: 1 Month Subscription
3rd Place: 1 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 rewared when the top three 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.

Wow! This night I crossed 50,000 pageviews and 2,000 Deviants watching barriers. This is all so overwhelming to me that I really can't describe it in words! I love all of you people!

I decided to hold my first competition here on deviantART. As I love colours in a photo, I decided that the theme would be "Colourful Nature". This includes everything from macros, sunsets to scenery, as long as it's a nature photo.

Rules:
* The competition deadline is 30th June 2006 at 24:00 hours (Finnish time).
* Submissions after deadline will be disqualified.
* Send me a note with "Colourful Nature submission" in the subject line and the link to your deviation in the note.
* The photo must be yours! (must be available on deviantART).
* You are allowed to submit older artwork which are still online.
* 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)
* 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, Infrared photos and black&white photos.
* The holder of the competition (me) is allowed to change the rules at any time.

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

Prizes:
1st Place: 3 Month Subscription
2nd Place: 1 Month Subscription
3rd Place: 1 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 rewared when the top three 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.

The last week have been pretty hectic for me in terms of replying to messages here on dA, as I got the chance to be on the frontpage a few times and that resulted in tons and tons of messages. I was about to write this journal right after I got 40,000 pageviews, but I had to postpone it. But better late than never right?

Thank you everyone for your comments, favs and watch additions. They are always greatly appreciated. A huge to you all!

As promised earlier in some comments, I will show you some other photos I took when the cathedral here in Porvoo was tragically on fire. For those who are not familiar with this incident, please read the description in my deviation about it here.

Now on to the photos:

Latest update: They have an 18-year old boy in custody and are interrigating him. He has already admitted that he did it, and will be facing 2-10 years of prison. News and newspapers told that he is a "fan" of some Norwegian dude that currently sits in prison in Norway for burning a church. Oh well, that is sick if you ask me.

Featured Deviant #1:



She is a talented photographer from Switzerland who really haven't got the attention she clearly deserves. I mean, just look at these:

Hehe, I actually can't believe this, but I have now over 200 deviations submitted here. All this in under four months. I remember the night in January when I joined dA; I must've submitted something around 50 photos at a time. But hey, I had to catch up!

The lucky number 200 was Mother's Day Gift II.

Last weekend I decided to fill my store with some of the older shots I had as hi-res versions of, and here the new additions are:

:thumb28146629:

My exhibition called "Seasons of Finland" is currently held in Norwid's Centre of Culture in Cracow, Poland. There are 22 of my photos on display in A3 format, and the exhibition will be on display until June 2nd. So if you happen to be around there, please go and take a look.

I originally found this really handy monitor calibration chart in ~Maddame's journal and thought I would share it with you all. Please check it out and make sure your monitor settings are correct.

"The strip shows a range of greys from pure black to pure white. You should be able to see a clear difference between each shade of grey, ranging from pure black (left) and pure white (right)."

Here is some pretty nice work by amazing artists I've found. Please check them and the artist out!

:thumb28519165:

...Over and out...

Solkku

Oh dear, last week was the best ever for me here on dA. Because of all you wonderful people here, I managed to get my first ever appearance on dA frontpage in "Today's Favourites" and "Today's Prints" sections, and thus breaking both the 30,000 pageviews and 1,000 watchers barrier in the same week! Thank you all for your wonderful and constant support! I'm really amazed by this and appreciate it so much I can't even describe it with words.

A big to you all!

The weather here in Finland have been really good during last week, almost like summer. Many warm and sunny days, and I even got to wear only a T-shirt and shorts outside for the first time this year. More and more insects and flowers appear with every day that passes. I'm really excited about this because I get other things to take photos of than the usual landscapes or seascapes. Plus, with the new Kenko Extension Tube set I have bought I should be prepared what comes to camera gear.

My exhibition called "Seasons of Finland" is currently held in Norwid's Centre of Culture in Cracow, Poland. There are 22 of my photos on display in A3 format, and the exhibition will be on display until June 2nd. So if you happen to be around there, please go and take a look.

I originally found this really handy monitor calibration chart in ~Maddame's journal and thought I would share it with you all. Please check it out and make sure your monitor settings are correct.

"The strip shows a range of greys from pure black to pure white. You should be able to see a clear difference between each shade of grey, ranging from pure black (left) and pure white (right)."

I have submitted prints of some of my work, and will be adding some more in the near future. Also from now on, I will add the print at the same time I submit a deviation if the resolution is good enough. Here are my current prints:

  

Here are some pretty nice photos by amazing artists I've found. Please check them and the artist out!

:thumb31292824: :thumb32105466:

...Over and out...

Solkku

Exhibition update:

It seems there has been a slight delay with the exhibition in Cracow, Poland. Apparently they have been celebrating Easter there, and my exhibition will start on May 2nd and end at June 2nd. The exhibition is held in Norwid's Centre of Culture, will have 22 of my photos on display in A3 format and is named "Seasons of Finland", with photos from every season.

Lens accident:

Last Monday I had the weirdest waking in my whole life. I woke up really early in the morning sitting on the floor next to my bed, to the sound of my Sigma 80-400mm EX OS lens hitting the floor. I had had my camera backpack open on a chair next to the bed. At first when I looked at the lens I saw the glass had several cracks in it. "Aha", I thought to myself and started to laugh - Come on, it was quite hilarious after all! This is what the lens looked like at that point: [link]

I went back to bed and slept to noon. When I woke up it was time to look closer at the lens; I noticed the only thing broken on it was the UV-filter. I peeled off every piece of glass and removed the filter ring from the lens. "Time to test the lens" I thought to myself and attached it to the camera; worked like a dream! That was a great relief as you all can imagine.

What do we learn from this? - Well, never ever leave the camera backpack open next to your bed if you are known to be sleepwalking or doing other kind of activities during sleep.

I originally found this really handy monitor calibration chart in ~Maddame's journal and thought I would share it with you all. Please check it out and make sure your monitor settings are correct.

"The strip shows a range of greys from pure black to pure white. You should be able to see a clear difference between each shade of grey, ranging from pure black (left) and pure white (right)."

First print sold:

Yesterday I sold my first ever print here on dA. I would like to thank the person that bought my print Solace. That was very kind of you!

I have submitted prints of some of my work, and will be adding some more in the near future. Also from now on, I will add the print at the same time I submit a deviation if the resolution is good enough. Here are my current prints:

  

Here are some pretty nice photos by amazing artists I've found. Please check them out!

:thumb31759223: :thumb25484599:

...Over and out...

Solkku

Tomorrow April 17th I will have my first ever photo exhibition, in Norwid's Centre of Culture in Cracow, Poland. The exhibition will have 22 of my photos on display in A3 format and is named "Seasons of Finland", with photos from every season. The photos will be on display for a whole month. This is really exciting for me, as you can imagine. I am really honoured and blessed to be given an opportunity like this.

Yesterday I came home from the Easter trip a bunch of friends and I took to Himos. The scenery there was far from what I expected (atleast close to the ski centre), thus not giving me that many photo opportunities. I took some shots of skiers and snowboarders jumping in big jumps and some other random ones. I also took a few photos from the top of Himos, but they are kinda boring and don't know if I will ever post them here on dA. But we had great fun there, and that's the most important thing. Laughing, drinking and being in the sauna.

I recieved the Kenko Extension Tube set just before I went to Himos, so I have been practicing with them quite a bit. The set consists of three different tubes with different widths; 12mm, 20mm, and 36mm. These tubes can be used separately or all stacked together. This gives you the advantage of focusing much closer than without them. All three stacked together results in you being able to focus on the small dust particles on the lens glass, which is more than enough. The tube set is available for Canon, Nikon and Minolta and costs about $150. A really cheap way to make any lens a macro lens, without sacrifying the lens's optical quality (no glass on the tubes). More info about the extension tube set can be found here.

I found a really handy monitor calibration chart in ~Maddame's journal. Please check it out and make sure your monitor settings are correct.

"The strip shows a range of greys from pure black to pure white. You should be able to see a clear difference between each shade of grey, ranging from pure black (left) and pure white (right)."

`ssilence held a macro contest a few weeks ago, and my photo "Windy" won it with 106 votes against 102. It was a really close one, but I had luck this time. The prize was a three months subscription, so now I am subscribed to August 12th 2006. Thanks to all that voted for my photo!

I have submitted prints of some of my work. If you want a certain photo as a print please note me. Here are my current prints:

Here are some pretty nice photos by amazing artists I've found. Please check them out!

:thumb31875754: :thumb29476682:

:thumb23603255: :thumb20683422:

...Over and out...

Solkku

Time for a small update again. I finally got my set of Cokin X-series of filters including X120 & X121 ND graduated filters, filter holder and 82mm & universal adaptor rings. I have tested them from my window and the results so far look good. Can't wait to put them into real action out on the field. After approximately one week I will get the last filter for the set; X152 (2X ND filter). I took a simple photo of all the filter equipment on the table. If you are interested, you can check it out here.

The 13th - 16th this month I will go up to Himos (which is in central Finland) with a small group of old friends (including ~Bavenmark) to enjoy a nice Easter weekend. And of course I will take my camera with me, hoping for some descent photos and most of all descent weather! The weather during the last 1 to 2 weeks or so has been really horrible (atleast here in the southern parts of Finland). Keep your fingers crossed now everyone!

I have submitted prints of some of my work, and will be adding some more in the near future. If you want a certain photo as a print please note me about it and I'll see if I can prioritize it. Here are my current prints:

Here are some pretty nice photos by amazing artists I've found. Please check them out!

:thumb27295463:

...Over and out...

Solkku

It's time for a journal update again. Many things have happened since the last update. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for your wonderful support and encouragement. Soon I will hit the 20,000 barrier in pageviews, which is totally awesome! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! It's overwhelming to say the least...

...I have entered a few contest here on dA with different success. In the "Dark and Scary Nature" contest held by #NaturPics-club I finished 6th with 22 points with The Message. In the "Insect" contest held by ~Click-It I finished second with my photo Hanging By a Moment. In `ssilences Macro contest I entered with Windy and was chosen by him to the top 10 out of 568 photos. This contest is still underway and thus the voting for the winner is still going on...

...I finally got my dear friend ~Bavenmark to join dA and I really think he deserves more attention that he has got so far; so I decided to feature him in my journal. He is a really talented photographer and a very good person in every way. Please help him out by checking out these thumbs and his gallery:

:thumb30808383:

...I have submitted prints of some of my work, and will be adding some more in the near future. If you want a certain photo as a print please note me about it and I'll see if I can prioritize it. Here are my current prints:</b>

I can easily say this Sunday has been one of the most scariest days in my life. The day started out quite normally, though. Everything was looking good when I woke up a bit after noon. For those who are interested in sports and especially in ice hockey would know Finland was going to play against Sweden in the Torino 2006 hockey tournament final. Those who didn't know do now, hehe...

...The match was a thriller! So many penalties and chances to make goals for both teams. I have no nails left on my fingers and am missing a "few" hairs from the head too, hehe. It was 2-2 after the second period. 10 seconds after the the referee dropped the puck in the third period, Sweden scored 3-2. It is said that Sweden is one of the best teams to maintain a lead after they get it, so I knew Finland was in for a hard third period. After many scoring chances, a time-out and playing without a goalkeeper with six players, Finland had used all the weapons, and wasn't able to score. The match also ended 3-2 for Sweden. The last minutes of the match was literally scary, and I shut my eyes many times when Finland was getting a chance to score. It is understandable that the Finnish players weren't too happy after the match, especially they who know this was their last chance to get an olympic gold medal as a player. Congrats Sweden! You were better this time...

...Later on in the evening after I had replied to the messages I had got here on dA, I decided to take a look at some more photos from Saturday's photo trip to Pellinge. A few minutes after opening a photo for post processing the system freezed and I had to reboot the computer. When the computer had booted and I was in Windows again, I noticed the harddrive with all my photos was missing from the list in My Computer. "Oh dear!" I thought to myself. All my photos I had taken over a period of a year was gone, vanished, disappeared! What a perfect way to end an already miserable day with another thriller. After numerous boots and checking the cables on the drive I finally got it working again. It seems I had more luck than Finland in hockey...

...I had never thought I would need backups of my photos. I couldn't have been more wrong. That incident was really an eye-opener for me. After I had fixed the problem I quickly started to free up some space on one of my other hard drives for backuping my photos. After copying about 80GB of RAW photos and testing the harddrives, everything seems to be working fine now. I am so happy and can now go to sleep with a wide smile on my face!

...This journal is not written to get symphaties, rather as a warning to you all. Make backups of your work before it's too late!

...Over and out...

Solkku