NYFalls.com Talk

I have never photographed lilacs before. I just never found them photogenic. But both Kelly and Mikell have each got a great shot there. And all I have at home is boring white lilacs so I had to try and get a little creative on this one. So here is what I came up with. Got Lilacs?

That's wonderfully creative!
must have been a pleasantly-scented shoot too.

A few from the evening i stopped by Highland Park

* Just for fun. Not taken in NY. Taken earlier this month in Ohio - where they are called Li-LACKs.

We have a winner

This was tough. Mikell's shot of a family going in for a self-portrait was charming and fit the topic quite well. I can see that being a 1/3 page feature on the D&C paper come lilac season. It really captures the spirit of the festival.

Philip's milk-inspired studio setup came right out of the blue and demonstrated a creative idea I don't think anyone else could have come up with. Awesome idea, and it will make me think outside the box a little bit when i approach new challenges.

One photo I kept coming back to is simple, Kelly's floating lilacs. Yes, she wins a lot of challenges (this is her 10th). No favoritism here. She constantly tries new approaches to the topic and consistently enters, and it pays off.

Lilacs are chaotic. They don't have natural symmetry in their massive bunches and the bushes and blooms are all over the place. Where is the harmony? Where is the focus?
This photo simplified lilacs from purple/white disarray to an elemental symbol of their delicate order. Good composition. Good focus. Color is spot on. Water? does it symbolize that the lilac festival saw rain 8 of its 10 days?

May 2013: "Lilacs and Festivals"

Kelly

[important]We will have no winner for June, since I came up with the idea and Kelly posted the first topic (her involvement means she can't win). No one else got involved.
Let's try to get July moving. The July Bug-off!! is all about finding and capturing as many interesting bugs as we can.[/important]

Thanks for the nice comments on my photo...but I agree...you can't beat that photo of Kelly's...it is simply beautiful and original...like so much of Kelly's work. Congratulations Kelly...and thanks for keeping us inspired and challenged.

Thanks. Very nice comments and they are much appreciated. And yeah. I can count on just a few fingers, the challenges I didn't participate in over the last 5 years. If it weren't for these challenges, which are really nothing more than exercises that encourage us to see and think beyond our usual repertoire, I'd probably just travel around and photograph beets for the rest of my life.