Bushwalk Australia

Non-Landscape?!

Congratulations to the winner of the Non-Landscape July 2017 competition, with 11 votes:

• Caedo12 - Russell Falls

The key to all entries for this competition is below.

1 - Russell Falls
by Caedo12.

2 - Snow melt drops into a shaft of sun, Pine Valley
by whynotwalk.

3 - Mertens' Water Monitor
by tom_brennan.

4 - An intimate study
by johnw.

Totally with Mr. Brennan - non-landscape?

The discussion has sort of been had on a few occasions now.
It actually impinges on a few categories, but this one the most.
In the end - the nature of the category is determined by the voters.

I once managed to win a prize from a photo competition, but the key for me was to analyse what types of photos were previously getting the nod.
In that case I could see that the judges were favouring shots with people in them.
Using that as a principle I managed to find a suitable shot to get some votes, even though it was not my personal favourite.

Clearly there is a blur between obvious wide angle landscapes - and non-landscapes.
We have seen close ups of insects, animals, birds and plants - but also close in shots of rocks and pools of water.
Even star shots which are extreme wide angle can get up the votes under this category.
In this case - the oft repeated theme of a waterfall has again made an appearance - and even the light effects in a forest setting.
I find both of these acceptable outside of the Landscape category - ie as "non-landscape" as distinct from more refined categories such as Macro photography etc.
But in the end - the voters will determine what is acceptable. So I still feel that the major task for this wonderful competition is to get more people voting.
I a not sure how to do that - but 26 is way too small. Current numbers are around 40 and up to 50, but 100+ would be much better.

As eggs says, the voters do decide - the rules say "Entries must not be landscape photos (as determined by the voters)"

I guess for me the question is "Could/should this photo have been entered in the Landscape competition?". If yes, then it probably shouldn't be in the Non-Landscape competition! They are supposed to be mutually exclusive.

I agree there is a bit of a grey area for:
- more abstract photos - eg the light in the forest photo above
- close up landscapes - eg the tiny cascade photo above

Obviously I don't think there's much of a grey area for traditional scale waterfalls, since they have previously won Landscape comps!!

Sometimes its hard not to put in a waterfall in here.....
particularly a small one....

But I have noticed that there is only one landscape competition at the moment.
Practically, the Tasmania entries are pretty much landscapes, but a lot of entries [and some winners] under Other States are not.
Back to getting more people voting...

For non-landscape I'm picturing macro/micro, insects/flowers, animals/birds, unusual textures/shapes, people pics, hut life, underwater, torchlight shots etc etc.
Something along those lines anyway...

But it's not in the guidelines...