United - a competition draft?

[Didache]

Hi all .. there is a local photographic competition coming up here in the near future. It is an inter-church thing so the standard won't be all that high I think.

Anyway, the theme is "United" and I thought I would try to generate two or three images to illustrate the theme. This is the first one I have come up with - it's only a "draft" at this stage so I will rephotograph it once I know exactly what I want from it.

What do you think?

Cheers
Mike

[IndyRick]

I like it a lot. I wonder what the effect would be if you made the pipe cleaner tie a third color, that doesn't match either flower? (or match the stems, for that matter). Just curious..for me, just personal opinion...that might enhance the effect? (affect? oh, I HATE this):blush2:

[Dubbs5050]

maybe an orange pipe cleaner? I kind of want to see more contrast in the petals....nice shot

[Bigcity]

What if you had a red flower in a yellow vase and vice versa?

[Frog]

I like this one better than the scrabble board.

[readingr]

Mike,

Interesting idea, I like the concept but as others have said, any chance of a red vase?

I'm with the orange pipe cleaner/wool concept as well.

Lovely pic though. The lighting is spot on. I also like the fact that the yellow flower's stem is lighter green to the red.

Roger

[SmartWombat]

I misread that as untied - DOH !
I agree on the colour.

[fx101]

Red flower in the yellow vase, get a red vase and put the yellow flower in that. Then use an orange pipe-cleaner. You might also want some more dramatic lighting (or a light background that accentuates the flowers more).

[Didache]

Thanks guys for your input. Actually it's not a pipe cleaner, but a little piece of rope from one of those fancy bags for giving wine asa gift. I only have silver and red to play with.

However, I take the point about colour - so I am going to try (this morning) using two red vases and making both tulips red ones and see how that goes.

Interestingly, someone else pointed out to me (something that hadn't occurred to me) that the "feel" is not so much "united" as "bound", such as two people in an unhappy marriage - tied together, but facing away from each other. I may work on this idea too.

I'll post whatever I come up with.

Cheers
Mike

[SmartWombat]

Or use a ring, if you want to be perhaps more subtle about the binding.

[Overbeyond]

When I first saw this "shotgun wedding" was what came to mind. Two red roses I feel will remove the "bound" "unhappy" vibe from this; opposite colours are needed for this feel, (if that's the feel you like best).
I think the stiffish cord you used here is ideal; anything dangling sweetly again would not aid the forced feel. Barbed wire would have really done the trick .

For the "united" theme to work, and to walk away with the competition, you really only needed a shot of the both of us in that pub in Docklands .

[Didache]

Thanks guys again for your input.

In the end this is for a church competition where they will be looking for a positive spin on the theme of "united".

After much experimenting I have settled on the attached image as probably the best I can do with the materials I have. I have used the same coloured tulips and same coloured vases and tried for some subtle diagonals.

I may well use the original in camera club circles where the more subtle discordancies may be appreciated.

Cheers
Mike

[Greg McCary]

Mike I have looked at this many times and I think it may be better without the tie or with a different one. I can't help thinking it would look better with another element, minus the tie, at the base of the vases. A pair of rings? It just doesn't say "Married" to me. Take my opinion for what it's worth since I have never tried a shot like this.

[Didache]

Thanks Greg .. the thing about still life type shots is that everybody will do them differently - one of their strengths, I think.

A little background might help to explain why I did it this way - my own church is part of a three-church ecumenical project (sort of a team ministry). One of the other two churches is celebrating its centenary this year and the competition is part of that. So, the theme is not really do do with "marriage as united" - just united in general. Actually I did experiment with the rings idea, but they were too low and too small to jump out as the defining aspect - hence the tie which, at the least, defines the theme at a glance.

Strictly, three flowers would have been better if I wanted to describe the three churches, but a) I only had two vases the same size (!) and b) it tended to look messy.

Cheers
Mike

[Lori11]

Can you shape the pipe cleaner into a heart?

[readingr]

Mike,

Don't know if this would be possible but how about the flower heads meeting rather than going away from each other?

I think I prefer the initial pic rather than the two red vases.

Roger

[Didache]

Hi Roger .. in the words of Blue Peter, here's one I made earlier

Cheers
Mike

[readingr]

I'm hard to please

How about the yellow vase with the yellow flower? instead of two reds?

Roger

[Didache]

Roger ... people have got black eyes for less

Cheers
Mike

[Len J]

The one with the flowers touching works for me.

Any chance of having the 2 flowers facing each other?

Len