You Be the Judge: Hand of Man
The judging for the BIRDS AS ART 1st International Bird Photography Competition has been complete for some time. All of the judges including me were stunned by the quality of the images. We will be posting all of the images that were sent to the judges category by category. Each of you will have a chance to judge these images one group at a time. Please read the directions below carefully. Your votes will not determine the winning images but it has been and will be fun to see how everyone’s votes compare to the votes of the judges. So far the top pick of the public vote has matched the top pick of the judge’s panel in two of the three categories that have been posted; I suspect that the same will be true here despite that fact that there are again so many fine images.
Below are the thirteen images in the Hand of Man category that were sent to the five judges: Darrell Gulin, Chris Van Rooyen, Julie Zickefoose, Tim Laman (who filled in for a honey-mooning Andy Rouse), and yours truly. Here is another big time thank you to Darrell, Chris, Julie, and Tim. And a big time thanks also to Peter Kes and Denise Ippolito for helping me choose the images that were sent to the judges. We worked very hard for nearly three full days to get from more than 5500 images down to the final 163.
The Hand of Man category was defined as follows: the composition must include man-made elements. After a somewhat slow start HOM turned out to be a very popular category.
Before you vote, please click on each image to view it at full size. Then pick your five favorites and vote them 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 with 5 being your very favorite. Like this:
Great Egret on spillway: 5
Kingfisher on barbed wire : 4
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross: 3
Jay on tombstone: 2
Bird on the fence: 1
The “Sample Vote” above is for illustrative purposes only. Please do not let the sample vote, the votes of others, or the names assigned to the images influence your vote. Please put each of your five favorites on its own line by hitting “enter” after each one. No ties; please assign a single digit, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 to each of your five favorites. As you will see there are a great many beautiful, interesting, and even thought-provoking images here.
If you wish to comment on any or all of the images, please do so below your five voting lines; this will make tallying the votes easier. Votes cast by those who fail to follow the formatting directions will be relegated to the Trash Bin.
A tally of the public vote along with the actual winning images for each category will be announced approximately 48 hours after each posting.
Thanks for voting and please remember to breathe deeply and have fun.
|
|
Black-tailed Godwit |
|
|
Great Egret on spillway |
|
|
Kingfisher on barbed wire |
|
|
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross |
|
|
Jay on tombstone |
|
|
Bird on the fence |
|
|
Short-eared owl and wind turbines |
|
|
Parrot in box |
|
|
Penguins and ship |
|
|
Ring-billed Gull and plastic bottle cap |
|
|
Vultures on structure |
|
|
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial |
|
|
Starling on broken lamp cover |
Great Egret on Spillway – 5
Jay on tombstone – 4
Burrowing owl on wooden cross – 3
Black-tailed Godwit – 2
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial – 2
Beautiful images. It was a tough call for me on the Great Egret and the Jay, beautiful light
and dramatic tones. A strong and moody sense of surrounding made these two really work for me.
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial – 5
Parrot in Box – 4
Kingfisher on Barbed Wire – 3
Black-tailed Godwit – 2
Jay on tombstone – 1
All great images so it was very difficult to choose again. The Duckling just made me smile. The Parrot in Box was quite disturbing and made me want to weep to see “Man’s Hand”; but I think a great image does stir emotion. This was a very interesting category to see how all of these beautiful birds are coping or not in this human dominated world. I loved the burrowing owl as well however as I have taken quite a lot of burrowing owl images myself so I chose the birds that were more unfamiliar to me as they stood out to me more…. That is why this is so difficult to choose a favorite. What a fun and hard job judges!
Parrot in box 5
Penguins and ship 4
Great egret on spillway 3
Duckling in Lincoln memorial 2
Burrowing owl on wooden cross 1
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial – 5
Burrowing owl on wooden cross – 4
Jay on tombstone – 3
Penguins and ship – 2
Vultures on structure – 1
Burrowing owl on wooden cross – 5
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial – 4
Kingfisher on barbed wire – 3
Great Egret on spillway – 2
Penguins and ship – 1
5- Parrot in box
4- Duckling at Lincoln Memorial
3- Penguins and ship
2- Great Egret on spillway
1- Burrowing Owl on cross
All are great!!!
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial – 5
Great Egret on Spillway – 4
Parrot in Box – 3
Starling on broken lamp cover – 2
Kingfisher on barber wire – 1
Very fine work, good luck to the Judges.
5 Great Egret on Spillway
4 Parrot in a box
3 Penguins and ship
2 Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
1 Burrowing Owl on wooden cross
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial: 5
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross: 4
Jay on Tombstone: 3
Kingfisher on barbed wire: 2
Black-tailed Godwit: 1
Great egret on spillway 5
Burrowing owl on cross 4
Ingfisher on barbed wire 3
Bird on the fence 2
Duckling at Lincolm Memorial 1
!
Great egret on spillway: 5
Ring-billed gull and plastic bottle cap: 4
Vultures on structure: 3
Parrot in box: 2
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial: 1
Parrot in box: 5
Penguins and ship: 4
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial: 3
Short-eared owl and wind turbines: 2
Kingfisher on barbed wire: 1
Parrots in box 5
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial 4
Great Egret on spillway 3
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross 2
Short-eared Owl and wind turbine 1
All very good images. It was most difficult to decide between my top two. The “Parrots in Box” is the strongest image depicting our interference with nature by the Hand of Man. “Duckling and Lincoln Memorial” illustrates the adaptation of some species in their struggle to survive within the Hand of Man.
Hey Roger, Great to see you hear. How is Dagmar? Did you go to Pelee this year?
Black-tailed Godwit: 5
Kingfisher on barbed wire: 4
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial: 3
Jay on tombstone: 2
Vultures on structure: 1
Great egret on spillway 5
Short-eared owl and wind turbines 4
Starling on broken lamp cover 3
Black-tailed godwit 2
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial 1
Parrot in Box: 5
Great Egret on Spillway: 4
Penguins and Ship: 3
Vultures on Structure: 2
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial: 1
Great group of images! It’s difficult to pick favorites.
Great Egret on spillway:5
Kingfisher on Barbed Wire:4
Jay on tombstone:3
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross:2
Starling on broken lamp cover:1
Parrot in box: 5
Kingfisher on barbed wire: 4
Short-eared owl and wind turbines: 3
Penguins and ship: 2
Great Egret on spillway: 1
This was hard. There were several photos I liked but I didn’t see what “The Hand of Man” was adding to the story. I ended up picking photo that made a statement to me, usually about the Intrusive Hand of Man.
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial: 5
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross: 4
Black-tailed Godwit: 3
Kingfisher on barbed wire: 2
Great Egret on spillway: 1
The duckling just “leaps” out from among these images; for me it’s tough to rank the rest – even though most are terrific images. I am afraid as a judge for the HOM contest, I’d be a failure. Except for the spillway egret image, I seem to favor the ones that just happen to include a man-made object in place of a natural one.
Duckling: 5
Great Egret: 4
Burrowing Owl on cross: 3
Penguins: 2
Short Eared Owl Turbines: 1
Great Egret on spillway: 5
Duckling and Memorial: 4
Parrot in box: 3
bird on the fence: 2
Penguins and ship: 1
While some other terrific bird images, I think these best use the human elements to enhance the image and engage the viewer.
The Great Egret has a magical use of warm and cool light and repeated patterns.
I’ve seen that Duckling before and smile whenever I see it. Great use of focus.
Sad and compelling reportage with the Parrot.
Incredible use of graphic forms with the fence.
The cluster of penguins set against the enormous ship conveys a great story.
Great egret on spillway 5
Black-tailed Godwit 4
Jay on tombstone 3
Burrowing owl on cross 2
Vultures on structure 1
5 Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
4 Burrowing owl
3 Black tailed godwit
2 Egret on spillway
1 Penguins and ship
This is a tough one!
5. Parrot in Box
4. Jay on Tombstone
3. Duckling and Lincoln
2. Burrowing Owl on Wooden Cross
1. Black-tailed Godwit
I’ve gotta say, one of these photos is mine…but quite honestly, I’m pretty sick of it by now! Which is why I had to vote another as 5. Being objective and not favoring my own, that Parrot in Box photo is by far the most dramatic, unique, and powerful photo of the bunch. Well done whoever took it! I hope the judges voted it top, because it deserves it!
5- Duckling and Lincoln memorial
4- Great Egret on spillway
3- Short-eared owl and wind turbines
2- Penguins and ship
1- Kingfisher on barbed wire
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial: 5
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross: 4
Bird on the fence: 3
Short-eared owl and wind turbines: 2
starling on lamp cover: 1
I wanted to put the Black-tailed Godwit in there somewhere but didn’t feel it was as creative as some others
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial – 5
Great Egret on spillway – 4
Short-eared owl and wind turbines – 3
Penguins and ship – 2
Starling on broken lamp cover- 1
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial: 5
Kingfisher on barbed wire: 4
Jay on tombstone: 3
Parrot in box: 2
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross: 1
The grace, struggle and possible victory set in one of our sacred civic places makes the duckling leaping from the reflecting pool a singular image for me.
If the vultures were looking at or near the camera it be my four.
Great Egret on spillway – 5
Short-eared Owl and wind turbines – 4
Parrot in box – 3
Duckling and Jefferson Memorial – 2
Starling on broken lamp cover – 1
5 Great Egret in the spillway
4 Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
3 Burrowing Owl on cross
2 Jay on tombstone
1 Black Tailed Godwit
Thanks for sharing this activity. All pics are inspiring. Bill
Kingfisher on barbed wire -5
Jay on tombstone -4
Burrowing owl on wooden cross -3
Black-tailed godwitt -2
Starling on broken lamp cover -1
All good.
Parrot in box: 5
Black-tailed Godwit: 4
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross: 3
Starling on broken lamp cover:2
Great Egret on spillway: 1
Great Egret on spillway: 5
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross: 4
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial: 3
Black-tailed Godwit: 2
Parrot in box: 1
I do not envy the judges – these shots are great.
Bernie
5. Black-Tailed Godwit
4. Great Egret on Spillway
3. Jay on Tombstone
2. Short Eared Owl and Wind Turbines
1. Bird on the Fence
5: Great Egret on spillway
4: Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
3: Penguins and ship
2: Short-eared owl and wind turbines
1: Burrowing Owl on wooden cross
5. Penguins and ship
4. Short eared owl and wind turbines
3. Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
2. Kingfisher on barbed wire
1. Great egret on spillway
5: Jay on tombstone
4: Black tailed Godwit
3: Kingfisher on barbed wire
2: Burrowing Owl on wooden cross
1: Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
Congratulations to all. Very nice!
5. Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
4. Burrowing Owl
3. Godwit
2. Great Egret on spillway
1. Penguins and Ship
5. Kingfisher
4. Short eared owl
3. Great Egret
2. Penguins
1. Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
These are all very good and tough to vote on – the judges had their work cutout for them with this category.
The baby parrot photo was excellent but it made me very sad to think it was taken for its parents. It could easily be seen a National Geographic magazine and it does truly convey the hand of man. However I couldn’t vote for sadness.
Great Egret on spillway: 5
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial: 4
Black-tailed Godwit: 3
Bird on the fence: 2
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross: 1
5.) Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
4.) Great Egret on spillway
3.) Burrowing Owl on wooden cross
2.) Short-eared Owl and wind turbines
1.) Black-tailed Godwit
5. Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
4. Great Egret at spillway
3. Parrot in box
2. Penguins and ship
1. Jay on Tombstone
Duckling and Lincoln Memorial – 5
Burrowing owl on wooden cross – 4
Great Egret on Spillway – 3
Kingfisher on Barbed Wire – 2
Black-tailed Godwit – 1
5. Egret on spillway
4. Kinfisher on barbed wire
3. Burrowing owl on wooden cross
2. Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
1. Bird on the fence
The first 4 were ahead of all the others for me; the choice of 5th place (#1) could have gone to the owl and the turbines or the jay on the tombstone. The egret on the spillway is a such a perfect blend of the wild, natural with the human-made, and is a lovely image. I’m a sucker for kingfishers and it’s a wonderful portrait and the barbed wire is so ugly and clear. The burrowing owl seems to be defending its cross and it’s another wonderful portrait.
Great series of images and they give me some ideas for next year!
David
Duckling on Lincoln Memorial: 5
Great Egret on spillway: 4
Penguins and ship: 3
Parrot in box: 2
Burrowing Owl on wooden cross: 1
#1 Burrowing Owl on wooden cross
#2 Black-tailed Godwit
#3 Great Egret on spillway
#4 Penguins and ship
#5 Kingfisher on barbed wire
5: Jay on Tombstone
4: Kingfisher on Barbed wire
3: Black Tailed Godwit
2: Great Egret on Spillway
1: Duckling and Lincoln Memorial
More difficult decisions….
5. Duckling and Lincoln Memorial.
4. Black-tailed Godwit
3. Jay on Tombstone.
2. Burrowing Owl
1. Kingfisher on Barbed Wire
5 Great Egret on Spillway
4 Burrowing Owl on Wooden Cross
3 Penquins and Ship
2 Kingfisher on Barbed Wire
1 Jay on Tombstone
5. Great Egret on spillway
4. Penguins and ship
3. Bird on Fence
2. Duckling and Lincoln memorial
1. Vultures and structure
Wow – they are all great. This was a tough one for me.
Great egret on spillway – looks sort of magical, makes the unnatural spillway beautiful
Penguins and ship – Captures the encroachment of man and vulnerability of the birds nicely
Bird on Fence – Very nice pattern/pleasing – again makes unnatural fence seem beautiful.
Duckling – other than mis-naming the picture (thats the lincoln memorial), I love how it captures a moment of lonely triumph for a tiny bird in a place that is so busy with people (usually, not in the picture).
Vultures – again, I like how the photo makes the unnatural/manmade environment pretty and how it really works for the birds.
All the photos in this round are terrific, but these 5 I think really focus on the interactions of man and bird more than the others, which captures the essence of the category (as I read it). Great stuff from all!
I had my doubts; Lincoln Memorial it is….