Bloodcup: Drink of Strength and Spirtby
AnachroniteComment by Catbird: Looking at the comments and scores on this tells me something very important: DPCers are spending faaar to little time looking at a picture which they intend to score harshly. In my opinion, if you're going to give a low score, you ought to at least study the picture for some time first to be sure there's not an element you're missing or that you haven't drawn a negative conclusion too quickly. Why am I saying this? Many votes and comments on this photo were based around the fact that something appeared uneccisarily cruel and tasteless. Apparently, few seemed to notice the thing that was taking up 1/4 of the page: quality hunting garb, surely not bought cheap for the sake of a DPChallenge. The bullet hole is in the deer's neck, a precise shot meant to down the deer without suffering. Obviously, the man is a practiced hunter. The timeframe in which the photo was shot (Nov 3) is prime hunting season. The cut made to the deer, at the main blood supply arteries, was done obviously in order to bleed the deer and prepare it for proper butchering. So why do we seem to think he killed the deer for the sake of being sick for a photograph? Are we that dense that we can't put large, obvious puzzle pieces together and draw a likely conclusion, or are we that pessimistic that the obvious reasonable conclusion isn't a dark enough reason to settle on? It seems far more likely that he had the camera with him when preparing a kill for butchering for meat (very healthy, very natural, very delicious, as discussed by others, below). Shame on you for not giving the photo just consideration before drawing irrational conclusions! Yes, quality-wise, the photograph could have been better, but a 1, a 2, a 3?
-He was obviously NOT taking the picture to be morbid. It's something he does often enough to have quality gear and a precise aim.
-The deer was shot in a careful manner to prevent suffering.
-The deer is being cut for food, not for sport.
So what's so yucky about it all?
Would you like your photographs treated with such unconsidered pessimism?
Message edited by author 2005-03-25 01:33:24. 
Photographer found comment helpful.