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Survival
1st PlaceSurvival
gyaban


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Your Final Entry (December 21, 2012) (Expert Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Date: Dec 13, 2012
Date Uploaded: Dec 13, 2012

[Dec. 18th, 2012 06:03:36 AM]

As time passes, I feel more and more disillusioned by human beings. Of course, I can't deny the fact that, as a whole, Humanity achieved impressive things, but as sub-groups or even individuals, results are frankly pathetic. I remember that, as a kid, I was looking at adults with much respect, as models, as goals: now that I am one of them, I see the truth, and I am ashamed.

The key word here is intolerance. It's simply everywhere, everyday. I don't think I need to be specific, but I can point out a few obvious examples: money, religion, sex orientation, skin color, nationality, education level, artistic tastes, etc. Everything is an excuse to start some kind of war, of crusade, against. Always against. Crush the rest to prove your value. Pathetic.

When that "end of world" challenge was announced, I thought a bit about it, and failed to see much reason to actually regret human beings disappearance, besides the usual egocentric thoughts. I don't see how our presence is useful to anything, except to ourselves. So I simply imagined how I would feel the last day, and tried to depict it metaphorically: cold, dry, hopeless, defenseless, scared to the bone, still breathing thanks to the survival instinct, which would be obviously useless in such case.

To answer some comments I got, the image is by no mean a realistic situation: reality is not my point, generally speaking. I don't care about it when I create my pictures, I am much more driven by emotions, impressions, feelings. A vision of the mind, not of the eye. I'm sure you can understand my point of view, even if you disagree with it. Some technical considerations:
- Everything was shot in my home studio, using the very same lighting setup to keep it consistent. This means I had to cover the floor with ashes (coming from my barbecue and chimney cleanings)
- I used 4 different photos of the two subjects holding themselves: my wife and I were posing, and it is always tricky to do it correctly without anyone to guide you. In fact, no photo was satisfactory, so I selected one for the general position, one for the heads position, one for the left arms position, and finally one for the legs.
- The smoke was shot there too, using a smoke machine.
- The hand and face in the ashes were also shot on the place.
- The ghostly faces in the smoke are mine (deformed of course, I don't look that bad).

I can't say I am surprised to get more negative feedback as I step into more personal areas, but it is a great pleasure to see many still find it enjoyable. Thank you all.

Statistics
Place: 1 out of 52
Avg (all users): 7.5702
Avg (commenters): 8.7619
Avg (participants): 6.9444
Avg (non-participants): 7.8353
Views since voting: 4398
Views during voting: 445
Votes: 121
Comments: 51
Favorites: 14 (view)

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AuthorThread
 01/01/2013 06:49:40 PM
I missed out on voting this challenge, but this image is simply stellar. You created an image that is deeply personal, presents the vision you intended in a clear and moving, very evocative manner. The skill and execution of the concept are superb, and in no way upstage the concept and mood.

I found it odd, in reading thru some of the comments, that your use of the word "intolerance" compelled someone to put forth their definition of tolerance, then to argue a point that you didn't even make.

From the dictionary:

Tolerance

1. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry.
2. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.
3. interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one's own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint.

Message edited by author 2013-01-01 23:55:47.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/26/2012 10:33:54 AM
You have the mind of a true artist and the skills of a true artisan.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/23/2012 10:40:25 PM
Christophe, you never cease to amaze me. Congratulations. The most artistic and creative photographer I think I have ever seen
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/23/2012 07:59:30 AM
congratulations! very deserved like always!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/23/2012 03:38:22 AM
Awesome as always. Congratultations!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/22/2012 09:38:29 AM
Wonderful concept and execution Christophe!!..
It is a great pleasure to have you and your endless creativity here
We should call you Giga Bang instead :-)
Merry Christmas!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/22/2012 02:52:01 AM
The Image = Brilliance.
The Photographer's Comment = The Absolute Truth.

Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth.
Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

My one big regret, I failed to vote.
Sorry, Dude.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/21/2012 12:28:29 PM
Grats on the blue, Christophe, hope you bought your wife an extra nice Xmas present for helping you with this one!

I went with my gut and voted due to the emotions implicit here, not the nitpicky 'Oh the figures are too clean', 'the light's not quite right here and here', some of which i can see here looking it in a more clinical light...but what's the fun of that?! It's the overall message and impact which you succeeded in delivering upon. Very glad to have been one of your tens.

btw, I do love the ground and surroundings. Terrific. And the toes of the figure with their toes dug into the dirt really got to me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/21/2012 09:45:14 AM
Oh...a scene from Alien Nation. Did only the newcomers survive? Well, disconcerting but not entirely surprising. I find the tonality of this image rather fascinating. I would expect to have a sense of either the finite or the infinite in such a context. However, despite my vague sense of moral yin/yang, this image leaves me rather nonplussed. As usual, I know I'm in the minority, but I'm sure by now I'm also ignorable...;-) Congrats on your ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/21/2012 08:02:32 AM
Fantastic image and poignant vision. Congratulations on your well-deserved blue ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/21/2012 06:15:12 AM
Always going to be up here somwhere,its a wonderful fantasy image,Congratulations and have a good Christmas.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/21/2012 05:36:51 AM
The fake looking figures set against a realistic looking environment seems like a strange mix to me, but you do this often in your work. You'll have parts that look real and other parts that look fake making the whole scene inconsistent and not believable as either a depicition of reality or fantasy.

That said, after reading your opening paragraph the choices you made in this photo makes some sense to me. The people depicit in the nude, hairless, holding each other, divorcing themselves from the rest of the world sort of makes this not about "end of days" but about the every day. We live in a bubble. We eat, drink, socialize rarely giving any thought to those outside of our immediate circle. We're like cgi figures with just enough programming to carry out the basic functions we've been assigned. I'm not sure if this was your intent but this is what I get from it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/21/2012 05:33:25 AM
Congratulations Christophe, you did a great job with this. I pity you if your next studio shoot calls for a clean white scene though; you made quite a mess with this one it seems! ;)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/21/2012 04:08:37 AM
I gave this a 10, it is the little details like the hand and mask hiding in plain view that makes this a stunning piece of work. You seriously need to make a coffee book and start selling it, you would make thousands
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/21/2012 12:52:49 AM
Not so hot on the figures but the floor is to die for ;) Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 11:34:31 PM
Even if you enter a perfectly shot and processed image that meets the challenge, some people will always find something to be wrong with it. How in the world can a post-apocalyptic scene be realistic?
Congrats on a very well deserved blue, Christophe!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 10:43:00 PM
congrats cristophe hopefully you'll see this before the end of the day! :D
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 09:22:24 PM
i like the severed hand on the ground
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 07:41:38 PM
I LOVE this image!

It's PERFECT for the challenge.

"The key word here is intolerance. It's simply everywhere, everyday. I don't think I need to be specific, but I can point out a few obvious examples: money, religion, sex orientation, skin color, nationality, education level, artistic tastes, etc. Everything is an excuse to start some kind of war, of crusade, against. Always against. Crush the rest to prove your value. Pathetic."

I wonder if some would think that your intolerance of intolerance is... well....

I love the message of the image... It's beautifully stark.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 07:18:46 PM
Congratulations, Christophe - this could only be the blue.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 07:15:57 PM
Hi, I'm new here and when I voted on your photo, I wasn't able to read the description? Any how, After reading your description I'll admit I like this picture a bit better. I agree with you about humans pretty much being worthless to the environment and world around us. I always say if all humans died tomorrow, the world and would thrive. If all insects died tomorrow, everything would die along with it. Makes you think. Back to your photo, I do like the composition and mood of it very much. My only complaint (and this is just my nit picky self talking here) is it doesn't look enough like a photograph to me. Obviously it is a photograph, but it looks so CGI to me. The people in the photo look cut and paste in my eyes. But hey, this is just my way of seeing this image. Obviously enough people loved it and it got a blue ribbon. So, I say congratulations to you! Even though this image was not my favorite, it is obvious that a lot of thought and work went into this image, so it is well deserved. Great job!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 07:15:11 PM
Your photo artwork is awesome. Your commentary from the 18th not so much. No one can tolerate anything they agree with. By definition tolerance is putting up with something that you don't agree with, not blind acceptance. The differences of people make us special, not our similarities.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 07:08:16 PM
Most impressive story telling I've seen in a while. I knew it was you.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 07:07:53 PM
Congrats on a landslide blue, Christophe. And thanks, as always, for the thoughtful description of the making.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 07:05:36 PM
congratulations - love your comments.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
12/20/2012 06:25:52 PM
winner, I'm sure... very poignant...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 06:19:58 PM
One of my top 3, nicely done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 06:17:31 PM
Probable blue. So well thought out. Heart wrenching and eerie. Voted earlier. Top five.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 04:04:43 PM
unreal, you are a true artist
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 01:42:37 PM
Beautifully done, very evocative. Top pick 10.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2012 10:06:08 AM
After one studies this for a time, it becomes clear the lighting is not totally correct. The head of the lighter complexion figure is too bright, and the feet and ankle area are too bight to be believable. Might be nit picking, but hey, just one thing I noticed. Overall, a very good depiction of the final day on earth. The charred remains of a hand and head on the ground are a nice touch too.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/19/2012 09:31:25 AM
Very deep. Love the light, the details in the ground (body parts!)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/19/2012 04:39:43 AM
well done. Gyaban? Ashen hand is a nice detail.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/18/2012 09:38:51 PM
Very moving image, smooth and pure emotion. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/18/2012 12:43:23 AM
Great texture
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/17/2012 10:01:08 PM
Probably the winner. Well shot and put together, great color scheme.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/17/2012 08:43:48 PM
If this shows survival from a nuclear fallout then you have it all wrong" I'm not sure if you've read about what happens to the body when one is in contact with a nuclear war but these bodies are just too perfect without a blemish on them, it's not realistic, but then again this is only a photo comp where anything goes, and I'm sure despite all of that, you will get the bluey bc of the PP if nothing at all!

Ohhh whilst I was writing I saw the sand hand, cool!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/17/2012 06:06:19 PM
the lights wrong and the people too clean, but love the attempted idea
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/17/2012 02:15:46 AM
cracking shot christoph, i like the severed hand and the rubbish swirling in the wind, and a nice message
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/16/2012 08:48:31 PM
stuning!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/16/2012 12:42:54 PM
I love the hand and face you put in the dirt. Very cool!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/16/2012 12:21:44 AM
YAY! Nobody has hair in the apocalypse! :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/15/2012 07:53:41 AM
Wonderful!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/14/2012 11:59:31 PM
while i didn't like this image very much the upon first viewing, it's come to grow on me and the more i look at it the more i enjoy it... i like the attention to detail. it's become my top pick of the challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/14/2012 09:46:53 AM
Not likely....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/14/2012 07:52:48 AM
The winner, of course.

This is beautifully emotive and perfect for the challenge topic.


10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/14/2012 06:55:03 AM
Looks like a ribbon winner to me,just not sure which one.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/14/2012 06:02:53 AM
Why are all the people in the future, bald?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/14/2012 02:32:41 AM
Gorgeous work, Christophe. Amazing sense of desolation and nothing left but them. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/13/2012 11:20:49 PM
Impressive! You've created an amazing atmosphere.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/13/2012 08:35:42 PM
Best in show award, congrats, awesome
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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