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gyaban


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Motivational/Demotivational Poster (Expert Editing*)
Camera: Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Date: Sep 29, 2011
Date Uploaded: Sep 29, 2011

 There have been several discussions recently on DPC about what is art, or what it is not. As in my picture quote, my view on the subject is that one shouldn't care much about definitions nor categories. I don't believe it is important at all how a work is called: if it is good enough, if it creates interest, rules will be stretched so that it fits in whatever box people feel it belongs to.

In that sense, I really like Dadaism. The well-known example of Marcel Duchamp's Fountain is quite interesting: a simple object ("readymade", an urinal in that case) became a piece of art for many (even "the most influential work of modern art" for many art experts), simply because it was not supposed to be one. The irony amuses me much.

Some words about my picture:
- The background is real, it is a church located in Dabo, a town in the East of France. I drove a few kilometers around it until I found an angle that I liked.
- The sky was taken the same day, a bit later: the sun was moved to the center of the scene though. If you look carefully, you will notice tree's shadows are not consistent with the sun, but I ran out of time to address that problem.
- Elephants are toys, shot at home: the photos have been textured and deformed for more realism.
- The sign was shot not far from my house, although its content have been changed from a speed limit to that more fantasist one.
- The rock, balloons and strings have been also shot in my home studio.

I didn't tweak things much, mainly colours and curves adjustments so that the different photos would fit together in a convincing way.

Finally, I had a hard time fitting the image in a 3:2 formatted poster, but I really disliked the 4:3 or more "close-to-square" ratios for it.

Thank you very much for all the great votes and comments, as usual, I really appreciate the time you take to tell me your opinion about my stuff.

Statistics
Place: 2 out of 111
Avg (all users): 7.4250
Avg (commenters): 8.9583
Avg (participants): 7.2500
Avg (non-participants): 7.5300
Views since voting: 5581
Views during voting: 527
Votes: 160
Comments: 52
Favorites: 24 (view)

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AuthorThread
 10/11/2011 07:27:27 AM
Been gone and getting ready to leave again today.. but I just had to say OMG Your mind, is a work of art! Who'd EVER think of this and then pull it off to perfection! Appaluse and making it a fav! Congratulations!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/09/2011 01:18:09 PM
Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel are my two favorite composers.

Sorry for getting off track here. Great image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/08/2011 06:09:58 PM
another fantastic product of your madness Christophe !!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 04:42:07 PM
Great Job...a nine from me Congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 02:19:37 PM
Congrats again Christophe - Love your image! I need PP lessons from you and some of your imagination too. :-)

It reminds me of this quote by Katharine Hepburn "If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun." And this is a FUN image!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 10:15:02 AM
Very cool, congratulations on your win.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 08:00:25 AM
Quite magnificent !
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 06:44:34 AM
It had to be you. Super,smashin' image it had to be 10 also.Whoever gave you 3 needs specs and maybe more.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 05:59:15 AM
This is beautiful and I thought it was the blue ribbon winner. Congrats on such a magnificant picture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 05:50:10 AM
What a fun one! Congrats.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 05:36:23 AM
Congrats! Of all your work, I think I appreciate this one the most. Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 04:57:08 AM
Huge congrats!!!! The sign was a touch of genius, btw!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 04:54:26 AM
Congratulations!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 04:12:48 AM
This one really makes me smile, Christophe. The colors are just so very lush. And of course, flying elephants... I want to buy one of those signs :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/07/2011 01:10:59 AM
Rian Botes is the king of the mountains. You are king of Expert Editing. Once again great job and good thinking. Congrats on the Red
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 10:34:43 PM
Well done Christophe! Fantastic image and imagination as usual :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 10:16:04 PM
Fantastic image. I can't believe I beat you in this type of challenge. That would have to be a first and last for that happening..lol!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 09:32:12 PM
Way to go! Love that you decided to do this subject.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 09:06:50 PM
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 08:55:59 PM
Anything with elephants doing silly (and/or illegal) things gets me in. Great work. Congratulations.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 08:37:52 PM
I love looking at your descriptions - how exceptionally kind of you to share how you created your entries. Congratulations!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 08:33:34 PM
Tres magnifique.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 08:28:33 PM
Brilliant work...I love it!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 08:08:32 PM
The more I get to know you, Christophe, the more I like you.

Your "stuff" is wonderful. But, not as much wonderful as your "being".

CONGRATS on your ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
10/06/2011 07:51:37 PM
This must be Christophe or admirer who made an image to accompany Debussy's "Prélude à l'après-midi des elephants"
or
"Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut"
Well done illustration, like always; in a book for children would be sheer delight but for a motivational poster the graphic design should have been a touch more ambitious and daring. (No italics in white, for instance; a better marriage between illustration and text.) The thin border gives a dated look for an image that is meant to be timeless.

I have to take back my comment regarding the formatting. Sheer ignorance from my part. You created a true motivational poster, formatting and all. Should have done my homework. Oh boy, who invented this design for motivational posters? Got me thouroughly demotivated.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 07:31:35 PM
Hehe...this made me smile:) 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 07:59:40 AM
oh yeah.....WINNER!!!!! although I dont even think art makes rules....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/06/2011 07:46:36 AM
The winner? Could well be, great image,idea and production. ( may well have been made in France)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/05/2011 06:15:18 PM
Well done.... plus Debussy is one of my favorite composers.
danseuses de Delphes comes to mind here.... or yver, vous n'estes qu'un villain, a choir piece which I performed.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/05/2011 05:55:57 AM
clever
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/04/2011 04:23:39 PM
Gyaban? If not, take that as a compliment.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/04/2011 12:30:15 PM
Definitely one of my favorites!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/04/2011 09:09:38 AM
Got to be a Gyaban entry. Probably. But since I didn't see it in the team thread beforehand, that's just a guess and I' will feel free to give it the good vote it deserves.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/03/2011 02:57:01 PM
At first I thought "holy crap- is this going to win? maybe its too perfect and it shouldn't." and yet I gave it a 10, and coming back to it after seeing all the others, it is the best, graphically, message wise, in all aspects. If this does not win blue I will be shocked and disappointed that others don't see the perfection.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/03/2011 12:08:06 AM
No doubt this digital masterpiece will get you on the front page...again :)
Great concept and processing.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/01/2011 07:25:59 PM
Congratulations.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/01/2011 05:26:06 PM
Quite obviously the winner in this challenge. Compositionally, I'd guess this is a Christophe image, but the processing is different. Irrespective, a beautiful image, great imagination and execution! Expect to see this on the front page in a couple of days!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/01/2011 11:40:57 AM
Tltally cool.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/01/2011 10:50:21 AM
"When elephants fly I will give an entry a 10".... time to pay up :-) 10, great entry!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/01/2011 10:22:45 AM
Beautiful and gyaban-esque.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/01/2011 10:05:33 AM
Awesome work; should do well for you.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/30/2011 08:53:10 PM
Ha! Very fun, very cute!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/30/2011 12:26:58 PM
This has to ribbon, wonderful job. Love the no elephant balloons sign. Only thing I can think to improve, is the top border looks off to me, being smaller than the sides. But that's a very minor gripe on an excellent job taking advantage of the expert ruleset.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/30/2011 08:44:56 AM
My favorite so far, very creative and well executed - 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/30/2011 07:13:36 AM
Now why does this one makes me think it's gyaban's?
Otherwise a very good approach on his style.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/30/2011 06:33:01 AM
aw dang, a week too early for the Nonsense challenge. Still lots of fun and excellent pp. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/30/2011 06:11:36 AM
Wowww... what an amazing picture. If this isn't top 3, then it will be an outrage. 10!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/30/2011 06:03:34 AM
Fantastic!!!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/30/2011 04:12:21 AM
stunning image
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/30/2011 02:29:56 AM
Original idea and expert PP.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/29/2011 08:29:03 PM
Soar! Follow your dreams!

(I love this!)

I think, though, that if the sign were not there... that I could imagine that this were real... *contented sigh*
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/29/2011 08:16:10 PM
Incredible work You got my 10!
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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