Enter The Photo Roulette Contest Round 24 – “Darkness”

Click Here to check out the New Travel Roulette hosted by me this week!

We had such great contestants that we have a new travel roulette for all travel bloggers!

WINNER ROUND 24 is Laurence:  FindingTheUniverse

This was a really hard round to choose because of the picture of the solar eclipse from Costa Rica by Travelnass.com.  Both of the shots were extremely unique but I chose this one because I thought it was a better picture.  The solar eclipse picture was incredible and probably took a bit more skill since it was from 1991.  I just really loved the picture and required great technique due to having both the lighting and the lightning.

I shot this in the Western Australian outback as a huge storm was headed our way. About fifteen seconds after taking this shot, a deluge came down out of the sky, and washed my tent away. I spent the night in the car.

This photo contest happens to be in its 24th round!  I would like to officially welcome you to the next round of Photo Roulette!  The contest has been sweeping the travel world via twitter with the hashtag #PhotoRoulette.  Its a great way for travel lovers and bloggers to share their experiences as well as finding out about new bloggers!  I was lucky enough to win last weeks contest with the photo that I took in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil while I was partying in Carnival.

Click here to see my picture that won last weeks contest.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Theme

It was really hard to choose a theme for this week since there have been 24 rounds of Photo Roulette already.  I really had to think hard about it since every time I would think about something I’d realize that theme was already taken.  The theme I finally thought of that hasn’t been taken yet is “darkness”.  Pictures taken at night are some of the hardest pictures to take in my opinion.  There are also lot of ways to take pictures at night since you can play with light and angles.

Show the world your favorite picture that you have taken at night.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Rules

The photo contest will run from August 14th – August 21st.  I will be on safari next weekend here in Kenya so barring any apocolypse I will announce the winner August 23rd.

The rules of the game are simple. The hosting blogger is the chosen winner of the previous week’s (7 days) game. The new host chooses a generic keyword or phrase that other bloggers submit photos to during the course of the week. Phrases can be as generic as ‘signs’ all the way to abstract thoughts like ‘religion’ and everything in between. At the end of the week, the hosting blogger chooses their favorite photo that fits the chosen phrase and moves it to the top of the post as the winning entry with direction to the new host’s site for the next round.

Readers can attempt to sway the author into picking a certain photo via comments, but the author(that’s me!) can ignore comments as they see fit. The game is repeated with the winner hosting the following week’s game and choosing a phrase for new photo submissions. The following is a list of the previously played rounds of the game and the hosting blogger for each. This list also doubles as a winner’s table as each topic host won the preceding round! Click the host’s link to go directly to that entry to see some stunning photographs from the chosen term/phrase!

Here’s the list of previous hosts and topics:

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

• Nov 4–10, 2010 Living the Dream – “Animals”
• Nov 17–24, 2010 Skinny Backpacker – “Road Signs”
• Nov 29–Dec 6, 2010 Dream a Little Dream – “Street Art”
• Dec 8–15, 2010 Flashpacker HQ – “Festival”
• Dec 17–24, 2010 Over Yonderlust – “Landmarks”
• Dec 26–Jan 2, 2011 Don’t Ever Look Back – “Beaches”
• Jan 5–12, 2011 ThePlanetD – “Portraits”
• Jan 15–22, 2011 Travel with a Mate – “Motion”
• Jan 26–Feb 3, 2011 Johnny Vagabond – “Water”
• Feb 8–15, 2011 Ken Kaminesky – “Urban”
• Feb 21–27, 2011 Travels of Adam – “Friday Night”
• Mar 7–13, 2011 Itchy Feet Chronicles – “The Journey”
• Mar 19– 25, 2011 Brendan’s Adventures – “Changing Seasons”
• Apr 4–10, 2011 Shutterfeet – “Storytelling”
• Apr 13–21, 2011 10timesOne – “Piousness”
• Apr 26–May 4, 2011 Beached Eskimo – “Learning”
• May 21–27, 2011 Travel Junkies – “Architecture”
• Jun 1–7, 2011 Destination World – “Transportation”
• Jun 8–15, 2011 Living the Dream – “Paradise”
• Jun 21-28, 2011 Vagabond Quest – “Clothes”
• Jul 4-11, 2011 The Unframed World – “Symmetry”
• Jul 16-25, 2011 Beached Eskimo – “Home”
• July 31 – Aug 7, 2011 BackPackerBanter – “Inspiration”
• Current: Aug 14 – 21, 2011 WanderingTrader – “Darkness”

____________________Extra Criteria to Keep in Mind when Submitting a Photo:____________________

• One submission per Blog (so sites that have 2+ authors only get one entry).
• No photoshopping allowed unless specifically called for! Cropping and correction for red-eye or camera flaws are ok, however.
• Abstract submissions welcomed as long as it fits within the interpretation of the chosen phrase. Remember, the hosting blogger chooses the winner, so if they cannot understand the submission, you might not win!
• Keep phrases general so that all bloggers can participate. Specific items like “Eiffel Tower” should be avoided but rather made open-ended like “monuments.” For variety, it is ok to say focused things such as “monuments at night” in which most of us have pictures of.
• Abstract thoughts are appreciated, but keep it within the realm that all readers will understand. No “Kafka-esque”, but “Overlooking Creation” is able to be interpreted by all.
• No obscene pictures or phrases allowed. Suggestive phrases and photography can be accepted, but please keep it within reason.
• After a sufficient period of time, phrases can be reused, however new photos must be submitted.
• Keep the ideas and photos fresh!
• Pictures from your entire portfolio are fair to submit. You do not have to take the photo within the week of the contest period to submit it.
• Most importantly, ALL PHOTOS MUST BE YOUR OWN

PLEASE KEEP ALL PICTURES UNDER 800 PIXELS WIDE

Don’t forget since the winner has to host he next round of Photo Roulette you have to be a blogger to participate

Let the Photo Contest begin!  Leave your comment below with your link and description and lets start this round of #PhotoRoulette

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Entries for the Darkness round are the following:

Jaime: breakawaybackpacker.com

It is of course of the Musée du Louvre in Paris, France. I snapped this on the 1st night I spent here as I was walking around the Louvre I noticed the reflection of everything on the water & got this amazing shot.

Dru Stefane Stone: drustefanstone.com

An evening walk in Christchurch, NZ.

Adam: travelsofadam.com

It's from Valencia, Spain and reminds me particularly of summer nights with a cold beer and quiet conversation in a small city plaza. I really like the framing in this one.

Cathy Sweeney: travelingwithsweeney.com

This photo was taken at Trafalgar Square during the Christmas tree lighting ceremony in 2009. I loved the uplifting spirit of the crowd as we kicked off the holiday season.

Cam: travelingcanucks.com

It's Luxor Temple at night (Luxor, Egypt)

Matthew Karsten: expertvagabond.com

This was taken in Miami under one of the causeway bridges that leads to Miami Beach. I found a group of late-night fishermen getting drunk & catching their breakfast. This guy is baiting his hook with the Miami skyline is in the background.

Matt: mattkoenigphotography.com

For this theme I chose a night market I visited in Bandung Indonesia. Seems like every night a street shuts down and local farmers bust out their produce for sale.

Jeremy: livingthedreamrtw.com

"The Eiffel Tower is something I could look at for hours on end, so it should be obvious why I got this night shot blown up on a canvas and have it hanging in my personal office."

Laurence:  findingtheuniverse.com

I shot this in the Western Australian outback as a huge storm was headed our way. About fifteen seconds after taking this shot, a deluge came down out of the sky, and washed my tent away. I spent the night in the car.

Daniël: globe-trekking.com

My entry for the Nighttime Photo Roulette: Saint Paul Cathedral, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA in zoom-burst. Nighttime gives me the opportunity to express my creative side.

Dyane: travelnlass.com

Taken in 1991 (w/ a F-I-L-M camera back when there WAS NO PHOTOSHOP!) amid a total solar eclipse in Costa Rica. Imagine yourself... on a brilliantly sunny tropical beach at noon - that slowly dims and suddenly... you're in utter darkness under an inky black sky filled with twinkly stars! (note: the bitty orange dots along the rim are called "Baily's Beads" - a phenomenon that only occurs in a total eclipse.)

Pretty Boy Floyd: foggodyssey.com

Was taken in Dharamshala, India (where the Dalia Lama lives). I wanted to use a flash but I couldn't find something that worked so used natural light from a candle instead to get this shot at pitch black night.

Nico: tentimesone.com

Split, Croatia is a beautiful city. But the nighttime transforms it into something truly magical. This shot was taken inside the old town walls, not far from the sea. It's extremely hard not to want to take pictures every five minutes when strolling these streets. This is one of the many I took.

Ryan: averagetraveller.com

This photo was taken in Venice in 2010. This group was facing south looking over the water towards La Giudecca. I assume this was a painting class but I'm not sure if they were locals or tourists. I'd never seen anyone painting by headlamp

Katie: kmoorefotos.com

Lantern Festival

Abhimanyu: No Website Given

This photo was taken last year as I watched our campfire in the World's End State Park in Pennsylvania. I was watching the sparks fly out of the fire one at a time. Nothing spectacular just by themselves. So I shot a long exposure instead and that resulted in a nice pattern of spark trails. A sort of experimental light painting at the campsite.

Dan: adventureswithdan.com

my pic of the night sky from the Australian outback. This is from the same night a group of locals scared me beyond belief with stories of drop bears... evil people.

Torre: fearfulgirl.com

Becs: travelsat88mph.wordpress.com

Sydney Opera House, taken from the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I love experimenting with night pictures taken with no flash! Great theme

Greg:  adventuresofagoodman.com

This giant tepee doubled as a communal sleeping room at the Arba Mistika guesthouse in Hampi, India. My wife and I spent a week staying in a room next to it and on the night of the full moon, a giant drum circle and bonfire took place just outside.

Nisha:  lemonicks.com

It's a feeling of being in dark... to reach out for some light... to be able to see things clearly. But when I tried to look for any such photos in my collection, there were not many. However, here is one which matches my interpretation

girl-independent.com

I'd been on a weekend trip there, taking photos, setting up cityscapes with my tripod, taking my time, it really is a photographer' dream - so photogenic. I was walking to catch my train home, and coming down The Mound, and there was the most amazing sunset.... I had a dilemma - my camera and tripod were packed in my case, and I was late for the train....I made a quick decision, took one hand-held, 1 second exposure and ran for the train! And this was the result 🙂

J. Cressman:Monsun: scientika.blogspot.com

"Reflections in Amsterdam Canal"

globetrottergirls.com

This photo was taken in the small fishing town of Hastings in England. The town was barely lit, only the street along the harbor had a few street lights, the rest of the town was pitch black.

Mary Jo. travelingwithmj.com