Again as a reminder, here are the words of Happy Cynic who chose the theme as a result of being the winner of the January Contest
Part of the Whole - something which is distinctly part of a larger item/object (intact or otherwise) and can't stand alone
Examples:
- the bark of a tree
- a thorny stem
- one half of a broken bottle
- the rim of a tea cup
- the paw of a cat
For the "can't stand alone" part... A cloud would not fit in with the theme because, although it's a part of the "sky", it can stand alone as "a cloud". I know things can get kind of vague and debatable but the main intent is to have someone look at the picture and think of the whole item. (A photo of a car engine on cinder blocks wouldn't really fit the theme but a photo of a car engine clearly still within a car - maybe parts of the chassis and/or windshield are visible - would fit.)
And then some more encouragement from Happy Cynic a few days later:
For anyone who is having trouble thinking of things for the theme, I'm not sure if this will help but this might be a useful thought experiment.
Don't think about what you would photograph to fit the theme.
Instead, look through photos you have - photos of objects are probably the most useful, followed by plants, animals, and people. For each photo, think of how you would crop it to fit the theme. If you have a photo of a flower, how does it look if you crop it so that only a quarter is visible? Or maybe if the stem is visible, how would the photo be if you cropped it so the stem, the connection point, and part of the petals is visible?
Have a photo of a person? Can it be cropped to show only part of the face but still evoke their emotions such that you can imagine their full expression?
Maybe you have a photo of a bridge. Is there an interesting photo to be had if you cropped out half of it?
Once you do a few of these thought experiments, hopefully it will help get you seeing things to photograph for the theme. (Or if you're lucky, you can use one of the cropped shots for the theme.)
The time frame for the contest is as follows:
Submissions will end on the 15th of the month, or whenever there are 30 submissions. Each photographer may submit one photograph unless I open the contest for a second one later on.
The Preliminaries will run from the 16th of February to the 18th
The Finals will run from the 19th through the 21st and then the winners will be announced.
AND NOW FOR THE BASIC RULES OF SUBMISSION:
Only one entry per person, and it must be a photograph you took yourself. You need to post your entry in the submission thread started by the Host of the contest. Please be sure to include a "Title" for your photograph in the Subject line of your post. The submission thread is for photo entries only, no comments or questions.
The Volunteer Host is allowed to enter the Contest.
Please keep your entry no larger than 1024 pixels in its longest dimension and under 675K in file size and limit photo editing to a reasonable amount.
Once a photo is entered in a contest it is ineligible for any future contest unless the Host specifies otherwise.
CONTEST LICENSE:
An entrant to this contest (original work), by submitting a photograph, is giving permission for that photograph to be copied to Demopedia or to a linked Gallery and included in a DU Calendar that will display the photographs entered for this contest for the purpose of publicizing future contests and/or commemorating current and past contests. The entrant retains all other rights to the photograph being submitted. Neither Demopedia and/or a linked Gallery may use any photograph submitted for any purpose other than to display the photograph being submitted by the entrant, and neither gains any real or implied ownership rights to the photograph.
ENTER YOUR SUBMISSIONS IN THIS VERY THREAD. IF YOU WANT TO MAKE COMMENTS - DO NOT DO IT IN THIS THREAD BECAUSE IT MAKES MY JOB HARDER. DO IT IN THE COMMENTS THREAD: Here is the link to it.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/103696752
I am very much looking forward to the submissions and see what your wondrous minds and eyes will come up with./i]
