Never the Same River

Andree also considered these other two pictures:

Andree followed his “I pick so and so” paragraph with a lengthy dissertation on MegaShark vs. Giant Octopus. Can you guess why we are friends?

I think most of you know that I have strange ways of picking pictures for photo contests. I think the most interesting way is how I “pick” the pictures for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. In fact, I don’t pick the pictures at all. I have 6 individuals each pick 1 picture from a list of pictures I nominate.

Last year I had all Dolls pick the pictures. This year I had all Guys.

I considered this to be a small social experiment on my part. At least it did allow me to collect data that I find intriguing, even though I know it is mostly meaningless.

Last year I was excited when Jill picked a frog picture. I wrote at that time that I was impressed that a Doll would pick a picture of a frog. I also wrote that I hoped that next year a Guy would pick a flower picture this year.

No guy picked a flower picture.

This is the data that I collected. You can draw your own conclusion about the differences between Guys and Dolls.

1. Dolls sent me long explanations of the reasons they selected the picture that they selected.  They also sent a list of the other pictures that they considered. Guys sent me back the number of the picture that they had selected. They didn’t elaborate. They didn’t send out a list of the other pictures that they considered.  Only Andree sent an email that consisted of more than just a number.  I only know what other pictures Nader and Willy considered besides their selection because they aren’t very computer savvy and I had to be there to hold their hand through the process.  It is important to note that I gave the Guys and the Dolls identical instructions.
2. The breakdown of the subject matter of pictures selected by Dolls was as follows: 3 flower pictures, 1 frog picture, 1 people picture and 1 religious picture.  The breakdown of the subject matter of pictures selected by Guys is as follows 0 flower pictures, 0 frog pictures, 0 religious pictures, 1 people picture, 1 animal picture, 1 sculpture picture and 3 landscape pictures.  I’m not surprised that flower pictures got bageled by the Guys, but I thought a frog picture would get some love.
3. Dolls picked 4 black and white pictures and 2 color pictures. Guys picked 5 color pictures and 1 black and white picture.  I did end up converting 1 color entry to black and white. I know that runs contrary to the spirit of this endeavor, but I did want at least a semblance of balance and I couldn’t stand to only have 1 black and white entry.  Black and white is my first love, after all.
4. Most Dolls took a fair portion of the 24 hours.  Only Jesse took nearly the full 24 hours to decide.

Without further adieu, here is the selection of Jesse Howard:

Mingled Souls

I don’t think that there is going to be a “gimmick” again next year. I think I’m going to ask 6 people who have never selected before. I already have 4 people in mind, but if you have never selected before, you should leave a comment on why you would make an excellent selector. I will take it under advisement.

Becky made the final selection.

Misplaced Plant

Becky also had other pictures that she liked. They are below with the reason she liked them.

“Fire Pit – Everyone can relate to this photo.”

“Fireworks Fallout – This photo is original”

“Color Daisies – This photo feels hopeful.”

“Story St Fire – There may be lots of these photos there (like trains) but it’s relatable.”

“Interesting.”

“Yes. Provocative.”

My mom doesn’t own a computer or even know how to use one, so I had to bring her over to the Honest Abe office to have her look over the pictures for her to pick one.

“Pardon and Sanctify Me”

I actually thought that she would pick this one. It is a picture of the cross on the top of our church. It actually looks much nicer than that now as it has been recently painted during the tuckpointing process. It is prettier now, but perhaps not as photogenic.

There were a couple of other images that she also considered.

The truth is that she doesn’t like the picture of Logan’s eye at all, but she thought it was artistic. I don’t think any of my weirder images got much love, but at least this one got mentioned.

I was pleasantly surprised by Jill’s choice. Since I had decided to have all people of the female persuasion pick the photos this year, I thought a frog picture would get very little love.

But Jill came through for the frog.

“It’ll Do Fine”

I actually struggled with the naming of this picture. Even now, I think that I’m going to rename it to “So Many Other Ordinary Things”. I’ll have to meditate upon it further.

There was a point when I wanted to name this picture after the prince from The Frog King or Iron Heinrich, but as I looked into the story a little bit deeper, I found that the Frog King doesn’t have a name. But perhaps even more importantly is that I don’t think that the princess really deserves the Frog-King. At least not as the story was originally written.

In the original story, the princess doesn’t break the spell with a kiss. She throws the frog against the wall in disgust.

“Now, thou wilt be quiet, odious frog.” The princess says and throws the frog against the wall. This turns the frog back into a prince. For some reason he still wanted her?!?!?!?

He should have stood up and told her to bugger off. There are other fish in the sea. Some of those fish probably aren’t spoiled little brats that try to go back on their deal. He did get her stupid golden ball for her out of the well. He should have known how small and petty she was then. It is just a stupid golden ball. No need to offer up your clothes, pearls or jewels, princess.

But I digress…

Jill of course had other pictures she liked, before deciding on the frog.

If Jill can pick a frog, I have hopes that one of the guys will pick a flower picture in 2010.

Shannon set the land speed record, by making her choice in 80 minutes. She made that speed while being at work.

She chose the picture below:

“Friend for the Lonesome”

This picture may or may not be the background on Shannon’s computer.

Monica had the next choice. She struggled between 2 pictures as well. She finally picked the picture below, even though it wasn’t her favorite.

“The Solace of Ordinary Humanity”

A picture that I have titled: “Monica’s Childhood” was actually her favorite.

“Monica’s Childhood”

Monica wrote perhaps my favorite ever description of that picture in her email where she chose “The Solace of Ordinary Humanity”:

#13 is great. It reminds me of growing up on the farm. I would lay in the grass as a little girl and just stare up at the clouds for hours. I would think about all sorts of things. Just lay there in the grass and dream! I remember the cool breeze blowing across my face and the warm sun beating down on me. The clouds make this picture. It gives it perspective for me.

I also like how the one flower on the left is just kind of sticking its head in the pack to see what’s going on. Much like life. It gives it a bit of humor too.

This past weekend was the Pufferbilly Days photo contest. I had 6 different people pick the 6 different entries this year. The first person to pick was Sara Junck. She picked the picture below:

“Cozy Combination”

Sara actually took slightly over the 24 hour deadline. She waffled back and forth between her final pick and the picture below:

None of the other five members of the selection committee chose the fire picture. I think Sara was saddened by this fact.

This is not meant to be in any way shape or form meant to be bragging. It is merely meant to be informative, since not everybody makes it to the Boone County Fair.

I wanted to enter a couple of pictures in the Boone County Fair “photography contest”. As it turned out, I didn’t have time to order 2 new pictures, so I selected 2 8x10s out of a stack of about 25 8x10s I have stored in a manila envelope for just such an occasion.

Even though I didn’t order any new pictures, but only entered a couple of pictures that are a couple of years old, I still couldn’t seem to find time to mount and mat the pictures. Luckily, Vest from work was willing to do that for me.

Here are the pictures I entered:

The orange flower picture got a Blue Ribbon.

The black and white bus picture got a Purple Ribbon for Outstanding Home Department Project or something like that.

I have a fairly firm rule about never entering a photo in more than one contest, but I was distressed to find out when I got home late Sunday night when I was putting the pictures in their bag and putting them in the trunk, that I had entered the orange flower picture in the 2007 Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

That frustrates me and lead to a re-organization of the trunk. Even though that kept me up until 2 in the morning.

I’ve been a bit busy in the last few days and I’ve been negligent. So I apologize. It was Willy’s birthday on the day before Thanksgiving.

We took Willy out on Sunday night for dinner and then to lunch on Wednesday for his birthday.

I think I won a Photo Contest once with that picture of Willy.