The February theme is: Entryway
This month's judge is Gerry Bishop.
Theme description: Entryway-- This could be a door, hallway, corridor, gate, or any other place for entering a building, vehicle, garden, park, or anyplace else. (Bodies, not recommended.)
Rules can be found here. Keep in mind this is just for fun and has no impact on points gained during our regular monthly competitions.
If you are unsure how to post a photo visit this post here where you can learn how to add a photo to your reply.
Submissions are due by February 26 2014 by 6 P.M. To submit simple reply to this posting by adding a comment below.
If you have any questions or problems uploading a photo please email Robert Fehnel at rrf2c@virginia.edu
Into the Light
On the church steps in Southern France
Gateway to Heaven
Behind this door
Unknown Past
Front Courtyard, Mallorca
Woodland Entrance
Vikings are Coming

Scottsville Doorknob
Old Building
The entry period for this contest is now over.
Please hold all comments until the critiques and winner have been posted.
All critiques, edits and the chosen winner can be found in the pdf here.
Congratulations to Rick Stillings. Also, thank you to Gerry Bishop for judging this months competition. His critiques and edits were very thorough and appreciated.
Congratulations Rick!
Thank you Gerry for the thoughtful critiques. You posted so quickly that we were not left to anticipate the results for very long. I am sure it was difficult to choose a favorite from all of the excellent submissions.
Pleased you liked my “woodland entrance”. I appreciate your desire to see some object in the shadow that would suggest the identity of the occupant, if there were one. That is certainly one option. However, I thought such an addition would have removed or diminished the speculative quality of the image. I preferred to let the viewer exercise her/his imagination as to what might be beyond the entrance – something warm and fuzzy, something dark and evil or a magical kingdom of tiny woodland elves. My preference for this picture was to not impose my viewpoint. That was just a different choice, on my part, which does not have to be embraced by everyone.
At this stage in my photographic endeavor it is often difficult to decide how best to convey a story or feeling with a picture especially because there are so many other things to consider – light, exposure, depth of field etc., etc. Therefore I appreciate opinions from accomplished photographers, once the technical stuff has been covered, regarding what my picture may or may not say and how best to tell the story in my head. So thank you Gerry for that different view of my submission.
Well, I have to say i agree with Gerry's comments. For Judy Edwards before the judging the first thing i noticed was that door knob. I was very curious about the scene in it.
For your's Alda, i wondered to myself with a wide angled lens would it be more interesting from a lower angle. Hopefully the deeper parts of it would remain black but it would feel more cave like perhaps. I am not saying it is better rather i am curious as to what it would be like. There is a lot of great texture between the floor and the items on it as well as the wood itself.
Given Gerry's comments i am curious what a selective color would look like on Rick's photo.
Good question Robert. If I can find it again I'll have to try as you suggest.
Yes always easy to look back but the opportunity may not present itself. Even mine i wish i had more of the pathway leading to the building to show more of an entranceway. But until i get back down to florida no chance of that happening. Always easy to wonder what if, but thats the way things go. I am rarely happy with something i have done i always wonder what else i should have done or been looking for.
I forgot the deadline was 6:00. I came back from dinner ready to upload an older image and found the contest was closed! I didn't have a chance to get the image I had in mind and would have uploaded this one, which is (to me) a very character-filled door but not as interesting as some of the other entries.
I probably shot this 30 or 40 times over the course of a half hour, just trying to get the right feel. It's on a side street off the downtown mall. I wasn't shooting RAW, which this one really needed in order to burn the bright area enough.
I do find it interesting but something to me seems like this is part of an iconic type picture. By that i mean i could see someone in a hat lighting a cigarette with the glow lighting their face partially and it would be in black and white. Almost a speak easy style i could imagine the person in a garb more of that era perhaps a fedora.
But you are right that raw would have helped you perhaps bring back a little on the bright spot. Perhaps even darken the shadow above the doors and below the light.
This is to Gerry for a job well done in judging Feb. Great comments; thanks for the effort.
Dave Katz