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I need your help. Tomorrow is the last day in the WWT seasonal photo comp and the voting is very close so every vote counts, the link displays Laura's photo of a tiny cygnet on its mothers back.
As we all appreciate the great outdoors I thought I would ask you to vote for Laura's photo and help push her in to a top three place 🙂
http://photo.wwt.org.uk/gallery/gallery/single/14666/
Voted.
I don't normally subscribe to blind voting, but that's a lovely picture, good work.
Done, good effort.
Gave it my vote for cuteness.
Done, agree with Cougar re voting but that's a cracking pic.
Done,
Lovely pic.
Done. Do we get a picture of a cygnet on a bean bag if she wins 😉
Done, good luck to her,
PJ.
I need to know what my reward might be.
done, good luck, great pic...
That's pretty damned cute! Would have voted for it anyway, even without the gentle nudge. Hope she wins.
Done,and I showed it to Mrs. C and she went...
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
Done. Didn't look through the other entries but that's a quality picture.
Excellent pic. I'm not even showing it to mrs deadly...she'll probably cry it's so cute. 🙂
(Oh, and I voted)
DONE
Voted
Did the bean bag picture ever turn up or were we robbed?
Brilliant thank you all so much and because the goodwill is flowing there is even a thank you to cynic-Al.
All I will say Al is you saw her you would vote for photo 
Done, good picture
Stunning photo, I'd be really thrilled to have taken that. I've shared the link on my Fb page, too.
Well done her!
Did the bean bag picture ever turn up or were we robbed?
Robbed!
oh and voted too. Nice picture, if it wasn't I wouldn't have voted for it.
Top job guys, I think she is now up from 6th to 3rd Yehh 😀 Big thanks all round
the link displays Laura's photo of a tiny cygnet on its mothers back
The photo says it's the father's back. I'm so disgusted by your cynical lies I've voted for one of the others.
Done - easily the best there - hope she wins!
Done - think I've voted before when you asked in [i]another place[/i]. Maybe I did that one through my work PC but it seems to have let me vore twice.
Voted, what an excellent photo!
Cheers Dashed, Andy, Momo and Johnners (btw how do you tell the difference ? ) Keep them coming
ps Andy Im luvving your Brendon Rogers replies 😉
Voted (again, like Higgs at the other place) think the wife has voted too 😉
500 votes now
Why doesn't it appear in the people's choice list?
Suppose I do, what's it worth?
Lots and lots of good karma and we all need good karma
I'm more of a bhuna man myself.
Karma, rice, nan bread and a dry cider is the way to go, she is now up to second place and closing in on the top slot which is just amazing for her very first comp.
Huge thanks to all the ST voters 😀
Haven't looked at the photos, but shouldn't the winner have done so by its own merits rather than having votes drummed up on various websites.
Know my daughter would be very annoyed at me if I tried to influence anything she entered. We both enter photo competitions and would never vote for each other's entry just to get more votes, nearly as bad as voting for oneself (that really is sad)
TT I understand your view point and to a degree share it however in my opinion you have to be very naive to expect any competition that uses the internet to gather votes not to be swayed by various interest groups.
So as a father seeking to encourage his daughter in her hobby should I stand aside and see lesser photos storm ahead because they are "using" the internet in a more savvy way or do I roll up my proverbial sleeves and try to do the best by my daughter ?
And you should note that no where in this thread do I make any claim about how good or bad Laura's photo is, I have left that up to the readers but you can see by the reaction on the thread its a decent photo for a beginer.
Finally my daughter really appreciates the feedback from this thread more than the votes and I am pleased that I took the time out to try and help her and I am even more pleased that so many people on here also took the time to click on the link, vote and pass on words of encouragement. Regards Paul
I understand you wishing to encourage your daughter, but these competitions seem rather pointless if they are mainly inflenced by lobbyists
If your daughter appreciated the feedback perhaps join a photographic website and post up photos for critique. Some very knowledgeable people about and some good honest opinions too which can only serve to help a budding photographer.
Even have competitions, but they are anonymous so as to avoid the garnering of votes and are purely talent based.
Looked at the link and although I didn't vote, will give some critique if your daughter is interested in others opinions
It is a pleasing photo with the cygnet nicely in focus although slightly overexposed in places and crop is a bit tight at the top. Guessing the whole shot has been cropped a fair bit which doesn't help to tell the whole story and might have been nice to have more of the adult swan.
Voted, and not because you asked as it is a lovely photo. Hope she wins!
Cheers TT,appreciate where your coming from and your comments.
Big thanks Hill Climber 🙂
Know my daughter would be very annoyed at me if I tried to influence anything she entered. We both enter photo competitions and would never vote for each other's entry just to get more votes, nearly as bad as voting for oneself (that really is sad)
The problem isn't that the OP is trying to sway the voting, it's that he's trying to keep up with everyone else who will be doing exactly the same thing.
And as I said right at the start, I basically agree with you and don't usually subscribe to this sort of voting plea (because as you say, it makes the whole thing nonsensical, it's then just a 'who's got the best marketing machine' contest) but I chose to in this instance not out of solidarity but because I thought it was a picture worth a vote.
Done, great picture
A huge belated thanks to one and all because Laura's photo did eventually come first (notification was very slow) and the prize turned out to lessons from an experienced outdoor photographer which is great. Once again big thanks and good kharma to all of you, thnx Paul
So the contest was shamelessly rigged. Do you do her homework too? 🙄
Happy Christmas MrSmith
Lol at tails 😀
Happy Christmas MrSmith
aw thanks 😛
So the contest was shamelessly rigged. Do you do her homework too?
So you naively assume that the OP was the only person asking acquaintances to vote and help improve his daughters chances then?
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Merry Christmas MrSmith 🙄
Oh, and congratulations to your daughter. Good photo, and an excellent prize, she's going to have a great time. 😀
I must just add that I [i]hate[/i] photography competitions which are ill-disguised popularity contests, but in this case, it genuinely was deserving of a vote. Certainly more so than that awful poem we all voted for a while ago, on the promise of seeing a forumite's other half in the nuddy 🙂
So you naively assume that the OP was the only person asking acquaintances to vote and help improve his daughters chances then?
I have no way of knowing if the other entrants parents solicited votes from people they don't know on an Internet forum with several thousand individual visits per week. So no I didn't naively assume anything.
I was merely commenting that that the contest was rigged by a pushy parent which is beyond doubt and not an assumption.
Mr Smith thats truly funny because its the very first time in 28 years of being a parent I have ever been described as pushy -- if only you knew how wrong you were. All three of my daughters do their own thing in their own unique way and my role is simply to encourage and help them with the good stuff and pick them up then when they fall or events take a turn for the worse.
I won't pass comment on you because I don't know you but don't forget the purpose of my post last night was to convey my thanks and pass on my appreciation to everyone who voted or gave their advice.
I hope you enjoy your Christmas, lifes to short to be grumpy 😀
Whatever - it's still a truly beautiful photo:
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Do not feed the grumpy troll - nicely picked subject of criticising someone as a parent though [ bet yours are proud of you now eh]- but it seems to have not got the reaction you expected as we point and laugh at you ....bless
Well done OP .
Mr smith is a professional photographer. Perhaps he doesn't like someone who can take better photo's than him. 8)
I'm not being grumpy, merely commenting on how rigging a competion is socially acceptable. If I'm honest it's actually the bigger theme of praising and never criticising that seems to prevail in modern parenting/education that I'm curious about, i.e I have helped you win by getting people to vote for you instead of you getting there by your own merits.
the very fact that any questioning of current attitudes is perceived as 'grumpy' is also something else that I find really odd, it's as if being a 'yes man' and going with the current passive unquestioning norm is 'happy' and actually standing up and having a different opinion is 'grumpy'.
That's exactly the attitude those in power want you to have.
I'm going to toddle of and crack open a winter ale, make a hat out of tinfoil and finish reading Orwell's 1984 🙄
Click on Mr Smith's user name and it reveals he is indeed a photographer - theres a great photo of a crushed plastic bottle on his website (see no hard feelings from me Gary)
What I found most curious was the linkage between his user name, reading material and the comment about "those in power" I think Gary's real identity is Citizen Smith and the forum posts are a way of softening us all up to the concept of Freedom for Tooting.
Happy Christmas Wolfy
Next you'll be telling us that the winner of I'm A Celebrity is actually a survival expert and not just the most popular celebrity.
What I found most curious was the linkage between his user name, reading material and the comment about "those in power" I think Gary's real identity is Citizen Smith and the forum posts are a way of softening us all up to the concept of Freedom for Tooting.Happy Christmas Wolfy
Rumbled, Happy Christmas comrade.
I have no way of knowing if the other entrants parents solicited votes from people they don't know on an Internet forum with several thousand individual visits per week.
It won with 595 Votes.
mr smith +1
😐