Yes. Seriously.
Those of you who know anything about me probably realize that I have a problem with deadlines.
The root of this difficulty is multifarious. But it can mostly be traced back to three elements in my personality.
1. A desire for perfection.
I get obsessive about doing everything *just right* when honestly, *mostly* right would be just fine in most cases.
2. Enthusiasm.
I get excited about things, which leads me to pick up new projects, which means I constantly over-commit myself, which means I’m always too busy.
3. Stupidity.
This third one is something of a catch-all category, covering my vast array of ancillary character flaws.
Any one of these things can slow a person down, but when you get all three of them together. Well…. it can lead to embarrassing situations.
Like, for example, running a photo contest for your readers, and then taking more than a year to post the results.
There are many reasons for the delay.
Yes, I have been over-busy. (Working on my writing, my fundraiser, and spending time with my little boy.)
And yes, I did foolishly underestimate the number of entries I’d get for the contest. (Well over a thousand.)
And yes, when confronted with the task of judging the entries, my perfectionist tendencies screwed me hard. There were so many good ones.
Besides, so many of the pictures defied easy categorization. Look at this one for example:
Am I supposed to put this in the Kids category? In Costumes? In Clever References? Do I have to start a category just for things that are Unbelievably Frikking Cute?
So many of the pictures were so good. People went to really amazing lengths to take them. I wanted to do the perfect job arranging and judging them. Instead, I just ended up paralyzed with indecision.
But that stops today. I’ve waited too long, so I’m going to bull ahead and settle for *mostly* perfect. It’s time to start showing off the pictures and giving out the prizes.
So here we go, the best photos in the Action category:
* * *
There’s a lot of ways you can portray action in a photo.
You can show it directly:
Or indirectly:
We got some Hollywood action, too.
I like this one because honestly, if I could do magic. I would just use it to impress girls.
In the rules of the contest, I told people that they shouldn’t do anything dangerous, like, say, play with fire.
But did they listen?
No, they did not.
They really did not:
They absolutely did not listen to me:
We got some zombie action:
Pirate action:
And geek action:
We’ve got action in the streets:
At the amusement park:
And on top of things:
(He’s a parkour instructor. Don’t do this shit. Seriously.)
But while all of these are great (and believe me, there were dozens I had to leave out) in the end, I had to pick some winners.
Here they are:
Not only is this a great picture, but I’m a huge fan of Aikido. And if I’m mistaken and this isn’t Aikido, it’s still awesome.
This gains a spot not because it’s a scantily clad young woman, but because 1) I could never do this in a hundred years. 2) I actually do not understand the physics that are keeping her from crashing to the floor.
I love this one. We’ve all felt like this at some point, haven’t we?
And lastly:
(You should probably embiggen this one. It’s worth it.)
If you’re having trouble sussing out what’s going on here, let me break it down for you: Young girl + Playing + Red clothes + Swords in a Tree = ???
(Hint: The answer is “Awesome.”)
I’m all sorts of fond of this picture.
“But wait!” I hear you cry. “Pat. There’s no book in this picture! You clearly said in the rules that the book had to be in the picture!”
Don’t quibble. The book is there. You can just barely see it behind her leg….
See?
Here’s another:
And here we see the difference between girls and boys:
OSHA concerns aside, it looks like someone had a pretty great day at the park.
And as a bonus, they (and the rest of the winners) will be sent some Talent pipes as I described in the blog a while back.
It will will probably be a little while before I get to do another one of these. But they are coming. I just wanted to show y’all some proof that even if it takes a while, I do keep my promises.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for something cool, you should stay tuned to the blog, because we’re going to be posting up new items into the Worldbuilders lottery almost every day for the rest of the month. We’ll be adding new stuff to the Worldbuilders auction page too.
Stay tuned….
pat