We were recently chosen as the winner of round 77 of the ever popular “Travel Photo Roulette”, a photography competition hosted by travel bloggers worldwide. Our photo of a Myanmar bullock taxi took the prize under the category of “Quirky” in the round which was hosted by Teresa over at Independent Travel Help. So of course, now it’s our turn to host this great little competition.
The theme we have chosen was inspired by a trip we took this week to the William Ricketts Sanctuary which is right near where I grew up in Melbourne, Australia. I am constantly impressed by statues and sculpture when we travel and am usually that annoying tourist always posing with them for photos. Below are a few of my recent favourites from our travels for inspiration.
This round will run for 7 days from Saturday 26th April to Saturday 3rd May 2014. For those new to the concept, Travel Photo Roulette is a rotating contest with participation open to travel and photography bloggers.
Contest Overview
The contest rotates through travel/photography blogs, so the winner of the previous round of Travel Photo Roulette hosts the subsequent round on their own blog. The new host then chooses the next theme (a generic keyword or phrase) and people submit their interpretations of the theme over the course of the week of the contest.
At the end of the week, the hosting blogger, which is me for this week, chooses their favourite photo from the submissions and displays it as the week’s winning entry. They then include direction to the new host for the next round.
Guidelines
- One submission per blog, so sites that have 2+ authors only get one entry.
- Post processing is permitted, but photo altering (ie. using Photoshop) is not.
- Abstract submissions welcomed as long as it fits within the interpretation of the chosen phrase. Remember, the hosting blogger chooses the winner, so if they cannot understand the submission, you might not win!
- Please try and keep your images medium-sized and web-optimized (around 800px).
- If you win, keep these in mind when choosing a new theme:
- Keep phrases general so that all bloggers can participate. Specific items like “Eiffel Tower” should be avoided but rather made open-ended like “monuments.” For variety, it is okay to say focused things such as “monuments at night” which most of us have pictures of. Phrases can be generic ‘signs’, or abstract ‘religion’.
- Abstract thoughts are appreciated, but keep it within the realm that all readers will understand. No “Kafka-esque”, or “Overlooking Creation”. Use something that is able to be interpreted by all.
- After 1 year, phrases can be reused, however new photos must be submitted.
- No obscene pictures or phrases allowed. Suggestive phrases and photography can be accepted, but please keep it within reason.
- Keep the ideas and photos fresh!
- Pictures from your entire portfolio are fair to submit. You do not have to take the photo within the week of the contest period to submit it.
- Most importantly, all photographs must be your own.
- One last rule, since this is a competition for travel and photography bloggers, you must have a travel/photography blog to enter. Sorry!
How to Enter
Travel Photo Roulette #78: Statues
To enter in the Travel Photo Roulette competition, you can either leave a comment below with a link to the image (whether Flickr, Picasa or your own site) so it can be uploaded to this post or send your submission to leckieandlaura @ gmail.com – Please remember to include a brief description of the photo.
You can check here throughout the week to see all the entries as they come in and feel free to comment on them. The contest runs for 7 days from today, with the submission dates being April 26th to May 3rd (Saturday to Saturday). The winner will be announced a few days after the deadline, and they will host round #79.
Previous Winners
This is a list of all the previous winners and themes. Click the host’s link to go directly to that entry to see some fab photographs.
1. Nov 2010 Living the Dream Animals
2. Nov 2010 Skinny Backpacker Road Signs
3. Nov 2010 Dream a Little Dream Street Art
4. Dec 2010 Flashpacker HQ Festival
5. Dec 2010 Over Yonderlust Landmarks
6. Dec 2010 Don’t Ever Look Back Beaches
7. Jan 2011 ThePlanetD Portraits
8. Jan 2011 Travel with a Mate Motion
9. Jan 2011 Johnny Vagabond Water
10. Feb 2011 Ken Kaminesky Urban
11. Feb 2011 Travels of Adam Friday Night
12. Mar 2011 Itchy Feet Chronicles The Journey
13. Mar 2011 Brendan’s Adventures Changing Seasons
14. Apr 2011 Shutterfeet Storytelling
15. Apr 2011 10 Times One Piousness
16. Apr 2011 Beached Eskimo Learning
17. May 2011 Travel Junkies Architecture
18. Jun 2011 Destination World Transportation
19. Jun 2011 Living the Dream Paradise
20. Jun 2011 Vagabond Quest Clothes
21. Jul 2011 The Unframed World Symmetry
22. Jul 2011 Beached Eskimo Home
23. Jul 2011 BackPackerBanter Inspiration
24. Aug 2011 WanderingTrader Darkness
25. Aug 2011 Finding the Universe Tranquillity
26. Sep 2011 Fearful Adventurer Food
27. Sep 2011 Adventures of a GoodMan City
28. Oct 2011 Globe-Trekking.com Reflections
29. Oct 2011 Scene With A Hart Framing
30. Nov 2011 Vagabond Quest Silhouettes
31. Nov 2011 Hecktic Travels Music
32. Dec 2011 Globetrotter Girls Love
33. Dec 2011 Man on the lam Humor
34. Jan 2012 My Walkabout Winter
35. Jan 2012 The Art of Slow Travel Blue
36. Feb 2012 Ten times One Depth of the Field
38. Mar 2012 Nomadbiba Sunshine
39. Mar 2012 Travel With Kat Local Character
40. Apr 2012 The Travel Bunny Street Scene
41. Apr 2012 Adventure Crow Spirit of the Country
42. May 2012 Food Travel Bliss Evening
43. May 2012 Matt Gibson Adventure
44. May 2012 Flashpacker HQ Once In A Lifetime
45. Jul 2012 Skinny Backpacker Surreal
46. Aug 2012 2away Smile
47. Aug 2012 Bridges and Balloons Excellent Splendour of the Universe
48. Sep 2012 The GypsyNester What the ?!
49. Oct 2012 Runaway Juno Sweet
50. Nov 2012 GQ Trippin Play
51. Nov 2012 Life’s Little Victories Friendship
52. Dec 2012 Breakaway Backpacker Face
53. Jan 2013 Fly, Icarus, Fly Serendipity
54. Feb 2013 Travel Transmissions Lost in Thought
55. Feb 2013 Wanderlusters The Natural World
56. Mar 2013 Travel Junkies Patterns
57. Apr 2013 Living the Dream Your First Time
58. May 2013 Getting Stamped The Sun Goes Down
59. Jun 2013 The GypsyNester Cheesy Tourist Diversions
60. Jun 2013 Boomeresque Revolution
61. Jul 2013 Breakaway Backpacker Colorful
62. Aug 2013 Around This World Mountains
63. Aug 2013 Passports and Pamplemousse Hands at Work
64. Sep 2013 TurtlesTravel Dance
65.Sep 2013 Keep calm and travel The Sea
66 Sep 2013 Travel Photo Discovery The Market
67. Oct 2013 Am I Nearly There Yet? Travel Fails
68. Oct 2013 The GypsyNester Weird Regional Foods
69. Nov 2013 Sophie’s World Trees
70. Nov 2013 SHOuTography Party
71. Dec 2013 Adventures of a Goodman Ruin
72. Dec 2013 Have Blog Will Travel Light
73. Jan, 2014 This World Rocks Crowds
74. Jan, 2014 Travel Past 50 Competition
75. Feb 2014 The Working Traveller Working
76. Mar 2014 Travels with Carole Umbrellas
77. Apr 2014 Independent Travel Help Quirky
78. Apr 2014 Quit Job Travel World Statues
Entries
1. Taken on a frosty morning at the Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris by Calli from Have Blog Will Travel
2. Our second entry is from a place I’d love to visit, the intriguing Easter Island courtesy of Daniel at Globe Trekking.
3. Entry three comes from Gianni at Nomad is Beautiful. This unusual upside-down statue can be found hanging from a ceiling in Prague, mocking the famous statue of King Vencelas found elsewhere in the city.
4. Number four comes from Hannah at Street Food World Tour. This larger than life cat statue is part of the ‘Gatos del Rio’ exhibit in Cali, Colombia.
5. At number five we have this complete Colombian badass via Adam at Getting Stamped. “…the “Mediohombre” or ‘HAlf-man’ of Cartagena, Colombia. This guy is as tough as it gets; while defending the city in many battles he lost left leg, right arm, and one of his eyes (all in different events). If you want to feel a whole lot less brave just Wikipedia this guy, his name is Blas de Lezo.”
6. Entry six comes from Donny at Turtles Travel, taken at the temple complex of Sala Kaew Ku in Nong Khai, Thailand.
7. Lucky number seven is a classic statue fist-bump taken in Java, Indonesia by Jacomijn.
8. Another Colombian entry at number eight from Jimmy at Jimmy Eats World. The Last Raza Monument in Medellin depicts the story of Antioquia.
9. James from Fly Icarus Fly brings us something quite different for entry nine. “Not your typical statue, this is Vaishya Dev, the toothache goddess of near Durbar Square, Kathmandu (Nepal). It’s believed that if you nail a coin to the misshapen block of wood, it’ll help relieve toothache pain. Some sufferer kindly left a piece of bloody gauze there as well.”
10. At number ten is this fantastic photo taken at St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy. Thanks to Jenny at Jennywise Arcade.
11. Number eleven is a statue I’ve seen myself several times, and whilst it’s small in size, it’s story is an incredibly important one. Amsterdam’s Anne Frank by Jeremy at Living The Dream.
12. Entry twelve comes from Alexandra at Fluent in Frolicking. The world renown Christ the Redeemer in Rio, Brazil.
13. Last but not least we have this photo taken in Kyoto, Japan, from Tony at 20 Years Hence. “Otagi Nenbutsu Ji Temple might just be the most adorable temple in the world, as it is populated with more than 1200 rakah, or disciples of Buddah. They are all different and invariably cute. We spent a wonderful hour wandering around trying to capture the whimsy and unique vibe of the place and loved every second of our time there.”
Results
Thanks to everyone who participated, there are some brilliant photos here, and I suddenly really want to go to Colombia (and Easter Island!), however there can only be one winner… and that winner is entry number three! Gianni, we both love your photo of this very unusual statue. Congratulations, and good luck to everyone for the next round.
Congrats on your win! I really love the theme you chose and this photo immediately came to mind as our entry 🙂
Taken at the Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris before the morning frost had time to melt I was drawn to the pop of yellow against the white statue and frost.
Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/haveblogwilltravel/9098818118/in/set-72157634243664754
Congrats again and thanks for hosting! 🙂
Calli from Have Blog Will Travel
Thanks Calli. We’ll get this posted. 🙂
Congratulations on your win.
Please find below a link to my contribution. It combines two of my favorite things, 1. Airplanes and 2. Statues
Here on Easter Island at the airport I got a dose of both of them.
http://globe-trekking.com/potd/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/IMG_7619.jpg
Thanks for the great photo Daniël. These are also easily two of my favourite things in the world as I’m more than a bit of an aviation nerd. How was Easter Island? We’d love to make it there.
Hi Leckie and Laura, congratulation for the winning. Here is our submission. This funny upside-down statue can be found in Prague. It is hanging from the ceiling and it is mocking the real statue of King Venceslas (found elsewhere in Prague). The ‘The Dead Horse’ is a statue by the Czech artist David Cerny.
http://nomadisbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Praga-Horse-Statue-1.jpg
Thanks for the entry Gianni, what a great photo! I know the statue this is mocking well from my time in Prague, though this one is new to me.
Congratulations Gianni, we’ve chosen you as this round’s winner! Good luck hosting the next round =)
One of my favorite statues I have come across on my travels is the “Gatos del Rio” exhibit in Cali, Colombia. It’s home to 17 unique larger than life cat statues and my entry is of the main cat at the park’s entrance. link: http://www.streetfoodworldtour.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/The-Cats-of-Cali-Gatos-del-Rio-33.jpg
Thanks for the entry Hannah, nice photo of an unusual statue.
The coolest statue I have traveled to has got to be the “Mediohombre” or ‘HAlf-man’ of Cartagena, Colombia. This guy is as tough as it gets; while defending the city in many battles he lost left leg, right arm, and one of his eyes (all in different events). If you want to feel a whole lot less brave just Wikipedia this guy, his name is Blas de Lezo. My photo shows his statue with the walled city of Cartagena behind.
My entry: http://www.gettingstamped.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Cartagena-Tour-with-Martin-7.jpg
This is amazing, I love the stories behind statues and this guy sounds like a true badass! Thanks for the brilliant entry Adam.
The temple complex of Sala Kaew Ku in Nong Khai, Thailand has loads of very interesting concrete statues. They were created by a Lao priest with a very imaginative hand. There was something about this figure holding a skull and shell that struck us. Hope you enjoy it too!
https://www.facebook.com/Turtlestravel/photos/a.221412734555578.69837.211739432189575/817455368284642/?type=1&theater
Thanks for the photo Donny, these South East Asian ogre/giant statues are always a favourite of mine.
Congratulations with your winning photo!
Ijust immediately thought about this moment. Not the best picture of a statue but we did have some fun 🙂
http://jacomijns.blogspot.nl/2014/04/travel-photo-roulette-78-statues.html
Greetings Jacomijn
Thanks Jacomijn, this is the exact thing I am always doing with statues in a lot of our photos =) – love the smile on his face too!
Quite a few Colombian entries. Here is the La Raza Monument in Medellin, Colombia. A work in bronze and concrete which depicts the story of Antioquia.
http://jimmyeatsworld.smugmug.com/South-America-1/Colombia/i-3x72sHJ/0/XL/P8270304-XL.jpg
Seems everybody has been to Colombia but me, I’ll have to change that. Thanks for the entry Jimmy, a very cool monument.
Congrats on the win, guys!
Here’s my submission: http://on.fb.me/1fpkwoS
Not your typical statue, this is Vaishya Dev, the toothache goddess of near Durbar Square, Kathmandu (Nepal). It’s believed that if you nail a coin to the misshapen block of wood, it’ll help relieve toothache pain. Some sufferer kindly left a piece of bloody gauze there as well. For when Novocaine isn’t good enough (?)
Both different, and a little gross haha! Thanks for the unique entry James.
I took this photo http://jennywisearcade.blogspot.com/2014/04/photo-submission-for-travel-roulette-78.html at the Basilica of St.Mark’s in Venice. These horses were amazing, even though these are the replicas. I love different perspectives and angles. The photo is on my blog page, and will also upload it onto my Blog’s Facebook Page; Jennywise Arcade. I’ve been absent for several rounds- glad to be back in the game.
Great photo Jenny, welcome back to the game!
Our entry for statues was taken on my very first trip abroad. In fact, it is probably one of my first statue photos I’ve ever taken. Anne Frank’s statue outside of her museum in Amsterdam is probably one of the most haunting I’ve ever see.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/292_526477922080_21902759_33103040_715_n.jpg
It’s definitely unsettling isn’t it? Such a small monument to a girl whose story is known by millions. Thanks for the great photo Jeremy.
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Rio is hands down one of my favorite cities in the world. No trip is complete without a trip up the mountain to see the Cristo. With all the people flying into the country this year for World Cup I hope at least a few will tear themselves away from the matches to take in the sights.
http://fluentinfrolicking.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140502-181256.jpg
Thanks for the photo, hoping to see this one ourselves this year!
This one goes way back, to our first destination on our trip: Japan. We found this little gem in the Arashiyama district of Kyoto during a long day of wandering the winding alleyways of the neighborhood. Otagi Nenbutsu Ji Temple might just be the most adorable temple in the world, as it is populated with more than 1200 rakah, or disciples of Buddah. They are all different and invariably cute. We spent a wonderful hour wandering around trying to capture the whimsy and unique vibe of the place and loved every second of our time there.
http://www.20yearshence.com/?attachment_id=8961
Thanks for the entry Tony.
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Hi guys, thanks a lot for selecting us the winners of this round. We are really happy you liked our photo. This is the new round that we are hosting 🙂
http://nomadisbeautiful.com/travel-blogs/travel-photo-roulette-79-people-sleeping/
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