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.

Posted from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.