Thanks for the sympathy but the same mistakes will be made if it’s directly after competition end or in 24 hours. Once this current bout of unpleasantness dissipates and my mind is back to its normal decrepit but semi-rational state the mistakes will lessen.
And the reason for the confusion last night has been found. The polls are set up ahead of time… in both normal view, which should act as a check before posting and in code - like so:
all members of GADC and you can vote for one, some, all or none of the images to be crowned the best.
Voting will end at 22:00 on Monday, February 27 and the official result will be posted shortly afterward.
[poll type=multiple results=on_close min=1 max=17 chartType=bar close=2023-02-27T22:00:00.000Z]
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To add a late entry it has to be downloaded, resized and converted to *.webp and then placed in the poll. For speed the image code was placed in the code part of the saved message.
Unfortunately the image was placed in the wrong pre-prepared poll - it featured prominently in the High as a Kite thread before being spotted and deleted
The poll gives us two clear winners so for a change we are asking you to decide between the two. A quick, 24 hour shootout to decide the winner - the Picture that best illustrates February:
Snowdrops at Welford Park by @clinkadink will represent February in our 2024 calendar
Congratulations Chris and commiserations @john768 , who came second in this tie-breaker. Or, in other words - John was just pipped at the post while Chris came second from last!
Let’s see some cracking entries for March and, if the weather keeps you indoors why not practice to increase the strength in your left hands - so you can manipulate that altitude control …
Just my tuppence worth, and I know it’s been mentioned lots before, Chris @clinkadink even mentioned this rule in the posting of his photo, which by the way, is a stunning image. I can totally understand why he shot it at this height, I’d have done the same. However I don’t look at it and automatically think it was taken by a drone in flight. Of the two images in the tie breaker, one met the ‘obvious drone in flight’ rule, the other didn’t (in my humble opinion), this is, after all, a ‘Pilot’s Calendar Competition’. Do the committee then consider this to meet the criteria to be entered into the poll for the winners? As I said, just my tuppence worth (sorry Chris! ), but if we are not going to abide by this rule, then why not remove it altogether?
John, we have fought long and hard to get (some) people to include a little left stick in their flying patterns to no avail. Both in the RTF and in this competition proportion people still seem to be unable to see that a picture taken at five feet from the ground is just a picture and would be far more easily taken by camera phone, normal camera or even a bloke doing quick sketches.
If we had discarded the pictures that we considered as low altitude from the submitted entries for this month we would have been left with three plus another submitted in the last hour. It seems that this fear of heights has occurred since the introduction of the Mini series; perhaps the proximity allowed by the sub 250gram rulings means that pilots no longer consider height as a necessity when flying in either countryside or urban situations - or, indeed deep into the heart of the city.
It is also apparent that the height stipulation does not concern the majority of voters who happily promote pictures with little altitude component into the top places in the RTF and Calendar Competition polls. We are trying to keep the majority of competitions free and easy to enter so as to gain the maximum enjoyment, it’s only the Birthday Challenge, where cash prizes are involved that rules are strictly enforced with subsequent argument, acrimony and tears before bedtime.
In this instance it is a pity that the picture that, in our opinion, better expressed the essence of February showed little evidence of being taken by drone.
Maybe we need to re-assess the whole calendar idea.
I have had a lot of fun with these challenges, I really have. Personally, I think a ‘drone shot’ is all about being able to get to places where I cannot normally reach (with a DSLR or camera phone), and not solely about ‘altitude’. But I may be alone here.
I’ve seen a few remarks in thread that suggest a fear of heights, phobia of left stick, etc. If anyone knows me, I have no fear “.” Speed, height, wind … more the merrier. Ironically, I found it harder navigating the forest than I did open sky. But hey-ho.
Again, I wholeheartedly enjoying these fun challenges. And thank you for those that voted for my photo. But with all the serious shit that is going on my life at the mo, the last thing I come here for is more ‘serious’.
Chris, we are not trying to have a dig at you. We know that you are more adventurous than most when it comes to flying drones, your frequent donning of the pink tutu , your recourse to ladders and the scabby state of your bark-scraped knees are certain evidence of this.
But for those who always follow we will exhort them not to follow the example of their more experienced colleagues but to enjoy the freedoms and, dare we say, drone’s eye views, that a healthy dose of altitude - even up to 400 feet - allow
If you set a deadline, you must be prepared for entries to be submitted up until that deadline. If you need more time to prepare the poll after the deadline, then post the poll later or make the deadline earlier.
P. S. I hope the medication has the desired effect and you are back in the pink, and off it, ASAP
@clinkadink Sorry Chris, I was not getting at you personally, in fact I totally agree with you. That’s the same reason I got a drone too, to get a camera in to places where a normal camera/tripod setup couldn’t go or reach. I was merely pointing out that your image doesn’t meet the ‘obvious’ drone in flight stipulation and that maybe we should just remove the word ‘obvious’ from the rules.
But the committee said they wouldn’t include an image that doesn’t meet the criteria, so does this mean it does?
So it’s not obvious then
Maybe we should just remove the word ‘obvious’, but then I get why it’s there, so that the photos in the calendar look like they were shot from a drone. Otherwise it becomes just another landscape calendar. I know it’s not all about altitude, but if I bought a drone pilots calendar I would kind of expect to see images shot at height in it. If not, it would probably go straight back to Amazon
Personally, the reference to obvious should either be removed or enforced. Either way I’m not too fussed, although it being a pilots calendar I err on the side of enforcing it. Although clinks image is the best aesthetically, and I’d certainly be proud if I took it , I didn’t vote for it, purely because it wasn’t “obvious” that it was from a drone or at height. I also didn’t vote for the runner up as to me it didn’t represent spring, at least not in my neck of the woods.
But, as posted above by others, all voters are able to click on what they want to win and if they think it is within the rules
I didn’t for it either for the same reason. I did though vote for the runner up as it was obviously from a drone in flight. Don’t know if I’d class February as spring though Darren, I’m a wee bit further south than you and to me it’s still winter, for you it must really still be winter
When I hear my first oyster catchers, peeping in the fields at the back of the house, it means spring to me.
Still baltic though, and some snow forecast for the week ahead. Glad I decided to leave my snow tyres on the van for now, despite the emerging snowdrops and noisey oyster catchers!!!
So far only one winning image of the 3 months appears to be obviously taken by drone ( or from a very high hill ) ……snowdrops in my opinion were an ideal subject to portray the month of February but as Chris @clinkadink mentions taken from height the impact is lost ……the project might need a rethink but I’m have no idea how it can be accomplished…perhaps since it’s a drone pilots calendar implement a minimum height requirement , then if the flyer photographs a subject that does not look suitable ie snowdrops, daffodils or newborn lambs then they will have to reconsider their choice of subject
Not sure what all the fuss is about TBH. There’s been a few low level pictures that have come in the top three in RTF’s and birthday comps in the past 12 months. I’ve always assumed that they have been taken over water or in some other inaccesible place (above the eyeline - 6’1" in my case ). I’m okay with that as long as they were taken with a drone in flight (I was guilty of taking a picture in ignorance with the drone in my hand for a birthday comp entry as I failed to read the rules properly; but was rightly advised and corrected by the competition mafia hierachy!). I guess if voters don’t like lower level shots they won’t vote for them and if they’re not bothered then they’ll vote for the best composition!
Once this current bout of unpleasantness dissipates and my mind is back to its normal decrepit but semi-rational state the mistakes will lessen.
), but if we are not going to abide by this rule, then why not remove it altogether?
Sorry John 
) ……snowdrops in my opinion were an ideal subject to portray the month of February but as Chris 
There’s been a few low level pictures that have come in the top three in RTF’s and birthday comps in the past 12 months. I’ve always assumed that they have been taken over water or in some other inaccesible place (above the eyeline - 6’1" in my case 
