June theme: Spring Sports

you specifically looking for action? I had already tagged a photo for this month, but it's not an action shot. I will resubmit if needed.

Hello,
Are we now requiring the shots to be taken during the month/year of the contest?

Glad you clarified that, Teresa. I am not American, so I had no idea that Spring Sports meant anything other than sports in the spring time. Now I understand how it fits as the theme for June - i was puzzled before as to how we were supposed to shoot spring shots in the summertime! One question - providing the shot is of one of the sports listed, does it actually matter what time of year it was taken? Is golf, for example, still a Spring Sport in the fall?

What about sports that you didnt list that are played in the spring, like frisbee?

OK, gang, some answers:

Pat, it doesn't have to be an action shot, no. Your note makes a good point: There are many great sports photos that don't have "action" in them at all.

Randy, no, that rule hasn't changed. Your photo can be taken at any time. It just has to reflect the theme of the month.

Jill, yes, golf is played in the spring. As a guideline, I used the winter and spring sports that are listed in our High School Sports section, which reflects what the schools are playing at a given time.

And Justin -- Frisbee? Absolutely!

Thanks Teresa! :)

What about racing? auto? horse? horseshoes? Realize that some folks don't consider some sports, sports.......We in the office think that anything carried in the sports section of the Globe in the spring is open game, so to speak. Thanks!!!

Jill may be from the southern hemisphere, where their spring is our fall :-) Wow, RAW is now internationally renowned!

Applicants shouldn't take the theme of such a contest too seriously or literally (unless the theme is specifically documentary or journalistic in nature). As a judge, I would always pick a great image marginally related to a theme over a so-so image close to the theme. Some judges would even credit those who intentionally "twist" a theme. "Cold Feet" from the "Cold" theme a few months back comes to mind. See, that's the only image I still remember.

Ultimately, it is the image that counts.

Teresa - Soccer is played in the Spring as well as the Fall in virtually every town in Massachusetts - could you rethink your restriction?

Wow -- lots of twists on this theme, aren't there??? Okay, one at a time:

DeRacer13 -- Horse racing? Auto racing? Look, I'm not going to disqualify such shots, but I think I'd rather see a human athlete as a more active participant, rather than sitting on or in something else that's doing most of the work.

But if you want to consider anything that's written about in the Globe Sports section in the spring as eligible, I'll go along with that ... as long as it's a sport that is occuring in New England in the spring. After all, as fairnsquare pointed out, it's springtime somewhere on the earth all year round ...

And Pete, you're right, I shouldn't have excluded soccer. I was thinking only of high school sports, when in fact, as you point out, youth leagues -- and some adult leagues -- play soccer in the spring as well as the fall. I'll change the entry above.

Ha ha! I can assure fairnsquare that I'm not from the Southern Hemisphere. My point was that Teresa means something far more precise and culturally-defined than I had originally envisioned. And that is information I'm glad to have received before I set out to take a shot for the contest, because I don't think that any of the things that I had in mind were likely to qualify. (I expect that there are plenty of other RAW contributors who were grateful for the clarification too.) Thanks, Teresa.

Teresa....boy, has this become a can of worms and yes I'm throwing in another worm.

Your comment concerning Horse racing and Auto racing....the human isn't along for just the ride. Without human input, the horse would run all out until it dropped and probably in a straight line. The same applies to the auto.....it wouldn't start, shift, accelerate, brake....well you get the point.

Yes, I'm entering an auto race photo and it has human input. :)

Thanks
Bill in Haverhill

Bill -- I hate worms!!! Auto racing it is.

would you consider sailing as a spring sport?

Sure, sailing qualifies.

hello, my question is about kiteboarding, surfing ... i guess they will be in if sailing is in?thanks

Oh, sure ...

Hi Teresa,
Is there a posting for the July theme?

Hi, LL,

I just finished the final Portraits Challenge gallery; we'll post that first thing in the morning. Then I'll post Pat Greenhouse's Top Ten winners of the May Flowers contest, followed by a post with themes for July and August ... and maybe beyond!

Teresa, the June theme did say "action shots" of Spring sports. If action was not required, it should have been stated: "Spring sports shots". I could have submitted any number of Spring sports shots. But chose one (which apparently didn't even get considered) with action in it. A bit mis-leading this time.

Hi, Rick -- Sorry for the delay in responding; I was on vacation last week and am just catching up with everything. I think you can see by the title of this entry above that the theme was simply "Spring Sports". We didn't write anywhere that the theme was "Spring Action Sports". In one spot I encouraged people to submit action shots, but I never said it was a requirement. In fact, if you read the comments above, Pat Glennon asked in the very first comment if action was required, and in comment no. 5, I answered him: "Pat, it doesn't have to be an action shot, no. Your note makes a good point: There are many great sports photos that don't have "action" in them at all."

The fact is that Jim Davis evaluated all of the photos equally. He didn't favor action shots or non-action shots; he simply looked for good photos. You don't have to worry that your photo was deliberately overlooked simply because it was an action shot. There are many action shots among the finalists.