Drains and Drain Covers

The layers of fallen autumn leaves laying between the empty spaces of the drain’s angled framework makes a very powerful graphic study. This well-constructed square format could easily be adapted as a design for a music CD cover with the artist’s name and album title substituted for the existing 3D lettering within the drain’s diagonal bars. Well done on your original approach in composing a strong close-up of a simple drain grate.

The clever crop drew me to this photo and the title with the story swung it for me. Clever too to make a simple drain the subject of a political satire. This is a very good close-up photo capturing the softness of the rusty texture all the more impressive by being shot on an iPhone. Well done. One thing the photographer failed to point out were the BS letters in the bottom right-hand corner - there’s only one thing those initials could stand for in this story and its the way one would describe the lies President Richard Nixon told during the Watergate scandal.

I see the empty crushed can of Tyskie beer laying on the street curb as a visual metaphor suggesting drinking beer is akin to pouring money down the drain. Whatever meaning one reads into the photo it’s a very strong composition made all the more powerful by the placement (intentional or otherwise) of the flattened Polish beer can. It’s exactly what I was looking for in this challenge so well done for your creative interpretation of my brief.

You weren’t the only one to find beauty in this old rusty manhole cover. I also love the close-up with it’s diagonal line separating the two halves of the aged chevron textures running up and down the height of the composition. The inclusion of the two rectangular black hole grips (centred on the top one) works efficiently to break up the regular uniformity of the drain cover’s pattern of arrows. Well done.

I don’t normally like straight photocopies of other artist’s work as this usually has very little creative input by the photographer. I’m happy to be proved wrong on this occasion as this photographer, by choosing a vertical format, has given the graffiti an added impact by drawing the viewer’s eye down through the artwork towards the shared subject of the photo. A square or horizontal frame just wouldn’t have worked so well done for intensifying the street artist’s vision of a hapless world disappearing down the drain.

This aerial view of a swimming pool is reminiscent of David Hockney’s Californian ‘splash’ series of paintings. The overflow drain running around the edge of the pool is colourfully sandwiched between the orange and white borders whilst the silver steps and their shadow break up the harshness of the composition’s right angles. As an added extra the sharp-eyed will have noticed the additional small round drain at the bottom of the swimming pool. Drains come in many shapes and sizes so well done for finding a unique way to interpret the brief.

By repeating the image four times this photographer has managed to transform the drain to resemble a sash cord window with four equal quarter panes of glass. Well done for interpreting the brief in your own unique style and coming up with something completely different to seize your window of top ten opportunity.

It would have been amiss of me not to include probably the most famous drain cover in the world in my top ten. This was the single most popular drain entered into the challenge - not surprising as the statue is the most photographed subject in Bratislava. It was a difficult choice between the 16 contenders but I particularly like this shot because of it’s close-up point of view taken from ground level and because this entry also informed us that this is a statue of a sewage worker who's name is Cumil. Just shows that a little bit of information can help tip the balance in the photographer’s favour. Well done.