Pipes (not smoking pipes)

Taking up half of your composition this is a great night time piece of urban landscape photography making excellent use of construction pipes as lead in lines. The familiar Dubai architecture is nicely observed with your very own original perspective. I particularly like the inclusion of the lights on the crane’s arm twinkling away like stars in the sky. Judging by your camera settings of an extremely high ISO and low aperure this photo is made more remarkable by presumably being shot hand held.

Your multicoloured scaffolding pipes rusting in a builder’s yard immediately caught my attention as being an unique subject matter in this challenge. Leaning to the left and right this vertical composition is offset by the taut blue and green nylon ropes securing the pipes across the horizontal frame. Your zoom lens set at a neat nifty-fifty was the ideal choice for capturing your cropped view. Hopefully you didn’t let the opportunity go to waste and bagged yourself a few more alternative shots before abandoning your distinctive find.

This vertical linear composition of colourful pipes outside Paris reminds me of the George Pompidou centre inside the French capital. You’ve cleverly composed your submission with three large air vents acting as leading lines to your compacted composition. Looking like an unfinished building surrounded by scaffolding the structure could easily be mistaken for an architectural sculpture. It’s the photographic potential of this tubular arrangement that you’ve noticed and suitably framed within the four sides of your creative shot.

Your documentary street photo shows that an unusual sight featuring pipes is just as powerful as an artistically arranged still life photos. A man meticulously securing ten long grey pipes to his tricycle is an unlikely event worthy of an astute photographer’s attention. You’ve cleverly captured him carefully tying the pipes to one side of the bike leaving enough room to balance himself on the opposite side of the load. In most countries this sight would draw bemused looks but judging by the nonplused passerby this is an accepted occurrence in the part of the world where you took your photo.

Industrial estates, usually found on the edges of towns and cities, are ideal go-to-places to seek photographic opportunities. These crinkly tin buildings constructed of simple, corrugated metal sheets make perfect minimalist subjects. It takes a keen eye to spot something of interest within the soulless architecture which you’ve managed to compose with consummate ease. The positioning of your little and large yellow pipes is perfect and I appreciate how you’ve managed to keep your lines absolutely straight throughout your square-cropped frame.

Hosepipes were in a minority in this challenge and your close-up was my leading choice from the few unique contributions. You’ve managed to expertly capture the fine, crisp details of the fountain installation in Provence. The low choice of aperture has enabled you to freeze the cascading water whilst keeping the photo very sharp using your camera’s lowest ISO setting. You’ve given this cleverly devised sculpture a touch of photographic art.

This beautiful Memorial to the composer Jean Sibelius who died in 1957 was designed by Eila Hiltunen and unveiled ten years later in Helsinki’s Sibelius Park. There were similar entries of imposing pipe sculptures submitted to this competition but yours stuck out because of your choice of close-up detail. It gives the Memorial your own personal touch rather than just letting your composition rely on the sculptor’s creative work. By using your camera to zoom in you’ve orchestrated the monumental pipes to give a classical interpretation of a musical movement.

This revolving kaleidoscope of drinking straws is amongst the smallest pipe entries in this challenge. You’ve gone completely to the tiny end of the spectrum for your hollow tube composition. I can’t quite work out how you achieved your result - the straws were either shot on a light box or you’ve inverted an existing multicoloured straw shot to achieve the translucent effect. Either way you’ve turned an everyday object into a multifaceted pipe dream.

The strong use of red and yellow complementary colours absolutely makes this photograph. The horizontal lemon pipe running across the length of your D.I.Y. picture is placed at the right height - not just for the painter’s reach but for the positioning within your composition. This is a very opportune, photo telling a simple story using a lot of empty, minimalist space to draw the viewer’s eye to the matter in hand.

I’m not usually a fan of posing children as happy-snappy subjects in photographs but when skilfully taken, as in this case, it justifiably emphasises the point of the composition. Your daughter and her reflection act as a focal point of interest inside the giant tubular slide without which the shot would have been quite lifeless. Her pink abstract portrait has added much needed movement to an otherwise large, empty and colourless silver pipe.