Poor old Damian Hirst.

[ollypenrice]

It started with M and Ms https://www.fastcodesign.com/1669314/spoofing-damien-hirst-with-dot-paintings-made-of-mms but even we are taking the mick now.  http://www.rmg.co.uk/astronomy-photographer-year-competition/stars-nebulae-0

Or somebody is.

lly

 

 

 

 

[Putaendo Patrick]

Does make star hopping considerably easier...

[Steve Ward]

One difference is that Master Hirst has a following of cronies and lickspittles in his wake that bend over backwards to try and justify his "art" ... 

In the more logical world of 'Astro' this rarely occurs , much more in the way of constructive criticism and an appreciation of the scientific side of things.

And no shortage of folk willing to cry "Emperor's new clothes" ... take the APOD situation of late as an example.

 

 

 

By the way dwahling , I looooved your latest Ollie and Tom offering .... 

[cotterless45]

I'm not buying it !

[Uplooker]

9 minutes ago, Steve Ward said:

One difference is that Master Hirst has a following of cronies and lickspittles in his wake that bend over backwards to try and justify his "art" ... 

In the more logical world of 'Astro' this rarely occurs , much more in the way of constructive criticism and an appreciation of the scientific side of things.

And no shortage of folk willing to cry "Emperor's new clothes" ... take the APOD situation of late as an example.

 

 

 

By the way dwahling , I looooved your latest Ollie and Tom offering .... 

Ooouch

[Alien 13]

I like it very much so good to see something different.

Alan

[Knighty2112]

Well, holds out promise for me then. Who needs expensive equipment costing a shed load o f cash when I can just defocus on a star with my IPhone 6+, and then do a little Worhol pop art with it on a PC and hey presto! Hehe!  

[SkyBound]

I am gobsmacked, at the winning image, compared to the two runners up, who the ..... Was judging it....Louis Walsh....

[iapa]

Is the universe just that little bit more structured that if first appears when you take your fist, and second, and 10thousandth, look though your telescope?

We are just doing it all wrong....

[ollypenrice]

'Art' comes up regularly in these controversies. In my opinion art looks like this:

http://images.google.fr/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/The_Man_with_the_Golden_Helmet_(Rembrandt).jpg&imgrefurl=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Man_with_the_Golden_Helmet_(Rembrandt).jpg&h=1600&w=1206&tbnid=6c8QaFdwl-k4PM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=67&docid=6p5-nOx_ft4HoM&usg=__azaXaFqHK0HiQi7dm00kIqkhF8M=&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjuh47S6pPPAhXDJMAKHdzgCasQ_h0ImwEwCw

or this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Guitarist#/media/File:Old_guitarist_chicago.jpg

Lines of coloured dots on a uniform background look like lines of coloured dots on a uniform background.

Just a note on Tom's third place masterpiece of astrophotography: I had no involvement in it, it is all Tom, though some of it was taken here. I thought the second place Stars and Nebulae image was also of the very finest quality. Chapeau.

Olly

[Davey-T]

Damn, all the time I've spent trying to get my stars in focus recently and I've been doing it all wrong 

Dave

[ollypenrice]

Olly

[SilverAstro]

Trouble is I think they are sirius 

There cant be any shred of artist (or poet or whatever) in me cos I dont get it ! There was a photo around somewhere that showed sirius as a wiggly line, showing both its colour dispersion and positional variation due to the unstable atmosphere, much more interesting in my humble opinion.

[ollypenrice]

4 minutes ago, SilverAstro said:

Trouble is I think they are sirius 

There cant be any shred of artist (or poet or whatever) in me cos I dont get it ! There was a photo around somewhere that showed sirius as a wiggly line, showing both its colour dispersion and positional variation due to the unstable atmosphere, much more interesting in my humble opinion.

Last year's joint runner up was an image of Sirius as a wiggly line shownig both its colour dispertion and positional variation due to tapping the tripod. Not quite as interesting?

Olly

[SilverAstro]

Oh, was it, grrrr my memory needs a re-boot then ! Thanks Olly.

The classic "out of focus" star colour photo was by Malin way back in the '90s where he progressively defocused during the single frame exposure. Much more impressive

Ah, found it at APOD, but it was earlier in S&T :

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap961202.html

[RichLD]

Here's a pic I took last October (rendered in arty B&W of course) whilst in Ilfracome - it's called Verity, one of my favourite Damien Hirst pieces - definitely not dots 

[RichLD]

...but I too cannot believe the winner of the competition - shhurelly shum missstaaake? 

[SilverAstro]

Like the B&W ! For next year you'll be doing it in sepia praps   if you got a clear sky ( in Ilfracombe ha! ) you could even impale something, the moon praps ?

Even earlier mid 80s ? from the horses mouth :

http://203.15.109.22/images/captions/misc011.html

 

[ollypenrice]

9 minutes ago, SilverAstro said:

Like the B&W ! For next year you'll be doing it in sepia praps   if you got a clear sky ( in Ilfracombe ha! ) you could even impale something, the moon praps ?

Even earlier mid 80s ? from the horses mouth :

http://203.15.109.22/images/captions/misc011.html

 

That's a great picture because it is genuinely informative. It's a photographic equivalent of defocusing the scope to enhance one's perception of star colour. It also shows the effect of brightness on perceived colour.

Olly

[RichLD]

13 minutes ago, SilverAstro said:

Like the B&W ! For next year you'll be doing it in sepia praps   if you got a clear sky ( in Ilfracombe ha! ) you could even impale something, the moon praps ?

Even earlier mid 80s ? from the horses mouth :

http://203.15.109.22/images/captions/misc011.html

 

Expect to see some Photoshoppery from moi inspired by your magnificent suggestions! You never know, I might win next years competition with it 

[SilverAstro]

Just now, RichLD said:

Expect to see some Photoshoppery from moi inspired by your magnificent suggestions! You never know, I might win next years competition with it 

I think someone tried it with an inflated moon balloon recently and terrified the locals ? So do be careful

[ollypenrice]

20 minutes ago, RichLD said:

Expect to see some Photoshoppery from moi inspired by your magnificent suggestions! You never know, I might win next years competition with it 

Just don't enter an astrophoto. Those are so boring.

[ChrisLX200]

Clearly when they chose the panel of judges they chose at least some with an artistic bent. When 'artistic' trumps practical skills and fidelity this is the result, I could never fathom the mind of an abstract artist and even less - that of the art critic.

ChrisH

[SilverAstro]

2 minutes ago, ChrisLX200 said:

 artistic bent.

even less - that of the art critic.

And you did mean us all to think "twisted"

- however, I did have time/space for Brian Sewell,  he made me laugh, may he RIP.

 

[ollypenrice]

There's a difference between art and pretentiousness. They don't have to be bedfellows! (This not aimed at Brian Sewell. I know precious little about him.) It has a lot to do with Damian Hirst and Tracey Emin.

Here's what I find annoying. You set up an astrophoto competition with a 'stars and nebulae' category. But you don't really like astrophotos, do you? They're a bit boring. They're all full of stars and nebulae. You know, little dots of light and clouds of gas. So we want people to be more creative. Stars and nebulae are all very well but puh-lease  give us a break from all those points of light and clouds of gas...

Olly