Hi Ted, Thank you so much for your well received advices and comments. First of all, and as you already noticed, my english isn't so good... I'm sorry... it's more than probable I lose some nuances in your words, and I'm sure the captions I wrote aren't the best possible... I'm understanding it's better not to restrict possible readings of a photograph, because of a caption. "... I want to make my in-out decision on the content and what I see in the photograph. Not what the words say it's supposed to mean..." I like this "maxim", and shall try to take attention to it, writing captions more neutral. Even so, here in Spain, on the Mediterranean coast and just in front of Balearic islands, it's winter right now ! This kind of weather is the closest to winter we can see... and my wife didn't go out in the last two days ;-) Amitiés and my best wishes from Castellon, Your sincere and grateful Marc ----- Original Message ----- From: Ted Grant To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, December 26, 2008 9:31 PM Subject: [LRflex] Re: Wintry beach Marc Dufour showed: Subject: [LRflex] Wintry beach >>Just a lonely segull in a wintry beach: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Marc/Seascapes/Lonely+seagull+flying.jpg.html Hi Marc, A very interesting photo as it's certainly moody looking. However, what I found even more interesting in this particular scene was one word in your caption that changed how a viewer re-acts to the photograph. When you first look the reaction is. "hey neat photograph!" Then one reads the caption. " Just a lonely seagull in a wintry beach" It becomes "Oh jeeesh look at the "COLD WINTER SCENE!" It's still a neat photo, but with an imaginary chill through ones body. J But if you were to change, "wintry" to, "a moody summer surf with lonely seagull!" The whole image changes in meaning. Something I learned from an old time City Editor many years ago while learning how to write cut lines for my photos. How to change the meaning of a photograph from the truth to what's perceived when looking at the picture itself! A completely different time of year and many other situations fall into .. "A camera never lies!" It can be made to with words. That's something I fight against, as do many others who judge photos for competition. I want to make my in-out decision on the content and what I see in the photograph. Not what the words say it's supposed to mean. Quite often judges do ask for the words if there's confusion in the subject to clarify the validity of the content and how well the photograph actually displays what is supposed to be happening. This of course can make the difference whether a photo stays in the competition or is out. For whatever this is worth today. It's still a damn fine image and I'd vote it in! J Cheers, ted