Martin Snelling - 

As the human populace continues to grow, the need for houses, buildings and other man-made structures grows too. This growth though comes at a cost: the reduction of our green and pleasant land, with natural jungles being pushed out in favour of concrete ones.

However, all is not lost just yet; nature is fighting back against these man-made monstrosities. As the cracks start to appear in the concrete around us, nature is taking hold; taking back what once was theirs.

No matter where you look in the man-made world around you, you will see signs of nature: from weeds and wildflowers popping up in the cracks in the pavement, to birds and mammals living on our doorsteps – nature is all around us.

 

The Brief:

This week’s brief is very straightforward; shoot a juxtaposition of nature against a man-made structure. This could be anything from a single plant against a pavement, a squirrel in your garden foraging for food or a bush taking root halfway up a wall.

Please note that this Shooting Challenge is shorter than usual; you only have until tea-time on Monday (4th March) to get your entries in. So get snapping!

 

The Rules:

- Submissions MUST be your own work.
- Submit up to five images
- Photos must be taken after the challenge was published; so no existing shots please.
- Minimal image post-processing is allowed (global changes to levels, brightness, contrast and cropping are permitted)
- Explain, briefly in your submission email, the equipment, settings, technique used and more importantly for this challenge, the story behind the image. Please ensure EXIF info is intact (if image was taken digitally).
- Email submissions to gizshootingchallenge@gmail.com, not me.
- Please ensure your image is at least 600px wide and less than 3MB in size.
- Save your image as a JPG, and use the following naming convention FirstnameLastnameUrban.jpg
- Don’t forget to include a shooting summary (see above).
- Send your best photos by Monday, 4th March 2013 at 6pm UK time with “Urban Nature” in the subject line.
- Anyone can enter, regardless of location.
- The most important rule — HAVE FUN

Image credit: Ian Richardson (earthfrommybrain)