What is beautiful is a good idea because it can be open to a range of photographers, artists, and digital wonder workers. It can be interpreted in a thousand different ways, and has endless potential.
A person can look at it from an asthetic standpoint, a spiritual standpoint, an emotional standpoint, an artistic standpoint, only to name a few.
What is Beautiful is the best idea! VOTE NOW! =-D

Surreal.

This one to make people think a little.

There are many surreal techniques, most are open to everyone, and are available to all genres, photography, CGI, and fractals.

A few boring choices. Why are so many afraid of people? They are the most complex and interesting subjects on the planet and everyone avoids them. Even fractalists and abstract artist's could do well with that category. I'd rather look at a human face or semblance thereof than some old factory or car.

I like the idea of a "people" :)

I would have sworn we already had a "People" contest. No sign of it in the list though.

Personally I like "Surreal" as it is more open to interpretation and medium but still sets a clear theme to work within. Plus I am not bold enough to go around photographing strangers... unless I hide in the bushes... but that could lead to trouble!

I shy away from photographing people other than my family and close friends...I don't want to offend anyone. Contests normally have a short entry span so I probably wouldn't compete in "People" because I don't have a photo of an interesting person "in the bin".

I've got to go with the Surreal on this one. I've been a Dali & Magritte fan for many years.

Well, with people you don't always have to think 'portrait'. People can be photographed in so many different ways. You can photograph them in groups, without faces showing, captured from a distance, in silhouette or ask a friend to model. This is about creativity, so be creative! Hey, even a self portrait would fill the bill or a fractal or abstract that resembles a human. Humans do lots of fascinating things, like take pictures, paint, play instruments, garden, play sports, direct traffic, walk in the park, etc...the possibilities are ginormous!

Check out our own people gallery for some great shots that will give you some ideas.

At this point I'm favouring "still life", as long as it's taken in the classical painting sense, eg, an array of everyday items on a table or bench in which the interest is all generated by the light and technique of the artist. That would be a really different kind of challenge for us photographers and us fractalists but it would be a challenge for all. Surreal certainly challenges everyone equally. I like the idea of people as a topic, but as a fractalist I'm struggling to see how I could particpate, as a photographer, easy and hard at the same time.

I must say that there are very few of us that include people in their work. Personally, I think they bring a picture to life, which is why people are present in so many of mine. Many surreal images include people, but taking the surreal element out of the contest would make life much easier, except for the poor fractalists, again.

I would enjoy a "people" contest, at some Point, even though I will Not likely Participate. I'd be Very interested in Seeing all the Entries, and gaining from it. However; it is My guess that this Site wishes to Encourage the greatest Participation possible... Surrealism and Still Life offer that opportunity...

Some example surreal images - just to ponder on, or admire.

Stanislav Odyagailo

Surreal Photography

Surreal Collages

Cubomania

General Surreal

Eclaboussure

surreal fractal

Well, it was a toss up but I voted people. Though I do have a question for the Mods concerning entries soooo...

If people doesn't win this time round, I hope it comes up again soon. I love shooting people. Also, I really want a contest that doesn't allow for any editing except re-sizing. I'm a purist at heart. I don't like a lot of editing in the images. It seems like it's cheating. I think a talented photographer can capture an image and not have to depend on a photo editing program to make it great.

I don't think some of the famous photographers thought of editing their images as cheating. The image as it is processed by the camera is already edited, especially if you shoot in jpeg mode. Talented photographers don't have to edit their images as much as some of us amateurs do, but they do it anyway for the best possible result. When film photography was more popular, editing was done in the darkroom. That is part of the artistry of photography or 'the capturing light'. There is certainly a great deal of editing that goes into making a surreal image. I too hope that, if not this time, next time we get to try a 'people' theme.

I see Cindys point, but, Surreal images do not have to be edited either. Some good surreal photographs are just thought about, such as this one.

Many also contain people, a topic which I will also support next time around.

I've seen that image before & always liked it.

Some great stuff at that Stanislav link, Chris. Cindy, I really do hope we get to vote on People next time as well - for me, this time, I had to go with surreal.

I think maybe everyone can be afraid of "people" because in many cases you need permission from the person to use their faces.

I myself am not a big fan of surreal photography, but I might try it out just for fun. However, the ideas of "people" and "still life" in my own opinion are much more palatable. Any of them would make great contests though! Excited to see how this one goes. Cheers!

Wowee! I checked out the link for surreal photography and there was a girl that had hundreds of bosom thingy's...she would be a lot of fun on a date. Whoever took that shot sure had to use a super wide angle lens.