Flickr.com, the wildly popular photo website, created a group called 07_07_07 where 7,777 photographers are each submitting seven photos taken on 07/07/07. The moderator of the group mentioned, “We are going to attempt to get a publisher to produce a book of the best shots from 07/07/07 and the profits will be donated to UNICEF.”
Here are my submissions, which one is your favorite?
 Bent nails spell 777 |  777 on Chicago’s Giddings Plaza |
 Seven apples sitting on a fence |  Seven apples sitting on a bench |
 Three-of-a-kind on 07/07/07 |  7 on a pair of dice |
 Seven peppers sitting in a silver box |
Have a favorite? Please let us know in the comments. Thanks!
My favorite would have to be the “Seven apples sitting on a bench.” (The bench one, not the fence). Although I really like several other shots, this one stands out for its still-life qualities. I shot it with a wide open aperture, so everything in the photo is in focus, including the grass and the flowers in the grass in the background. Plus, the HDR really brings out even more detail. Here’s my run-down on the other six: ——- Bent nails spell 777 This one is probably the most creative of all my 07_07_07 shots. I was thinking of different forms that make the shape of a 7, and since I did a bunch of construction work recently, this came to mind. The application of the photo… I tried several shots where the wood was the entire background, where the wood was all in focus, and then fuzzy. But this one where i got on the same plane as the wood gives a new life to the nails, as they start to look more like people, because the viewer is on the same level. Part of me wishes that I had a really old beatup piece of wood and some really rusty nails. This is the only photo of the series that was shot in my apartment. I have a little tabletop lighting rig setup in my office. ——- 777 on Chicago’s Giddings Plaza Heh. This was maybe the most fun one to shoot of 07_07_07 flickr series. Everyday to and from work I walk through this wonderful european-style plaza in the heart of Chicago’s Lincoln Square is a european-style plaza. The plaza’s in-laid bricks are often filled with chalk drawings by children. I brought my own chalk (that I had since I was a kid) and drew on the bricks. It was fun drawing on the bricks. I picked a shadier part of the plaza figuring that would make the scene more interesting. But the shadows ended up obscuring the 777, so I did a good deal of photoshop work on this. Usually I don’t pump up the saturation a ton, but in this case, I went ahead. ——-
——- Seven apples sitting on a fence I’ve got a lot of apples to eat at home now! 😉 Originally I did this shot with a small aperture, so only the front apple was in focus. It was really kinda nice how the other apples all faded back to total fuzziness. However, since this is meant to be about SEVEN apples, and not one apple; the bigger aperture was more appropriate letting all seven apples be clearly visible and in focus. The green foliage in the background was photoshopped in from the the small aperture photo. ——- Three-of-a-kind on 07/07/07 It’s your lucky day! I threw down three playing cards with a 7 onto a park bench with some nicely aged wood. Originally, I had the cards facing up, but they got some weird shadows with the sun. So I flipped them around. The shadows played out nicer and plus having the cards upside-down just gives for a little more interesting composition. ——- 7 on a pair of dice It’s your lucky day again! The HDR process makes photos have such rich saturation and detail. I kinda wish i shot this one with everything in sharp detail. But I also like the soft background, and the soft edges to the dice. This was actually shot on location in Winnemac Park. I just brought a sheet of green felt with me and put it onto the bench. I really wanted the sun lighting, as I’m still figuring out the color balance of the lights in my indoor tabletop setup. ——- Seven peppers sitting in a silver box 7 peppers are all cuddled up in one tight silver tin box. I really like how the reflective qualities of the peppers is also protrayed in the reflective box. This photo had more stuff in the background, but I cropped it out, because it was just distracting to the main subject matter. These peppers have such a lush quality that they definitely should be standing on their own in the photo. As much as I like this photo, it’s almost too lush and loud for me. ——-
The Gidding’s Plaza photo is very perplexxing. Upon my first viewing, I immediately assumed it was a map of some sort with “777” superimposed on it through Photoshop. I immediately dismissed it as such until I read your description of it. The blue shadows look like they are a map’s representation of water. And the brown stones are land. The lines between the stones are the borders. And the photo is sooo sharp. I think this phot would have been better served by having deep, dark areas for the shadows and no oversharpness. Far and away, the bent nails are the most creative way of representing 777. The vibrancy of the red peppers are great and they benefit from being so sharply photographed. However, I would have like to see this photo taken directly above the peppers. I can tell it’s taken from an angle because of the angle of the tin can. You probably wanted to so some representation of the tin. I think that could have been achieved by the round edge of the tin seen when looking straight down at the tin.