Friday, August 17, 2007

Pictures of the Week: Aug. 11-17

This was a tough week to edit Pictures of the Week. There were just too many compelling photographs. Usually we wind up with about a dozen images, give or take one or two. This week I think we've set some sort of record: 17 photos in the gallery in all. Each one of them is a compelling visual.

From the whimsical images of the kite surfer or the county fair ride or the beluga whale swimming with her newborn calf to the tragically compelling and heart-wrenching photos of the victim in the Peruvian earthquake, the emotional embrace of relatives of Utah miners, and the photo of the U.S. Marines during an interment ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, this week's gallery is chock full of images that will give you pause. Each picture has an interesting story behind it.

Check out the Pictures of the Week gallery and leave your comments here. And when you go to the gallery, don't forget to cast your vote for the image you think is most compelling.

- Gary

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gary,  Please tell me why you ask members to bother to vote for "Picture of the Week" and contine to have the same winning picture up week after week?  That picture of the squirrel in the tree has been up as the winner for continuous weeks.  If we bother to vote, you should bother to change "last week's winner".

Anonymous said...

Hi Bobbi - Sorry for any confusion. If you click on the "Pictures of the Week" link in this blog, it will take you to the weekly photo gallery. In the caption field of every photo, you'll see a "Vote for best photo" link, which should take you directly to this polls form so you can vote: http://webcenter.polls.aol.com/poll?view=119138&pollId=119236&channel=aol_us_photos

That link changes every week. That "Pictures of the Week" area is where we collect the top photos from around the world, which are filed by photojournalists covering the globe. When you vote for a photo in that area, you'll see instantly the breakdown of voting by percentage of how each picture is ranked relative to all the others in the gallery.

I think I see what you're saying, though, which is in another area under AOL Visions that is dedicated to AOL users who send in their personal photography. That area is here: http://memberpictures.aol.com/ (you also can click on the "Main" tab at the top of our "Pictures of the Week" photo gallery to get there).

Those photos are sent in weekly by users of AOL and are put into a gallery that's called "Picture of the Week" -- "picture," not "pictures." It's kind of a subtle distinction and one that I think confuses people. I see the photo of the squirrel you're referring to, but if you look to the left of that photo, you'll see the current week's poll for the photos in that area. (Photos include the peacock, lightning clouds, rose hips, butterfly, etc.) If you highlight the button to the left of one of those thumbnail photos in the poll area, then use the scroll bar to scroll down and click the "Vote" button, you'll enter a vote for this current week's photos.

Then next week after all the votes have been tallied, the winning photo will be posted in the spot where you see the squirrel now. Hope I've explained it well enough and haven't confused you or anyone else.

- Gary

Anonymous said...

I agree with the previous comments that it is hard to locate the page for which I receive a weekly AOL reminder to vote....and there's no link to the page in the reminder, how dumb is that!  There are weeks when I can google "AOL member photos of the week" and get right to it.  There are other weeks when nothing I do will take me to the page with shots from regular ole members - not photo journalists.  After literally years of trying to enjoy these local, personal, average joe photos, I've just canceled my "reminder" from AOL and hope I soon forget to "enjoy" this weekly past time.  
Jan in VA

Anonymous said...

Hi Jan -- We've made some changes recently, and I think this will be less confusing. For "regular ole members - not photojournalists" photos, please go to this link: http://peopleconnection.aol.com/vote-for-your-favorite-pictures.

It will take you directly to the kind of photos you mentioned. That particular group of photos changes out weekly. Also on that page, you'll find other photos that AOL users have submitted and which are collected into a variety of different photo galleries. Hope you enjoy it.

Thanks.