Jim,
noticed my image isn't there - wondering if there was a
problem in email or something and you didn't receive it?

Apologies, but photo not ready until a few minutes ago.  Sent.

Paul Furman - industrial moire
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216627/original
My solution to the mandate was just a physical gag, an optical illusion
type interaction between foreground and background. The focal plane is
tilted to emphasize depth.
Here's a closer look (click for full pixel crops):
http://edgehill.net/California/Bay-Area/San-Francisco/gritty/5-20-08-warm-cove/f
ull-set

Walter Banks - stump in forest
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216628/original
The background is the subject and the foreground is the background, right?

Bowser - track meet
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216629/original
Here the subject is the background also but focus is reversed perhaps,
unless this is a catalog ad for that barricade device?

Bret Douglas - military cemetery with flags
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216630/original
What I see here is lines and circles/curves... the mostly linear rows of
headstones fading back to the OOF area in back where each stone is a
blur circle. The rows are curving over the hills and the top of each
stone is curved. Nice contrast and tie-in.

Mark Thomas - wet metal rack and rope?
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216631/original
OK I don't get it (Title: No Pegs Today.. ) but nice image! I guess it's
mostly a study in layers of lines at different angles.

Alan Dublin - looking into room past light switch
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216632/original
Something unsettling about this. It has the same flip between subject &
background with focus as Walter & Bowser.

Dudley Hanks - apple in glass
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216633/large
Cool! I don't know what I'm looking at though :-) Not so sharp but
beautiful lighting.

Jim Kramer - tie display in store?
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216634/original
Ha! Hmm, well I don't understand what this is either but
...
it's got ties in it.

Paul Campbell - old cathedral passages
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98228327/large
The foreground and background are repeated, the subject is the overall
scene not one or the other, or perhaps the interior ceiling of the first
passage.

Alan Browne - 4 dollar gallon of gas with SUV
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98270410/original
Crystal clear connection here.

Paul
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216627/
Like Paul,I found a few of these images unsettling - including his (O:.
 At first I thought lensbaby?  There are some weird oof effects here
that suggest something beyond a tilted focal plane, but whatever.  I
thought maybe the tie in was the repeating shapes - I reckon what would
have made this is matching graffiti on the building... (you don't carry
a spray pack with you, Paul?)

Walter
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216628/
I like this, but find the d-o-f and focus choice oddly disturbing - it
just looks weird, and I'm not sure if it is the slightly too high
central composition, the fact that you are not quite sure if the stump
ends or continues upwards obscured...  I want to keep looking at it, so
it works.

Bowser
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216629/
Nicely done, but I wonder if it would have been better with a lower
viewpoint to show more of the crouching runner, or perhaps shot from
further back to include a second or third set of hurdles, but then you
might have lost the effect of the runners..  It does look like an ad for
the hurdle manufacturer.  (and extra points for being another who careth
not for standard aspect ratios)

Bret
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216630/
While I generally cringe at anything patriotic, I like this image a lot.
 Feels very balanced and nicely moody.

Mark
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216631/
It's just some clothesline on a rainy day, with a wood fence background.
  Not entirely happy with the composition, and it wasn't very inspired.

Alan
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216632/
Nice work and good tie in, but I would have liked to see something more
intriguing/less cluttered in the items in the back room - it just looks
like the sorta mess I see at my place every day... But maybe that's what
makes it real.

Dudley
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216633/
Interesting composition and effective use of shapes to make the eye go
round...  But I think something needs to be more sharply in focus and
perhaps some slightly more contrasty lighting, maybe late afternoon
sunlight through the glass?

Jim
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216634/
Well, it meets the mandate...  I am puzzling over this to work out what
the heck it is - looks like a scanner/printer/copier or similar into
which the tie is being dangerously fed!  Judging by the scratches, it
has seen a few days hard work..

Paul
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98228327/
Very apt old-world b&w treatment, nice use of repeating shapes.  I find
this image very restful...

Alan
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98270410/
Hmm.  I think you crossed the line!  You know how we criticise Helen for
tugging at heart-strings - well, here you have torn at our wallets just
to get a reaction, and i refuse to be drawn!!  I just don't want to
think about it, although I can say - serves you right for owning a
gas-guzzler.

Doug
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98281147/
A couple of nice tie-ins, namely the fog/mist and the water tower, and
the repeating shapes..  Not too sure about the tight cropping, but
otherwise the treatment and resulting effect is very good.

Well done, participants!

Paul
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216627/
I like the lighting/colouring here - the warm tones, the
repeating patterns etc. The tie in is between the steel
trailers and steel shed? The front trailer in focus at the
bottom and out at the top is a wierd effect though.

Walter
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216628/
I wonder if it wouldn't have worked better with a smaller
aperture to bring a bit more of the foreground in focus, or
alternatively opened up more to get the leaves properly out
of focus. Quite nice though. I like the way the stump is
framed by the leaves. I maybe would have shot a little lower
to get the top of the stump clear of the leaves framing it
at the top.

Bowser
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216629/
Very nicely done, and probably my favorite of the shoot-in.

Bret
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216630/
Nicely done - personally I would have tried to make the
front tombstone be completely in the shot.

Mark
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216631/
An interesting take on the mandate. Dunno about the rope
hanging over it, or the angle the lines are at though. With
the lines parallel I think it would have made a more
interesting shot playing on the repeating patterns.

Alan
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216632/
I like the tie between the switch and the light, but agree
with mark that the room looks a bit dull. Perhaps if it was
stark, or alternatively with some other interesting subject
in there.

Dudley
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216633/
I quite like this one. It's one of those intriguing things
that we see every day, but don't normally see it like that.

Jim
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98216634/
Tie-In ... the shredder. Well it's the most literal
interpretation of the mandate. Bonus points for being the
only one to have a completely different interpretation.
Possibly would have worked better if the blades were in
clearer focus, but that would involve re-writing the laws of
physics to still have the tie recognisable.

Paul
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98228327/
Very nice use of the repeating shapes, and then another
building with the same arches visible in the distant
background. Long Live HP5!

Alan
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98270410/
Hmmm... That container looks to be about a gallon. If you
can fill it with those $4 you have nothing to complain
about. When you're paying $1.60/litre ($6/US gallon, $7 for
a real gallon), then you can complain! Back to the photo, I
like the tie-in between the fuel container and the gas
guzzler in the background. It looks like one of those corny
shots that you see in the newspaper when they do a story on
rising petrol prices.

Doug
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/98281147/
All I see when I look at that image is the noise!! For
pretty much the whole month my DSLR has been in dry dock
getting it's sensor and focus realigned, so the duties fell
to my S2IS, which had also been in repair, but came back
just in time for the last weekend of the shoot-in. (I did
consider the use of film for this shoot-in, but was in hope
that the DSLR would be back in time, until I'd left it too
late).

So roll up to the last weekend of the shoot-in, with the
intent of heading out to a nearby farm to get a shot of hay
bales in front of a freshly cut field. But I woke up on the
morning of my RDO to rain, fog, and 40 knot winds!!! Racked
my brain for an alternative and decided on the water tower.

This shot was actually pretty tricky to take - due to the
pelting rain and driving winds, as soon as the camera was
taken out it would get covered in water, so I had to take
the shot very quickly or raindrops on the lens would spoil
the shot. Using some type of shield was out of the question
because the rain was blowing from the direction of the
subject. Anyone who has ever used an S2IS would know that
they don't focus or measure exposure quickly, so by the time
it locked focus or measured the light it already had
raindrops over the lens. Unfortunately manual focus is too
innaccurate on this camera so I couldn't use that as an
alternative. Took many attempts before I got a shot that
wasn't spoiled with raindrops. Using a different angle was
out of the question because then it was blocked too much by
trees, cars, buildings etc. I did attempt going in very
close so that it shielded me, but the lens on the S2 doesn't
go wide enough for me to do that.

Some of my alternative attempts included taking a photo of
the rain on the car window against the foggy background but
it wasn't really clear what the background was. I also
attempted to use the S2's super-macro mode to take a photo
of the raindrops on its lens! but again the background was
too out of focus.