As I mentioned somewhere, I have a specific plan when I'm picking pictures for CDM, although I'll often have a subliminal theme to them just cause I'm curious to see if it infiltrates the story at all (and to date, they haven't). When I'm writing the only thing that really throws me (for good or bad) is when some element is so concrete that it defines some story element (setting, or time period, or something). The author is always free to stretch the elements as far as they want, but it's hard especially for less experienced contestants to feel comfortable doing that.
But out of what you've posted this page:
1. The dead duck. It strikes a nice blend between the mundane and the bizarre, and while the duck is an ex-duck, the potential for describing how it came to be that way is a good CDM hook.
2. The dwarf-porn. Sufficient ambguity to provide multiple ways it can be worked into the story, but still concrete. As with the dead duck, while nothing is happening, the 'how do I get there' aspect for the writier is good.
3. The Jane Jetson (post 119, #4). It kinda pushes things in a sci-fi direction, but there are so many potential uses I think it could result in some very interesting and fun stories. It's also one of those pics that's a good differentiator where one contestant might use it as a throwaway, but another could come up with a really innovative idea.
4. The femme-fatale (post 119, #5). I *love* this piece. I wish (nudge, nudge) I had a better-framed one suitable for desktop background. As with the Jane Jetson pic, it kinda suggests a genre (the hard-boiled one we seem to see a lot of) but dammit the picture is wonderful, and the odds are someone would have written a detective story anyway.
5. 119#2 (the child at the workbench) is a little too ambiguous, for me anyway. It's mundane enough that a writer could drop it most anywhere and its missing anything to really sink the creative teeth into.
6. 119#6 is the opposite. It pretty much guarantees at least one element of the story. I'd be afraid if I used that picture that it would end up with two similar stories, and I hate that. Not that it's ever really happened, but I wouldn't want to be first.
7. The aquatic ferret is neat. It provides a setting element that might be a little tricky to work in without dictating the whole story, the presence of the beastie needs to be worked in in a believeable manner, and the treasure chest provides a good hook. This would make a really good CDM picture.
I don't think I would have found any impossible to write with, although I'd have been annoyed to get the one with the two half-naked men tihs last time around -- I got enough gender-issue-oriented pics to exhaust that topic for me for some time.
The one thing I do find with a lot of your pictures, Sialia, is that the darkness and lack of contrast render some of them (IMO) difficult to work with. It doesn't detract from them from an artistic standpoint, but it can make things hard (for the wrong reasons) for the contest. For CDM I don't mind the bizarre, but I'd rather not end up tweaking the image in photoshop to get a better view. I really appreciate the reworked version you posted for the finals. I don't mind getting dinged on picture use, but I'd feel really stupid if I missed something obvious because I looked at the pics on my laptop.
You wouldn't happen to have something as convincing for upgrading the rest of the system?
