I actually did think of that option, but decided to go into current way. Considering low count of likes so far, this approach may be worth changing for next round - but let's see.
Till the thread catches hold, having you (or anyone) pick the first winner and that winner start the next thread and pick the next winner could work until you get a sufficient vote pool. It will take a bit of time to get people used to the thread. I ran a similar thread on another photo forum for 4 years then passed it off to another person. It's been running every week for 9 years now and pretty much takes care of itself. The first few months it required some tinkering to get the kinks out and get voting figured out, but after that it was, and still is, a fun activity for folks who like PP or want to learn more about it.
About voting - I personally do not support the idea of original image author (OP) selecting next winner singlehandedly.
First - we everywhere emphasize the community aspect of our forum (be the active community small or big, does not matter).
Second - this creates some possibilities to game the system - knowing OP preferences, it is possible to create image specific to OP taste.
I would propose next compromise idea (not for current round of course):
Original image autor may award up to 2½ (two and half) additional points to any image, what he/she likes most.
(I think on current forum state 2½ is about right, having more voters in the future we can increase this number.)
Lots of ways to do it. Any mechanism other than pure voting should only be temporary, kind of like jump starting a car with a weak battery. It is not a permanent fix but only to get things going. My temporary fix till voting stabilized was recruiting a group of 6 members to be the "panel" who voted privately on the weekly winner. We did not have a "like" button on the forum so voting was more onerous. We had a larger pool but the procedure was harder to work out. Anyway, I wish you/us success on this fun activity.
Question to wider public - should we start next round inside current thread or start new one? I personally would suggest new thread - simpler to navigate.
It was close, but finally we have a clear winner here - Fireplace33, completely changing original image context and making it live.
His result is one of such images, which gets better every time when you see it :)
And yes, author (me) had missed such context completely.
As the story is as important as the image itself, then I quote it all:
Congratulations!
Now you have to find image, which creates multiple possibilites of interpretation (I hope it will better than mine). I would suggest to start a new thread (Edit me an image - round 2), copy rules there and attach your new image. Or if you (and/or other users) insist, we may continue in same thread.
We could clarify some rules, esp about voting procedure - what to do, when multpile images have same votes count; can author award some additional points and so on.
Thank you all for presenting your ideas and skills, I have to apologise for not finding better image for your effort.
Few comments about proposed edits.
@finnan, you were the first:) You guessed correctly real colors of scene lighting and accented pinkish colors - very nice!
@DanHasLeftForum, you spotted the golden light of some shop windows and likely based some of your edits on this; I was not even aware of such possibility, but it allowed to create such interesting night-time looking result.
@Fireplace33, your first version was very close to my personal processing (not shown here), I hope in future you may like my processing also :)
@Maoby, you greatly surprised me with your last image - I had never thought that a simple stone pavement could made it as important part of the image; most people (including me) cropped it away immediately as empty and uninteresting area. This was actually one of my favorite edits!
@Greg, you absolutely hit the historical nature of the scene - your version looks like hundred-year postcard. Another favorite for me!
@TomAxford, you were the only one, noted my recommendation to go wild :) I very much like such artistical images - creating art from photos, even when photos are nothing special.
@Fireplace33, you succeeded to shift image focus from old houses to action on the street - again I had not considered such aspect of image, very good catch!
@xpatUSA, good example of methodical processing, resulting in the most truthful image - I kinda recall the scene looking exactly as your result shows.
@minniev, like you said, you advanced Dannos ideas about golden light and managed to produce mythical, film-like and very artistic result.
Just to get some more ideas for next rounds, I attach some of my personal quick edits of the same image. One is suspiciosluy similar to Tom Axford one - but done before he posted his version :) Others are just details, accented differently.
Many thanks for the votes, glad you liked the edit.
I will, as you suggested, start a new thread.
At the moment I'm on a biz trip but starting the long journey home tomorrow morning.
I'll post the new thread on Saturday morning if that is OK with you.
All the best
Trevor