Thinker
by LevT

Comment:
This is wonderful.

in the square room
by arngrimur

Comment:


Awarded for the December 2010 Free Study.

High Diagonal
by androgeus

Comment:
This is very nicely made.

A Hazy Shade of Winter
by vawendy

Comment:
I love the restraint you have shown with your edit and your inclusion of the negative space above the sun. An 8 from me.

Spooked City Moans
by jdannels

Comment:
I'm going through the entries, stopping at those images I feel have had the benefit of an unconventional eye and dwelling a little longer to try to see and appreciate what you saw. This is one of those images.

Positives: The mast, the tree, the spire - all grounded but aspiring for the sky. Above, the bird, free and ungrounded, makes a wonderful connection between the domains of earth and sky.

The clouds are also fundamental to the image - the dark band appearing as a barrier and, as if in abeyance, the upper part of the tree bends, seemingly unable to breach this ceiling so constructed.

Critical stuff: Nothing really.

Overall: I might have read a little too much into the image but it certainly serves to tell a fine story. Lovely work and certainly one that I underestimated on earlier passes.

A Moment in Time
by Alicia

Comment:
Guessing keenon. Lovely picture; Not sure it is strictly contre-jour but it matters not a jot to me.

the lighthouse
by tate

Comment:
Glad to see this take the blue. Excellent image with a nice back story.

Shell Vortex!
by grgkopanas

Comment:
OK - I'm going out on a limb here and letting you know that I scored this a '1'. Only fair to let you know why.

First of all I should say that I use the full scale and that I am but one voter with my own expectations and 'luggage'.

I should begin by admitting my prejudices - I'm not a fan of image of objects; I can be persuaded if they are exquisitely executed like much of h2's work but otherwise it is always going to be a hard sell to me.

Here although, the object is pretty - it is really difficult to bring something to the table as a photographer. Macro technique limits the choices you have with the depth of field and with the flat lighting and vanilla processing, it doesn't communicate a sense of you having made any artistic choices.

For me, as a viewer, I like to see some photographic intent, some artistic license - I think that it what is lacking with this image. I hope that makes sense and offers some rationale for a '1' score.

Coming back to add to this. I should've also said that this is of course technically competent; the fact that it is a mismatch for my expectations shouldn't be enough of a reason for me to dish out a 1. Bumping it a bit.

Girl
by zeuszen

Comment:
I would never have tagged this as one of yours. I like its subtlety though.

tentative transformation
by posthumous

Comment:
I'm going through the entries, stopping at those images I feel have had the benefit of an unconventional eye and dwelling a little longer to try to see and appreciate what you saw. This is one of those images.

Positives: There are many interesting textures here, but what fascinates is trying to working out how each of the interfaces relate to one another in three dimensions. I suspect we are looking at a object (a sleeper?) that is partially submerged in water; that the water has frozen and now carries some textures (scratches and cracks) of its own. It is difficult to tell though. Your contrast handling and choice of a monochrome presentation ensures that we don't get as much visual information as we might like to work it all out. In that sense the photographic choices you have made have a profound effect on the viewing experience.

I think your choice of aspect ratio works really well and I like how my eye is drawn up to the upper left corner where is meets emptiness and darkness. That seems fitting given the fate of the sleeper. I feel I should comment on the leaf, but it feels irrelevant - I think that is a good thing.

Critical stuff: Not much to say here - perhaps the contrast has made the bottom right corner a bit 'crunchy' for my taste, I much prefer the upper 2/3 of the image.

Overall: A well put together, thoughtful image.