Only in Boston can you be heading North AND South at the same time!
by svital

Comment:
I hate the part on 95 north that is 93 south too.

The Obvious!
by Gracious

Comment:
Why didn't you put this in Humor...oh wait, wrong week.

Drink Milk?
by rj324

Comment:
Exquisite!!! Best of Show!!!!

Got Milk?
by arnit

Comment:
Great!

Got Cookies
by daysez

Comment:
Oooh this is the best of the milk and cookies crowd. This is realyy really nice - could be my favorite of them all.

tired of sex
by andres

Comment:
Hello from the Critique Club. Sorry I am a bit slow. I don't know how to take this photo. I'm not sure what you were thinking when you submitted it since it is your first and only submission. There are several ways I can take it so I am going to write three different reviews.

Review #1 - You are a jerk!
What is THIS? I am a little old lady. Do I really need to look at this? There are kids as well as oldies who submit to and vote on these challenges. There was a discussion of that was appropriate and inappropriate. Several images have been disqualified for blatant sexuality. Is this submitted for it's shock value? If so, go look for attention somewhere else.

Review #2 - This is a joke!
And a pretty funny one too. I find that photographers are a pretty up tight bunch. I think they are always trying to prove to the world that photgraphy is art, that it takes talent. and is not just a cheaters way to paint or draw. On this site people get really worked up about their score and the rules. It is refreshing to see a tongue-in-cheek submission.

Review #3 - This is a serious submission!
Believe it or not, I gave this picture a seven. I don't know the song but I've heard of the band. Didn't they do that Buddy Holly song? I'm tired So tired I'm tired of having sex (so tired) . I imagine loud rock, lots of drums, screaming lyrics and some feedback.. Am I close?

The composition of this photo is very nice. the package and the condom make a strong diagonal and the shadows make a weaker diagonal in the othe direction. nice. I like the upright torn part of the package and it's corresponding shadow. they seem to represent....ummm...you know...uprigtness. The condom is is certainly tired looking. The colors are nice, the three colors balance eachother. The lighting is very good.

Techinically I agree with the commenter who thought that the white balance was off. I also think that the dark values are off. If the contrast was increased slightly do you think the browns and blues would look richer and less washed out? The lighting is very good, as is the focus.

How sad to be tired of sex. And how sad that the condom has become the symbol of sex. Back when I was young and wild and the dinosaurs roamed the earth and HIV didnt, a condom was just the least preferred method of birth control. This picture, with it's title, packs an emotional punch. It represents the ultimate in youth alienation. Yep, this picture looks bored (but not boing).
I'm tired of having sex (so tired)
i'm spread
So thin
I don't know who I am (who I am)

Now for the disclaimer- remember that this review is just the opinion of one (far from expert) person. And sorry for the duplicate review. Just shows how opinions can differ.


Message edited by author 2003-01-20 11:58:18.

Look, I Can Use a Spoon
by karmat

Comment:
Hello - Greetings from the critique club. Funny thing, I usually draw a few pictures at a time so I can mull them over for a day or so. One week I got all train station pictures and this week I have all baby pictures. Good thing I like babies more than I like trains.

First, I have to ask. What is that stuff??? It really doesn't look edible to me!!

Usually, as I look at a picture over and over again, I like it better and better, Unfortunately this is one I like less. It just doesn't have any spark to it. I know your work and I know you can do much better with lighting and composition. This is the same fellow with the sparkle in his eye in the "Spoon Fed" picture so I know that he is much cuter than this.

What's wrong? Okay it's funny...and it's messy..and it's cute. So why isn't it wonderful? Maybe because no one looks happy? A happy baby is absolutely contagious and I don't get that feeling here. I wonder if you added a tiny highlight to his eye if it might make all the difference in the world? Everything seems sort of flat. His expression is flat. The colors are sort of dull. The soft focus, though very well done adds to the dullness.

Your composition is nice at first glance. The hand on the left, balances the kid on the right and the spoon connects the two weighted areas. The hand is great and in it's "thirds" position but the complimentary spot should be the eye, that lack-luster eye. So instead my viewers eye travels down to the ear which is the second most interesting thing in the picture but seems irrrelevent to the story.

Technically (this is my weak point) it is lovely, The soft focus is lovely but seems unsuited for the occasion, it would be nice if he were sleeping or cuddling. I like that the kid is soft and the goo is sharp. Is it too sharp? around his mouth it looks like cement. The use of the uncluttered background in nice. And the choice to leave out any distractions, like tray or bowl or Mom is nice. Would it have looked better in black and white? Maybe the white balance is wrong, maybe that;s why the colors seem so uninteresting.

I'm so sorry to be so harsh because I'm hitting below the belt twice, critisizing your photography AND your baby. Yikes! I should be banned from the site. The problem is that I think you can do much better.

Message edited by author 2003-01-21 11:59:14.

Love Potion #9
by CreativeFlyPhoto

Comment:
oh he was correct - It was black! I just remembered the words - Oh but red is sooo much better. Red for love, right?

lalalalla and looked like India Ink
I held my nose
I closed my eyes
I took a drink

Love Potion #9
by CreativeFlyPhoto

Comment:
Hello from the Critique Club -

This is a nice phote and a very clever submission to the challenge (great song too). Technically it is beautiful. The focus is perfect, the lighting is perfect. I especially like the lighting. I love the way the light shines through the potion onto the table, I love the little square it makes. I like the way the semi circle of light and shadow in the background mirrors the semi circles of the bottle. I like the sliver of light on the bottle top.

The bottle itself and the label and the flowers are adorable. Please tell me that is your parents in the picture..grandparents? The scene is carefully arranged with no distracting elements. Very nice. Like a magazine add.

However something is wrong. What is it? Well, the colors are slightly washed out I think it is the blacks that are the problem. Could the darks be a hair darker? And perhaps the composition is just too stages and too simple to be stiking. The bottle is in the center. Too centered? the flowers are in the rule of thirds spot. good. Why does the bottle look crowded? Maybe simply switching to portrait view instead of landscape - then the flowers would be crowded but the bottle could have some more room.

Great picture! Careful set up! Terrific lighting! Don't drink that stuff all in one gulp!



Please remember that this is just one persons opinion, mine and I am FAR from an expert here.

Message edited by author 2003-01-18 15:46:43.

Megan at the Train Station
by lisae

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club- Here is my (FAR from expert) opinion on your travel picture.

I am at a loss how to "critique" a perfect picture. Critique implies being critical or offering suggestions for improvement. So I will just blab a bit on why I like this photo so much. Don't expect this to be too organized.

First, this is a compositional masterpiece. There are three conflicting parts and each is distinctly diferent visually also. First is the Goth Girl, very very modern and very very out of place. She is all black, the darkest and most "contrasty" thing in the image. Nicely placed on the rules of thirds line. Second there is the modern boring industrial world represented by the squared containers in the background. These are all oriented the other way, laying down , in opposition to the upright girl. They are all a monotone monotonous lower contrast grey tone. Third is the old fashioned train station represented nicely by the filligree above the columns.

Now look at the lines - Perfect. You have the diagonals leading off into the distance, That's where the viewers eye finally travels off too. But the contrary girl looks defiantly in the other direction. The lines of the boxes are all horisontal. The girl is slouchy and bent, the only not straight line in the picture. The negative shapes that are formed by the columns and the roof and the platform are lovley as the diminish in size to the distance. The front post which so nicely divides the picture emphasizes the sense of division as a whole, those three elements of time which do not fi together.

Techincally I can't add anything. the focus and exposure are perfect and both were clearly difficult to achieve. This is an indoor/outdoor exposure, both. The staion is dark but not to dark, the backgroud is bright but not too bright. The foreground (post) midground (girl and station) and the background (containers and even some rural looking scenary) and all in perfect focus. It is sharp without a hard edge, soft without any blur. Black and white was a good choice. Who needs color when the message is so simple.

Emothionally the picture is STUNNING. The alienation of youth, no where to fit in this mundane world. The containerised goods represent the conforming society, row housing, packaged breakfast cereals, bland TV shows, it's all there in those grey boxes. Ms. Goth is too out of place even to protest. She just looks bored and disgusted and trapped. Here she is on an old fashioned train platform, itself a symbol of another age that doesn't fit. Trains? who even thinks about trains in this world of planes and cars? Certainly no one has remodeled that train station in 75 years. Hey are there even any trains running that could take her out? Doesn't look like it. maybe she is waiting for nothing. Nothing here either but hills and more hills. The dilemna of the youth "I don't want to stay here, I don't want to go back and I don't want to move forward". It's amazing that we, any of us, grow up.

Ummmm...maybe, before you hang this in a gallery you could edit out that bright spot behind the front pillar. and send me an invitation to the show!

Message edited by author 2003-01-17 10:46:23.