Flood Tide at Twilight
by Bear_Music

Comment:
This rises way above all the run-of-the-mill shots of "misty" water because of the incorporation of the foreground grasses/rushes ... presented here as a recognisable but irreconcilable blend of movement and location. It's the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle applied to vegetation! So you have used the long exposure to actually say something, rather than just to effect a tedious photographic trick. Bravo! Plus it's a rather lovely landscape. 9.

Psychogenic Incorporeality
by blackenedwhite

Comment:
Terrific. It's really about what the title says it's about. And it has some wonderful details to add to the mood of uncertainty, disquiet and ambiguity; the Tuna shirt, the shoes set aside, the light fitting like a transporter beam, the crude wiring box, and most of all the cell-like room in which this psychological autopsy takes place. Also admirable is the fact that the effect of the long exposure is subtle and yet important to the meaning of the photograph (in most other entries it's the opposite; overpowering and yet pointless). 10.

In A NY Half-Minute
by SherwinJames

Comment:
The exposure allows the people to exert varying degrees of presence on the scene, and that's really the making of the story here ... it's as if this is a play (by Neil Simon, I suppose) or a movie (Woody Allen), in which there are major roles, supporting roles and bit parts. And the charm of it is that the contribution to the story is not proportional to the size of the part; several of the fleeting minor players actually have much more to say than some of those who remain on stage throughout but offer us nothing memorable. That's why the story had to be set in NY and not in LA, where this kind of witty inversion of status would not be tolerated - by the performers or by the audience. 10.

Legacy
by dahkota

Comment:
Arrrrrgh! You've gone & got a ribbon! That's ruined everything; now I can't love you any more.
Ok, just kidding. Congratulations. I'll still be taking you seriously in spite of this popular acclaim.
Just promise me this will be the last time!

Noir
by Aghris

Comment:
Wonderful exploration of the the effect of light, and specifically shadow, on mood. And the mood is unmistakeably Philip Marlowe. A less obvious but still important contributor to the image's success is the fact that several elements are slightly unresolved ... the part-cropped lamp, the dark object encroaching on the top right hand corner, the odd shape at the near edge of the desk, and the irregular little spills of sunlight beneath Marlowe's chair ... all add to the mood of edginess and tension. Terrific props, perfectly deployed (the proof is that they don't look like props at all). 10.

\\\\
by insteps

Comment:
Simple but irresistible. A brilliant bit of observation and a genuinely masterful exposition of light and shadow.
How good is it? I can look only at this detail and yet understand something about the entire building. 10.

behind the wire
by IreneM

Comment:
This is a technically and artistically sublime photograph; it has just enough of everything ... just enough person, just enough shadow, just enough emotion, just enough meaning, and just enough processing. The composition/crop, which at first appears so easy and casual, is actually meticulous and quite brilliant; the viewer is mesmerised and controlled by the lines, the shapes and the irresistible flow of the thing. Plus it's not just a clever compositional exercise; it actually has an editorial point to it. And you've even included a tiny glimpse of something incongruous in the lower right hand corner to give the pedants something to lecture you about. No choice here: 10.

Boiler Room
by tcmartin

Comment:
Beautiful tones and light. Not the most strident use of shadow, but I like it all the more for that restraint. It's the kind of image that invites some fanciful interpretation, in spite of your presumably deliberately prosaic title! It could be about growth, or death, or even life-after-death. Or of course it could just be about the boiler room steps. Whatever, it's a pleasing and thoughtful photograph, not easily understood and so not easily classified and dismissed. 9.

Double Helix
by jdannels

Comment:
Clever. It's perhaps the most witty use of a shadow in this challenge. Genetic pedants might say it's not really a double helix (more of a twin helix) but even they would have to admire the steps treads so convincingly representing the base molecular bonds. Plus a bonus point for including the pair of birds. 8.

Farm Zen
by tonyv

Comment:
Beautifully executed ... the tones and colour are perfect and the overall effect is to suggest something other than what it actually is. I suppose that's more farm abstract than zen, but the suggestion of those raked sand zen gardens is undeniable. 8.