Hunger
by JPR

Comment:
Oh, yes. Again.

Red fox
by puzzled

Comment:
I love unfortunate weirdness ... it's the best kind!

Message edited by author 2005-10-10 03:08:02.

Caged
by marklovell

Comment:
Hi Mark, and greetings from the Critique Club!
Well I have an advantage over all the commentors below in that I know (because of your comments) that the softness is really not poor focus, it's just miniscule and unavoidable subject movement during such a long exposure. The idea is impressive ... the image conveys exactly what I imagine you intended; a kind of "trapped in a high-tech world" feeling. The creation of a virtual cage using laser light is a clever device for that theme. The soft 'focus', the limited tonal range, the restricted colour palette and the flat facial expression of the subject all add to the impersonal, 'futuristic identity card' character of the portrait. Not a photograph that will appeal to all, but it is undeniably an original and bold entry in this challenge.
Best wishes
Paul Martin

First Catch
by Fitzie

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!
Well, it may be a candid (see below), but it's a 'posed' candid, so that makes it a portrait too, as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, it's your first submission here, so who cares about semantics? It is certainly more than just a 'snapshot', and has some quite impressive elements to it. The most important of these is the fact that you have really captured the wonderful ambivalence of this moment ... he's clearly proud of the fish but remains unprepared to abandon his misgivings about handling it! All of us who've ever caught a fish at his age remember that moment and that feeling so well. And your image is technically proficient; lighting, focus, and all that guff ... it has a pleasing natural feel to it. The pattern of the shadows actually adds to the impact, in my view. It directs our attention to the gloved fish. As for the cluster of legs in the top right corner, yes they may be a distraction, but if the cost of recomposing to exclude them was to miss the honest emotion of this once-in-a-lifetime moment (for the boy), then you made the right choice ... the photographer's choice ... carpe diem!
Best wishes,
Paul Martin

Again With The Camera!?!
by AzCKelly

Comment:
Hi Cindy & greetings from the Critique Club.
I'm not going to just repeat the things the other commentors said (below). It's all good advice, and they all recognised that the potential of this image was not fully realised due to a few aspects of technique. Perhaps the most constructive and immediately practical advice overall came from emorgan49. She knows what she's talking about, so if any of her advice was unclear to you, don't hesitate to send her a PM.
Now, as I have nothing new to offer you on this image, I looked instead at all the other photos in your portfolio. You have a nice eye for recognising the beauty of your spectacular surroundings in Arizona (and a bit of Mexico). It is especially good to see that you are trying a range of subjects and styles. Keep doing that ... it's really the best way to learn. By the way; many of your titles are very clever ... they indicate that you have a finely-developed understanding of what you're seeing in your subjects and what it might mean. And that's important ... having vision is at least as important as having great technique, and it's certainly harder to come by! You can have both.
Final advice: Much of your work (including this portrait) could have been strengthened by some simple post-processing techniques. Even very simple processing software such as probably came with your camera can do a lot. There's a forum thread just started up on basic post-processing, mentored by Bear_Music. It would be a good place to learn about things like tonal levels, contrast adjustment, sharpening, colour adjustment, etc. Best wishes,
Paul Martin

Staircase Descending to Fish Pond
by Keith Maniac

Comment:

Originally posted by ubique: Hey Chris - sorry for all the bizarre duplications ... I'd been trying unsuccessfully to post when the site was acting up, and didn't realise all my attempts were being queued up like that. Hopefully someone (D&L?) might rescue me & delete all the superfluous edited posts below. P.

Done - thanks to whoever removed them!

Staircase Descending to Fish Pond
by Keith Maniac

Comment:
Hey Chris - sorry for all the bizarre duplications ... I'd been trying unsuccessfully to post when the site was acting up, and didn't realise all my attempts were being queued up like that. Hopefully someone (D&L?) might rescue me & delete all the superfluous edited posts below. P.

Staircase Descending to Fish Pond
by Keith Maniac

Comment:
Oh no, not you again? That's twice in a month, Chris. Voters here must be doing an awful lot of late night drinking.
It's brilliant. Truly one of the best images on the site, and a great addition to your portfolio. It's also a welcome relief (and surprise) to see such a cerebral work score so well. I didn't comment during voting because I didn't vote, or even look. 536 entries!
The composition is terrific ... hints of MC Escher, but with a whiff of zen! The white fish is a master stroke ... how you got the little bugger to hold perfect position right there is beyond me. Nails?
Probably the most impressive aspect is the crop ... I know that awesome little lens screwed down to 10mm made it possible, but the crop is nevertheless absolutely audacious and a great tribute to your vision. There! Enough sycophancy ... I'm off for a late night drink.

One Branch To Bind Them All
by Jaimeson

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!
Not everyone understood this bit of sharp social commentary, but I'm sure you had expected that.
You are taking the position that availability of abundant power both serves and enslaves us, in much the same way as does the One Ring alluded to in your title. And you use the ubiquitious power pole as a visual symbol of the extent to which this technology inevitably intrudes into our lives; it even dominates your view from your own home!
I therefore join those few voters who did recognise and applaud your cerebral approach to the challenge ... it's creative and original. And I suppose one could say there's a 'Branch" theme in the image, even without the title.
Some commentators said the border sucks, or they weren't totally impressed with some other technical aspect of the image. They're probably right, too ... the border does seem pointless, and the image is harsh and unlovely (I know; it's deliberately so).
Finally there's the larger group of people who didn't bother to comment at all, including me; just gave you a 4 or 5 and moved on. Why? I guess because your image is easy to dismiss without thought .. sort of "Power pole? Yeah, yeah, so what?"
So, finally we get to the point of the critique: Are you justified in submitting an unlovely image because you're making a deeper point, an artistic point? Yep. Is it therefore good photography? Yep. Is it going to appeal to lots of voters here? Nope.
Alas, I haven't taught you anything you didn't already know. However, keep doing what you do, Jaime!
Cheers,
Paul Martin

Thinking
by andrim

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club, Andri.
There's no doubt that you have produced a high contrast image, even though that was not your intention when actually shooting it. So I think there are two other aspects of the image to discuss.
First, the centred composition. As you predicted in your comments above, some voters did not like the centering and some did. My view is that slavishly following the 'rule of thirds' is just like slavishly following any other rule ... it's boring and it kills originality (I can't help thinking of your strange but undeniably original fellow Icelander; Bjork). However, the rule of thirds does work, so if you are going to depart from it, there should be a good reason. And in this case I think you have one; the two almost identical windows, with their similar reflections, make an unusual and interesting bracket around your model.
And that leads to the second discussion point; interest. The model is doing nothing in this shot. She's just squatting and looking off to the side in a vaguely distracted and passive manner. She's pretty, but that in itself isn't enough to create a high level of interest for the viewer. So if the subject doesn't stimulate the viewer's imagination, curiosity or emotions, then something else has to. Which is why I think you were right to use the more challenging centred composition ... it establishes something for the viewer to think about, even if it's just to consider how the windows and the subject together form a face shape. Not much to occupy the mind, but it is something.
My conclusion is that this is an interesting image only because of its odd composition. Like you, I kind of like it, but as I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Thyri, the image is not an especially memorable one for me.
Cheers,
Paul Martin