"Sign of a Dulled Existence"
by Nowhere_Man

Comment:
Wonderful shot. The angling of the road-sign bothers me a touch (a very small touch, I should add) - had I taken it, I'd have tried to get a sqauer-on view, to lose the angle of the other arm of the sign at least, and to give a more regular shape to the two visible arms: in a composition this oddly geomatric, that distortion becomes quite important I think. 9

Rue du Champ-de-Mars
by mariomel

Comment:
Very very beautiful shot - your control of this exposure is so assured - the over-exposing of the lateral planes here gives an Escher-like optical illusion if one looks for too long - you lose the ability to see the true depth of the image in a confusion of different planes. Only slight draw-back is that it's more about the wall than the sign, but that's a minor point in such a good shot. 9

Desert Moonlight
by dsidwell

Comment:
David - congratulations on both this shot and that score - it wasn't until I was browsing the highest rated shots page that I noticed it was both yours and had scored so very highly. Congrats again.

Along the peer
by jjbeguin

Comment:
Your work is becoming instantly recognisable M. Beguin. No bad thing, either. Reflections bottom frame are fabulous, the parallel poses of the swans add balance, just sufficiently disturbed by their not being mirror images of one another, quite. There's an odd effect given by the upper-two-thirds composition, similar to your point of view shot, where the lower part of frame, those reflections, almost seem to belong ot another image entirely.

A radio produceer I know once told me that you should always try to have at least two things going on in anything you produce ... this is just more proof of that, I suppose.


PS. This better had be a JJ photo, after all that :-)

the pelican
by grigrigirl

Comment:
Wonderfully crazy shot. Just perhaps a touch too confusing and odd, especially in this framing - I think more negative space would give the shapes more room to 'breathe' if you understand me - this way, it gives the impression of being caged, of being forced into that peculiar pose, and I think that takes away some of the impact of the shot.

Image from Mars
by pitsaman

Comment:
Was going to write nonsense about how no-one's been to Mars yet, but I guess this is part of some confectionary. Clever (willing to bet too clever for most here). Just think your organisation of those shapes within the frame is oddly unsatisfactory - but it remains a neat shot. Perhaps Image of Mars would be a more honest title?

The Highland Cow (Scotland`s hardy breed)
by geewhy

Comment:
Almost a classic, this. If it weren't quite so obvious only ... still scores well for me. There's a slight lack of definition however - a scattery kind of pixelation (almost) to the hair, almost an impressionistic thing rather than a great problem. 8

Simple Pleasures
by moodville

Comment:
Ideal entry, and a great natural candid. Anthropomophic title bothers me a touch, and oh to be able to burn those eyes a little. Great moment of light though. I'll be very surprised if this doesn't ribbon.

Overrun by Progress
by Konador

Comment:
Horribly familiar, but I can't place it. Fabulous juxtaposition, great message, ideal for the challenge. Can't help but wonder if compositionally you could have given the impression of the new road dominating the house a bit more had you shot from a lower angle - perhaps it's just the white of the house, but it doesn't seeem over-shadowed by the bridge enough ... but also, perhaps there's a message of surviving adversity here too. 9

Heartland Morning
by cshep

Comment:
An almost great shot - just that area of over-bright distortion top left, which is a shame, but hopefully won't hurt your votes too much. Without that, I think greater contrast would help bring out the interruption of rhythm caused by the cow more, but I guess that bright area prevents that. 8