Inspiration Lake
by jaysonmc

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 second landscape I've included in this month's comment series (it was nearly three). You've created a special mood here - I feel like I'm looking at an illustration in an old book (probably a C.S. Lewis novel), the colour and tones are magnificently handled; the sense of a light mist creates much atmosphere and the clarity of the rocks on the other side of the water is superb, as is the appearance of the foreground subsurface rocks.

Critical stuff: Nope

Overall: A magnificent landscape image. I really hope this does well.

Funnel Cakes
by dgodard

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: Slightly surreal and oddly presented. A quirky subject with quirky tones - it has created its own light as if it is emanating light. A function of curves manipulation I suspect but an interesting processing choice.

Critical stuff: If I'm honest, I don't like it much - I think it has the appearance of something that has been over-pushed.

Overall: Interesting but not optimised in my view. I wish it well though. I'll be interested to read the comments of others.

Waiting for Help
by bdshort

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: A brave image to confront us with for sure. The world is cruel and we are crueller. Anybody feeling uncomfortable about this image needs to wake up and reflect. You are brave too - you will have struggled with a sense of guilt and of notions of exploitation but that's the cost of creating journalism - which this most certainly is. Photographically, it is highly competent but of course that doesn't really matter.

Critical stuff: Most of the above.

Overall: Thank you for showing, thank you for reminding, thank you for offering a sense of perspective, thank you for not sticking your head in the sand and moving on.

one man's business
by dougi555

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: Stupendous contrast, utterly fabulous composition and a cracking walking figure. What an exception capture. The sense of perspective is wonderful and I can't remember the last time I saw such good use of negative space. The tones and clarity of the lit areas of the image are perfect.

Critical stuff: Absolutely not.

Overall: 10 and fave. I really, really, really like this.

acquaintance
by jmritz

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: Deliberately low fidelity in a way that come across as gratuitous. Sounds like a negative comment but I think it demonstrates a degree of confidence in the presentation - like a (planned) experiment that worked perfectly. The sense of indoorness is palpable yet neither of the characters seem to fit the scene. There is tension that emerges from that.

Critical stuff: All of the above!

Overall: A double-edged sword of an image. Nothing wrong with that.

To kill the spirit
by HighNooner

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: This is extraordinarily contrived - I like that, it's deliberative and conceptual and doesn't pretend to be anything else. There is careful placement of everything which detracts from notions of authenticity - the result is almost a parody of a ritual - I like that too. You have created art that is separate from the subject but emerges as a consequence of it. That's quite clever I think.

Critical stuff: No, I daren't touch a thing.

Overall: Interesting and brave.

Compassion
by PeterC

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: This is a real mixture of things - the demeanour of the woman is at odds with the expression of the man and the bright sunlight is at odds with the padded chair top right. And then there's the dog... It's like one of those images you might be given to write a story about - there is such a diversity of possible interpretations.

Critical stuff: Those highlights are too harsh for me.

Overall: I do (quite) like it but for me, it hasn't allowed my brain to create enough coherence for it to resonate with my sensibilities!

oh,what to create on this unseemly little surface
by cutout

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: Now, this IS a strange one. Always good. I like how implicit but nonetheless significant the high window out of shot to the left is. That articulation with the world outside helps to place the viewer in the room and create a small amount of claustrophobia. When we look around the room, we only get a partial sense of its purpose - a surface, a floodlight, some picture frames.... like I'm in a room to be observed, my actions to be analysed for insight into my mind...

Critical: Not really - I do wonder whether the grain is gratuitous and whether a cleaner image would have made the room seem more authentic and thus more claustrophobic.

Overall: It won't be many people's cup of tea, but I find it to be effective.

and the oysters were delicious
by jjbeguin

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: What a perspective! The scene shunned in favour of a point of view. There is a world of difference in those two things and by making that choice you bring the image alive - we are transported. The individual elements hang together so week, each contributed a unique texture and layer - the depth so created reinforces the sense of being there. I particularly like the tape. Great title too - echos the personal experience of that time and place.

Critical stuff: Nope

Overall: An image that distinguishes itself from others that might have been. In a way, that's the simple art of a great photo.

three hung ten
by bspurgeon

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: I wonder if this is one of Ben's - it could be. Great minimalism and grain with a fine sense of movement. The suggestion of surfboard and leg pull it back from the brink of reality and grounds it fully in the real world. By doing so, it reminds us that the way we see the world is but a version of many possible truths and how the one we live is complicated (conflated even) by visual clutter. This image invites us to see purer forms.

Critical stuff: Nope

Overall: It got me (over?) thinking. I like that.