Doris
by Tlee05

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 an honest portrayal of life. It is seldom that we get to see an image with this level of authenticity and as a consequence it can't be judged by conventional aesthetic measures. Her gaze, off to the side as it is, adds much interest and the light, flat and slightly stark hides little.

Critical stuff: Nothing

Overall: Inspiring stuff. Reminds me of Shetland's 'This is Britain'.

Mephistopheles
by skewsme

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: An excellent image which communicates the sense of foreboding your title suggests. The sense of two figures a foreground innocent and a middle distance demon is palpable - almost cinematic in its intensity. The focus on those concentric scratches (or is it a web) with all else cast into blurry (and desperate) ambiguity is the key to this image.

Critical stuff: Hardly anything - the slight hints of cyan are a touch distracting, perhaps a pure monochrome edit would have looked a little cleaner.

Overall: Visionary, inspired stuff.

Fuzzy dream
by keyz

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 well used reflection indeed! I love the high key treatment with the intense red; the jiggledy mast juxtaposing with the straight orthogonal lines. The composition is perfect I feel, the placement of the subject and your crop are judged to perfection.

Critical stuff: Nothing at all.

Overall: A most pleasing image.

Allsaints on Broadway
by jbrobeson

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 an image with bags of appeal - the quality of the light and your choice of coloration make the building look as if it has been hewn from a block of gold. The figures almost look like placed toy figures (save for the motion blur), giving the image a stylised feel. I wonder about them and what kind of a day they were having.

Critical stuff: Nothing much.

Overall: A fine and quirky image.

Julie
by fridjo

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 like unconventional portraits and this one fits the bill. Lovely lighting, both directionally and quality-wise. The 'pose', if we can call it that (it looks too candid) contributes immensely to the mood of the image. Most of all though, I like the coloration - the red and green hues are wonderful and rich.

Critical stuff: Not much - perhaps the image could take a tighter crop.

Overall: Excellent work.

Lady With Cigarette
by bvy

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 good degree of mystery in this image - her context and how you (as a photographer) relate to the scene produces a degree of intrigue. The catchlights in her glasses are excellent.

Critical stuff: I'm really not a fan of images that depict smoking but that aside, the skewed vertical knocks the image out of whack to me and your processing has served up a somewhat flat looking image. I think a bolder contrast profile might work a little better.

Overall: Not one of my favourites but I respect the vision you had for this image.

On streets of gold
by Melethia

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: Lovely stuff - the gold coloration is very pretty indeed and the degree of motion blur is just right. The contrast of the reflected areas is wonderful, giving a really rich feel to the image.

Critical stuff: Nothing.

Overall: I really like this - aside from the coloration, very Nixtery (always a good thing!)

cock-eyed
by liberty

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 caged bird is a brave subject to offer up but I like the honesty of this one; the prominence of the cage gives the capture an authenticity that serves the image well. The tone-mapping works perfectly too.

Critical stuff: Nothing.

Overall: Very well measured image.

Memory of a Lake
by Spark_in_Dark

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: Excellent use of the reflection - coupled with the grain, it very much has a painting feel about it. The amplitude of the waves is perfect - it adds interest without obliterating the tree line.

Critical stuff: The brownish area bottom left of the image is a little distracting - a crop or clone here may have been in order.

Overall: Very nice image.

Yarmouth Light
by Denise

Comment:
I've refused to be impressed by landscape images this month but how can I resist this one? The difference here is that I get the feeling of photographic involvement, not just the capturing of a scene. Your POV is so important in conveying a crafted feel - move your camera 1 foot in any direction and your image would be less effective. Your processing (is it HDR? if so, it certainly isn't over-done) is really excellent.

Optimised in a way many images aren't. Impressive work.

(By way of excusing my opening comment - I do appreciate that landscape work is hard - mine are useless; but nonetheless - few evoke a sense of the photographer as this one does).)