Standing Tall
by zeuszen

Comment:
Thanks for the kind comments, everyone.

> shutterfly: the shot just offered itself. It wasn't taken for a challenge.
> John: yes, although the juxtaposition was entirely unpremeditated, I was lucky enough to stumble into a 'perspective' conducive to it.
> timmi: about one in 'a hundred and twenty' considering the size of my Memory Stick®.

Message edited by author 2004-01-18 21:25:22.

lovely lady
by ellamay

Comment:
And...

it's just a duck, people!!

To be at the right place at the right time, having the skill and the presence of mind to do several things right without loosing the moment...

Don't you love it when things come together?

The Tarnished Reputation of the Unicorn Hotel
by e301

Comment:

Originally posted by magnetic9999: this is so good. i basically have no more faith that this site's voters know what they are doing :P ..

Fortunately, the popular vote cannot do a thing to diminish the integrity of a worthy image. Also, IMO, the score does reflect some degree of appreciation of this capture.

Message edited by author 2004-01-15 13:18:53.

Tableau
by zeuszen

Comment:
Apparently an excellent example of what not to submit, if your intent is popular appeal.

Eat Like A Bird
by tfaust

Comment:
Simple, very silky shot with a well balanced composition, although it might be preferable to have the subject point into the image instead out of it. The focus on the rock also appears slightly crisper than on the bird. The beak, particularly, is quite soft-focused Yet,

a very satisfying image at such proximity. The light is very apt, the depth of field shallow and both colours and textures are rendered strikingly natural. Fit for an illustration, even a pictorial, IMO.

Spectre
by dacrazyrn

Comment:
Wonderful incidental treasures in this refreshingly different entry,so reminiscent of another time and photographic epoch.
The dark grainy landscape (on the right) as much as several structural elements (tree trunk and limbs left largely unobscured) along with the superimposed hatted male figure provide both an anchored setting and mood for what might otherwise be sheer chaos, albeit magnificent.

The course of the haloing (back- to foreground)appears all the more credible given the dancing motion blur of a light source in the foreground. Compositionally, I'd wish for a little more room on the left of the image (and in the direction of the errant path of light), which, IMO, would also balance the total bright vs. the total dark areas (?).

A more than interesting creation with a poignant balance between discernable detail and spectral ambiguity, which, to me, translates to magic.

Start Saving for a Rainy Day
by jonpink

Comment:
A poetic capture at the fringe of stock photography.
If I strained to criticize a thing, I'd fault the slightly wide horizontal format as, perhaps, less apt (for the round expanse of the umbrella) than one with standard dimensions.

To love myself again...
by Emeraulde

Comment:
A mercilessly harsh (self-?) portrait likely to elicit more aversion than appreciation from most viewers. The lighting/contrast is extreme enough to blow out more than just highlights, taking away any opportunity for a too easily available aesthetic perception, never mind a sensual one. Yet,

the brutal honesty of made choices here (subject, perspective and manner) appears as powerfully credible and disarming as it is relentless. Given the psychology implied, it is astounding to find that the image appears to be quite well and -consciously- composed. The diagonal lines not only order and balance the available light and shadows but also -charge- what would otherwise be a high key grayscale image. The short intersecting wave (top left diagonal line) adds an almost musical or poetic element, as the only (delightful) softness outside of the nearly faint inclusion of a face.

A slightly tighter crop here (at the top, eliminating the small of the shoulder), although perhaps advantageous to a perfect composition, would also remove the only true anchor (face and eye) of this remarkably intimate photograph.

Considering the artless paradigms of the challenge topic, its attributes have not only been met but excel anything I would have thought possible. I cannot help but award both the stark truth of this capture and the evident candor of the photographer with points, which may be harder to elicit from viewers with predefined expectations.

The "strangels"
by cristiano79

Comment:
The title is even more ambiguously puzzling than the image, given that 'strangles' denotes an infectious disease afflicting horses. Even as a corrupted colloquial term for 'strangulation', I cannot, for the life of me, find a remotely sensible application here... ??

Message edited by author 2004-01-13 12:27:53.

human landscape.jpg
by grigrigirl

Comment:
Manrayesque.

[The sheer range of trials and interests in this portfolio is astounding].