Zuni Medicine Bear - Blessed by Zuni Shaman, white bears with heart lines are used for healing
by pmichaud

Comment by steez6:
nice bear

Zuni Medicine Bear - Blessed by Zuni Shaman, white bears with heart lines are used for healing
by pmichaud

Comment by littlegett:
I really enjoy this image. It seems to pulse as I look at it. Very nicely captured. There is a distracting element for me, But I can not quite put my finger on it, something about the Zuni Medicine Bear just isn't right....

Evening Shadows
by pmichaud

Comment by JLC:
I wish the chair was a little more rustic.

Victory Hug
by pmichaud

Comment by Artifacts:
Positive:
Overall this is a fine photojournalistic capture worthy of publication. This image has strong emotion. The BG provides perspective and context to the image far, far better than most. Exposure is good and general photographic technical quality is fine. It gives the viewer much to think about. Is this the wrestler's father happy at a victory? Is it a coach happy over his first ever state champion? It preserves a touching moment in time that can never be captured again which is a fundamental purpose of photography itself.

Technicals:
The BG is a strength. It clearly shows the context generating the reaction we see. Inclusion of the referee is very nice and it clearly shows the gym atmosphere of a wrestling competition. You are perfectly placed for the capture of the moment. That makes this a very fine image.

Though exposure is good the overall lighting is nothing special. The capture of the moment is great, but the overall perspective has more in common with a snapshot than it does with fine art.

The challenge:
Right or wrong, voters in free study challenges are looking more for fine art images of exceptional technical quality than anything else. The 'snapshot' perspective and lack of funk and flash post processing hurt this image in voting. When there are over 600 entries in a challenge with many being exceptional technical achievements it is easy for an image like this to be overlooked. It was.

If you had surrounded it with a gradient like the three ribbon winners and applied some serious dodge and burn to hit the voter over the head with the embrace then it would have been more 'artistic' and scored a lot higher.

Evening Shadows
by pmichaud

Comment by doppelganger:
ugly subject, not sure about choice of angle and lighting. interesting background

Zuni Medicine Bear - Blessed by Zuni Shaman, white bears with heart lines are used for healing
by pmichaud

Comment by DrAchoo:
nice use of negative space. 6

Zuni Medicine Bear - Blessed by Zuni Shaman, white bears with heart lines are used for healing
by pmichaud

Comment by daisypaige:
Love the backround and the compostion.

Zuni Medicine Bear - Blessed by Zuni Shaman, white bears with heart lines are used for healing
by pmichaud

Comment by Knightmoves:
nice image

Evening Shadows
by pmichaud

Comment by johnnyfriesen:
impact, print quality

Victory Hug
by pmichaud

Comment by pmichaud:
I guess I expected this to do much better than it did. I was lucky to be where I was when the moment happened. This young man was a senior in high school who has been working very hard to qualify for the State Wrestling Tournament, and this was the moment he did, after winning a very hard fought match. His coach brimming over with pride, and this was his congratulatory hug. Totally the real deal.