Worn out
by bmarquez

Comment by Dallas_TX:
wow! wonderful image. Just great! I hope you win (and bet you do).

Worn out
by bmarquez

Comment by CLarson557:
BEAUTIFUL!! You did a wonderful job with this photo. The background is breathtaking with the hills and wispy clouds. The horse is wonderfully posed next to the plant. This should do well. It is definately one of my favorites for this challenge. 10+ Good luck!

Worn out
by bmarquez

Comment by Lustre:
Nice open shot - the horse has an almost surreal quality standing there. Well done.

Worn out
by bmarquez

Comment by JB707:
Reminds me of a cowboy movie...great composition, I like everything about it: the horse, the hills, the clouds, blue sky, good job...

Reflextions
by bmarquez

Comment by crabappl3:
Critique Club Comment:

I think that you have a nice vertical symmetry here. I don't think that all symmetry photo's need to be in landscape mode. I like your subject matter as well. You do suffer from having to take the photo from street level which introduces some interesting angles, but it's not enough to lessen the impact of your shot. I think that boosting the contrast would assist this photo. As it stands now, it's kind of flat. Cropping could be a little tighter. The building has natural crop points and if you used the bottom and top window lines, still including the building on the left, I think you'd have a stronger composition.

Your post processing is good, no artifacts from compression or resize.

I like this image, I would like to see a reshoot with the sun lower in the sky so as to introduce some more interesting colors and shadows.

Resting the years
by bmarquez

Comment by emorgan49:
ooops, there it is! phew - I wanted to add that I really really really like your despair photo too - I gave it a ten and I am stingy with my tens,

Resting the years
by bmarquez

Comment by emorgan49:
Oh blankety blank - where did my long review go to?

Resting the years
by bmarquez

Comment by emorgan49:
Hello from the Critique Club-

Yup, I'm the slow one, thank you for being so patient.

Obvioulsy something went very wrong here. Your other pictures do not have this problem so I'm going to assume it was a glitch and not dwell on it. The picture is waaay to dark as almost every commenter pointed out. Check your monitor? Look at this image on a bunch of different monitors? if it is a monitor thing you might have the same thing happen again.

Now let's pretend that it isn't too dark, that there are some nice white highlights and a better spread of tones. Let's pretend that her earings and the trim of her dress reall catch the light with a glint, and so ddo her glasses. Now you've got a really interesting portrait. I LOVE the Mona Lisa smile. What is she smiling at? Probably something in he long memory, or something in her present dream state. Nicely enigmatic.
Her age is displayed in a gentile and respectful way. Her smile is wise, she knows something that I don't, but maybe I'll find out by the time I get to be her age. I like the symbolism of the bars. They seem to say that this woman could be imprisoned by her old age, but because you have put the bars behind her, she is NOT.

Your composition is nice. The leading lines are the sparkly trim of her dress leading up into the scene and her gaze (even with closed eyes) leading out. together they make a circle which draws the viewer back and back again to see more in the photo. You have three textures that contrast and compliment eachother. The pattern of her dress matches the waves in her hair, but not the smooth wite of the bars behind her. The straight up and down of the bars make a perfect balance for her relaxed and slumped posture. Imagine her with a plain background...wouldn't work as well would it? They also give her support and convey that she has weight and substance to her.

I think this is a wonderful portrait! A picture that tells a story is great but even better is a picture that tells half a story and leaves the viewer wondering and speculating. Try to figure out what happened with the exposure (no clues in the camera info - shutter was fast and aperature was not to tight). When a picture is dark it can usually be rescued in post processing. When it is too light, the info just isn't there to retrieve. Fix this up, order a big print..no, order two. Keep one for your portfolio and give the other to this lady's grandchildren. What a lovely memory. They can imagine that she's thinking of them.

Now th disclaimer: remember that this is just my opinion and I am NOT an expert by any stretch.

PS. I really really love your photo of the girl on the stairs. As I said before, she looks like she is inside a sea shell.

Reflextions
by bmarquez

Comment by illicit_comment:
That's very cool. I like the way the buildings almost line up... but then don't... but then do again. Fabulous. Really great shot.

Resting the years
by bmarquez

Comment by emorgan49:
the cc computer has assigned this picture to me - I'm sometimes very slow with my critiques so please be patient.