Cochin 0001
by salmiakki

Comment:
Don is spot on with how you have personalised these images showing your open and thoughtful interaction with these beautiful people. It says a lot about you, and it is a precious talent. It seems that you have reached their inner beauty and they have reciprocated, what a wonderful feeling that must have been. It is very much an essay, and a very good one at that.

1
by markwiley

Comment:
Brilliant essay, I can see why the smiley face was created to compensate for all this languish, though I suspect a lot of these faces could explode into bliss if a smile was to behold them. You're a master of the close proximity transport shot. I suppose a few Leonard Cohan lyrics would be in order, but I'll spare all of us further despair. Paul probably summed up most of what I would have eventually thought and wished I had thought. Well done.

WhatHappens
by ubique

Comment:
One of the best montages I have seen for some time. Quite eloquent and the music is so fitting. Bravo. The thirst for the unknown is a powerful driving force, your location makes it all the more exotic to this concrete semi-bound individual. I couldn't help thinking that your process is similar to shooting film, the pleasure is in the discovery of ones intuition, ingenuity and open mindedness. I like the circular concept, no beginnings - no endings. Just an insatiable craving for going further, the satisfaction of not being sated. Mucho gracias.

Importance of the First Impression
by posthumous

Comment:
To adjust and refine the reality within the mirror, a great line. Paul is correct in his observation of the multitude of gems in this monologue, fairy dust and a heady brew. And a wonderful speaking voice. I like the girl to man phrasing. This is much more a enlightening and engaging essay than I could conceive. Its fluid nature reflects the viscosity of oil paint and is as reflective of its subject mirror. I like how these essays slowly build our perceptions of each other and the possibility of changing those perceptions with artistic whim.

Under an Indifferent Sun
by insteps

Comment:
Pingtung City is indeed more beautiful and alluring for your essay. I love how you have used high contrast and the tension between the light and dark to reinforce Pingtung's populous and environs. There is a real sense of time, motion and place in these uncovered secrets. It's is though we have entered the wardrobe to an Eastern version of Narnia. The light may have been your focus but it has uncovered the soul of the city.

1
by 2mccs

Comment:
Wonderful essay Maria, my favourites are 2, 5 & 7. It is very clear and concise with an overall sense of solitude. It is as though you are a bird on a branch documenting the business of humankind. Your vision is your voice, not wanting to draw attention nor disturb the motions, all while being just as much part of the whole chorus below. I like this distant contemplation, it would be interesting to see you get up really close as well. Both views are just as good. Thank you.

sentinel
by whiteroom

Comment:
nailed it in the land of plenty, well done

Alveta's last bunch.
by RKT

Comment:
Sadly beautiful

the usual suspects
by NiallOTuama

Comment:
A dark hybrid HCB styled piece. Architecturally, a demon faced structure in attendance by unholy human like creatures. This is the face that begets the belly of the beast. It conjures evil, foreboding and ominous tidings. It could be dismissed as a common H.R. Giger inspired piece, but there is movement through its use of line and symmetry. In its dark ritualism there lies the entry to the unknown.

under cover
by nixter

Comment:
A creative street capture of odd pairings. Combining a smoking parent and an unseen baby in the pram, it is truly classic decisive moment stuff, and I like the clean lines within an ordered clutter. A wonderful chance capture of that could just be an ordinarily common scene given credence by the craft and good luck of the photographer. A very ‘in your face’ image, where the photographer must have the courage to confront the participants without hesitation, carpe diem indeed.