Home Alone
by Bear_Music

Comment:
Yes, I see you. This is very nearly the only entry where I can find even a mildly ambitious attempt at the figurative; at expressing what loneliness represents, how it feels and tastes. At saying just how big some small things are.

I'm normally an uncomplaining and extravagantly tolerant bloke (I'm noted for it, surely?), but it's so depressing to see entry after entry in which aloneness is depicted as if it were synonymous with loneliness. It's OK to be imaginatively bankrupt, but please keep it to yourselves!

I don't mean you of course; you still have a few bucks in your imagination & whimsy account, as evidenced here. I was just hijacking your entry in order to have a bit of a rant. Thank you for hosting my tantrum.

And as for your entry, it's welcome and interesting, and it stimulates some reflection on the part of the viewer. So ... it's 10 for you. Thank you.

P.S. Did you find this? I slipped it under your door.

Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie & Chevrolet
by markwiley

Comment:
This is my favourite of the challenge, and by a handy stretch too. Against the depicted and merely cited patriotic iconography ΓΆ€“ the stuff of brassy celebrations, of tub-thumping and facile expression ΓΆ€“ you have juxtaposed a plainly-lovely, contemplative girl (could be a young boy I suppose; doesn't matter). And you've done it in monochrome too! Such wonderful contradictions, such absorbing counterpoint. A work of love and circumspection together. Patriotism for grown-ups, which is just what America needs at the moment. 10. Thank you.

scintillating fiddling
by tvsometime

Comment:
I tried to decide if I'd prefer this lively picture with just one (and if that, which one?) of the two Fiddle Sisters in shot. Nope, I like it better this way. Plus they can play two parts of the music this way. Sounds great! Thank you.

Lake Narcissus
by posthumous

Comment:
On reflection, you're not shamefully self-absorbed. Thank you.

Not a perfect landing
by Sisto

Comment:
Absurd and compelling. How could it happen? If it did happen, how could it look like this? It's wonderful. Thank you.

americana
by PennyStreet

Comment:
This is striking, has a little bit of mid-20th-century propaganda poster in it. Some idealised vision; patriotic, slightly sinister (like all overt patriotism). It's very good. Thank you.

inquest
by NiallOTuama

Comment:
Interesting, lovely, inky, graphic.
I don't know what it means, and that's always a welcome forensic puzzle that I'm happy to leave unresolved. Thank you.

and another day
by jmritz

Comment:
Brutally resonant. The absence of a capital A in the title tells the story here:
and another day
like yesterday
like tomorrow
Thank you.

Seeds Spread Across Continents and Centuries
by LoVi

Comment:
This is perhaps the only entry that takes a transcendent approach to the challenge theme, in that you are reflecting on the way in which nature works its wonders to perform. Your subject is tiny, generally unnoticed, yet your framing is global. And the beauty is that this works; in spite of virtually any obstacle encountered, this spreads magic every day. The picture is technically excellent too; not just sharp and nicely in focus, but it has a lovely implied yin-yang graphic dimension that reinforces your homage to the cyclical interconnectedness of the seed with the plant. Which is the parent? A beautiful question to ask, isn't it? 9. Thank you.

scavenger
by NiallOTuama

Comment:
It's beautiful; now I'm torn between this and the blue. So 1st place and 39th place are equally interesting for me. I'll give you both the same post-challenge 10 (sorry I missed voting on this challenge).