Aficionados
by leslie

Comment:
I loved cigars, back when I smoked. I can smell these still.
But there's a lot more to love here than memories. Very interesting & effective use of the window frame motif; great character in the tattoo and the earring; nice visual complexity in the reflected (?) secondary subject. There's something both comfortable and comforting about this photograph .. as if they are quietly saying "screw fashion and convention; we smoke cigars." Or you're saying it for them, which is even more pleasing. 8.

Impact
by messerschmitt

Comment:
Great location! Very fine use of light, very fine control of tone, and really terrific composition. Also nice to see the idea of "window framed" interpreted with some subtlety, rather than as an overly-literal smack in the head.
I can't avoid seeing this man as a prison minister or priest. And it's not just his stance with bowed head ... it's that you have managed to suggest an unexpected cathedral in this location, complete with soaring stained-glass windows! So he must be a man of God, musn't he?
It's one of the two best and most thoughtful images in the challenge (other one's called Bored on a Rainy Day).
I'll give it a 10 (which is no favour; a 10 from me is inevitably the kiss of death ... sorry!)

Urban Storefronts
by Rikki

Comment:
This is very, very good. Framed by windows! So refreshing to see an image that's not a slave to tedious bloody literalism. And it's an interesting, ambitious image, too. Not content with thumbing your nose at the DNMC literalists, you say "screw you" to the composition police as well. How do I love the? Let me count the ways! (EBB) 9.

Cafe Society
by e301

Comment:
Remarkable for a "from-the-hip" type candid that you could achieve the level of concentration or focus (in the non-photographic sense) that you have here. This photograph is all about one person, but it's a person in context; a context that every component of the photograph serves. It's as if you took an hour to set it up, and yet it was no doubt just a heartbeat! Admirable, instructive work. 9.

SALE
by JPR

Comment:
You are so screwed up. I really admire that, especially in one so relatively young. Imagine what an admirable disaster you will be when you get to my age! Why, you could go into politics, or even work for the United Nations.
Edit to add: If you decide to NOT become Secretary General of the UN, then it might be wise to choose something that doesn't involve the operation of heavy machinery.

Message edited by author 2006-04-25 19:02:45.

A window framed
by Gauti

Comment:
Well, yes, that's very clever. And quite a beautiful photograph, too. A tree framed by a window framed by a tree framed by a wall. Russian doll tree! Nice work. 8.

The Church Pews
by Wobble

Comment:
Very good; interesting and challenging. It's like a clever puzzle, filled with clues, hints and apparent contradictions. And like a really good puzzle, the solving is at least as satisfying as is the actual solution. Well done. 9.

Funk Zone
by Germaine

Comment:
You're the best at these lovely architectural detail images. Not only do you keep finding 'em (which I've discovered is much harder than it looks), but then you know exactly what to do with them. It's a sort of distilling process, where you find and reveal the essence of a structure by excluding most of it!
Reminds me of the quotation "God is in the Details", by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (who of course was, appropriately enough, an architect).
Anyway, it's always a pleasure to see your architectural stuff.

3 mars 002.jpg
by Xilebo

Comment:
Ah... every now & then I see a photograph that I really wish I had taken. This is one of those.
This soaring but strangely martial image, coupled with the title (the cat's name?) makes me think of one of the great pieces of music; "Mars, the Bringer of War", from "The Planets" suite by Gustav Holst. In fact, now I cannot avoid thinking of it!
The black cat, perched on the wall in this way, is an ominous harbinger. A disturbing symbol of ill fortune. (Of course, I'm sure your cat actually brings you nothing but pleasure!)
Anyway, all these uneasy figurative possibilities aside, it is also a beautiful, balanced, graphically elegant photograph. Lovely work.

The Photographer
by graphicfunk

Comment:
Hmmm ... elegant, classical, dignified portrait. Such a welcome relief.