jmritz
by jmritz

Comment:
Wings, John.

first realities
by daisydavid

Comment:
Absorbing. And long-lasting. Like one of those Choo-Choo bars of our youth; they satisfied from start to finish, and they never did seem to finish. This essay will reward consideration for as long as the viewer cares to look, and in my case that's a long, long, Choo-Choo bar time.

A particularly thrilling idea for me, that you have graced each of analog & digital with equal billing. You let me see them in this essay as the Vladimir and Estragon of photography. I might never be able to consider them separately again now.

The pictures are beautiful, complex and (sorry about this) ambiguous. I loved trying to more clearly tease out one of each pair with each of my eyes, and that nearly worked but they always swam back into concurrence before I could make any notes. So I'm none the wiser and all the better informed for that.

The chook? The chook is a little bottler, mate. Go the Chooks! Thank you.

i
by jmritz

Comment:
You must be tiring of my praise and admiration? Well tough luck for you matey, because if you are tiring of my adulation and respect your future looks bleak.

I have just looked through your essay again with good friend Antony Osler, a Buddhist monk/Zen teacher/sheep farmer/magistrate, author of two wonderful books that make me feel exactly the way your photographs and essays make me feel. Antony loves the pictures in this essay John, and the words, and he shares with me in this appreciation and thank you.

1
by 2mccs

Comment:
You are so very good at expressing complexity simply.

I have more to say but I have just been interrupted by the plumber; he is good at expressing simple things incomprehensibly but expensively. Back to you later.

OK, I'm back but lighter by quite a few dollars. Now, where was I ...?

Yes, you're good at distillation. Better than good; way better. The pictures are beautifully judged, and each is perfectly characterised by the title narrative. And the result is a lovely parable, small and large at once, and as powerfully underplayed as Saint-Ex's Little Prince. I could float in your stuff for hours at a time. Thank you.

Message edited by author 2015-07-01 03:50:34.

Tracing Yesterday's Footsteps
by insteps

Comment:
Everything is there. Beautiful, interesting photographs, and a story told with respect and sensitivity. The triptych to start and the tetraptych to finish is beautifully done and connects the mortal with the spiritual.

This essay would be perfect for presentation/preservation as a hand-made book. But a smallish book; it's a jewel concentrated & precious, not a billboard (nothing to be shouted here, it's a whisper, or better yet a murmur).

Thank you, for keeping the essays alive, and for leading by example.

Pink Flamingos
by rooum

Comment:
Wizard prang!

romancing the plume
by tnun

Comment:

Originally posted by h2: tasteless and ill-minded

This is no place for your autobiography Oliver. Although that's a pretty accurate start.

romancing the plume
by tnun

Comment:
I very nearly thumbed you, and now I'm glad I didn't because that would have been two in a row and Shannon would have been onto me like a terrier.

pluck
by jagar

Comment:
Ka-pow! A knee in the nuts photograph. My favourite, except I could not vote on a team mate, plus I was doubled over in agony anyway.

Message edited by author 2015-06-29 00:25:28.

Jaqen
by odriew

Comment:
Mr Google says this name is some bloke from a TV show I've never seen. So I'm out of my depth with that, but not with this photograph which is easily the most interesting in the challenge. Composition is really sublime. Lighting, especially on the bloke, is great. A terrific photograph made all the more admirable by appearing in a challenge characterised by banality and predictability. I hang about your neck the albatross of an Order of the Thumb. 10 and thank you.