all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free -blackbird
by kris11

Comment:
I think you've overdone it on the pills, so to speak. It robs this image of any sense of realism, for which it would seem to depend for its impact; so it becomes just a cod pose, and possibly slightly dismissive of the idea of despair, by implication.

Birthday greetings, bottle of wine
by snaffles

Comment:
There are seven bits of stuff here - and I don't think the idea really needs more than two; simplifying would help, but there's little sense of shape to your arrangement of those objects either.

I want to hold your hand
by Kita

Comment:
I think you might have been just a little more careful with your background - such a simple set-up is easily defeated by the odd discoloured leaf in that foliage.

Hat Trick
by jjbeguin

Comment:
One day, some of these people will notice that they're dismissing such interesting photography and wonder if, actually, they might just be wrong. Until such time, from this interested party particularly, it's great to have one of the highlights of the site back putting up photos for me to drool over.

THE BOXER
by pawdrix

Comment:
Almost definitive, in its way. There's an implication that is slightly at odds with the actual character shown, too, which for me only adds to the impact.

cheetah portrait
by micro

Comment:
One's tempted to ask 'and the cheetah's environment is ...', but perhaps I won't. Beautifully done, as animal portraits go - the light, the light!

Officer Romain, At Your Service
by muur88

Comment:
The dichotomy of the contact of the eyes in this kind of thing: many seem to think that that makes a portrait, for myself I think it dissociates him from his environment. This is kind of classily typical though - perhaps the exact kind of thing the challenge suggester had in mind. I'm no particular fan or otherwise of it, but it's plainly assured work.

Doctor at work
by talikf

Comment:
Great eyes she has; difficult shot really - all that white is terribly difficult to control in exposure. Brings to mind that cold feeling of liquid being forced into one's veins: kind of exciting and fearful at the same time.

Mother's Day Service
by chabes

Comment:
He seems slightly our of focus compared with his environment - just slightly: there's that blurrinness about his face somehow.

Two Lips
by gemjlo

Comment:
For me, lacks any real interest of light.