On this my son's 6th birthday, having survived the emotional rollercoaster, as the caffeine-sugar slurry that has been my diet today distorts my perception I pace back and forth typing out my impressions of this weeks gallery (http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery.html) like a lab rat in a long term cocaine use experiment. Robert Carlson (Still Life with Danny Glover) - I love the X-men look - the angled camera, giant Danny's smile peaking up from the darkness and that slash of neon. Very moody. The ornage caste really makes this image and orange is not something I would likely have tried. Bob Talbot (Greeting) How can you not like this photo? Those pudgy little clowns of the aviary world here shown even more animated than usual. The guy on the right is obviously enrapturing the charming lady at his side with an amusing story from work about how Johnson walked around all day with a piece of toilet paper stuck to his shoe. I love the emerald gree of the rock and the orange puffin feet. Way to go capturing the perfect moment Bob. Richard Cooper (White water Kayaking on an Erie canal Spillway) - Highest marks for title length but I'm not being thrilled by this image. The kayaker rounding the pole is interesting and an image cropped tightly around him would thrill me more but as it is, the second kayaker, the rocks and all the empty water distract me from the main boater. Fletcher Jernigan (Patience) - The balance of fishermen and environment in this shot does not seem right to me. I think if the guys were specks on the shore or if you zoomed in on one of them or even if the DOF was shortr this would work better for me. As it is I can see some detail in them which makes them a focal point but they are surrounded by clearly defined grass which competes with them. Roderick Chen - Now perhaps this was a 65mm lens on the 4x5 but then again perhaps it was a 500mm on the Nikon taken from the deck of the lodge while Celeste freshens the cherry in your Manhattan. We need details man! D.L. Shipman - Lets see somebody beat this for slipping graphic nastiness into the gallery. It looks like compression has removed details from the plumage. I liked last week's image better. Christiane Roh (Lucerne, May 2002) - I like these window images with their tricky optics. The scroll work above he window looks painted on when you see it with the more vibrant window images. I like the blend of the solid, classic stonework and the fluid, modern collage in the windows. Are the red shadows behind the woman due to the window or are they prints inside or outside the window? Mottie Heller (cafe) - I am interested in why you placed the cup so that it lines up with the edge of the highlight on the table. I would have placed it further to the left. This is maybe too minimlist for me. Kostas Papakotas (dead factory) - This is a very strange shot. There is a lot of bizarre digital effects like a checkerboard overlay on the foreground wall and fence. The background is strange to me also. I can't see a vertical or horizontal line anywhere and the foreground fence breaks up any solid shapes that may exist in the buildings. I sense disarray and chaos. If you didn't mention it was a factory I would have taken it for an old prison. With so many lines and nothing really stable to rest my eyes upon, I want to look away after a short period of time. Greg Fraser (Broad Leaf) - No dangerous adventure here (except for getting kicked by the kids or having the gate open into my head). This is a new leaf on a plant in my yard. I like the pattern formed by the veins radiating from the stem. Jose Luis Vasconcellos (Oh man, how I love Bill Brandt...) - What I like about this image is the way the lens has thrust the feet into my face and forcing a starting point for my eyes. Either leg leads into the shot and back to the woman's head where I follw her eyes up and out of the photo. Even her breast looks like an eye looking upward. I also like the way she is lookat the the point where the diagonal line formed by her left foot, right leg and right arm intersects with her left arm. Classic form. Very nice. jIMMY Harris (Little House - NOT - on the Prairie!) - Well if that's little then I live in a shack. Wait ... I do live in a shack. Anyway the house is a stable little triangle. We leave the house and begin our ascent of the mountain. With each step the environment grows more harsh, more uncertain. The danger increases, increases until finally poof! We reach a fluffy cloud and a clear, extremely blue sky and we are back in our comfy zone. Pretty cool how the cloud atop the mountain echos the white roof of the house. Not really great impressions but better than none. Greg Fraser http://www.geocities.com/fraserg1962
