Purified by a green tea enema I recount the impressions I received while viewing the PF gallery at http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery.html. Christiane Roh (Plage de Rolle, June 2002) - Not a speck of classic architecture in sight but the camera angle makes the square shower base remind me of another Christiane shot looking down on a couple on a bench. That's not to say diamond shaped squares are a Roh trademark but it stood out to me. Anyway its cool how the branches for a big clump with one loner branch and at the same time there is one loner shower head out of the 4. I like the levels of color from the white sky to pale water, to warmer grass to warm flesh tones. I also like the overall composition and how the two girls fit perfectly into one double girl. That woman could have stepped a couple paces to her left but I can overlook that. Roderick Chen (Splash) - Lotto 649 eh Roderick? There's a lot of space between the people in this image but because they form a couple of triangles (the 3 people in the water and the two outer water people and the ballet dancer) they belong where they are. The dock too is a triangle with the top removed. Then there's the slash of horizon like someone ripped a strip out of the middle of the print. This looks very casual but also gives me a feeling of formality. Really nice shot. Motti Hellar - Too damn big to fit on my screen! However, I can chop off a bit of the bottom without changing the image too much. I hate having to scroll though. I wonder if the purple tint where the sky meets the sand is a mirage from the sun. This is another image with a lot of space but the curved lines in the sand join the two people. The lines, the boys and the hunk of scrap metal form our classic 'S' shape but even so, something seems missing to me. Although nothing seems out of place or distracting, I'm not thrilled and I don't know why. David Small - Hoochie Mamma! Is this a composite image or is that really plastered on the building? How about instead of 'Sex in the City' you call it 'Porn So Big You Can't Escape It'? Aside from the obvious way the shadow and the woman's leg form a corridor herding the indifferent urban dwellers towards the merchant's cash register, I like the way the woman ends so abruptly on the right as if she is being pressed by the vertical strip of darkness. Is she too being forced into a corner by the oppressive system? Perhaps, but she got there in a brand new Jag and the corner is 45 stories up, 4500 sq feet and has valet parking and a view of the park. Nice work. John Edwin Mason (Interior, TOADS on Main Street, Charlottesville) - Do you bring a crowbar with you on photo trips to gain access to sites? I know Jeff carries a ball peen hammer on his trips to add atmosphere to subjects. This is the type of scene that makes me wonder what the painter had in mind? The eye wash station seems to indicate some nasty chemicals were in use here. The red obviously is to cover up blood and the only place I can think of that would have lots of blood splatter and nasty chemicals is a Soilant Green factory. Hmm. so it wasn't just a movie. Hey, what exactly is in those nutrition bars? Seriously though I like the breakup of space into interlocking 'L' shaped blocks and the various lines that are wires, pipes, gouges and door trim. Also the accented yellow and the light shining upon it. Great composition with solidity overlaid with variety. (poetic eh?) Jeff Spirer (Kiss This) - See! I told you he carries a ball peen hammer! Like last week I see triangles in your woman again. I wonder if all portraits have triangles or if just yours have triangles and if so, what does this tell us about your personal life? I like her borderline psychotic expression. To me it doesn't look posed but rather one of those shots that captures a glimpse or the underlying person. They type of fleeting expression that is too fast for people to catch. Something about her pose just doesn't quite look posed. The high contrast and large grain no doubt helps the psychotic side to come out. Veli Cigirgan - This certainly is different than most window shots I have seen. Is the crumbling a result of age or has it been accelerated by some unfortunate events? The diagonal shadows of the roof direct me towards the window but I feel lost once I get there. The image feels very busy to me without an easy focal point, somewhere to settle down and call home. Ken Sinclair (Alberta Wild Rose) - That's a strange shape for a rose even if it is a Canadian rose and therefore one of the most spectacular in the world. Those sharply focused, dewey leaves on the right seem to be the subject of the image more than the rose. I see what looks like out of focus droplets on the rose further relegating it to blurry background status. I like the way you included the leaves on the right. They gently push my eye towards the rose but as I said, she's kind of blurry. Actually I don't mind the rose being blurry but in conjunction with the sharp leaves, it bothers me. Richard Cooper (The Blue Line) - These boys look rather serious for volunteer civil war reenactors. Do these guys go out and get civil war era glasses? I recognize the expression on the face of the shifty-eyed guy to the right of the bespectacled man facing the camera. Turn up the fear a couple of notches and that's the look the fresh new US Marines wore the night before they left the ship, on which I was stationed, to visit Granada in 1983. This makes me wonder if this is a movie publicity shot. Christopher Strevens, LRPS (Banded Snail) - Interesting placement of yon snail. I would have put him bottom right. The foreground fuzzy line is a bit strange. Its interesting that you would submit a snail photo this week. I was out early Saturday shooting a bridge and found an abundance of snails that I planned to come back for on Sunday but it rained that day. I had never thought of shooting snails before. Must be some PF voodoo mind link going on. jIMMY Harris (ORION) - I know what you wanted to shoot jIMMY but those are obviously shipless aliens and not stars. Note the characteristically long necks which aid them getting a good view during long abductee probing sessions. I even recognize a couple of them. Most bizarre are the evenly spaced diagonal dots bottom right. You are one dedicated photographer and I admire your creative vision for this photo. Excellent work. There sure are a lot of stars but I wonder if the color is in the stars or a result of localized color shift in the film. Dan Mitchell (Lavender) - Like a giant comfy bed. I used to work in a greenhouse (great job) and some of the houses had inflatable plastic roofs. I used to like going up there a laying on the giant pillows of the roof with the sun beating down on me and listening to the birds sing. This is a photo where I stare at the center until I sort of lose focus and just enjoy the beautiful, soft colors and long, tubular shapes. I'm glad you didn't center the meeting of the two blue rows. That would have been too unnatural for me. Very nice. Thanks to all contributors eh. Greg Fraser http://www.geocities.com/fraserg1962
