Hello everyone! With a delightful cup of jasmine tea to help nurse the hangover, and the realization that my celebration is far from ended, I offer my take on the PhotoForum member's gallery/exhibit space now on display at http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery.html. Christiane Roh - Lausanne, Pl. de la Riponne, aout 2002 Christiane: I typically don't like street photography, but its aesthetic, as seen through your camera/eyes/mind, is uncharacteristically pleasing to me. This shot is no exception. I particularly like the way the children's curiosity spills over and becomes the viewer's curiosity; I catch myself wondering what they are looking at, as they may be wondering themselves. From the technical standpoint, I only have two very small adjustments to suggest. First, I would like to have seen the boy's foot in its entirety, as well as nudging the frame a little to the left so the girl's fingers aren't touching the edge. Second, I think the use of a wider aperture to separate the kids from the background may have improved the image slightly. Overall, though, the photo works for me. Richard Cooper - Take Cover Richard: Something about a dramatic sky... This image is murky, moody, devoid of saturation. The only real color I can see is two red dots, one on the pier and one on a piling out in the water. Something disturbs me about this image, though; perhaps it is that you have given such prominence to the relatively uninteresting water. I want to see more of the sky! I think that if I were composing this myself, I would have a) gotten lower to the ground; b) angled the camera up about 5 degrees; and c) probably popped some fill-flash into that really ambiguous dark stuff at the bottom of the frame. I would have kept the positioning of the pier versus the island/peninsula where it is; I like the way you did it so the water is forced to snake around in a reverse "S" shape. King/Arthur - WOLs 4: The family Joseph: By their CRITIQUES we can see that the MOTIVATED members of this PHOTOFORUM GROUP are obviously INTRIGUED, which may, or may not explain why the boy facing the WEIRDO is thinking: "HURRY UP AND DISCUSS THE IMAGE ALREADY." ;-) While some of my colleagues may disagree, I find text superimposed on a photograph to be an elevation of an image. On the one hand, an image sans text is subject to a nearly infinite range of interpretations; The image then speaks to the viewer in the viewer's terms, on the viewer's playing field. On the other hand, an image with text tells the viewer what the artist wanted to say in a much tighter latitude of interpretation. But it seems that in this case, you have achieved a third possibility: while providing text, you have effectively shoved the range of interpretations through a funnel. But by leaving out key words, thereby forcing an interaction between viewer and image, you have created a situation where viewer and artist meet on neutral ground, provided that the text is not in an alien language to the viewer. As for the image itself, it could do with a little less contrast. The tone of the morning/afternoon light is very pleasing. I feel like I could relate to the boy; he has a role, yet the expression on his face is one of enquiry, of uncertainty. It is an interesting juxtaposition of similarity and difference; the family is one of perhaps a hundred in the marketplace, yet is not confined to a line like the faceless shadows in the background. Guy Glorieux - Montreal - Lachine Canal Guy: Yes, I have seen numerous negatives before. But by redefining the context and presenting it as the final product instead of a means to the final product, you have effectively created an image which merits several minutes of examination--and several more minutes of writing about it! This scenario is made all the more fascinating when one inverts the image into its real-world values and finds that the resulting image (no pun intended) pales in comparison. I'm curious now; I want to pull out my 2.5 million negatives and look at them again... Christopher Strevens - My sister and her daughter Christopher: While I am not a big fan of the Digital Treatment on images, some circumstances evolve from time to time which can save--or at least prolong--the life of an image, particularly when the subject matter is as personal as this is. Lately I've been rummaging through my so-called "File 13" (the outtakes--I NEVER throw away photographs, no matter how bad or incriminating... well SOME incriminating...oh, never mind) in search of supporting imagery to sample from in the rebuilding of my portfolio. As for your submission, I do like this effect (in this case), and I'm wondering if there is life after the PF Gallery for this one. I'd like to think so... jIMMY Harris - Mimosa Tree jIMMY: This is a good shot. Background is diffuse, the lighting is soft, the leaves closest to the camera are wonderfully out of focus. The seed pods appear to be a LITTLE blurry; I'm not sure if this is by virtue of the shutter or the scanner. The slight diagonal orientation of the pods disturbs me quite considerably; when I look at this, I notice that I have a tendency to tilt my head in order to relieve that tension. At first I wasn't crazy about the colors here, but, like my goatee, it's grown on me. Peeter Vissak - Behind the corner of the Columns Peeter: Wow! I am seriously liking this shot! The very obvious strength and mass of the columns, the foreboding shadows contrasted with the pale building in the distance, the sweeping perspective and the composition (cropped a bit? Fine. Great job cropping!) all work together to make this my pick of the week. Oddly enough, on more than one occasion I have seen an image posted to the gallery that looked great as a thumbnail but lost something in the full-size version. As far as I know, this is the first time I did not notice the "pick" in the thumbnail lineup. Great work, Peeter. Bob Talbot - Lion number two Bob: OK, so you grunted and squeezed out another Gallery submission. I have to wonder...what was the point of this? I will admit that after seeing and appreciating so much of your work in the past, I'm left more than a little disappointed. Surely someone of your caliber has a better image to submit? I am looking forward to seeing new examples of your more typical work. Subject matter notwithstanding, composition was excellent; lighting and exposure are spot-on. Dan Mitchell - F7 Dan: This is a fantastic color study. The shapes comprising the image are bold, the lines are dynamic. The lighting works well to emphasize the form of the rope and to flatten the rest of the image. What results is a two-dimensional image tethered by a three-dimensional rope to my computer monitor. A great way to play with space. As an aside, I'd like to see this as a part of a series of more-or-less monochromatic images. Nice work. Emily L. Ferguson - Tihonet Pond moment Emily: I love the rich colors in this image. The overlapping, the dancing, of the red, white, and blue fluid evokes memories of long-forgotten daydreams and Indian-Summer breezes. The close cropping to only include reflection was a good call. By refusing to reveal the trees themselves, the sky itself, you invite the viewer to imagine, which, by virtue of Gestalt, in effect produces an image of immense proportions, to include not only visions, but tastes, smells, every possible sensation. Andrew Davidhazy - Andy: I was at a loss to understand what I was looking at until your description arrived... At first glance, it reminds me of a portrait of Warhol, but I don't think he was ever that curvaceous (I meant, of course, the face and the splayed-out hair). I am intrigued by this image, despite uncovering the mystery (or perhaps because of it, hmmm...); I find it haunting (not unlike a crime-scene photo), as well as pleasing (the zero-gravity feel). Your decision to include the border... why? I'm not disagreeing with it, per se, just wondering. I have heard many allusions to the effect that including it "looks undergrad," and at the same time, I've heard a lot of notes of approval in that it offers a sense of authenticity to the work. Without the border, in this case, the figure would be floating in an endless field on my screen, as the image edges would be difficult to discern. Thank you all for this week's Gallery submissions. It is a pleasure to review your work. (Damn, that's some good tea!) Craig D. Heinz Heinzfoto Melbourne, Florida USA
