My, sensitive, ambidextrous impressions of this week's images in the PF Gallery as seen by millions at http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery.html. Emily L. Ferguson (Skylight on mud ripples) - Being a fan of environmental disaster as I am, I like the way the central third (vertically) resembles oil slicks blossoming behind boats. At the top third there is not enough darkness and at the bottom its too clumped together. Love that dark, clear blue too. Rand Flory (The Drink) - 'It is green.' - LCMDR. Data when asked by Scotty what kind of liquor was in the bottle pulled from Guinan's private stash. Sorry, that episode of Star Trek was on Saturday and your image reminded me of it. That aside, I would like to state that I have never produced a successful still life. This composition seems very heavy of the left. I never even make it to the right side of the frame. The candle is very bright and really draws my attention away from the glass. I think the camera angle and maybe lens choice is doing you in also. The glass, shaker and candle are placed on the bar in a triangular shape but the camera angle doesn't take advantage of that. There is very little depth to the image and as you mentioned in your review, everything seems crammed together. I like the beads too but they are relegated to the back and so I don't really get to enjoy them. I like the color of the light and the colors in general. Dan Mitchell (News from Home) - No doubt this is a result of my having an improperly wired head but I can't help but spend all my time trying to figure out what the headline says. Yeah, there's a couple of fuzzy people in the back and a coffee cup full of pepperoni sticks and a big wicker circle and arch but none of them are as important as the giant, super colossal, headline I must decode. I feel like Russell Crowe in 'A Beautiful Mind'. Judy Curiel - I was impressed with this image when I firs saw it Saturday morning. Then around 6:00pm I set up my camera to take a shot that I couldn't get to work until one leg of my tripod decided to no longer stay where I set it. When I looked in the viewfinder, I noticed that tilting the camera seemed to work. I had never shot like that before and rightly considered myself a genius. Now I realize I was only copying you. Even though there's no horizon for reference, I still feel like I'm falling forward. This normally bothers me but I like the way having the ropes almost vertical seems to make them into lines rather than ropes holding a boat to a pier. I also like the way the reflections and shadows (and reflections of shadows) provide alternating curves. The small patch of pier bottom left relates to the dark bands of shadow on the boat anchoring the boat in the frame. I like it. Rich Mason (The Climbers) - The soft blues and fluffiness hide the harsh danger of the scene until you notice those black specks might be people braving the merciless tundra. Their dog sled abandoned when it became obvious a week ago, after the food ran out, that it was either they eat the dogs or the dogs eat them. They had saved Sasha for the last knowing she would be the tastiest and they were right. I felt their pain and loss until I read the comments and found out they weren't on a polar expedition but in reality twenty feet from the Subaru and five minutes from 7-11! My mind can't take this kind of torment! But I do like the image. Nice horizon placement and I like the shapes of the clouds echo the shapes of the drifting snow on the ice. Gregory david Stempel (Waiting For Another Run) - Kind of neat. I like the mysterious darkness bit it looks like it would be a more interesting as a print as long as there was more detail in the shadows but on the monitor there's too much black. Pini Vollach (Venice 2003) - My favourite part of this is the blue hand on the crimson cape. That contrast is beautiful and the shape of the hand is really fascinating me. Perhaps its the way the costumes make them appear inhuman yet the hand appears gentle and caring. The crowd in the back almost makes me angry. That sunglass clad woman between the red and blue figures definitely bothers me. I could really get lost in an image of the two central figures but the background riff-raff ruins it for me. Jim Davis (Conversation) - So what happened? Who ate who? Is that a dead fish in the scene? I didn't notice the water droplets until I read your comments. I like the sunken boat most of all but then I'm not a big nature photography fan. David Small (For Sale) - Now how's that for meticulous framing? Very interesting use of signs. Is it saying that the American way is the only way or is it saying that selling the 'American Way' is a one way street? Of course it means neither. It's a chance grouping of unrelated signs. The cool part is we won't let a chance grouping of anything be just a chance grouping of things. Everything must have meaning at some level. Jim Snarski (Eyes On The Prize) - Another dark shot that I think would be a great print as long as the shadow detail was there. That piercing red eye and the tense pre-pounce posture with that evening sun is very cool. I used to want yellow contact lenses but now I think red. Alan P. Hayes - I was starting to get a feel for the blurry night shots and some of them I really liked but I don't really understand this shot. I hope you won't be offended and would explain to me what attracts you to this type of shooting. Some of the Astoria series on your web site appealed to me but they were ones that had a more obvious (to me) graphic design element to them. I know you've gotten positive feedback on the series and I'm wondering what I've missed. Don Draper - Nice and clear but it doesn't hold my attention. I get the feeling of a dreary day but little pink flowers should make me chipper. I'm conflicted. Thanks to the contributors and the diligence of the all night party PF Gallery staff. Greg Fraser Master of Funk http://users.imag.net/~lon2251/Gallery
