Taking a break from the crushing pressure that is my daily existence, I type thusly my first impressions about the fine images in the eclectic RIT Photoforum gallery http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery.html Marilyn Dalrymple (Chasing Shadows) - Interesting composition. I like the three circles and their placement in relationship to each other and you know, the longer I look at it, the more prominent they become. The straw slats disappear and all I'm sensing is some hypnotic effect riveting my attention to the swirl filled glass ball. Deeper....deeper....into.....glass.....ball. Your wish my command Mistress Marilyn. Elson T. Elizaga (Assassin) - Wow! The thumbnail didn't interest me at all but the full size image is excellent. Great lighting etc but what I really like is the placement of antennae and legs. They're not perfectly symmetrical but also not haphazardly akimbo either. I don't know if it would be possible to place them the way they are, but they seem perfectly balanced to me and the little critter is also perfectly framed. I really, really like this shot. Rick Kessler (mmmm mmmm gooood) - From the thumbnail (looks like an industrial pollution plume) and title, I had visions of a Campbell's tomato soup factory near Gary Indiana. Quite the opposite though. However, its pretty much like every other sunset shot of places I never get to visit. King/Arthur (Shoe Repair) - One of those shots I hate liking but it's the woman's marionettesque pose that I really enjoy. That and the super fuzziness of the entire shot, the vignetting on the edges and the saturated patches of color. 'Floppy Mart' a circus family owned business since 1977. Rich Mason - Is correctionville a mega-prison or just a town where they enjoy pointing out your faults? I must admit I've been rather over-saturated with American flags lately. On the other hand, I like to see the window frame running smartly parallel to the photo edge. I suppose one really must watch out for things like that in Correctionville. Dan Mitchell (Mill) - Like the black sky. That and the hard shadows really give the impression of a massive windmill. I like this image. I've always wondered why the windmill blades are just frames and not solid though. Kostas Papakotas (is that Dog Life?) - Too bad you couldn't shoot through the window and show the person begging across the street. Or perhaps get a reflection in the glass. Without the commentary, the shot is just a fat, sleeping dog. Robin G. Ramos (Ascending) - Hmmm.....Those poles are really interesting but there's a lot of what looks to me like background clutter on the horizon. The horizon is a relatively thin strip of the image but the lines of the poles are so clean as is the cloudless sky. To me, less DOF would be more. David Small - Saturday I had a desire to shoot bleachers and on the same day, your bleacher shot was scheduled for display. Coincidence? You probably hope so. I like how the women are roosting while the pigeons are walking and between them there's one walker pushing a rooster. All of this is played out in a diagonal, high tension composition. Nice work. Christopher Strevens, LRPS (Busker at Kingston) - Chris, this is my favourite of all your images I have seen. The Photoshop liquid emulsion, canvas, watercolor and whatever other effects work well here and I like the composition and warm tones. Very nice. Jayanth Vincent (Indian Dance) - I may be wrong but it looks like the overly warm tone to this is accidental. It doesn't look natural and it doesn't look strong enough to be done for effect. The subject and the colors of her outfit look like they should be quite vibrant but they all appear orange tinted on my monitor. Perhaps its just the effects of Marilyn's hypnosis. My heartfelt, well heartfelt may be a little strong. My lungfelt thanks to this week's contributors and gallery staff. Greg Fraser Master of Funk http://users.imag.net/~lon2251/Gallery
