Hi, Thanks for your review. Yes, that is newburyport, Ma. I think it is one of the most "authentic" colonial towns i have ever seen. So well preserved. I have seen some of the Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and Connecticut places in some detail, and I find Newburyport very charming. I have to drive through there in my quest to maintain my habit (cigarettes are sooo expensive in Ma.). Its a lovely drive and with a Starbucks sort of halfway in Nbypt, it makes a fine little day trip. That photo is every thing that can go wrong with casual photography. Too late arriving, By the time I got set, the boat had moved just far enough to be wrong and rather than give up the idea and find a different vantage point, I panicked and blasted away and ran back to the car. You were quite right that I cropped the cars. They were noisier clutter than the opposite shore clutter. It does prove a point. You cant save a bad picture in the editor. The fuzziness is due to my not understanding when I needed to use the sharpen filter. Thanks again. Yours, fred.vansand2@verizon.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "T. Scott Thurmond" <tthurmond9@comcast.net> To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students" <photoforum@listserver.isc.rit.edu> Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 12:36 PM Subject: Review of PF gallery for 9-20-03 > I've been feeling guilty about submitting images for review and not taking > the time to do reviews myself. I blame this partially on a lack of time, > which is a pretty lame excuse. > > First a brief introduction. My day job is that of Regulatory Toxicologist > for the US Food and Drug Administration (food safety, not drugs). I've been > interested in photography for about five years, after having spent several > years living in Rochester (must be something in the water). Which is where > I first started subscribing to Andy's PhotoForum. I sorely miss the > resources which were available in Rochester for stimulating the desire to > improve one's photographic skills (especially the Community Darkroom and the > George Eastman House). > > I hope to be able to contribute reviews in the future on a regular basis (I > know, easier said then done). Maybe not as regularly as Mr. Fraser who > seems to consider doing reviews a holy undertaking, which I do appreciate. > One thing I have learned is that by making the effort to objectively > critique the work of others you can learn a lot about your own. Please note > that I haven't read the reviews on photos other than my own, since I've been > out of town for the past week. > > > > 1. Greg 'Rodeo' Fraser - "End of Summer" > > The image is of a child's car, which appears to be carrying three pieces of > rock (children do like to collect almost anything). The title is well > represented by the photo, which gives the empty feeling of the passage of > the season and the arrival of Fall (yellow and orange colors), Other than > that, I didn't get a lot out of it. The curve effect is nice, although it's > cropped too closely on the right. The focus brings my eyes to the rocks, > which I feel are secondary to the overall picture. > > 2. D.L. shipman - "untitled" > > This is a picture of two Great Egrets (at least I think they're Great > Egrets), which are either locked in combat or going through a mating ritual > (some times the two are difficult to tell apart). The photo itself is quite > beautiful, showing a lot of patience on Mr. Shipman's part. The sections of > the image which out of focus give the feel of motion and intensity of > action. My major problem with this photo is the deadness of the sky in the > background, perhaps cropping the top would reduce that a bit. > > 3. Kostas Papakotas - "the amazing light conspiracy" > > A shot of a young singer doing a stage sound check. Not sure about the > "conspiracy" part, but I do like the light. It has that warm glow of > evening, and softens the overall picture. I also like the way that the > you've managed to nicely isolate the singer from the musician (?) to her > left. Although he almost appears attached to her. I'm somewhat disturbed > by the out-of-focus stage lights which appear to be somewhat in front of the > singer. Maybe a better angle would have been to take the picture a little > more directly across her profile, bringing the lights more in line. > > 4. Gregory David Stempel - "Waiting on the Metro" > > A photograph of an empty gray concrete area which is broken by a whitish > concrete rectangle. A person of undetermined sex is just barely visible in > the upper right, apparently counting change. Even without the title I > probably would have concluded that this person was waiting on the bus, or > some other conveyance (in DC the subway is known as the "Metro"). The image > gives the impression of emptiness, or loneliness; not sure which > predominates. The shot from overhead is effective in giving that > impression, although a little more space would have enhanced that feeling. > > 5. Andrew Fildes - "Now THIS is a kingfisher" > > A close up of a Kingfisher, eye-to-eye. This is a very nice image, and the > poem, which I won't critique, adds a gentle touch. Good focus on the eye > and beak, makes it look like a bird you wouldn't want to mess with. Your > wife's "child" looks like it could be nasty. The focus on the body is a bit > soft. At f2.4 I guess your depth of field is somewhat limited. > > 6. Dan Mitchell - "Remembrance" > > A photograph of an empty table in an eatery. My favorite this week. The > light falling across the table and illuminating the bud vase and sugar bowl > (?) is very effective. It does almost give a deja vu feeling. The > highlights are well exposed and there is a nice contrast to the overall > image. I originally thought the picture could be improved by cropping out > the windows, but it didn't have the same feeling. > > 7. Achal Pashine (didn't you have another name at one time?) - Clouds > > Photograph of cloud formations over the ocean. Yep, those are clouds, and > nice ones too. Nice level horizon, and good contrast. Looks like a shot > Mike Kahn might have made, but without the sail boats. Needs some other > point of interest though. > > 8. Fred van Sand - "Newburyport Bridge" > > A photograph of a raised drawbridge with a sail boat preparing to go under > it. This image is a little lacking in contrast. Adding more would pop the > shadow on the bridge control tower, add greater definition to the clouds and > liven up the colors overall. It would have been nice to see more of the near > side of the bridge, although I suspect you cropped it to remove the cars > waiting to cross. The light post without the light in the foreground is > distracting. I also think that cropping the right side of your image would > bring the focus more to the bridge. As it stands the photo is a little too > busy on the right side. I used to live in Newburyport, Mass, is this where > your photo was taken? > > 9. Leslie Spurlock - "Boy at chorten" > > Photograph of a young boy standing in the doorway of a room apparently lit > only by window light. Not sure where, or what, chorten is, by the look of > this picture I would assume it was somewhere in Mongolia or Tibet. Anyway, > I like the color rendition, good skin tone. However, my eye seems to wander > away from the boy, who is supposed to be the focus, into the interior of the > room. Strategic left and right cropping would eliminate other distractions > and focus on the central subject (my solution for everything!). If you were > attempting to show the boy with artifacts of his culture, you need to give > the interior of the room greater detail. > > Whew, that was harder than I thought. It's taken me the better part of the > morning. Oh well, I would have been working anyway. Thanks to everyone for > their submissions. > > Scott >
