Eminent Forum Members, The following are my thoughts concerning this week's rather meager PhotoForum members' gallery/exhibit space now on display at http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery.html: Gregory david Stempel: "Shadow Figure" http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/stempel.html Joining Talbot's spider in a jar, this submission by Stempel has now proven that he is one sick person. Luckily, from me that is a compliment. Photographically this image does not have much to offer. The title pretty much says it all. Imaginatively, however, this is very good. I like it. I suspect I would have made what appears to be an object in the distal portion of the left (??? - can't tell if this is a shot from behind or facing the shadow creature, but let's assume we are facing it) appendage to be held at the end of the object rather than in its midportion, But regardless of how the shadow creature holds objects, this is a very interesting and intriguing photo. Jim Davis: "Afterglow" http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/davis.html This is indeed a near masterpiece! Despite Davis' claim to the contrary, this IS a bird image. The two birds are the sine qua non of the image. Through what has to be prepared luck, experience and an eye for "the moment," Davis put the birds directly above two dips in the black foreground foliage, by which a symbiotic complement of compositional elements is attained. The beauty of this image is also enhanced by the crispness of detail in the silhouetted foreground. It seems almost as if he had painted the foreground onto the orange afterglow and gray mountain in the back. I really, really like this image. Shawna Hanel: "Detritus" http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/hanel.html Or is this not "Detritus Revisited"? Was this not submitted a week or two ago, but as a daylight shot? I like this better. The translucency of the plastic gives a certain fragility to this captured object and almost gives it life. The elongated "S" shape of the barbed wire adds tranquility. And Hanel has placed each element into its proper place in a sea of black to add interest and beauty. Just as the clouds form and reform across the heavens, so goes the effects of the imagination for the lines and shadow contained in the plastic. Besides what I perceive to be beauty in this work, Hanel has also provided us with imagination fodder. Dan Mitchell: "Leaves" http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/mitchell.html While I do like the colors as did Mitchell, and I really like the vertical trunk of the tree jutting up in the off-center location, there is just enough of a lack of detail in the textures to keep this from being a "WOW!" picture that it potentially could have been. Andrew Davidhazy: "Endeavour" http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/davidhazy.html That's impressive! I love the way the billowy exhaust fumes are lit by the fury of the engine blast. And the camera was only about a quarter of a mile away! That's less than three city blocks. That's close. That's very close. I would like to see the entire 36-exposure sequence. Once again, many thanks to everyone who submitted this week, as well as everyone on Andy's staff who helped put the Forum together. I appreciate everyone's efforts and hope to see more next week. pax rand
