Hello, everyone. Let me cut to the chase. Rich Mason I REALLY love this image. Faces, newspapers, boredom everywhere! The men read, the women sit patiently. If I didn't know you, I would have suggested liberal use of copy and paste with PS. The woman in the middle ground is an uncanny match with the image in the near man's paper. Wonderful tight composition: Left edge meets paper edge; foreground woman is slumped in the lower corner of the image; lonely space fills the adjacent lower corner. Subjects are tightly stacked Tetris-style throughout the central horizontal band of the image; angular lines and sweeping curves cooperate to form a delicate web for my eyes to trace back and forth. The only part of the photo that bothers me is its "grayness"; perhaps a slight brightness/contrast shift could make the difference. Great job. Veli Cigirgan Fish. Quite different from the Old Masters' picture-perfect flowers or fruit. Looking at the messiness, if not carnage, laid out on the table, the first instinct is to back away. My second response, however, was to note the red-line curve flowing through the center, the warm-toned meat and its contrast with the cool-colored heads and scales, and to salivate at the thought of a juicy fish sandwich. The scattered debris in the foreground and background, though minimized through shallow depth of field, is a bit distracting. The lighting and limited color is reminiscent of 1960s-era magazine photographs and adds to the image's clinical/scientific feel. Qkano: Viewmaster Cat OK, so Rosie's on the prowl, and so are you. After rummaging through old gel swatch books for a red and cyan filter, and then letting my eyes individually adjust their color shifts back to something resembling normal, I am somehow taken aback at the ridiculous claim "Just for the record: not a piece of artwork." In many cases, the creator of a piece is the only one who believes it to be art, not the only one who insists that it isn't. And now you've got me off on a tangent. Rrrr. Once again, I am pleased with your composition. The grass (blades, leaves, whatever they are) explodes out of the lower left corner (even more pronounced with the gel filters over my eyes) and frames the kitty. A minor detail, the shade in the upper right, makes an enormous difference in the image, as it corrals light into the center, spotlighting the cat. And did I mention the 3-D effect? Nicely done. A magnificent extra touch. Polly: Young Robin I love the depth of field in this one. The background foliage is blurred just enough so that it is visible but largely unnoticeable. The bird is sharply focused; I feel as though I could reach into my PC's monitor and touch it. The catchlight in the bird's eye lends some life to it, and the small patch of light on its body give the feeling of open space between leaves, a sense of being sheltered in the open. The branch's definition is largely heightened by the blurred green along its edge; without it, the wood would have merged with the background. However, I would have liked to see some empty space just below the branch (where it touches the bottom of the frame); otherwise a top-notch image. Leslie Spurlock: UN Doctor I'm interested in knowing the back story of this image. There are so many visual clues suggestive of social conflict (camouflage, rough-block wall, apparently unsanitary floor). Even the doctor's red cross appears to be hastily stitched together. I like the way you isolated the doctor from the background with the patch of light on the wall directly behind his head. A bit of fill flash on the patient may have worked wonders for this image, as his face is largely obscured by shadow. The top and back of his head is missing too, but this is one of those rare occasions where I am not disturbed by that. Pablo Coronel: Ballet Night It is heartening to see an image processed with Rodinal. As for the creative aspect, I have to say that the soft light and focus create a feeling of dreaminess. The light's intensity has caused some overexposure on the girl's face which reminds me of early morning sunlight which I freely associate with hope, promise, and anticipation, which I'm sure she's feeling as the shutter trips. The jury's still out on whether the minimal depth of field works for or against the photograph in this case. Overall a successful image. Chris Strevens: Bus Station (Trying to put fond memories of CityLink-ing around Great Britain aside) At first glance, I am seeing four primary fields: Ground, Station, Buildings, Sky. I am impressed with the repetitive angularity of the first three of these elements. The street curves visually upward at an angle which roughly matches the right side of the bus station's architecture, which is balanced by the roof to the left; together the two angles form a gull-wing shape echoed in the awnings on the buildings in the background, which, incidentally, seem to be taking flight into a patchy sky. Flight -> Freedom -> Travel -> Transit -> Bus station. OK, maybe a long shot, but that's how my mind works. Wonderful selection of vantage point. Well done. Terry L. Mair: Johnson Mill First off, congratulations for not including footprints in the snow here. The looming building is set behind a cluster of trees, and balanced by the tree leaning through the right edge of the frame. The lack of color saturation almost suggests that it is a hand- (or digitally-) toned black and white image. The bleak lighting and starkly naked trees make me feel the cold; the blue tinge to the sky removes the miserable feeling a fully-overcast day would provide. My only complaint is in the amount of visual real estate taken up by the copyright notice. Perhaps if it were smaller and of the "watermark" variety it wouldn't be so distracting. Trevor Cunningham: Face in a Window Well, THAT'S bizarre. Admittedly, I have a hard time rating "grab shots" so I'll operate under the presumption that this was a planned composition that yielded an added bonus of a gigantic face looming in a window reflection. Specifically, I'm looking at the granularity of the gray areas in adjacent features (the column, distant window, reflection of sky) which lend a feeling of antiquity to the image. In this instance, the establishment's age is apparent and quite possibly exaggerated by the lack of overall contrast. It looks like a nice place to sip coffee on a Saturday morning, if it weren't for Saddam Hussein's 1-meter-diameter-head twin brother blocking the view. Jim Davis: No Rules I think what I noticed first was the way the wavy reflections of reeds in the water's surface are broken by the birds' bodies. To me, composition looks like the camera needed to be tilted up a bit; there's a lot of emptyish space in the lower third and I am more interested in what is going on above the top of the frame, even if it's just a jumbled mass of weeds; that would certainly create a balanced dichotomy of solid vs. liquid. Of course, I prefaced the composition comments with "To me" so feel free to kick my shins. As for the title, I'm finding its meaning elusive; of course it could be from writing about this at midnight. Perhaps "No Rules" referring to who must yield right-of-way? ...in which case it depends upon the fowls' nationalities. Thank you everyone for your submissions this week. It was a pleasure reviewing them. I look forward to your continued discussions. Yours very truly, Darin Heinz
