Hi all,
They get a bit shorter towards the end. Sorry, but writing up a review is a lot of work :-)
Best to all,
Brian vdB
Pini Vollach - Long - house mystery <http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/vollach.html>
From the thumbnail, the main figure looked rather like it had been painted by a Dutch master. The smoke and the low lighting conspire so as to preserve that sense in the larger version. The combination of the tilt in the image and whatever it is that looks like a railway track shooting straight for me leave this feeling a bit unbalanced for me. I tried recropping it (with paper L's) and tilting my head, but then it felt unbalanced for different reasons. (The angle that the man then appeared to be at.)
I get that the interest is largely in the overall setting. But, playing with croppings, I think I like it much more as a more tightly focused portrait, including just the man, the teapot (?), a bit of wood, and the smoke.
Here's an irony -- that teapot looks very like one I saw in a shop the other day for upwards of 100 $CND. I presume that stands a good chance of being more than he sees a season.
Rich Mason - <http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/rmason.html>
Lenin Lives!
The interest here for me is in the interplay between the woman on lower left and the man with the hat. But, it is unfortunate that the scene is so cluttered. (I get that in 'street photography' you don't get to do mise en scene, but the clutter is too much in the way for my tastes.)
I also don't think that I'd be brave enough to take photos inside of an US airport these days!
Bob Talbot - Doorway <http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/talbot.html>
Lighting, grain, and apparent extraordinary height conspire to give this a very X-Files feeling for me. I do think it is a shame that the top of the door and frame are missing. As it is, I feel both a sense of truncation and that her head is a bit cramped up there at the top of the frame.
Jeff Spirer - Pajaros <http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/spirer.html>
This one was quite a surprise. I don't know what I expected as I clicked one the thumbnail, but this wasn't it! It's hard to look at the thumbnail without the knowledge of the large effecting it, but it really does strike me as an expressionist water-colour or something similar.
I like the composition a lot. Normally, the thin strip of ground would seem to me to be too thin (even though it is the goings on in the sky that forms the obvious subject). But, the posts of the vineyard counteract that very nicely.
D.L. Shipman - Anhinga and Heron <http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/shipman.html>
I'm not usually one for the animal portrait. But I do like a lot about this one. I'm originally from Vancouver, BC and the black bird's pose and colouring remind me very strongly of the way birds are often depicted in West Coast First Nations art. ('First Nations' is the Canadian equivalent of 'Native American'.) There is both a majesty and a tension there.
Given that, for me at least, the interest is in the Anhinga (new to me, btw), I've gone back and forth on thinking it is good that the heron is there, too. The heron's head provides the only bright point in the entire scene and thus helps counter a 'doom and gloom'. But, I think it might call so much attention to itself as to make the shot a bit unbalanced. I'm still of two minds.
David Small - I love mom <http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/small.html>
Thoroughly confused by the title when viewing the thumbnail. While the humour of (and, I presume, reason for) the image is lost in the thumbnail, I actually prefer it as an image in the smaller format. Large, it is a good example of 'quirky and funny found on the street'. While I do like the contrast of the various textures, there isn't too much beyond the funny here for me.
John Mason - Snowstorm, Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri <http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/jmason.html>
Living in Montreal, I am quite used to this sort of thing by now. By Missouri? Is this at all normal? (Perhaps I've misconceptions, but I've always thought of the St. Louis Blues as the first kind of silly east coast hockey team.) Here, we are under a February smog advisory. I think its clear -- we've broke the world. :-(
Anyway, to the photo: I like it a lot. The contrast between the sharpness of the dominant tree and the haziness of those in the background nicely captures the feeling of being in a snow storm.
Peeter Vissak - <http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/vissak.html>
I think I get the intent, but without anything in particular to focus upon, and little tonal variation, this is a bit too static for me. The reflections of the clouds are nice, though. Perhaps if the top were cropped a bit so that the horizon wasn't dead centre? The foreground and the relatively few things to look at make it not work for me as a centred symmetrical image.
Terry L. Mair - Misty Mourning <http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/tmair.html>
I quite like this. I particularly like the way the diagonal of the fence and that of the tree trunk interact. I don't have much more to say, but I do like it.
Emily L. Ferguson - South Beach sunset colors <http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/ferguson.html>
I really like the coppery colour. I do think the top half is a bit too dark, though. Have you tried tweaking it to raise the brightness at all?
