Here's the pictures http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery.html. Here's the comments. Mark Harris (Tree Flowers) - What I absolutely adore is the bokeh of the background and the wispy, blurred, almost monochromatic lines contained therein. In the foreground though, there is a pile of fine detail that is lost by soft focus. Most assuredly this was Mark's intent but to see it almost in focus leaves me feeling cheated whereas had it been more blurred (and if it were not blocking a lovely background) I would have more easily embraced it. Peeter Vissak (Scream) - Looks like a lion trapped in there. Good eye Peeter. Its just abstract enough to entertain. What really impresses me is the spiked bark on the tree. It reminds me of sand ripples on a beach but with pointy little caps. I would have burned a lot more to give it a more ominous look but as Peeter has presented it, I get the feeling of lightness and the heaven-ward pose gives me the feeling the creature's soul is about to ascend to heaven. Leslie Spurlock (Title intentionally left blank) - I like the way the people all form lines radiating out of the central figure. I don't understand though why you didn't crop the shadows laying peacefully along the bottom of the frame. To me they tend to kill the sense of motion that the rest of the images screams. Beautiful contrast between the blue and orange too. Emily L. Ferguson (No title) - This image does little for me although the second figure from the front does make me chuckle. Margaret Lucas (hi vol day) - I like the palette of this image and the way the sunlight hits the stacks. I wonder if you would consider flipping the image horizontally so that the stack and smoke produces a giant '?'. Compositionally it would please me more too and what is the point of photography if not to please me? Veli Cigirgan (sans title) - Interesting composition. Patches of red, blue and green on muted background. One child growing from the head of another. Angular rocks form a wedge whose shape is repeated by the rock in the water while the Siamese twins for a large arc. I don't really know what to make of it but its interesting. Pini Vollach (Enter the temple) - I get a real feeling that the walls are alive like you're looking up between the legs of a row of creatures. The lighting and the steps really lead me into the shot. I find the effect much stronger with the lighter step in the foreground removed but I'm not sure I like it better that way. Richard Wrigley (Storm coming) - At first I thought the cyan cast was perhaps from fog or rain but it extends out into the black edge of the frame so I assume it is a post processing effect. I adjusted the color balance on a copy of the image and I don't find the cyan cast helps me enjoy the shot and a bridge shot really needs something special to interest me. Bob Talbot (Cheery Blossom) - Ha, I get it. There is a lot of detail that gets sort of lost and muddled up on my piece o' crap LCD monitor but it works sublimely as a backdrop to that liquid mirror below it. Love the muted colors with the one splash of moderate red focal point. The balance is very pleasing also with the dark tree squirming up the middle of the scene and bending to the left to tickle the other dark tree in an unholy manner. Although its a static scene there is much going on if you stop and look. Very cool. Jeff Spirer (Angel) - Not much for me here but I did notice one large person, one small angel, one large dumpster, one small dumpster. Coincidence? Steve Shapiro (Color Photograph Printing School) - Aside from what appears to me to be a color cast, I really like this image. At first I didn't care for it but as I studied it, I noticed something interesting. At street level, the door is shrouded in dark, uninviting graffiti. On the second level, flames pour out of the door but on the third level, a crucifix hangs on the exterior wall. Ah...heaven and hell in their proper places. Even the serpent is represented although I am at a loss to explain the giant eyeball although it is in proportion to what appears to be a row of giant cigarette butt sculptures. Andrew Davidhazy (The critics) - Aside from the fact that the image on the wall is almost an exact duplicate of my old passport photo, I am almost at a loss to comment on this image. This is not the usual Davidhazy fare presented in the gallery. I neither like it nor dislike it. As I enter the image though, I am directed by the bent arm to someone's back pocket. Then I jump to the figure facing me naked and almost faceless save for a black spot which may be an open mouth. The image on the wall strikes me as a tad bizarre while the viewers are the exact opposite. What does it all mean? What does it mean? I'm exhausted. Thank you to all contributors and specially to the faceless, either numerous or often rotating, gallery staff. Greg Fraser http://home.golden.net/~fraserg
