Here are my totally biased opinions of this week's photos. Sue Butler (Colour & Movement) - I like the gently contrasting colors but I adore the bokeh and the movement in the background. I also love the shallow DOF and the way you focused on sort of nothing in particular while at the same time leaving no doubt that there's a real flower in the shot. I like the way the flower just slips outside the frame of the image and the way there is a darker area bottom right. Both give the composition a feeling of informality as if to say 'just enjoy the view'. Had you used a greater DOF these things would become distractions in the image. Greg Fraser (Plant) - Pure dribble. Elson T. Elizaga (The Kiss) - I too thought it was a stereo pair and was disappointed to find it wasn't. I live in Ontario and I'm glad that law was passed. The woman in your photo looks like a pleasant enough person but I have yet to see an owner of a pitbull who didn't buy it because of its aggressive reputation. Emily L. Ferguson (Arument approaches Shona) - I like the mix of rigging lines and sail seams but what I like most is the clever 'c' in the circle at the bottom right. Obviously a play on the word 'sea' with the circle representing the earth or perhaps the circle of life since some people believe life came from the sea. Very cool. Jim Davis (Fisher Meeting) - Don't get it at all. Just not my type of image. Renate Volz (Incandescence) - Well how can I not like this? It's warm, inviting, soft and it entices me to explore. Looks like it would taste good too. Howard Leigh (Sunset, Normandy, Summer 2005) - I like the shape the horizon makes and the color of the sky but the bird is too perfectly placed before the sun. Perhaps its just too much burning in of the bird that makes it look like it was placed there in PS. I think you should have left more flare on it. Chris Strevens (Charity Homes in London) - This reminds me of Frederick Würtele's early work although it is obviously modernized and there is no railway present, it still retains his sense of space and the rubbish bins do look somewhat like a train. Qkano (No Cycling) - What kind of anarchist nonsense is this? Why are the words painted on the sidewalk appear to be far less blurred than the pavement upon which they purport to sit? Why is the pavement different shades of grey anyway? I don't know and that's what I like about this shot. Its almost antagonistic attack upon my intellect is invigorating. Plus I just like the whole composition. Pini Vollach - Like Qkano's shot, this one too confuses me in a pleasant way. I see no sure reference point to indicate which direction I'm looking. Kind of looks like a window but that looks like pavement outside. Those could be very uncomfortable chairs in the mid-ground but am I looking at a reflection in glass or through a sheer curtain? No, its a reflection in double pane glass judging by the reflection top left. Still, I am lost and I like it. The end. Greg
