> Rob Talbot - Goldeneye Odd portayal of a strange subject. I first thought he may be cold, but then again, he may not want to be recognized in public. Maybe framing a bit higher would have made for a perfect visual balance. > Yoram Gelman - Broom / Bicycle A study in still life. I think its well balanced and, although I don't get a specific message, I agree its appealing. > Art Faul - Harbor Beautiful. I perceive this as a kind of homage to port infrastructure. Surely I am influenced by some project I have done for a ship agent. > Trevor Cunningham - attempt at family portrait I read the description and thought "Very well done"! I was going to send a familiy picture for this week, but discussions of whether including red wine in the Committee caused distraction. I think all of the individuals look very comfortable, which is a big point. I would shoot many, many pictures until they hint they are tired or want out. In this photo, I notice a strange gesture in the kid's hand (kid at left), as if he was a metal-music lover. Dad is in front of Mom and his body totally covers her - I would invert that, so she would seem "protected" by his body (she could thus also lean a bit on him, to try a loving gesture). I would also ask Dad to embrace her to look for "togetherness". > Christopher Strevens - Accident All of your pictures have a tremendous quality to make me look into the ordinary with more attention. > John Palcewski - Martin & Busch I think this has an interesting and curious effect of trying to associate the names with the faces. In recent context, I saw "blue" and couldn't help but think of policemen in a manhunt. > Bob McCulloch - The Market A very different market from the ones around here. Good composition and pleasing atmosphere. The contrast of the lights above is strong but no bothering at all, maybe because the dominant color is a bit off-neutral. And now, the John Willard Ploy III Award for Photograph Excellence this week is to... (drumroll) John Palcewski's "Martin & Busch"! (Oh's! Ah's! Eeeks!) Discretely strong. Pretty good choice of cropping and good balance of the elements (heads/faces, garments and names) and equally important: a very limited color palette of three or four colors. The Committee acknowledges the quality of all works and thanks for the difficult decisions, since it results in more cons... Discussion! Intellectual discussions. Exactly. **************** Alberto Tirado
