June 7, 2023
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Love this one. It is full of motion and vibrant colors. That it is a fantasy image is no bother to me, because I can admire how the fantasy dream world is knitted into the humdrum of daily life. The circular form gives the eye something to chase down, and there we find the wonderful unbirds. How you put together such a wondrous combination of elements (light, color, texture, and brushes to create this is brilliant. Beautiful and whimsical simultaneously.
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Mike, I'm glad You and Your wife loved it. Lou
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It's very creative and well done! I love the spiral shape and the wonderful combination of colors. It really draws you in in a very nice way. The only thing I'm not completely sure about is the border... I think it might look better to me without it, or with a more neutral one. I think I'd also crop it as a square, because it's quite close to that already.
Excellent work - an image with lots of different possible interpretations and very effective!
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This is a great demonstration of framing.
The bent arm and head form a frame, they are dark and/or out of focus, so they don’t distract, and it draw us in.
The pale wood around the mirror frame the three men. The mirror itself frames two of them, and in doing so, exposes them as reflections. The shower unit frames the most important character and the image revolves around his eyes, and he is applying a frame of white make-up to draw attention to those. All very cool.
David Copperfield has mysteriously hidden the photographer. Almost. We can just get a hint of how he achieved that trick.
As viewers, we have the privilege of witnessing this scene of intimacy. It shows us a scene which would be hidden from us, but also reveals the closeness of the brothers and their trust in the photographer.Pete
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I like the transition between the darkness at bottom right and the bright, coloured bokeh balls top left, all out of focus, but with points of sharpness in the middle.
Could I recognise the subject as toothpicks immediately? No. But my subconscious immediately kicked in to assist. If in doubt, it checks for human features and saw a hand. It then did its next job, friend or foe? Very small, maybe a a child. Outstretched, so possibly looking for attention, or help even. So probably friendly, with just an outside chance of it being something small and nasty, reaching for my jugular.
That was a bit tongue in cheek, but it shows the interaction and fun we have trying to interpret an image. It doesn’t matter that it is probably the text, and nothing visual, which gives us the most valuable clue to identifying the subject. It is an enjoyable composition and colour, so I don’t feel cheated if I spend time looking and failing, because the process is enjoyable. Had it been a pile of well lit, perfectly sharp and instantly recognisable toothpicks, I suspect my enjoyment would have been slightly above zero.Pete
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I am immediately drawn to the inviting stare of the woman in the top right corner. This is despite the man being in one of the strongest part of the composition, near the centre and in a frame. This creates a tension as we try to work out which is the more important subject. There are two legs just above and behind the man, but there is not enough information to see if there is any connection. This also adds a degree of tension. Are the legs a sign of danger for the man? He is wearing a bow-tie, which is very formal today, and not what I would expect him to wear entering the underground. Strange. Or maybe it is from a time, when bow-ties were more fashionable. It is a B&W photo after all. He is black and since she is white, hinting at a predominantly white area, is this a cause of danger. It shouldn’t be, but the thought raises the tension again. There are lots of clues to location, but they are lost on me, but maybe they are significant.
All in all it is a beautifully balanced photo, but creates an uneasy feeling. A delicious cocktail.Pete
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This is a good capture as well as being an unusual find. I liked the original version, but then preferred Roel’s crop without knowing why, until I realised that I was being distracted by that triangle of branches in the bottom left corner.
It is nice to know that devastating winds bring ospreys , and not just destruction.Pete
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This is fantastic, in all meanings of the word. It is a very creative use of photography. It is one for the wall, and I would see it differently every day, depending on my mood. The colours are strong and cheerful, and the spiral shape shows energy and the silhouettes are delicate. But the reds and yellows can feel warm and soothing or hot and dangerous, and the swirls can be caresses or whirlwinds. Today it could be a glorious sunset, with the birds coming home to roost in the trees. Tomorrow it could be a forest fire, with the birds flying away from a tsunami of flame. The day after it could be….
Pete
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Great capture with an interesting composition and dynamic! At first I thought the square crop is something I would change, but then realized what bothered me, is that it's actually not exactly square... So I tried making it square, get rid of the wood at the lower left corner and changed the colors slightly. Of course that will decrease its documentary value somewhat, but it kinda captures what I'd try to go for:
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There's so much going on... it really is a very busy image, and yet it somehow works. I think the most fascinating aspect about it, is the high number of attention-seeking things in this image (the woman on the poster, all the words, letters and numbers, the different symbols, the shapes etc.) which make it a bit of a challenge to focus on the tiny person with the white shirt. And yet you managed to recognize him and take the shot... not only that the extremely busy composition + the B&W edit even allow the viewer to succeed in realizing that it's actually about this man.
And so all the information becomes related to him as well, giving lots of opportunities for questions:
- is he perhaps someone really interesting of famous, which makes the women in front desperate to capture our attention/or his?
- do the words ("faded glory" ?) mean, that he was once famous, or could have been, but rather decided to go 'underground'?
- are the layers of icons in the front suggesting that he doesn't quite know where to go next?
- is the metal fence a symbol of him feeling like he's in a cage? Perhaps a cage of constant travel and consumation?
etc.
Very interesting and multi-layered image - well done!
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Gayle's one and only fling with a self-permanent. She's doing her best not to break out laughing. But couldn't keep a straight face.
Some time in the mid-80s. Kodachrome 64, Daylight. Olympus OM2n, Zuiko 50mm/1.4, ~ f/5.6, drum scan.
This was a difficult scan. Kodachrome always required extra compensation, scanning slightly blue-ish. The late afternoon light which was mostly skylight was very blue, despite the few rays of sunlight coming through some tree branches. The 'chrome looks quite blue, optically.
I thought she looked great in curls.
Rich
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I have been trying to get a half decent shot of some lilies in this dam ever since I bought my camera. What with poor focus, user blur, wind damaged petals, bug eaten green parts, old dead lily pads and other weed, I never succeeded. The other day I noticed a suggested WB tweak I had missed and that has improved natural colors no end. Today my enemy was bright light so a lot of playing with EC and still struggling with sharp focus. Here is one where I have brought up shadows somewhat but not sure what else I should do.
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The colours are very attention getting. When I first see it I immediately want to look closer. But then? I can't find anything else in the subject matter or composition that would bring me back to look at the image a second time.
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Jim & Minnie,
I had looked at Jim's image and was thinking about a response.
Many elements were in my mind: * the challenging but satisfying composition, with many large panels occupying big parts of the image and leaving open an almost letterboxed view on reality, through which we gaze at a young black male who seems very confident about his dress style; * the subway signs that provide a clear geography * the truncated lettering of the advertisement that still allows us to read "faded glory", which ties in nicely with the timelessness of the man's dress * the juxtaposition of a provocative white female making eyecontact, and the young black male literally below her gaze * the fact that this juxtaposition of black and white is also reflected in the image's B&W processing choice.
All of those considerations were stylistic.
I read Mike's response and agreed, but wanted to put more emphasis on the many clever choices made by Jim, to enhance the value of this split-second capture.
But then I read Minnie's comment and it felt like a gut punch. A gut punch of recognition, because yes, of course, that is the subtext of this image.
It's an image that could grace the cover of two very different books: a coffee table album on street photography, but also a sociological study about race in the USA. -
Rich, I think so too.
The curls result in a level of frivolity and playfulness that each and every one of us would probably want to see in his favourite woman.
Photographically, this set of two images could be use as classroom material on the impact of a smile.
Cherish this moment from the mid-80s.
Forty years later, it still packs a punch.
