A Blurry Visionby
mrambachComment by jmsetzler: Greetings...
Last place in a challenge is a tough situation. If you would like to become a better photographer, I can offer you some advice. Otherwise, just stop reading here and ignore the rest of what I have to say :)
The comments you received during the challenge cover the main issue with this challenge submission. It's too small. You should always make your image at least 640 pixels on the long side. When you make it smaller than the maximum possible size here, it makes it much more difficult for the viewer to absorb the image that you have submitted. I can't really see the feeling or mood that you may be attempting to relay with this photo.
When I do look a little deeper into this photo, I can attempt to draw a few conclusions about it. I believe that the blur in this photo could represent the form of failure that you had in mind. It has nothing to do with camera technicals, as people have commented already. I see so much of this nonsense here on DPChallenge with technical issues that it makes me want to throw up. It seems that no matter what you submit, you should never use a photo that has any element that could be considered a technical flaw. Blur in a photo causes people to focus on it for the WRONG reasons rather than the reason you probalby intended.
I can look at this photo and believe that your subject has experienced a failure of some magnitued that blurs her vision. That failure can be represented by the blurry photo quite well. Anger, fear, disappointment, and sadness are all emotions that can be nicely represented in a blurry photo. I think you should be commended for attempting to be unique with the idea here.
I could also be totally in left field. You, as the photographer and submitter of this photo, should make the effort to put your own thoughts in the "photographer's comments" box when you submit the image. As a person who gives critique, I find it useful to know what your intentions are in a photo. I can also provide you a much stronger critique if I know those things. When you leave that field blank, it makes me think that you don't care about your own photo. If that's the case, why bother submitting it? I could be wasting my own time by providing you with critique if you don't care :)
John Setzler