On the Rocks?
by yanko

Comment:
this was a real standout during voting - nice light.

Campbell's Tomato Soup... Possibilities
by Jib

Comment:
warhol would be proud

... and I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
by pawdrix

Comment:

Originally posted by Prof_Fate: The fire escape has no reason for being in the image - I scrolled over to eliminate it and the image got better. Also, the building on the bottom left is crooked to the edge of the frame, an easy fix beacuse to the normal person buildings don't look like this, so here it's a distraction. I'm not keen on the distribution of the clouds, partly behind the cross I mean.

Probably couldn't disagree more. Maybe I could try. It's true that once you take out the balancing staircase on the right that the buildings on the bottom become too heavy so need to go too - but I don't think that helps.

A big part of what works or is close to working in this is the rhythmic repetitions of the cross shapes that are almost appearing in the spaces between the staircase and the spaces between the buildings.

Getting rid of all that crops it down to a relatively banal and boring sky/cross shot. Less subtle about the Christian symbolism I suppose, loses any heaven/ earth context and grounding.

The stairway to heaven seems quite necessary though ;)

Dirty Aftermath
by pawdrix

Comment:
a modern day guy jumping over a puddle, yet with a gas mask on

The Cyclone
by pawdrix

Comment:
awesome. Great colour, interesting pose and subject, good use of background. sweet.

crystal push
by Gordon

Comment:
yeah, I agree about the balance, but I wanted to show the repeating pattern and make the zig-zag of greens complete, along with the PUSH. it doesn't flow the same way for me if I crop down to a more traditional head position. thanks for the comment!

... and I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
by pawdrix

Comment:
oh for a silhouette of a person on one of those balconies/ ladders. Certainly the symbolism you've used is powerful and trying to include more symbols in your work is a great way forward to more meaningful images. But symbols on their own is a bit like playing chopsticks on a piano. Great practice. Now for the performance.

Art Feeds Us...
by pawdrix

Comment:
It's ironic with the statue's hand. I could find myself more interested if it was a real hand - back to leaving questions in the viewers mind. A really interesting live hand would lead to all sorts of questions - who's the person, where are they. Least for me.

With the statue I see a pun, chuckle and mentally move on. With a small glimpse of a real person, I might linger longer.

Three Mice
by pawdrix

Comment:
Sweet. I want to know what they are waiting on, what train is going to pass in front of them, so they can leave the tunnel. All the leading lines and key stoning of the arch focus attention down to them, even though they are such a small part of the frame. The graffiti on the wall also ends up pointing right to them - yet they are looking somewhere else.

I like that it asks questions but doesn't give answers. Enough ambiguity to make it something to think about, not a straight answer, which can be dismissed easily.

C L A U D I A
by pawdrix

Comment:
my monitor here is frankly crap, so take this with a cellar of salt.

I like the connection with her, from her gaze and comfortable, forward position. Engaged with the camera, the photographer.

It feels really, really heavy on her left side, in the dark space. So much negative and black space and that semi-rectangular shape that plays off the other black spaces. Perhaps having her slightly more towards the light would have opened up that area. It might have got a bit more catchlight into her left eye which is drowning now too, slipping into that dark chasm.

Her arms appear to belong to a different person, one significantly different colour to the other - again the angle of the light and shadow, interacting with her body.

Message edited by author 2008-02-21 13:48:08.