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Nice series.

The dust is the room nearly made me sneeze!  I can almost smell the mold in the corner. I happened upon this pohoto on a very hectic day. I acctually brought a sense of calm to me. Very powerful. Supurb interprutation of a classic theme. 7/7

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This is a beautiful image that has all the things I love about classic photography ... mood, depth, atmosphere, contrast and light ... and most importantly a sense of wonder and mystery. As a self confessed man of the past born into the wrong era, this image hits me where I live. Something else that is impressive is that obvious planning and thought have gone into the creating of this image ... pre-visualization is key here. To make great photographs, it helps to first have a great imagination.

Best, Simon.

A beautifully composed classic shot. It seems a lot of thought went into this before the shutter was pressed. Very good detail in the very dark areas. Nicely done

What strikes first is the wonderful quality of light and the strong composition. The soft fluid curves of the back lit figure juxtapose well with the rigid and gritty linearity of the structure. Disparate geometry bound together and hidden by darkness, their secrets hinted at by a narrow shaft of light. Hinted at but not revealed, the mystery remains intact and therein lays some greater part of the beauty of this photo as well as the remainder of Astrid's work. Astrid's photos contain a good measure of uncertainty -- questioned posed and left unanswered.
 
Most of my nits regarding this image, would I suspect,  be resolved if I were to be looking at a physical print of this image as apposed to a ridiculously small ( 32 kb ) web file suffering from lots of compression issues. I would also suspect, based on the overall quality of the portfolio, that the original contains more subtle detail and cleaner lines.
 
I am not sure about that right hand, in this small jpeg it looks awkward almost deformed, disproportionately broad possibly because of the angle, consequently it pulls my eye more than I would want. I find myself wishing that her right hand was out of view, perhaps in front of her body or obscured by darkness. I think that the heavy black frame is a poor choice, tending to overwhelm the photo within. All in all , a well conceived and executed ideas.

At the first step,I stare at her pose and viewing and It showed as well as possible...At the other look,the environment and the room and devices showed very well.
Nicely composed.
Regards(Bobby).

I love this in the context of the folder as well as the entire portfolio. The theme that seems to recur in the folder is that of a woman in solitude and in her own physical and psychological space, seeking refuge from the world. Everything else, such as technique and lighting, is subordinate to this theme, which is as it should be.

Another from the larger portfolio is more direct but still evokes the same mood:

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3769467

The inter-related themes seem to be about a woman's search for solitude, private space, and the seeking of refuge. This is one of the more impressive bodies of work that I have seen on Photo.net, and this particular photograph is exemplary of the mood created throughout.

Everything is best understood and appreciated in context. That is certainly true for this photo.

--Lannie

You have a very strong photo. Honestly though, I'm a little bit of a sucker for classic contrast. One of the strengths of this photo is that the woman's body isn't lost entirely to silhouette, but is also outlined ever so slightly on the skin by the light. Maybe a little bit more light (every so slightly) on her bum and back to help sculpt her form would have been nice. All in all, very nice.

But why is she sitting on some dirty planks of wood? I find that disturbing and unnatural.

I think that's the point. It's contrasting...

Human, structure. Light, dark. White, black. Soft, hard. Smooth, textured. Old, young. Frail, rigid. Clean, dirty. Small, large. Squishy, firm. Warm, cold. (ironic though, everything in this image was man made)

Don't you think it might be a good thing if an image instills an uncomfortable feeling? For me, images that cause me to feel ANYTHING, I regard far higher than an image that I might view as just "pretty."

Side note: Am I the only one that thinks photos on here should be rated in more ways than just aesthetics and originality? (not even going to touch the "no matter how original you think it is, it's been done before" argument) Maybe aesthetics, originality, craft, and emotion? I'll give this a 6 for aesthetics, 5 for originality, 6 for craft, and 4 for emotion. :-)

David, I would rate it higher on emotion, but I think that that is going to be the most subjective thing to rate. I suspect that women will empathize more completely than men with the theme of this photo and other photos in the folder. I see it above all as a quest for personal space, solitude, and a refuge from the world--from a woman's perspective. Though not a woman, I can still relate to that quest more strongly than some and thus I feel more of an emotional impact.

As I said in my earlier post, I think that photos (some photos, at least) are best appreciated in context, in this case the context of the entire folder, if not the entire portfolio--and beyond that, to her entire body of work:

http://astrid.halicky.sk/

For me the emotional impact is almost overwhelming. It is strong, deep, powerful, and it pervades all of her photography. I see in this photo and this portfolio the results of laying oneself on the line as a woman, and more generally as a human being with which we can all identify and empathize.

Also striking is the photographer's age: she is so young to have a portfolio such a this!

--Lannie

Well, I certainly think this image makes one wonder just where all of the surveillance cameras really are......

I like how the pose is dynamic yet a bit awkward (a good thing here) as if hiding herself and yet also consciously revealing just enough. There are nice lines that keep us moving around the central part of the image and then we join her fixation on the light.

As a part of a set with 3 other images, it is this one that tells a story, an incomplete story or mystery, but that is its charm. By comparison, for me the others there are poses and much more static and self-conscious.

It is hard at these sizes to really know how the image might play in a print or just larger, but since this is all we have, my feeling is that this might be just a tad too dark and maybe that is what David was alluding to above. (But that is also a factor of these bright pages--I agree with whoever said that the black frame was a bit much, however, the light gray background of the site's pages causes so much flare into the image, even buffered by this black border, and serves to counter the little light that Astrid did allow on the woman's backside) So, while I like the dark mystery, I do wonder if there could be a little more internal glow--and the answer may be a very justifiable no!

As a photographic nit, and I doubt many would care, there does appear to be some of those harsh transitions one gets in digital when pushing up the contrast a bit too much or sharply. These appear most notably in the upper right of the door and these sorts of things do tend to grab some attention. I admit it is a nit, but if the contrast has been pushed up like this, as I suspect, I just wonder if pulling it back just a tad wouldn't keep the mystery but pull us into the image just a bit more. (I do notice some fairly significant noise in the image and wonder if it is inherent (as shot) or introduced in the processing of the image--that would certainly impact not only viewing larger but also lightening the image)

Overall, I do like this image and the content, it is a great story with a classical feel. As mentioned, I do think it well thought out and overall well done.

It is a very nice idea and execution, I like a lot the low light and mystery/atmosphere/mood of the figure and surrounding. Two nits that I have, is the frame which Imo is completely unnecessary and disturbs,the second is what looks over sharpened, as the halo around her body is very strongly felt on the dark surrounding. I think that Gordon B. assessment about the Jpeg compression ( very small frame that could not be enlarged) may be part of the problem.That said , I like it , it is well thought and photographed . My compliments to Astrid, on this one and other good works in her files.