graham_byrnes

I love the idea. The portrait has a really great feeling of peaceful tiredness, with the glass creating the impression of looking in on a private scene. I don't care it it's posed: in fact I hope it's not, it would be an invasion of privacy.

The frog is a nice touch of whimsy which I want to like, but just at the moment it feels just a little too obvious. Tomorrow I might feel differently.

 

Best regards,

Graham

I really like the subtle violations of symmetry in this: the tap handles, the s-bends... even the burnt out left basin vs the right. The graphic-grid background works well too. It might have been nice to have a version without the burned out highlights... maybe they are visible on a print? In any case burnt out white is better than grotty detail of soap scum on the basins, so maybe it is necessary :-)

 

Regards, GB

I love it: for me photo's that tell a story are the thing and this is downright cinematic. It also reminds me of Judy Davis, both in appearance and the sort of characters she plays. The expression, the pose, the framing: for me it's all fine. If I had to suggest a change, I'd be interested to see a version with the light coming more from the left: a touch more on her face and less on her left arm.

 

Keep working!

GB

Looks like she has just been found, by torch-light (I think that's flashlight in US-speak): so from that point of view the lighting is just right. The dress encourages all sorts of speculation about why she is hiding, what she was doing, who she was hiding from and who might have found her... all of which is great. I can imagine changes (putting something in fram to give a hint about any of the above questions), but they would make the photo different, not better. Cheers, G

I love the idea (woman as icon, crucified then brandished to as a mark of moral virtue...??) and the composition. Would have liked to have seen a less saturated version in which some more detail was preserved. Regards, G

Superb composition, with the trees leaning right, like a chorus line of dancers, in opposition to the model leaning left. Plus the patented Asmussen light:-)

I see your love of shadows :-) Wonderfully enigmatic, almost a pity to give away what it is.

Best, GB

...and I'm glad you didn't "make her more neat"...

I like it a lot: I'm wondering how you managed to get the light so soft that the surrounding are still visible. The blue seems to be your style... and the lines of the model's legs are very neat. My only thought (not really a criticism) is that I'd like to have seen a version with the frame slightly further left, to lose some of the black on the extreme right and move the model slightly furthter off-centre.

But it's a great photo as is.

Regards, G

Remember when music synthesisers started to get good, maybe in the late 80's? People were running about predicting the death of the orchestra.

 

Well it didn't happen. Musical shows might now use synthetic strings, but there are still things that a virtuoso can do with a violin that can't be done with a keyboard (of either type). I suspect it will be the same for photography: the borders will stretch back towards painting, advertising will make enormous use of it, but there will still be a use for straight photography. Just as there will continue to be real actors in movies rather than animations.

 

As to whether the photos are captured on film or via ccd... how many records are made with analogue tape now? I can't see that it matters.

 

Great picture, btw :-)

 

Cheers, G

I think it works: as a formal composition of colours & textures it's quite attractive, but that creates quite a bit of tension with the "yuck" reflex. But come on guys, where do you think your food comes from? (me, I'm a vegetarian :-)

Capture of a very sexy moment... but could the top-right be cropped off? I don't know. Pity about the jpeg artifacts.

Sorry to be negative, but I think she looks plastic: the magenta cast on her skin, the make-up and highly saturated lips/eyes/hair... not to mention the pose. It all looks a bit 1972. Others obviously disagree :-)

I like the composition and the energy

Great capture of an enigmatic expression: La Gioconda in B&W. I think the bit of light on the shoulder works well to balance the darkness of the top-left corner. I can see the need for the black frame on the rhs, the need to balance it on the left and no real need at top & bottom, so I guess the 2-sided frame works ok.

 

Oh and in case I didn't make it clear, I think it's really, really good :-) G

I'm not sure about the dolphins... but the crease in the sheet is distracting and it might have been better in vertical than horizontal format, which seems to give too much importance to the sheet. Lighting is very nicely done. G

A wonderful photo, although I'm not so sure about the clouds. The wing-shape in the concrete structures, the model's pose and the textures and tones are excellent. G

I don't know... I find this a bit unexpressive. I have to admit it's eye-catching because the model has such a great body, but we're supposed to pretend that doesn't matter, aren't we :-)

 

If the post was further left and if the model turned more to camera, or her hair was drawn back to show at least a silhouette of her face...

 

Regards,

G

I really like the pose... and the lighting and framing. Maybe I'd have given her left elbow a little more space at the top and try for just a bit of texture in the highlight above her breast, but that might show up on a print anyway. The shadow density seems just right and the shadow line is very nice.

For me this is the least successful: the back view closes off her expression, the shado down the rhs of her back is a bit awkward and the sidelight is a little unflattering on the thigh.

Regards, Graham

I like this best of the 3: the expression on the model's face is lovely, as though she is luxuriating in the sun from the window. Plus the diagonal orientation of her body dividing light from dark is good and the mix of crumpled sheet and boards works well. Congrats :-)

Great shot.

I like it despite the nose shadow... to me it's a depiction of a couple where he is dramatic, worrying about what is happening off-scene and trying to protect her: "let me be your James Bond..." Meanwhile, she thinks it's all nonsense and calmly addresses the camera. Like the man says, it's theatrical. Cheers, G

I like it as a "nude portrait", but have to agree re the excessive greyness, even if it seems to fit the mood. Maybe with a bluish tint...?

Great to see a male nude that isn't a muscle flexing cliche. I'm surprised at the low marks, I like the composition and I've never seen this pose before (although I'm not that familiar with the area). Random thought: I wonder if the fact a man's state of arousal is obvious in a nude makes erotica more difficult than with women?