chris_grady1

Bridget, you have really captured something special in this photo.

As a dedicated musician who, over time, walked away from music to dedicate my life to technology, this photo reminds me of an epiphany I had as a young man ... the first time I became one with the instrument and how it changed me forever. Youve captured the intimacy that a musician has with their instrument every time they touch it, even to the extent of pushing expression through something as mundane and simple as playing the chromatic scale as beautifully as possible.

You should change the caption of this photo to They become one. I know what he is feeling craving perfection, reaching for perfection, but knowing that it can never truly be achieved. After all, it is the road to perfection that is the fun.

This photo is something really special. You have reminded me of what it feels like to make music. I have felt what he is feeling and it makes me crave to feel that way again.

The light dusting of snow on the Memorial highlights the intricate

details of this massive statue. Each man stands approximately 36 feet

tall.

I used to come here quite frequently to learn about photography and exchange ideas. Now I just come every few months when I want to watch people critiquing someone elses critique of another persons comment.

I know it's difficult for some people to chew through their leather restraining straps each morning but .... sheesh!

Hey wait a minute! I ran a few tests and it turns out that this really IS a painting!

Seriously though ... I havent taken the time to comment on any of the POWs lately, but this one really caught my attention. I always take the time to look at the POW and formulate my own opinion before reading what the elves had to say (and everyone else for that matter). This time the photo.net elves reason for choosing the POW mirrored my feelings exactly. So as far as my general thoughs on this image ... [insert elves comments here].

Im not a professional photographer but one of my favorite uses of the camera is to capture life, as it happens, with existing lighting so this image naturally appealed to me. The lighting, exposure, framing and timing is dead on ... at least to my tastes.

As far as Bills comment "It is a photo in which luck outweighs skill 99 to 1", well ... Im glad to see that another photographers experiences mirror mine in that respect :-)

There are a couple of comments about the gentleman in the tan sweater being too much of a focal point. Personally, I think he is critical to the overall picture. I felt as if it were me sitting there listening intently on the outskirts of the meeting. Also, given the positioning of the camera at the table just behind him, I can also imagine myself at that table as well.

This is a picture of everyday life captured perfectly. It's exactly the type of photography I personally find most engaging.

I really feel as if Im there. Congrats (and thanks) Bill!

I was making a point by blending my thoughts together in a sentence much like the photo blends all of those aspects together nicely ... IMHO.

This is a very powerful photo. The shot really appealed to me the minute I saw it.

Whether one likes this type of photograph or not, you have to admit that Jim pulled everything together perfectly.

The architecture blended with the use of reflection blended with the use of shadows blended with the style of clothing blended with the subjects expression all come together nicely.

Well deserving of POW

Regards,
Chris Grady
http://grady.org

John makes a good point regarding the judging of photo.net images based on the abilities of the technology that delivers it to our eyes ... namely the monitor and the scanner in this case.

I paid a pretty penny for a Nikon LS-4500AF scanner. Though it does a great job overall, the images still have a quite a few annoying anomalies that need to be touched up after each scan ... especially verticle lines. I didn't expect this from a relatively higher end scanner such as this.

If you're going to comment on this image take a look at Chris' high res picture first. It's even more impressive than the one stored on the Photo.net servers (above).

There are a lot of distracting anomalies in many of the pictures on photo.net but those are scanning issues that should not detract from photographers work as we all understand that they are there because of the limited abilities of today's scanners and the loss of data that will occur due to compression etc.

Regards,
Chris Grady
http://grady.org

Much like the fireball getting ready to roll over the underlying city in this image, this POW will surely draw much criticism regarding the "use of color". I don't mean that in a negative way at all. I think the shot is fantastic. But images such as this always seem to attract criticism because the photographer didn't "capture something" that wasn't there to begin with. It is what it is ... a well-captured moment in nature. You can't ask nature to "give you greater diversity in color, vibrancy, light" etc. Chris did a great job of capturing what nature gave him and is deserving of POW (IMHO) for the following reasons:

• Great composition. The inclusion of the city lights defines the magnitude of the storm. The light pollution emitted from the city provides the viewer with a sense that this is a heavily populated, busy city and not just coastal lighting. The picture would be nothing without the underlying city.
• Great shutter reflexes. The lightening looks as if it was probably at the pinnacle of light emission.
• Good sense of timing. Chris deserves a pat on the back for seeing this happening before it happened. Granted, it's not as difficult as a sporting event shot, but the composition is well done and shows a keen sense of vision and timing.

Great shot, but I would not have named it "Armageddon II", I would have named it "Critique of my Photo.net POW" as you probably feel much like the underlying city in your photo right about now. :-)

Regards,
Chris Grady
http://grady.org

Did you glue the bottle in that position, fill it, then pour the water over it?

The fuid in the bottle looks exactly parallel with the background horizon except for the light deflected by the falling water.

I really like still life shots such as this especially with regards to weddings.

So many photographers concentrate just on the "big picture" of the wedding but fail to capture the details. This may not seem important now, but 20, 30 50 years down the road it will be important to them and those closest to them.

I recently attended a wedding where the photographer was right in the faces of the bride and groom for every single shot. So I went around and took some wide angle shots as well as a bunch of pictures just like this on. The flowers, the bouquet sitting at the table, the half-eaten wedding cake, and the champagne glasses they toasted with etc.

I'm currently waiting for them to be developed but expect that they will be pleased to have them as time goes on.

Again, nice shot.

Regards,
Chris Grady
http://grady.org

I've trying to find time on the right day to get a shot just like this one. Great work.

You have to get up early or stay up really late to get the great, dramatic shots in Washington DC.

Did you take the shot from here (3AM Iwo Jima Statue - Heavy Fog) or just in front of GW Parkway on the grass?

Wonderful Shot.

Regards,
Chris Grady
http://grady.org

This is one of those photographs that makes me crave more quality time with my camera.

Well deserving of it's POW status.

Chris Grady
http://grady.org

I gave this a 9 / 9 simply based on the sheer size of the cajones Dennis must have to risk the well being of his Nikon in this environment... and knowing he would have to land in water.

The tilt of the horizon gives the image a unique feeling of speed and direction.

Congrats!

I completely agree with the two postings above. My impression of this image mirrors what has already been said.

IMHO, I simply cant believe the low ratings this picture has recieved Asthetics 6.41 and Originality 6.55 .... come on! I've seen pictures on photo.net that looked as if they were accidental shots taken from a camera hanging from a tourist's belley that received ratings similar to these.

This is an extraordinary shot and deserves better ratings.

Best Regards,
Chris Grady
http://grady.org
My Photo.net Gallery

If you removed the dark area to the right the water would not have the necessary reflective depth to make it the interesting shot that it is. IMHO, the dark area is the most important part of this picture, though it does present a "small minus" with regards to the overall picture asthetics. Without this it would be a failry bland picture with no depth. Imagine removing the dark reflections from the water and droplets .... pretty bland eh?

Fantastic shot!

Best Regards,
Chris Grady
http://grady.org
My Photo.net Gallery

I snapped this photo with my f5 as I was walking in the door at my

friends house. I thought it would be a wasted picture but it actually

turned out to have quite a bit of character to it. Too bad the cat is

REALLY annoying in real life.

This image was taken about 1AM right after a light D.C. snow in December 2000. The snow created an interesting contrast with the texture of the bronze statue.

I tried to capture the flag in motion in the same position as the original photo of the actual event .... it's pretty close.

Also critique my other image of this Memorial HERE

It's one of the best panoramic stitch jobs I've seen .... perhaps due to the photographs high resolution making it easier for the software to compare and blend. Only the slight smudge lines in the grass give it away.

Nice shot too. However the object to the far right simply ruins the view :-)

I was busy programming at about 2:30 AM one morning in June (2001),

when I looked outside and saw a heavy fog which presented a highly

reflective halo around the streetlights. I immediately thought about

the spot lights at the Iwo Jima memorial just outside of Washington,

D.C. so I grabbed my equipment and drove there (about 5 minutes

away). Fog such as this is a rarity here in D.C.

I personally like this image quite a bit. Though there are countless

images of the Iwo Jima Memorial, I have never seen one such as this.

This image is exactly as I remember it including the coloring and the

definition of the rays of light.

Any Comments?

I really like this image. Every time it pops up on photo.net I find myself clicking on it and looking at it for a minute.

Chris Grady
http://grady.org

I thought I would comment on why I chose a seemingly "unoriginal" frontal view. I found that any angle other than a frontal view resulted in the individual rays melding into a bland, uninteresting haze. My goal was to capture the scene exactly as it looked in real life with as many distinct rays of the spotlights as possible. This was accomplished as the resulting image is EXACTLY as I remember it (no enhancements to the image at all).

There are many pictures of this Memorial, some with DC as the background, some with red sunsets, clouds etc. that I felt it was important to focus on the structure of the rays of light as heavy fog is a rare occurrence here in D.C.

I originally thought this was the salt flats until I read that it was on a roof top. I stared at the picture for about 3 minutes completely unable to find where the roof and the background met. Then suddently the edge of the roof jumped out at me as if I was staring at one of those pixlelated 3D image tricks. Once my mind recognized the edge of the roof the whole perspective of the picture changed right before my eyes.

I'm amazed that my eye didn't catch the roof line afer staring at it for so long. Now that I see it, the contrast between the roof and the background is strikingly different, not to mention that there is a pronounced line between the two which my mind completely ignored.

It reminds me how human beings perceptions of the same object or circumstances can be so drastically different sometimes.