erol_a.

India is a fascinating (and often unpredictable) place to photograph people. This is a pleasant portrait, but I think though that I too would like to see it as a vertical.

Great expression... I like the oppositing circles of his hat brim and shoulders; they keep my eyes moving back those eyes of his, which as everyone has already pointed out, seem to have such a story behind them. The glare on the nose is a little distracting, but I don't think you could really do much about that and still keep the nice tonal range you've got. Congrats on the POW for this lovely portrait that really catches something more than just a face; I want to hear his story having seen this picture.

This is excellent and imaginative photojournalism. It's easy to fall into simply making a representation of what you are documenting without instilling any artistic touch, and I really admire how well you avoid that. Your photographs are great documents, and works of art as well.

I have a hard time making any aspect of the picture a real "subject"- the uneven exposure creates hotspots that draw my eye, and the room itself doesn't provide much in terms of photogenic focus... the way the hulls and flags are lines up both seem "half-subjects." In fairness though the Dockyards aren't an easy place to make good photographs (good photographs that aren't also in their tourist brochures, that is) unless you're making pictures of people. If capturing patterns of line and colour in the flags was your priority, I wonder if using a stronger telephoto and (if possible) finding a higher vantage point or angle that minimizes camera tilt and narrowing in on the flags only would help... it would make a more abstract photo, but perhaps a more immediate one as well. I spent much of my childhood in Bermuda and still get back whenever possible; I have many relatives and friends there, especially around Somerset. It's a decievingly difficult island to make a truly engaging photograph on for all it's natural beauty.

Very "traditional" but pleasant to the eye. Dunguaire was the first castle I ever saw, I was driving with my father and he pulled over so we could have a look... so I guess this photo gets me a bit with the nostalgia! The light is nice, though a bit "tourist-board-calendar-esqe" and I think this would have been charmingly surreal in Infrared or filtered BW. Artistically quite "standard" but I've no qualms with that, as photographers we're as much recordists as we are creators. The aesthetics and originality ratings here are nice but far from complete- there is far more to a photograph's worth than that.

Having ratings for visual appeal and originality are nice, but for news/sports shooters that can be a bit of a disadvantage since daily life isn't quite so visually "beautiful" as pretty sunsets nor can it always be portrayed with an artist's creative control. This is an impressive photo- great anticipation on capturing the ball where it is and overall composition. Sports photography becomes a whole new... uh... game (sorry... I sicken myself sometimes) when you have to get in close and compose tight, something a lot of people don't seem to appreciate. Nice shot.

I agree about the composition being a little cluttered, but Bermudian flowers tend to be that way. Where in the islands was this? The lighting is pleasant but in composition I'd like to see either a more dominant subject, a stronger relationship between a primary and secondary subjecy, or a background that captures something of Bermuda's unique character.

like i said, with an accompanying text. your mileage may vary.

I get the feeling Robert and I are looking at this in [very] different ways. If I were to look at it strictly limited to what was displayed upon my screen, I'd be a little less taken with it. Still a well executed, pleasant shot, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Perhaps it's just that I've spent far too many hours of the past few days finishing and editing an illustrated piece, but this strikes me very much as a photograph that has great potential as a part of a greater narrative scheme where an individual image or word isn't required to carry itself entirely, provided it serves as a link or enrichment to another point or idea. So yes, I am definately reacting as much to what I want to see done with this picture as what you did, but provided that's made known it seems to me equally valid (if different) a form of criticism. And all said, I still like the image.

Lovely. Looks like you stood next to Van Gogh with your camera ;)

Beautiful exposure, and an excellent toning job, even if it was photoshop;)

I do think though that those blazing white signs could stand to be burned down a little bit, my eye kept coming back to them and there's nothing there to justify it. I like the nature of this picture in that it makes me want more, as a writer I love using images as supplements to text and pictures like this, beautiful and yet very obscure, provide great potential. I think my favorite part of this whole image though is the shadow of the seat on the white panel. You've made a mundane scene beautiful to my eyes.