billfoster

Very interesting and original? Was this posed or did you just come across it?

Great lighting and great use of distortion ..

Thanks for your kind comments. In fact, if you look at some of the early photos, I wrote "Kosovo?" or " ... wherever this is." I am well aware of both Serbian and Kosovar Albanian sensitivity on the matter, but it gets awkward writing things like "Kosovo(a)" and "The Kosovo Province of the Union of the Former Yugoslavian Provinces of Serbia and Montenegro." Here in Pristina, ambassadors are referred to as, for example, "the German ambassador in Belgrade" so they can skip the whole issue. If there were a Province block, I would put "Kosovo" in the provinces and leave the country block blank. Since that isnt an option, I will just do the best I can and hope that the people who would be offended will understand how much I appreciate their culture and that I am merely trying to highlight a little bit of it here.

Interesting composition. I know how hard this was to frame. In my folder, there are some new shots of Castello del Ovo. I tried to take a picture like this the same day, but none of my efforts were worth posting. Very nice.

This church - along with 17 others - was attacked during the March

2004 riots. It was saved only by the intervention of the Albanian

mayor; a rare display of the kind of tolerance necessary if this

important cultural monument is to have any hope of salvation.

The colors are VERY nice. The green of the water against the grey of the storm works quite well. I assume the storm is an added layer? I can't see the shutter speeds for the water and the bolt being the same ....

I was a long way when a loud noise (not exactly uncommon in Naples)

scared these birds all at once.

Taken inside the Decani Monastery, a Serbian Orthodox church in a

heavily Albanian area. Like so many places, this church was burned

yesterday (17 Mar 2004)although the damage was minimal (this time).

Great, great picture! Only the light in the eyes keeps it from being a 7/7 .. good job!

I agree with you completely. I find Kosovo(a) fascinating, but as I am a member of the peacekeeping force here security concerns and the workload unfortunately keep me from photographing things the way I would like. Most of my shots are just the result of opportunity. This shot for instance was about 300 meters away across a river and I only had a few seconds to snap it. I don't think that most of my shots of Kosovo(a) are that worthy, but I want to post something that shows an area of the world that is only famous for conflict but is still quite unique and interesting.

 

I agree with you that B and W white would work better but I shoot everything digitally and I don't like B and W digital, it feels like PS manipulation or cheating. Nothing against those people who do it ... it's just not for me.

I like the angle and the lens but I would crop a little off the bottom to give it a more panoramic look and PS out the guy and the two shadows in the foreground.

It's a nice detail shot and well-lit, but why purple?

Excellent subject, nice angle, good lens choice and perfect colors ... I give about one seven a month.

I appreciate the art in PS manipulations like this, but it just doesn't do it for me

Nice colors, a different angle and a clever title! Good job.

Very nice, but a little to photoshopped for my taste ...

Days this clear in Naples are rare ... I'm glad I caught this one!

Very good job. I've tried a lot of shots like this myself and I know how difficult they are to get.

Reminds of somethinng by Neil Gaiman (maybe the American Gods cover) or stephen king ... very nice!

The title takes the originality from a 5 to a 7! Good job!

just not a fan of this kind of manipulation ...

I like it, but I hate the wall in the foreground. I shoot there and I know it's hard to miss it because of the railings. Perhaps a tighter crop would benfit this, an inch off the left and an inch off the bottom ... still though, nice shot.

Sorry ... for me this needs a central point of interest, a bit more focus and a looser crop.

I skipped over this in the ratings because it's not a picture and I was going to slam it. Then I saw the technical details and for what it is, it's quite interesting and cool.

We had this same stupid tube in Verona and I tried to take a good picture of it but never could. Congratulations on making a little art out of a really bad advertisment!