petre_petrov1

Great little scene, but too much photoshoping for my taste.

I like it, Mustafa. I like the idea, I like the colors, and the composition. Kudos.

Well done, Henri! I like the contrast between the sharp foreground and the hazy background.

Bravo, Natalia, beautiful set up. Happy Valentine's Day!

Appealing scene. The bright spot on the grounds takes something away from the mystique. Not bad for a first attempt.

I may be tempted to cut a bit from the bottom, but, with or without that, high marks are well-deserved.

I may be tempted to cut the opposite shore on top, but not quite certain. Beautiful scene!

Great catch, Robber!!! Only highest marks.

I shot this on a late afternoon, in the central square of Bergamo,

in the summer of 2004.

Ha! As I see it, the power of the picture comes from the fact that it is NOT just "one man on the street". The appeal comes from the dynamic intersection of the two figures. Great capture!

I see the beauty of the composition. I don't understand the person who left the previous low rating. The image combines very nicely abstraction with a realistic feel. I wouldn't worry about the snowflakes.

It's so difficult to achieve anything original with a subject like this, but I think you've done it! I would do some cropping at the top.

Well done, Jerry. Very nice candid. I would like to see it in a somewhat bigger size.

Dear Hanna, I looked at the photo long and hard and could have sworn that the pathway was pasted onto the water from somewhere else. Then I saw your other picture: stupid me! It's a floating bridge! The only thing I can say by way of an excuse is that the image makes it pretty difficult to figure out what's what. For example, what is this (I suppose) human figure on the left?! What is s/he standing on?! Is s/he in the water?! The perspective is very tricky. Got me fooled completely!

Beautiful scene! Bravo! May be increase the contrast a bit?

Classic work, Charles. Very nice!

Bravo, Ejrik! Conceptually well conceived and visually well executed.

I like this quite a bit: simplicity, serenity, and sadness. Great job!

Beautiful subject, dynamics, but the moment could have been better.

The collage is too obvious.

Nice colors in a pastel ballance. I would sharpen the front parrot.

I'd be very interested to know how you captured this. It's spectacular!

I think I might be trying to do too many things here. I was

intrigued by the interplay of the 3 basic colors, but then I also

wanted to capture the reflection of the houses across from my

apartment. Maybe the picture has one too many centers of attention?

Nikiforos!!! I am starting to like our discussion more than I like the photo that occasioned it. First, let me state for the record: although I called my picture "commercial" (so as not to contradict you), I have never made a dollar (or drahma, for that matter) from my photos, nor do I intend to. Now, back to the topic of authenticity... Let me tell you right away that I like and respect your expressive and existential "angst". Yes, we all want to "express" something authentic, something that is only "ours." To quote one philosopher, this is "human, all too human." The problem is that what we thing is "ours," is never just "ours." We are born, we eat bread and we drink water. We also "drink" images that are around us: not just in the world, but also on TV, in magazines, on bilboards, etc. And then, when we try to say something "unique" through photography, it turns out that it is not all that unique. There is nothing wrong with that: if an image was ABSOLUTELY unique, nobody will be able to relate to it; it would be completely incomprehensible; it would be neither "beautiful" nor "ugly"; it would be simply "uncanny". Your picture of the window is beautiful--I mean that--because it is also familiar, recognizable.

Now I want to point out one logical flaw in your argument. You are talking about street photography as a genre that allows you to just "encounter" things, as if by chance, to "capture" moments that surprise you just around the corner. (I could take an issue with such an idealistic view of street photography, but I'll let that slide...) But then you start talking about your desire to express something intimate, something "yours." You cannot have it "both ways": if you want to express something dear to you, some idea or feeling, then you KNOW ahead of time what you want to say. What does chance have to do with it? And vice versa, if you are just "stalking life," then you are capturing whatever life throws at you.

This is what I think: there is always a doze of chance or "surprise" and a doze of "planning" in any moment of picture-taking. Let me tell you: this is not at all how I wanted this picture to look when I started shooting (I wanted a big stream of bubles to be going up, across the face of the lime). But then, during the shoot, my object "surprised" me; I saw a new possibility and I took it. So, where you see "staging" and "planning," I see chance and surprise. These are not always easy to separate.

Excellent exercise in color!