chrisvest

beautifully done: great subject, capture and light. 

thanks tony!

why thank you sir. what a thoughtful comment. cheers to you.  chris

sweet capture. what a gorgeous bird!

thanks tony. wow, i had to savor that "famous" bit for while. cool. cheers to you.

this becomes a splendid little abstract with it's colors so complimentary. it's tranquil with just a hint of mystery suggested by the ripples which makes us wonder if there is a duck or muskrat splashing back there...

gorgeous kitty-- and what a riveting expression! great colors and a rich balanced composition. 

the others comments are spot on: this seems like such a charmless place, yet that seemingly contradictory glimpse of blue makes this a compelling (and brilliant) image. 

great thoughtful shot. in a world apparently stripped of all things natural (even the light is colorless) extracting a bit of soil seems like a such a careful, almost surgical process. great lines in this one. 

what a fascinating and (apparently) frigid world; yet the queen remains insouciant. 

a masterpiece for sure. extraordinary. 

thank you jack. this one became a night scene kind of accidently, but i'm glad it works. cheers!

thanks jack.cheers.  and be assured no birds (or persons) were harmed in the making of this picture. 

howdy jack

wow, thanks man for the series of very thoughtful remarks on my pics. it's true that i've pretty much dropped off the radar of the site-- you inspire me to want to get involved again. it is particularly useful that you are not afraid to criticize constructively along with your healthy dose of encouragement. 

you make an interesting assortment of points-- just one being about PS artists being looked down upon.  that seems to be the case though the evolution toward acceptance is inevitable. while the painters and the photographers have their territories staked out and they generally no longer trouble each other with meaningless comparisons-- somehow by falling right between them, we get caught in a crossfire. our pics are too contrived for the photographers, not contrived enough for the painters. 

as i use in a few of my bios though, photo manipulation has a rich history as i'm sure you know. i spoke about it a bit on this groovy website that asked me to describe some of my techniques and motivations:

http://www.photoartisttextures.com/inspiration/featured-artists/the-painted-photographs-of-r-christopher-vest/

out there somewhere a guy is carving da vinci's last supper into his toenail with a pocketknife. we crazy human beings have to create-- and we use all the tools at our disposal-- absolutism serves neither religion nor art. 

thanks again jack! cheers to you...

brilliant colors and composition. what a find! bravo.

purely on spec i did a few mock-ups for mendocino brewing company labels since their existing labels feature birds of prey (rather bad ones). by a circuitous route my designs actually made it to the CEO. he wrote me saying that they'd contact me for a future project. i don't guess i should hold my breath on that one. anyway, me too, i'm a great lover of all things BEER. thanks leslie!

it's always a joy and inspiration to visit your site-- so much gifted work. this one is picture perfect. bravo!

very skilled treatment! wonderful animal and drama. all he needs is a pair of wings. bravo. 

rembrandt does dogs! this is a brilliant piece-- and what a splendid model. i need to study this to see if i can get this richness of negative space into a bird painting of mine. 

i wonder if a touch more recognizable background would add interest?

thanks...

wow! this duck is water-skiing and we can even surmise by his expression that he's loving it. it's a great capture-- humour, detail, documentary, composition. bravo!

hi gail

thanks for the comment, i appreciate your stopping by.

frankly there is very little traffic to my page these days from among the photo.net community (mostly my fault due to my not contributing much) so i thought i'd use it to some extent as my online graphic design portfolio. i'm trying to get a artists' rep and i've begun dabbling into licensing and when i do solicitations it is convenient to link to here. stuff like this is in that category-- it's way more illustrative than photographic.

cheers and thanks again!

thank you kindly kallol!  glad you enjoy the image and for stopping by my pages. cheers!

outstanding pic. motion, light, interest and a delicate hint of happiness-- all come together here. bravo.