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Hi, Chuck!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  

Thanks for the comment Carlos; glad you like it.

A lovely low-key portrait.  I especially like the way her crocheted top has elements that echo the leaves in the background (which itself has a nice patch of light and dark "lace" on the RH side). Her connection with the photographer/viewer is very strong, too, with a nice ambiguity in terms of her expression and pose (lots of possible interpretations, which I like).

LOL, Carlos; your interpretation is spot on She is certainly queen of her castle now, but she was once a scrawny stray who cleverly adopted us, moved right into her new quarters and seems to have no desire to go back outside. She loves to gaze out the window, though! Thanks so much for the comment.

An honest, thoughtful and even poetic critique--thank you for that. I don't disagree strenuously, if at all, with the characterizations of "contrived" or "funereal." This one is certainly not reflective of my usual optimistic, Pollyana-ish outlook, and taps into a more somber mental place due to various life circumstances of late.  I'm glad to have photography as an outlet, though. I really appreciate you taking the time to visit and to offer your thoughts on this one. I'll take a candid and insightful critique every day over 100 with empty words of praise.  

Thanks so much Saad.  I take way too many photos of her, but she's such a sweet and cooperative subject. I almost get the sense that she enjoys having her picture taken. :-)

Thank you, Stephanie.  I know cat shots are cliché, but she's such a sweet and willing subject. ;-)

I love owls!  He really is well-camouflaged, isn't he?  The repetition of pattern in the bark and in his feathers is remarkable.  I also like the fact that the color of the lichen repeats the golden color of his eye.  I think the camouflage effect could be even stronger without the chromatic aberration (the cyan fringing around the branches, easily corrected), but it's an enjoyable image either way. I'm off now to see what other owl images you have in your portfolio.  

This is lovely, especially the way the blossoms pop out from the background. I also like the way most of the branches *almost* disappear into the black background, and the way a few of the branches  reach bravely into the light.  And although I do like the fact that the background shows a bit of welcome texture and isn't uniformly black (allowing those wonderful shadows to appear), it's disappointing to see the obvious cloning artifacts in that portion of the picture. :-(  Still, those artifacts are easily remedied, and I enjoyed viewing this a great deal.

Appreciate you taking the time to comment, Stephanie.  The cast comes off in a few more weeks (and a couple of months after that we get to do the whole thing all over again on the other foot). :-)  

Thank you, Saad. :-)

Saad, I really appreciate your comments.  I don't know about it hanging on anyone's wall, LOL, but am quite happy that it struck a chord with you.  I was really drawn to the elements that reminded me of old paintings and it's nice to know that you have a similar reaction.  

Thought I'd take a look again at your portfolio to see if there were any more photos of the lovely Leia. This is great!  She looks so darn happy, and there is something about the way we see only her massive head poking through the doggy door that is quite amusing.  

Beautiful!  Love the color palette and composition, as well as the slight motion blur of the oar.  Even though your subject is small within the frame, I can still read her joyful expression and I love the amount of space you've given her to capture her in her environment.  The bridge itself is a worthy subject and helps to frame the kayak in a pleasing way.  

This is a lovely portrait of your subject (and I say "portrait" because I think you've really managed to capture the personality of the tree).  I especially like the snow on the twisted roots, the rather forlorn look of the tree, and the the falling snow.  I also appreciate the fact that you haven't bumped up the exposure and contrast to make the snow read as bright white, since the slight underexposure feels very appropriate for this scene and for this particular tree.  The whole thing has a very nice mood about it.  

Nice couple, but I'm even more drawn to the line of people in the background who are nearly uniformly and perfectly decapitated. ;-)  I've looked through your wonderful folder of Winter photographs, and can only conclude that the composition here is just as deliberate as for the rest of your work.  I always like images where a photographer has created some surprising or humorous element by virtue of position or framing and I'm certain that, at least for me, the image would be *far* less compelling (or not compelling at all) if those heads were intact.  I also think this image could work well in black and white, though I am liking the repeating blue and black colors with the tiny bits of red thrown in... I'm glad I took a second look at this image and also that I found my way to the rest of your portfolio.

Thank you, Mike, very much appreciated.

Hi, Theo, and thanks for the comment.  Hope all is well with you!

Thank you, Chuck.

Thank you for commenting, Carlos. I'm really glad it had that effect for you, since that was the feeling I was after.

I really like this, Chuck, especially the connection between the foreground tree and the reflected tree.  The grain and contrail are nice elements, too.  Very glad you framed this to include the bit of water in shadow at the bottom (it's my favorite part aside from the trees and makes the composition for me).  

That's a lovely portrait, Chuck.  

Thanks, Chuck.  This was taken and processed on my iPhone, which I love because it lets me break out of my usual mode and be a lot more creative.  As always, I appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to comment.

Thanks, Franz.  I appreciate the comment.

Thanks, Stephanie and Chuck.  It was cropped slightly (originally taken in square format, but it had a bit too much space on the LH side for my taste).