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Donna,  thanks again for your thoughts and very kind words.  I'm so happy when someone feels that any of my images manages to convey mood or emotion.  I'm still working hard on that (not as successfully as I'd like most of the time), so your feedback is very encouraging!    

Thank you very much for the comment, Fred.  I've been trying to make a more concerted effort lately to photograph the light, not the object (and when the light is good, it hardly seems to matter what the object is :-)).  I'm glad this one works for you.

Donna, Thank you very much for the lovely and detailed comment!  This is a picture I took of my son 2 summers ago when our family was visiting New York City. My son had bought an inexpensive little Leica point-and-shoot film camera at B&H photo's used camera department and I asked if I could use it to take a picture of him on the subway. We were happily surprised when we got the roll developed and found this image and several similar ones; my son says they are his favorite pictures of himself, ever, (and I have taken quite a few over the years, LOL). I'm glad you like it, too.  

Your tones are always so beautiful, Marjolein, as is the way you so judiciously use depth of field.  Together, they "draw" your subjects in a magical way.  This potentially chaotic scene, with all of those twigs and flowers lying in different planes, is not cluttered or confused at all.  I love the way the 4 main flowers stand out against the blurred background and the way their carefully controlled whites almost glow against the softer, greyer tones of the other flowers.  The other thing I appreciate so much about your images is the way they have such a "realness" about them.  Tiny "imperfections" aren't cloned away; things aren't always perfectly squared off or lined up (except, here, the important main trunk of the plant); everything isn't plasticky smooth and painfully sharpened.  So much work I see these days seems to aim to be technically flawless but, in doing so, becomes utterly devoid of life, emotion and authenticity.  Your images, on the other hand, create worlds  and tell stories that I want to immerse myself in and that I can visit again and again and still find something new to enjoy when I do.  Anyone who takes the time to really look at your images can't help but learn something and be inspired.

Thank you, Chuck.  

Marjolein, this was taken at our pediatrician's office, where my 15 year old son crashed on the waiting room couch before being seen.  He had some sort of flu-like illness for a week, but is fine now.  Thanks so much for your comments!

Thanks very much, Niels.  Yes, the reds were really what drew me to this image.  Glad you like it.

This is lovely, Chuck.  I'm enjoying the sense of 3-D space, and the contrast between light and dark (wonderfully controlled IMO).  The figure in the background adds a special element.  Although she is small, with indiscernible features, the flow of her skirt (and that gorgeous turquoise color) really brings her to life.  

What a beautiful portrait of a very handsome dog!  I appreciate the way you've controlled the DOF to get all of his head (and esp. that tongue) in focus.  I also like the way his brindle body seems to disappear into the similarly-mottled background.  It looks as if his left ear (our right) is cocked ever-so-slightly--making for an even stronger connection with the viewer somehow as it seems he is tuned in both visually and aurally.  Colors are nice too (always like the combo of pink and bright spring green). 

That's a great portrait, Meir.  There is both a palpable connection with the photographer/viewer and a counter-balancing detachment that seems almost self-protective on the part of your subjects.  There is so much to read in their expressions and body language.  Although at first glance the body language seems to be the same for both the man and the woman (similar poses), I quickly get the sense of the differences between them.  The man seems focused, strong, perhaps a bit defensive.  I imagine him thinking about more important things than posing for this portrait--responsibilities, plans, solutions to problems.  The woman, on the other hand, has a look of quiet resignation about her, a sort of flat hopelessness.  I find myself imagining all sorts of scenarios about these 2 individuals--always the mark of a great portrait IMO.  (I'm not sure I want to know their true story, as I'm enjoying my own invented story lines too much!) Love the lighting and B&W tonality, too. 

The muted colors are lovely (less is more here, I think), and I'm also enjoying the many textures and geometric shapes.  The trees do a nice job of balancing the rigid/linear structures and convey a sort of tension with the man-made objects--pressing right up against those structures in an almost competitive way. I love the sets of 3--the 3 stair-stepping water towers and the 3 windows--and the overall compo, which feels just right.   My favorite detail, though, is the shadow of the water tank against the silo.  I really enjoyed spending some time with this one.  

Thank you very much for the look and the comment, Marjolein. 

Thanks very much for the comment, Trisha, and I'm happy you noticed all of those details! 

This is really excellent, Theo.  What a wonderful approach to capture the essence of a place like NYC/Brooklyn.  The city is so dense with life and details, with its streets looking at once similar but also distinctly different, and this array of smaller images helps me appreciate the "sameness" as well as the fascinating uniqueness of each view.  The colors are great, with all the complementary golden and blue tones and tiny bits of red.  Love the illustrative feel of this, and the fact that the tiled image of thumbnails (even from quite a distance) is just as enjoyable as the individual images themselves. 

Hi, Theo, and thanks very much for the comment.  Yes--the dog, LOL; didn't know if anyone else would notice that.  I like the way that he appears to be keeping an eye on my daughter, who was the one who insisted we adopt him after seeing his picture on a rescue site on the internet.  And my son was the one who took and processed that photo, so it has special meaning for me.  By the way, this is an iPhone picture; wish I could recall the apps I used.

Theo, this was taken outside of a hotel in San Antonio, Texas.  I think it's my favorite family picture I've ever taken.  :-)

This is gorgeous; I just can't stop looking at it.  Such wonderful details and textures and subject matter.  I especially like the sense of scale that makes the buildings look almost like toys, and the subtle differences in lighting that lead my eye back and forth and through the scene.  My favorite aspect, though, is the color, with those grey-blues and soft yellows that make up both earth and sky, enhanced even more by the muted olive greens.  You've managed to create an image that is natural and realistic but also somehow very painterly.  This is one of the most enjoyable images I've seen in a very long time.  I hope you have this printed large and hanging on a wall somewhere.

Theo, I forgot to add that I took the original image with the Hipstamatic app (Jimmy lens, Blanko film, Jolly Rainbo 2X flash).

Thanks very much, Chuck. 

Yes, if I remember correctly, I think I used the Narwhal filter on the Flickr app.  I have many pictures of this spot that I've taken over the years, and quite a few that I took with my DSLR that same day, but this one I took from my iPhone is my favorite.  I really like the pictorial style of photography and the way the iPhone lends itself to that.  Thanks so much for looking and commenting, Theo.

Yes, I thought you could relate, being from Holland!  We may not have mountains here, either, but we have gorgeous gulf coast clouds--typically large cumulonimbus clouds that dominate the horizon in all directions.  Whenever we return from a visit to Colorado and the mountains, I find that the clouds fill in that same visual space where my eye expects to see the mountain range.  I think I prefer the clouds, though, because they are constantly changing.  

This has all the hallmarks of my favorite portraits of yours:  amazing subject expression/connection with the viewer; sublime natural lighting; and your signature color palette with those dusky blues and pinks.  You have such a wonderful and recognizable style, and I would even include the cropping in that category.  I happen to like the breathing room you often give your subjects, which fits in very well I think with the naturalistic (but no doubt carefully considered) approach you take.  Lately I find myself tiring of constrained, orderly, technically "perfect" images, with everything framed just-so with the rule of thirds, no blocked shadows, no blown highlights, every image looking just like 1000 other "perfect" images.  I don't think it would hurt to crop the image, but I doubt that I would enjoy it any more than I do right now.

Hi, there, Theo!  Thanks for stopping by.  This is Galveston Bay, Texas, at the end of my favorite hiking/bird-watching trail.  That dark shape in the fog that looks like a hill is actually a house.  (We're in a completely flat coastal area here and don't have any hills or cliffs to speak of within 150 miles, so I like the fact that I can imagine that shape to be something interesting like a rocky crag, LOL).  Hope all is well with you.

Bachir,  thanks so much for looking and for taking the time to comment!

Thank you so much for your detailed critique, Tim.  I'm really glad this image works for you, including the over-exposed window and doorway and the dark shadows.  It's a little higher-contrast than my normal B&Ws, but it seemed to fit the subject matter (loved the geometrical lines/shapes in this space and the feeling of inside vs. outside).  Appreciate you taking the time to write your thoughts, especially since you've been to this place yourself.