jon_hallberg

A great shot spoiled by an unfortunate background. I don't have a problem removing distractions with photoshop. I'm sure if earlier generations had this important tool they would have used it.

A delightful mix of order and randomness. Winter with the first signs of Spring. It's always nice to go for a walk, and so much more fun with a camera!

The cropping doesn't seem right, is there more on the sign half way up on the left? That is were the plane of focus seems to have fallen and its half cut away.

I realize that the telephoto effect compresses things closer together than is the reality, but nontheless this is not a place I would enjoy.

In fact I mostly try to avoide the crowds and wait for the off season to go anywhere and this soulless mob scene tells me I don't need to go there.

All these people seem like a nightmare in broad daylight. Who could stand to live there?

You have an excellent eye. I live in a farming area and totaly enjoy these images. The excellent printing makes the whole experience delighful. I'll be back for more.

Splendid!

The photos give me a profound sense of place.

Practice pays off in this well exposed and printed photograph. The right on cue guy in the window. The boy, did he just turn around to face us, or is he not part of the group we see walking away.

I don't know if it is impolite to give a title. It is just a reaction. 

These are not portraits. The model is playing a part. I see no exploitation (except in the political sense, i.e. Communism) but rather collaboration, the photographer and models seem to be working together on some sort of photo essay.

Unless there is some reason for it I'm not sure that the models motives for taking their clothes off is the issue, but this is not exactly blunt force Eros.

If the model where clothed then it would be a photo about fashion or some other such thing. Here it is about Woman, not this woman, not your mother or sister, perhaps Russian women, for whom the model is representative.

If it were an old woman it would have another meaning entirely, like the effects of a repressive society on self image. This is a flower growing in the junk yard of a failed system.

This not a coherent statement, (the photos taken as a whole), more like a notebook than a finished and bound book. Ideas tossed about, insight and rambling.

Trying to force it back into the mind set of half of a century or more in the past is hardly fair, and is in fact the polar opposite of where this seems headed. Does the model have to be soft focused, standing next to a draped Roman column and holding a water pitcher for it to be art?

The model in the once fearsome icon of the Hammer and Sickle. Freedom is a wonderful thing.

Where is all this talk of degrading women coming from? The picture we are discussing (or just cussing) seems to depict the relationship of women (at least some women, certainly not your sister, mother, etc.), with the camera.

From the very beginnings of photography, unclad ladies have been happy to be photographed. The model in this case is eye to eye with the unblinking eye of the camera and in every way seems its equal. In fact she seems more at ease than the frozen, dumb struck camera.

In the image were she is turned around, no longer an equal, her value is not in her sweet and engaging person hood but her utility.

Gee babe, I think I'd better be going, big day tomorrow, you understand.

Sooooo, is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

The landscape is absolutely great. After reading many of the responses I realized that I was having the same knee jerk reactions that many others were having. Basically about the bad form of the skier.
Upon further reflection, it is the visceral reaction of the skier, the putting on of the breaks, as it seems, that really makes it more personal and real for me. Not the energy drink 'go cheat death' life style we all imagine ourselves capable of.
I can't imagine myself doing much of what I see being done in any of the extreme sports, but I can relate to this less than 'picture perfect' moment of doubt.
There is of course an argument for the magazine shot, and photographers in the field are pushing beyond the limits, but that being said I think there is still a lot of room for the 'not a magazine shot' picture for those living in the real world.
After taking yet another look, the other worldly landscape, the eerie lighting, the isolet in the wilderness, all work together with the skier's pensive track to create an exciting sense of possibilities.
Perhaps "not a magazine shot" can be more of a complement than is intended.

Cool image. Style dispatches hidebound rigidity with a flare, winning by shear excitement and love of life.
Would like it better without the words, which turn it into political commentary, and that is becoming tiresome.

I meant to contrast the loneliness of the open space, and the somewhat more cozy feeling of a street in town, and also the comfort and the companionship of a pet.

I really enjoy this shot. The lone figure, apparently just out to enjoy the beautiful weather. The lone tree, trapped as it were in a stone concourse, sharing the melancholy loneliness of a rainy day.

I agree with that making it darker doesn't add to the mood and cropping takes away the vast openness that adds so much to the mood. The empty bench, suggests the real subject of the image, a space for another someone, but no one is there.

An interesting POV, with the subject standing between too worlds. The teddy bear of childhood but clearly big enough to open doors for himself and begin making choices.

Looking for any one thing in a portrait is pretty self limiting and really makes no sense. It is after all a human and with any luck an interesting human. If your more interested in a catch light than a critical tilt of the head, then your a technician, forget about art (if you haven't already) and just focus on doing a good workmanlike job. Attaboy!!

If your an artist you should have something more in your head than your professors voice. You should take pictures everyday now that with digital it is so cheep. Use your different cameras on the same subject and you will soon know which one you prefer. Use a tripod and find out what level of sharpness you can hope for. Use the different settings just playing around so that when something good comes along you can get it. Learn how to quickly make adjustments to your camera(s).

What is your safe position? Auto, Program, whatever, you have to be able to get your camera out and on and pointed in the right direction for street or action shots. I prefer flash off as I don't want to have to wait for it, also turn off any smile programs that interfere with my control over the shutter release. Only turn that stuff on if you specifically need that feature.

I used a feature on my G11 that I have only used that one time and it was pretty cool. It takes a shot when it detects a new face entering the picture frame after a time delay of a few seconds. If you really want to get into some of your own shots it is kind of cool and may save a twisted ankle trying to beat the ten second timer.

I don't much care for photographs where the technique is the whole issue. This laundry list of things a 'good' portrait should have or not have is a formula for the best cliché.

It is hard to make a perfect set piece without it looking like an attempt to make a perfect set piece. The pose fills the frame, the hands don't cover the face, and the end result does not look natural enough to elicit any kind of a sense of communication. The lovely model is just another object in a carefully mapped frame filled with interesting objects.

I like the original crop, I like seeing more houses, as if they were as endless as the plains. The clouds, the single walkway bisecting the empty foreground all repeat and confirm the feeling of loneliness. The stark sameness of the houses, they're just not homes without a human element. As if the basics are nothing without a neighborhood to bring it all to life and give it meaning.

The environment is a strong counterpoint the the living organisms in side of it. The wall is as welcoming as a roll down door covering a closed shop. The shared table maybe as close as two people are willing to come in today's world. The cutout space that the table and chairs inhabit is hardly more private than a blank wall. A purely functional way of keeping the furniture out of the way, not a cozy booth, strictly utilitarian. How much of life is wasted just making a living.

The environment is a strong counterpoint the the living organisms in side of it. The wall is as welcoming as a roll down door covering a closed shop. The shared table maybe as close as two people are willing to come in today's world. The cutout space that the table and chairs inhabit is hardly more private than a blank wall. A purely functional way of keeping the furniture out of the way, not a cozy booth, strictly utilitarian. How much of life is wasted just making a living.

It is interesting how things frozen in time can seem to posses different properties. Here the water in motion and the frozen water almost seem hard and even dangerously sharp like glass. Interesting.

Nothing special.

What a sad metaphor of modern life.

The problem seems not to be the cropping or the overdone flashing around the edges.
What I would try to do would be to get more detail in the horse and figure. They should be in the middle between the graphic black of the tree and the dead white of the snow. Using tonality to make greater the distinction between the dead (at least for the season) tree and the living horse and figure.
The cropping is fine, just dodge the horse and figure.