ElSato (77) [2005-12-21 15:20] [+]

Hey Lori,

Well that is one adorable dog, I gotta say. The look in her eyes says it all: alert, alert, alert. Best of luck with Rosie Roo.

Lee

ElSato (77) [2005-09-06 14:35] [+]

Bert,

Ah, you knew the title of this one would catch my eye!

As for the photo, it's an amazing space, obviously, and I think you've brought it out beautifully, especially with the use of really vibrant colours (which are, of course, entirely appropriate to the P-Funk).

I have tickets for P-Funk Sept. 27 and can't wait (especially since Bootsy will be with them, tho he almost never tours any more!).

"Welcome to station WEFUNK, better known as We-Funk,
Or deeper still, the Mothership Connection.
Home of the extraterrestrial brothers,
Dealers of funky music.
P.Funk... uncut funk... The Bomb."

ElSato (77) [2005-07-11 22:55]

Frederic,

Excellent! I love how totally stark and spare this image is, and yet how the scene is implied in quite a bit of detail just by the silhouettes and the reflective surfaces. This is very painterly in a Warhol kind of way. Really wonderful and quite powerful.

Lee

ElSato (77) [2005-07-11 22:42] - [workshop] [compare]

Gali,

This is a beautiful confluence of natural images and machinery, which I really love. I can just see the "freshly squeezed juices" running through these pipes and down into a cup! And that crumbling concrete in the background so emphasizes just how "fresh" these juices are likely to be.

I've done a quick workshop, just as an experiment to try doing what I would do if these were my photo. Not better, and hopefully not worse, but I thought you might like to see what your image looks like through someone else's eyes.

Lee

ElSato (77) [2005-07-11 22:29]

Gali,

Very beautiful. Grafitti can be so mundane or, in cases like this one, quite stunning (I've created a theme Kilroy Was Here for exactly photos like this, and have added this image to it).

Really well seen and well selected. The variety of texts, textures, and images, is really stunning, especially when they overlay each other like some street art palimpsest. Congratulations on this one!

Lee

ElSato (77) [2005-07-11 22:22]

Bob,

Why am I commenting on this photo at this late date, long after you posted it? Because I'm going through some of the photos in my theme The Mechanical Bride, which consists of machinery and machine-like objects, and commenting on a few of them, and this is one of them.

The idea behind The Mechanical Bride is to collect photos that demonstrate that artificial objects can be every bit as beautiful, indeed as awesome, as the natural ones that are more commonly revered -- that a tractor or pump or power line is no less an art object than a flower, seascape, or sand dune.

This photo inhabits one particular corner of that idea, which is the manufactured object that at once imitates man's natural form and simultaneously allows man himself to become machine-like... cybernetic objects if you will. I think this image is a stunning example of just how beautiful a cybernetic object can be.

(Most people think of cybernetics, even mere machines, as being more advanced than "simple" armour, but armour is a technology, and belongs solidly on the technological curve that has taken us from the first clubs and spearheads to computers and the most sophiticated prosthetic limbs.)

Long-winded comment. Mostly meant to say: great photo! Like it a lot!

Lee

P.S. Great blue lighting!

ElSato (77) [2005-07-11 22:10]

Bob,

A very beautiful photo. Yes, it would be better without the mic, but performance photography is like street photography that way... you have limited control. Besides, as mics go it's a very unobtrusive one.

Here's the irony: seeing a photo like this makes the viewer wish they could hear the music, at least it does me. So? Well I'm flipping through your portfolio and when I see this picture I'm like "Liu Fang, Liu Fang, I know that name." As it turns out she's headlining at a free weekend festival of Chinese culture here in Toronto that I've been looking forward to going to for weeks (Kid Koala, a favourite DJ of mine, will be there as well -- they have a good lineup).

Anyway, I'm getting off on a tangent but thought you might like the coincidence, especially after the "Fish"/Sandy Skogland kismet a while back.

The point is that this is a very good portrait precisely because its understated mood and soft light so well represent the music that we viewers can't hear, but can imagine a little when we look at it.

Lee

ElSato (77) [2005-07-11 21:32]

Josh,

A very good portrait. As is so often the case, you got a much better portrait than you probably would have had if you'd just had her look into the camera. Most people look better -- less "duh" -- when they're actually doing something. And your friend's expression is actually better with her eyes closed and that slight furrow in her brow than if her eyes had been open... very expressive. Very good use of light and shadow.

Lee

ElSato (77) [2005-07-11 21:28]

Josh,

As several people have said, really good use of both colour and depth of field. Most of all, though, this shows real imagination and originality PLUS the technical skill to pull it off. So often those "oh, I've got a great idea" images just don't live up to what you thought they would be or what they might have been, but this one really does.

Lee

ElSato (77) [2005-07-11 21:25] [+]

Josh,

Another really good one. I probably would have gone the other way with the colour saturation, but that's just my taste -- you got a good result.

I'd love to know what an anti-mall is.

Lee