Calm

A superb image. Something that ticked all the boxes aesthetically and technically but also more than fulfilled the brief. It was this combination of factors that for me meant this image had to be the winner. The perfect composition with the structure (umbrella?) lining up with the horizon. With echos of this alignment in the reflection and the tonal transition of the sky meeting the top of the umbrella. Also that the way the water is perfectly still makes this picture exude calm. There's even something Daliesque about it all, the distant and simple landscape in muted tones and the slightly surreal structure. Fantastic work I could look at this for hours.

Something really took me with the simplicity of this image. I really love the use of negative space. There's obviously something calm and sedate about fishing, there have been many attempts to convey that in this competition. Here there the photographer gives us just enough context so we know whats going on and the immense whiteness calms us and leaves space for our own narrative. I also really liked the name! A great way to give the viewer another excuse to use their imagination.

I thought there was something interesting going on here. I like that there is obviously a narrative being created through various elements from the styling and composition to the post processing. For me unfortunately it just wasn't calm and more voyeuristic and even a little scary. And I don't mean that in a bad way it just wasn't right for this competition. I think you have to be careful with these post process techniques that make digital images look like old photographic methods (I believe wet plate collodion in this case). I do think it works here but it can often look a bit tacky. Some nice work here though with an interesting aesthetic.