Construction

I think that there's something delightful about this image that has to do not only with a lateral interpretation of the theme but an appreciation of shape and crucially, texture. Common in the discussion of painting, this notion is seldom discussed in a two-dimensional image but is created by both sensitivity to the direction and the quality of light. Here, by luck or judgement, the frame is well exposed with clearly delineated shadow detail that give the impression of how the subject would feel if touched. I think that this image's abstraction is rather lovely and whispers the theme rather than shouts it.

A really rather beautiful and impressionistic depiction of a construction site. I like this very much not least because of the inventiveness of the approach but specifically the colour palette that's contained within. The right angles and grids seem to suggest a nod to De Stijl and the more one looks, the more layers seem to present themselves - a visual metaphor in a sense for construction sites generally. Well done.

Something about this reminds me a little of Germaine Krull's architectural studies in terms of line and light. This is an excellent frame - well conceived and executed with a lovely nod to a composition that makes us look at blank space - and (thanks to the mesh), its texture. I only wish that he figure was more delineated - but this is rather brilliantly observed. Well done.

This is very well-seen and framed. It's a brave composition and I really like the use of what is sometimes called negative space to make us concentrate on the figures. I additionally like the shape of the shaken rope and I think that adds the icing on the cake. My only issue might be that the highlights are clipping and I'd likely have shot this, especially in such harsh light in such a way as to gain a tiny bit more of the shadow detail. That said, this is a cracking effort. Well done.

I think that this is a really interesting frame but one that is marred by poor exposure and technique. I really like the way the photographer has composed with the subject to the far left and caught him in a pool of light but the image isn't sharp (shot at 1/40 of a second). More, the highlights have blown. The key here is anticipation and accurate metering. Still, an interesting failure and one that is easily rectified next time. Well done.

This is a great idea that almost comes off. I like the segmentation of the frame with the scaffolding - very graphic - but this falls down a little because not only are there several zones of interest here but more importantly, the framing includes the bottom segment which crops figures and confuses the composition. A better frame would have excluded the bottom line completely (although you could have been brave and included the shape being handed a piece of the pipe-work. I also thunk that a more square-one position might have made a stronger frame - but well done for seeing.

I think that this is an intriguing situation, well seen and quite nicely framed but deeply compromised by the light. That's a shame but such strong (midday?) sun is always going to trump what exposures we try and make. A general view such as this will always be at the mercy of overhead light and perhaps the only way around this is to move in and either use the dappled light to creative effect or to frame more closely details of the construction. A good effort.

This is a well-seen image that contains a layer of reflection really making the viewer examine the scene. As much as I like it graphically, both the exposure and the framing mean that we're left with a photograph that could have been better. A more careful composition might have either cropped out - or better fully included the figures at the top of the frame giving (literally) more depth to the image. Additionally, a more accurate (or determined) exposure would have a given less of a washed-out rendering. Still, this is a well-seen image. Well done.

This is an image where it's clear what's happening and in a sense that's where it ends. As information, it works - we can see the men laying roof tiles - but we get little sense of an aesthetic reading. By changing where we stand to make an image, by deciding what to include or exclude from the frame, we make statements about the most mundane activities. Well done for seeing this and getting a reasonable exposure, but think about how we might make this composition more interesting. Coming closer to the men? Framing them so that the sky isn't part of the scene? Utilising the scaffolding (and interesting shadows) better? Lots of choices - and those should become part of the process of composition. Well done however for seeing the potential.

I think that this was very well seen but is a compromise that has been dictated to by exposure. I think that you (or perhaps your camera) were trying to expose for the sunset(?) and in doing so capture a silhouette of the skyline. It works reasonably well, but the details of the buildings in the foreground are I think, a little distracting. The choice is either to slightly cut the exposure for the sky or compensate for the (lost) detail in the shadow areas. Given the irregularity of what I can see of the details the foreground and the angle of the framing, I'd have been tempted to to lose those details completely and just have exposed more accurately for the sky.

I really like this: it has a strong graphic sense and gives both a human scale and additional interest to a scene that could be either simply architectural or dull. There is an argument here that by framing the scene in this way, the photographer gives a real sense of the landscape but I wonder whether a closer view of the men (a nicely captured moment with the chap on the right gesturing) to a partial exclusion of some of the sky and the green advertisement might have made a more condensed and considered image. Whatever, this is a nicely executed photograph.

I really like this and it's one of the few submissions that has a definable human element. What makes the pictures is, with a nod to Cartier-Bresson, some kind of decisive moment. We 'read' people through their faces and their hands and here the photographer has caught a revealing gesture amidst the colourful confusion of the building site.

I think that this is almost a real cracker. I really like the view from above that focusses on the roadworks and I think the exposure that (almost) compensates for the fluorescent jackets and highlights is reasonably good. However the framing - the intrusive street marking and the detail of the car wheels at the top of the frame indicate a less than critical composition. This is a real shame: the photographer is responsible for every inch of the image and, despite all the really strong compositional elements below, my eye wanders inexorably towards this details at the top. Well seen however.

What I like about this is the unusual and challenging angle of view here - slightly reminiscent of Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy and Rodchenko's Constructivism. The eye is drawn downwards towards the angle-grinder and the sparks. However, this is a very, very rare case where the colours seem to detract from the graphics and I wonder if a black and white image might have worked better. Indeed, a re-framing that lost the white of the upper staircase might have worked better in that I do find myself staring at that rather than the 'action'. That said, this is still a really interesting image - well done.

This is a lovely idea that almost works very well. The silhouette is a great technique used advisedly but here I'm unsure that there's quite enough definition of what's happening to make it work completely. What I really like is the clear delineation of hammers that unequivocably signal work surrounded by scaffolding. That said the figures are buried within the blackness - it's well seen and almost - keep pushing with this.

Sometimes, a photograph can distill an activity into line, shape and a moment and here, as a perfect example, this image captures not only an elegant graphic but also a lovely instant. Sometimes we have to be lucky with our compositions and only the rather hi-key highlights that are almost blowing means that this isn't a better rewarded frame. An excellent effort however and really well see and anticipated. Perhaps there is more detail in the sky/highlights you might bring out to make this a more accurate frame?