Disappearing Professions

There were 20 commended images in this competition and I wanted to let you know that this image it is in my top 3 commended and just fell outside the top 10 overall. I love the silhouette based image and the handling of the black and white, super contrast. What let it down was the lack of image title or description, I really wanted to know more about the image and what was happening. Well done though, super image.

There have been many blacksmith images submitted for this competition, and this image stood out by far across all entries. First of all I love the simplicity of the image, less is more, which certainly works here, making a close up intimate image. Secondly I love the colour and colour tones, making a very pleasing image, enhanced further by the timing of the smoke. A very well thought out and captured moment, absolutely nailing the brief - well done!

This image left me wanting to know more, which is a brilliant achievement in any image. What stood out for me was the lighting, the catch light is bringing the subjects out from the background making a very interesting image. My second thought was, what are they doing? There is a well captured moment of interaction and concentration between the two men - making me want to read the image title and image description to find out. Well done!

A classic image of these native Chinese fishermen, and a good one at that. I love the soft pastel misty tones of the background and the bright orange flame casting the main subjects in a beautiful orange glow. It is one of those images that tells a thousand words, yet leaves you asking more. Well done!

This image absolutely hit the brief for me, and although simple in it's content and composition, it is technically a very hard image to capture. Exposing for both the welder and the intensely bright welding spark is no easy task, so well done. I also like that there are no background distractions, like a tool shed etc, making you focus purely on the main subject and his work. Great work.

A face can tell a thousand words! It was the composition of the two subjects and the net that drew me to this image. The darker complexity of this image with the wave meeting the image at the base to the dark subjects against the lighter sky creates great mood and contrast in the image. I like that the face of the front worker has been left darker making the image viewer seek and find further detail in what at first looks like a silhouette type image. Love it.

There were 20 commended images in this competition and I wanted to let you know that this image it is in my top 3 commended and just fell outside the top 10 overall. There were a few welder images and I had to chose one, and this was very close - a great image. Technically a very difficult image balancing exposure for the subject and the bright welding spark. I also love the blue colour tones cast over the image from the spark. Well done!

A very appealing candid image, I like the rawness and natural feel of this image which has been very well captured and processed. The subject and subject's craft has been well presented with great light making them pop from the equally interesting darker workshop area. Great composition, lighting and colour tones. Well done.

I can sit and look at this image for a while, it captures the viewers attention making it really stand out from the other entries. The face tells so many stories, and the musical instrument (looks like a type of xylophone, correct me if I'm wrong) creates great interest and image focus. My one, and very small criticism would be the more portrait style of this image, it would have been nice to see more of the instrument in focus to capture more of the brief. Great image, great subject, lovely detail and sharpness - well done!

There were 20 commended images in this competition and I wanted to let you know that this image it is in my top 3 commended and just fell outside the top 10 overall. I love the simplicity of the content, a very close up intimate image of this old lady and her sewing machine with no added dsitractions. The composition and timing is excellent, as well as the subject detail - it really tells a great story. Well done.

99% of the entries in this contest have shown a person with the subject/ work place in the image to capture both components. This one is very different and made me think again about the brief criteria. You've dared to be different which made this image stand out for me. A very natural face/ pose, with a very emotive deep in thought expression is very well captured. I also love the way you've processed this, great vintage colour tones and a quality to it that I absolutely love. Very small and pedantic suggestion, clone the hair on his collar out. Other than that, perfect, well done!

Atmosphere wins the day for me here - this image is dirty, sweaty, gritty and industrial and I love it. The composition is great showing you the worker, shovel and fire very clearly - so well captured and timed. Well done!