Music

This photo almost made my final list. I really like the expression on our subject's face - a great moment captured - but I felt that the composition just let the balance of the photograph down; a little too much distracting back to the right! I would suggest a little judicious cropping in the edit. I also think our subject in the centre could have been brightened in the edit to make her stand out a little more too, perhaps with a tweak the contrast sliders. With a touch more work this will be a great photo.

There's so much good stuff going on in this image. The framing, the colours, the composition of our subjects, the pink monkey guy! The photo has rhythm, with an almost painterly feel to the way the musicians are positioned and there is a warm vitality to the scene. As a piece of street photography, it really delivers. The emotion of the photograph is perhaps best captured in the face of the noodle bar owner who looks on approvingly at our young musicians.. If only I could hear what they were playing. Love it.

I like photos that make me want to exist inside them. When I saw this I wanted to sit down on that bench and be part of what was happening, to meet these people. I also really liked the seemingly timeless quality of the photograph; looking at our subjects and the decor, this could have been taken any time in the last 50 years (only the mobile phone betraying the anachronism). It looks like a photo from a classic editorial about travelling across America, something all of us photographers dream of doing, right?! I wonder, is this photo part of a set like that? If so, I'd love to see it.

For me this image is about two things; movement and tone. The way the photographer has captured in focus our subject in the foreground whilst still conveying the energy of what was happening on this street makes the image. I really like the tone too and the slightly muted palette, with the greys and the purple, works well against the gold of the trumpets and the orange glow in the background. Like our musicians, this image has personality and stylistically it really stands out.

This image is a masterclass in the use of light and of depth. I really like the tone, the palette and the detail captured in our subject's face. The composition is good too, using the instruments to the left along with the window to create a depth that works so well with the muted contrast. No doubt that our subject's workshop has real atmosphere and the photographer has done a great job in capturing it.

This image has a mystery that drew me to it. I really like the composition, the lighting (even though there is a touch of over-exposure but hey, that doesn't really matter) and the expression on our subject's face. I like photos that make me ask questions - who is this musician? Where are they? What are they playing? What are they thinking? What do they sound like? This image made me ask all those questions. The best bit is that I'll never know the answers, so I'll just have to keep looking at the picture and coming up with my own. Great photo.