Streets in winter

I really love the colours in this shot. By flipping the image on its head the photographer has shifted the perspective and given it an abstract edge so that it has an almost dream like quality. It reminds me a little of the, until recently relatively unknown photographer, Saul Leiter. Like much of his work the shot plays with colour and mood beautifully.

I like this image and the way it creates an amusing scene out of mundane elements of suburbia; we as the viewer almost feel sorry for the tree as it stands there under this great weight of snow. The window in the background forms a sort of face watching on. Characters are created out of inanimate objects and a visual joke plays out accordingly.

This is a beautiful image and a beautiful composition. There’s a real sense of mystery and wonder created with the house in the shot and it’s shadow in the form of a mountain looming in the background. I didn’t feel it related strongly enough to the title of the competition, which is why for me it didn’t win, but I still think this is a really great photograph.

I really like this shot because it poses a lot of questions, it’s a scene that seems almost timeless. Looking down on the comings and goings of the pedestrians at the crossroads gives the viewer the sense of observing life from afar, as if watching insects going about their day.

This image was a real contender for first place. The strong balanced composition, which creates a stark face staring back at the viewer, is playful and abstract in nature. It is a good use of black and white – pairing things back so we focus only on the shapes and their relation to one another in the composition.

I think this shot has some great potential. It has a timeless quality to the scene but I think the composition could be a little stronger. In some way its mood reminds me of some of the great photographers from 1950 and 60’s. Henri Cartier Bresson always talked of finding the decisive moment, seeking out the scene shot by shot until you reach the perfect image. I feel this shot misses it by a mere fraction.