Courage

A great conceptual photo that I really like. Addiction to pain killers...a big problem in society and the courage to overcome the physical, mental and emotional addiction I'm imagining is difficult. There is a courageous look in the woman's eyes, to me it was an interesting and different way of describing my brief. And nicely edited post with visual impact of the black and white face with the coloured pills.

I instantly have empathy for this courageous lion that has obvious battle scars. I see the severe scar on his right eye, a battle I can imagine would be painful, intense and of course courageous. If I took this photo I would have preferred better clarity deep in the eyes so I could see sharper detail in his scars and his confident stare into the camera. This is the only reason this isn't one of the front runners of the comp...but it is still such a beautiful depiction of courage and thank you for sharing this.

Courage in taking the hand of marriage, a lovely photo. Taking the oath of lifetime promises, a tender and exposing courageous moment of wedlock. This simple composition creates a powerful portrait of courage going into the unknown. Not the obvious crowd choice but definitely fits my brief perfectly.

There's so much to love about this photo. Powerful composition brings me into the shot across the wave. I can physically feel the sting of the salt water as it hits my skin with the strong weather conditions of the wind squall. I move over to the windsurfer, who courageously shows off his talent. Just wonderful in monochrome with the subtle tones of the background and foreground, my focus rests with the dramatic tones in the centre ground with the windsurfer himself. Ideal backlighting to show the windswept waves and sunlight with ideal shutter speed capturing the ideal water forms in the wind. A great professional photo with such perfect exposure, clarity, impact and framing.

The courage to take a nude self portrait is one thing. But the the courage to take a self portrait of yourself after having the guts to amputate your limbs against medical advise...is another thing. I was captivated by this most amazing powerful photo as it stood out to me for these reasons. It was exactly what my brief was about and it was the winner in my eyes. So technically, the apex (focus) of the DOF highlights the transition in this man's life. His decision is so important that it makes everything else fade away (the background). And the decision has come by this own hand, against medical advise. So to me, this captures courage in the most beautiful raw way. Naturally lit, it perfectly depicts the naked reality of the courage of the human spirit to soldier on against adversity.

I'm immediatley intrigued to look further into this portrait. At first I see a strong woman and then wonder whether her scars are self inflicted or not. Then the story continues to the background of the wall paper that continues the story of someone maybe suicidal? Yet there is strength left in her gaze that tells me she has maybe survived the temptation. Nice tones, good clarity of exposure. Monochrome is a great choice and the single natural light adds to the rawness of this wonderful portrait. The flip side of courage is weakness, and what I love about this portrait is it does show her weakness but courage rises much stronger above it.

I can only imagine how much guts it takes to jump off a galloping horse onto a steer after chasing it down to tackle it. There were many cowboy shots of courage in this comp but I loved this one for capturing the action so aesthetically well. The light on the mud and the angle of the horse galloping out of frame sets up more drama compositionally and makes for a great capture. And I love that there's no post editing which makes this frozen moment of courage very real and powerful.

Not a popular crowd favourite I'm sure, the macabre scene of what courage can lead to. It's shocking truth is why I commend this photo. Caught in the bright light of day in this monochromatic scene of destruction and death, these bodies lie here almost poetically in this abstract composition. I'm glad it's high contrast without more detail as more clarity might be too hard to swallow! Definitely powerful and I also like the courage of the photographer to snap this shot. Interesting.

A delightful snapshot of this little boy. Love the simple contrasting colours and composition. You've captured the look on his face perfectly as he navigates his first waterslide with trepidation and courage. We see courage in our simple daily lives just as much as it is seen in soldiers at war. Nicely done!