Richard Barnard

Beautiful light, mood and tone with a strong composition. Struggling to find anything constructive to add in way of change.

Ironically the only person being derogative and demeaning here is the person who chose to use the pejorative phrase ’fat old lady’ to describe your subject. I don’t see any intent on your part to exploit this lady and seems to me you have captured a genuine moment of warmth between her and her two dogs. Incidentally I believe the quote is by Ellio…[Read more]

A poignant moment captured and the details to right of frame help tell your story and provide context and nice use of shallow DOF here. I wish the clipped highlights of the hat weren’t quite so prominent. Unfortunately the person in the background kills the shot for me. The overlap means that he is just too much of a distraction. Great subject,…[Read more]

Apologies as I am likely missing your intent here but my immediate reaction is that this is a poorly focussed and composed shot of a child. I don’t think the partially cropped elements bottom edge of frame are helping with the composition either. Feels a little creepy to be honest and I assume not the aesthetic you were aiming for.

I agree, the background is quite busy and the vignette rather strong. Bigger distraction for me are the clipped highlights on the woman’s blouse and shoulder of the mannequin right of frame which immediately draw the eye and become a distraction. I suspect those details will have been lost and are unrecoverable. I don’t think the uneven and…[Read more]

Unfortunately the image lacks a sense of emotion or connectedness to me. I think it’s largely due to the fact that you chose to shoot this man side on and his gaze leads me directly out of frame. So much is conveyed by the eyes yet we see only one side of his face. As a result the image feels quite static and lacking in character and I don’t get…[Read more]

I would like to know why the genre of this photograph is important to you. For what its worth I don’t see a problem labelling this ‘landscape’ but assigning your image to a particular genre isn’t going to change either its content or your personal response.

Why shoot on the basis that there may be someone out there who likes the image more th…[Read more]

I much prefer the simplicity of your colour version. Beautiful light and shadow and I like the monochrome of brown and the mood this creates. The traffic lights don’t bother me too much as they give a sense of place and work well enough with the shadows given they are edge of frame and also black. I wish that grey lamp post wasn’t there though as…[Read more]

I like both your images and they seem strong enough to have the potential to sell to me.

This is by no means a reflection on your work but rather the bitter and twisted ramblings of someone who has spent many hours behind a stall at numerous craft fairs supporting my wife selling her textile art. Most fairs have a smattering of photographers…[Read more]

It’s exactly as you describe it to me – a ‘make do’ shot of a sunset, nothing more, nothing less. I feel there is little I can add that you don’t already know yourself as reflected in your title and description.

I’m with Billyspad on this one I’m afraid.

Personally, I don’t see a clear focal point / point of interest and the composition feels somewhat chaotic. The profile appears to have brightened all the leaves to the point of clipping and losing all detail and hence my eye is pulled all over the frame by the competing highlights. The result being…[Read more]

… and sometimes the meaning of a photograph is so obscure that it forever remains locked away in the mind of the photographer. Nothing wrong with that as long as we do not post in a public forum and are arrogant enough to expect our audience to be mind readers.

Forgive me for falling into the obvious trap of providing you with a…[Read more]

Sorry but feels more like an image stolen rather than a minute as this one feels devoid of any interest to me. The bulls eye placement of your subject in the vast expanse of negative space and a catchy title is not enough to draw and hold my attention I’m afraid.

Winogrand reminds us that photographers often mistake the emotion they feel while…[Read more]

There are a few things I like in the composition, particularly the echo and repeat of curves but I don’t think they are enough in and of themselves to carry the image. Unfortunately the man appears incidental to me and disrupts the flow. The bright colour of his hat jars the eye (maybe that was your intent) and I don’t see any obvious connection…[Read more]

Feels to me that you recorded a ‘happenstance’ here rather than a meaningful moment / connection between scooter & dog.  Dog runs towards passing motor scooter doesn’t feel unique or compelling enough, particularly as the key elements are indistinct & occupy a relatively small amount of the frame which further increases my disconnect. I don’t…[Read more]

I like your b&w edit although I would be inclined to reduce the clipping / burnt highlights around the barbers elbow and upper arm.

To be honest Kent I am not seeing the candid or defining moment that would elevate this photograph from a fairly straight forward documentation / record shot. ‘Barber trims sideburns of man with wistful gaze’ isn’t q…[Read more]

Nice tones and I like the idea of the juxtaposition and framing. As suggested above, it needs a tighter crop in my view. All the action is mid and right of frame and it feels to me that there is too much negative space frame left.

I agree with Falxy (I think!). It’s a potentially interesting subject but I’m not seeing a particularly interesting or striking image  and I’m afraid the mere presence of the girl touching the statue is not enough to bring it ‘alive’ in any meaningful way for me, indeed you could argue that she is incidental, a distraction, as I don’t see a…[Read more]

Interesting choice to submit for critique as it is a faithful record / documentation of the bike, the shot that most people would have taken, but appears to show little in the way of creative interpretation. Maybe that was your intent in which case any deeper critique is probably unwarranted.

In terms of composition I wonder why you chose to…[Read more]