Winner Chosen - March 2010 - Admin's choice - Image of the month

[Marko]

Hi members,

In case you are new around here this is where the Admin (me) chooses one excellent photo each month from all the photos nominated by other members during that month in the Member's monthly choice forum.

Just so it's clear, the photo I choose is not necessarily the best one of the month. I've come to realize it's not really logical to pit images from totally different genres against each other. That's why there are categories in photo contests.

My goal is to simply choose an excellent photo and talk about why I think it rocks. I just wanted to point out that each month this is getting much harder. To my delight, the quality just keeps getting better and better

This month's choice is Which Way is Up by casil403

I chose this image for several reasons:

Firstly, it has the wow factor. When you first look at the shot you are immediately intrigued and I really like that. You're not immediately sure what you are looking at but you like looking at it. As you look more closely you see that this is a building shot with an extremely unusual angle that almost has an "optical illusion quality". The windows look like the floor, the reflected gridshape looks like a giant snowshoe or a wall. It's just so visually intriguing.

The shapes here are the key elements that rock this image for me. I love the juxtaposition of the gridlike squares with the larger "floor" window squares. The lines that frame those squares are also way cool. The arched curve and it's reflection wonderfully lead the eye around the image. Even the cables that hold up " the gridstructure" are visually interesting.

The exposure is very well handled here. Shooting into the sky is not always easy. The colour palette here is also lovely and harmonious. Compositionally, I find this image very pleasing as well.

For all these reasons, this is my choice for image of the month. I'll be honest for a second with this choice. Since casil403's images have been chosen as my picks in recent months, I was hesitant to choose another one of her images as my pick. But at the end of the day, I have to be true to my instincts and my own interpretation/evaluation of what makes a winning image. I'd also like to mention that Casil shoots a lot...and regular practice brings her work to an extremely high level.

Since we all have opinions, some members may disagree with my choice. That's cool but THIS thread is not the place for debate over my pick, NOR is it the place to further critique the image. The purpose here is to suggest strong elements in the photo that we may learn from.

Congrats again casil403 for creating this beautiful image!