Review: The Cowboy - Imaging Resources Photo of the Month

"The Cowboy," "Darn Kids," and "All hands on stick" were chosen as January's winners. Congratulations to Edwin S. Loyola, Anupam Pal, and Morris Bennett Altman!

In the "very much late is at least a bit better than never" department, we're pleased to present the monthly winners of our Photo of the Day contest for January, 2007. It seems we're perpetually behind on the bread-and-butter work here, but that's no excuse for letting things get *this* far behind. We'll do better going forward, we promise!

At any rate, here's a look at the winners for January, and some thoughts from the judges on them:





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First Place
The Cowboy, by Edwin S. Loyola
(Edwin won a Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Printer.)
This photo drew the judges' eyes for its painterly qualities, and the feelings it conveys of loneliness and isolation in the face of an impending storm, and the welcome relief of safe shelter. Faith-oriented viewers will also find a powerful metaphor for the role of God and the provision offered through a community of believers. (The cross on the building indicates it's a church.) It's not clear (nor does it matter) how much of the lighting in this shot was found in the original scene, or how much was constructed in Photoshop, but the dark clouds and general heaviness on the right side of the picture nicely phrase the sense of foreboding, and provide emphasis for the shelter offered by the church building. The position and pose of the cowboy and his horse also works well: If they were already on the path and heading toward the church building, the image would still have evoked the sense of threat and shelter, but wouldn't have been as strong. As it is, the man and horse are clearly altering their path, from a heading that would lead them into the storm to one that leads to the shelter. The implication of an abrupt change in direction in response to the looming threat adds a level of urgency that otherwise would not be present. Finally, the sepia-toned rendering of the image adds to a sense of historicity, but also removes the possible distraction of color, letting the tonality of the image do its work unimpeded. A nice shot, and very well executed.


http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1175293165.html