* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #951 / Revived #171 on 2026 07 08 *

It looks like a watercolor painting.
Was this photo edited this way on purpose?

It was indeed almost dark: it was the last bit of warm light before twilight, and the vines are very thick, thus the deep shadows. The only one I brightened a bit was the one with the nest, just so some detail could be seen. It looked like the buntings had woven spiderwebs into the other material and I wanted to show it.

For me, this one is about survival and resistance. One beam holding strong in the midst of raging chaos.

Both "Man Reading" images are interesting (and they are a bit reminiscent in vibe of what HCB photographed in Spain, a few decades earlier).
But their story-telling impact couldn't be more diverse.

The first is a fine portrait of the man deep in his reading, legs dangling and head inclined.
The texture of his face is almost as wrinkled and interesting as the texture of the wall behind him, against which the bright spot of his face and the center of our attention stands out nicely.

The second is not a portrait but a situation, and in that situation, the heap of garbage (mostly paper) in the foreground is just as important as the reader himself.
It feels like history being discarded and abandoned, while one man salvages shreds of a past by reading and internalizing.
It's a poignant metaphor for the fleeting nature of history and how it takes individuals to safeguard collective memory.

These big lizards always freak me out slightly.
In the Antwerp zoo, there is quite of collection of them, including a couple of Komodo Dragons.
(As a kid I always thought that they were as close as we would get to seeing what dinosaurs looked like, while now I am more convinced that ostriches and quasoari birds are more similar to dinosaurs, just not with teeth)

This specimen of yours looks proud and regal, on his rocky throne overlooking his territory.

A nice collection of human and animal sleepers who obviously feel comfortable and secure in each other's company.
I particularly like how the bare feet (and an inconspicuous arm and a shielded face) are the only bits of human flesh and skin on display.
Those humans would probably be cooler and more comfortable in less clothing, but social norms keep us clothed.
The dog, by contrast, is naked and happy, although of course his fur is always there.

What I like most here, is the fact that we see different stages of the plant growth: sprouts, flowers and fruits in different stadia of development.
The fence is a bit of an eyesore in most of these images.
I hope you catch your family of birds in their raising of the kids.

The restrained curve of the arch is important. Jabba overflows it and the overflow creates the Jabba. The eyes and mouth add more golden arches to visually link to the support. The balance is quite perfect and further underlines the blobbiness of Jabba.
Quite beautiful.

Interesting to compare this shot with Roel's.
Sagitttarius's critter is more threatening. It's above us looking down and the colouring gives camouflage. A prey's view of a predator.
Something feels odd about the two rock formations on the right. I suspect this is a Topaz artefact where it has got the extra sharpening it sometimes applies, wrong.

A beautiful series of studies. They can stand alone or, as here, be variations on a theme. Maybe leave out number 4 as the blue-ish tone interrupts the green flow that ties the series together?
I'm reminded of Weston's pepper series. There's much of the same delight in the use of light to mould forms so we look closer and appreciate everyday items.
The bird nest is a heartwarming little surprise that sits happily with the togtherness of the last photo.

It looks overprocessed. The halos around the bird and the odd patterning in the water in the foreground and the highlights in the wave tops.....?
If this was intentional, I'm not against techniques like posterization of images but here, I don't think it works. To my eye, the original image needs to be much graphically bolder to begin.
It's also possible that the artefacts were created with too much sharpening? I don't know.

Ha. Heat gets us all. Repeated horizontal lines create quietness. Including the dogs expands the point.
At first the beheaded dog, top left felt like a mistake. But then, most of the bodies lack heads. No probs.

Thank you all for looking and commenting. We also have Komodo Dragon in our Zoo. I have quite a few pictures of iguanas in the wild taken in Mexico and Domonican.
Only iguana and rock under it have been sharpen in Topaz. Everything else is coming from been photographed being behind plexiglass.

A slight crop was applied, otherwise it's SOOC shot.

Fire is creation, purification, destruction, illumination - great representation.

Superb in it's simplicity.

[quote="@RoelHendrickx"]
JABBA

[/quote

Excellent capture - on the top of the world!

Wonderful study in unusual world of gurds.