Wednesday C&C * Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #919 / Revived #139 on 2025 11 26*

A suggestion. Those sparkles are eyecatching and worth capturing. The sky and the foreground/edge land details are taking our eyes away without adding to the subject. Perhaps crop the shot so the shimmering highlights dominate what we are looking at? Or crop the shot to give the contrast between the shimmer and the sky more emphasis? Edit note. My second shot needs a little more headroom above the clouds.

It's an impressive shot for sure - well done! And thanks for the additional details about the painting process. The image reminded me of something... but it took me a while to find out what. It's the photoshop alpha channel masking, which is a red overlay by default. Here's an example:

I found that really funny, when I realized.

Anyway - while your red castle does look almost fake at first glance, I'm sure it's fascinating to look at in person, and also a great place to take interesting and unusual photographs.

I love the contrast! For me it's what this image is all about... perhaps so much, that I'd have to try a B&W version... but perhaps it's already better like it is. Well done.

The color contrast and composition make this very enjoyable. You've captured both sides well, the beautiful original side of tradition, as well as the (perhaps often also) necessary, but sometimes distracting and cumbersome touristy one. But this still feels like something which can be rescued with some rules and enforcement of boundaries.

Wonderful structure - beautiful, mysterious, slightly threatening, strikingly different. Its color contributes greatly to the effect; I cannot imagine a black and white version being half as intriguing. The solitude, bleakness of the surroundings, the perfect angle all join in drawing the viewer's eye to the structure itself. Well chosen framing.

Well caught moment that demonstrates what makes street photography fun - it combines local "flavor" of architecture, commercial culture, language with universally understood human expression, color, texture and a bit of fun. We don't know what is causing the man to be blown about so or whether there's something else he's smiling about, but that contributes to the moment rather than detracting from it, as we are pressed to use our own imaginations to fill in the blanks.

Art pencils as art? Love the colorful bokeh balls that seem to be balanced on the tips of the pencils as they bounce off into wherever bokeh balls go. Great creativity.

I think you've caught the dilemma well, with the placement of the intrusive tourist with his cell phone. A viewer can feel the intrusion even without your description, and experience the conflicting emotions many of us experience when traveling into part of the world where we know we don't quite belong. Though the interesting cultural illustration is captured, what makes the photo work is the intruder.

As a kid I called this phenomenon "the shiny on the water" and as a photographer I always try to capture it with varied levels of success. You've managed to avoid the loss of detail that often plagues such efforts. I do think you could have afforded a slower shutter. These shots might be fun to work with converted to black and white.

I really really REALLY love this whimsical image.
It's quirky, it's fun, it's full of life and love of life.

The man is ready for change, and he is confident that it is change for the better.
Hair blowing in a gale, bold and bright tie flying like a flag over a parade.
A smile tha says it all.
You could submit this photo to be included in an encyclopedia, as illustration for the word "optimist".

Pencil points or toothpicks trying to skewer elusive bokeh.

Now there is a porch if I ever saw one.
Beautiful deep red colour and nostalgic ornaments (the curved ceiling plank; the little bell tower) exude a love for the purpose of this building.
Beauty built on a foundation of solid stone, like education is the basis for culture.

This is a paradox that we can witness all over the world, with tourists replacing travellers and selfie-snappers replacing viewers and participants.
Your most obvious symbol of intrusion (quite literally) is the guy reaching into the scene from the bottom right corner.
But the glow of screens dotted throughout the line of sitting people are also testimony of more "experience through smartphone" behaviour.
(And yes, your final sentence is true: you AND ME, we are also part of this.)

Mike makes good points about the composition, which really take the wind out of my sails and I can’t think of anything to add. So I will reinforce the importance of the positioning of the castle in the frame. Had it been central, it would have looked immovable and all-powerful, but just by moving it to the left and revealing the empty space, it introduces tension, a sense of danger. What will come galloping across the grass from the right.
The colour coding of the castles to assist navigation is an interesting piece of information.
Mike also asks why the castle was needed, and there is a clue on the left-hand side: the sea. Malta is deep into what was the Ottoman Empire‘s sphere of influence and raids from the sea were common, particularly from pirates looking for slaves. In fact this was such a problem, that on the island of Gozo, just out of the frame of this photo, the houses deliberately had windows small enough that pirates could not climb through.

There is a great feel to this photo.
Even though he is in the bottom left corner, it is the man who catches my attention, which could simply be the draw of a human, but is probably due to the flying red tie! This and his wild hair give him a non-conformist, self-confidant and emotional air. Even though his face is barely visible, we can see a wide grin, so the emotion he exudes is positive. He is looking down and out of the frame, and together with his downturned face, his grin seems slightly subversive, as though he has just been given 1,000 instead of 100 in his currency transaction. It is an important part of the composition. Had he been smiling directly into the camera, it could be interpreted as a boring camera smile, but instead it is far more interesting.
The currency exchange booth behind him shares his slightly disorganised, but very colourful, appearance, but, most importantly, it has the word CHANGE in big letters. Of course it refers to the purpose of the booth, but in terms of the image, it suggests a story to the viewer and offers a possibly clue to the man’s good humour. Has he just done a good currency deal, or is he overjoyed at some other change in his life? Who knows, but pondering it makes this photo.
Interestingly, the man, the main subject, is out of focus whereas the background is perfectly sharp, but it does not ruin the photo. It is still sharp enough, and can be seen as motion blur of this energetic person, even if it is simply outside the depth of focus. It also shows that perfect sharpness is not essential, especially in a Street photo.

The only things in sharp focus are the tips of two crayons, whilst the rest slips into a gorgeous bokeh, however those two points are enough to draw the eye and to allow the viewer to see what the subject is. The colours are well chosen too, with an array of pastel tones, which go well with the wood of the crayons.
This is another very attractive abstract photo.

Once more, I agree with Mike’s comments. This would look great displayed together with Roel’s photo. The image layouts are similar, but flipped left to right. The buildings are the same general shape and colour, but so very different in purpose. The background of colourful leaves and trees surround the school warmly instead of the stark landscape around the castle.
I wondered about the fence and post in the foreground, but in the end decided they sat well with the posts and banisters of the building.

A general response to everyone for comments on this shot. It's an image of mine I like a lot and I'll talk about it a bit more. I like shooting from the hip, especially when travelling. At some future date I'll post a discussion on the techniques . IMNHO, this is the best hip shot shot I've done. There are far, far more rejects than keepers. I remember the situation but not the actual shot and I didn't have high hopes. I was firing with no attempt at composition. When hip shooting, I leave composition to PP and cropping.
I like the repetition of long, narrow shapes here and their linking of foreground and background. It wasn't something I thought about when shooting. I was aware of the possibilities of "Change." in the moment. I saw the man approaching. He was quite animated. Everything else is serendipitous.

The sparkling light on the water is rightly the subject of the photo, and leaving the foreground and far shore in deep shadow means they do not distract from the subject. Maybe the whites could be raised a bit, because particularly the highlights in the clouds seem a bit grey.
It would be worth experimenting with a B&W version.