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Konica Minolta Users | all galleries >> KM Challenges >> KM C38 Chocolate: Hosted by Tom Pariz >> C38 Chocolate - Competition > Affairs of the Heart by JDU
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24-JUL-2005 John down under (7D)

Affairs of the Heart by JDU

my house in the suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia


Here we have the age old situation with affairs of the heart. You can never know love unless you are prepared to take the risk of heartache if things don't work out. Who can resist the lure of the reward, even if danger is clear beforehand?

The chocolate heart symbolises love and sensual pleasures. The bright, fresh rose petals in front of where the rose grows from the front of the heart signify blossoming love. The dull, dead rose petals behind where the knife has penetrated the back of the heart signify the emotional trauma of failed love. The knife also reflects those situations when the danger in pursuing the liaison is clear even beforehand.

Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7 Digital ,KM AF 28-75/2.8 (D)
1/2s f/11.0 at 45.0mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time24-Jul-2005 22:31:12
MakeKonica-Minolta
ModelDYNAX 7D
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length45 mm
Exposure Time0.50 sec
Aperturef/11
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Modematrix (5)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programmanual (1)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Guest 26-Jul-2005 20:07
Hi John. Again an image full of symbolism. While executed near to perfection, the role of the **chocolate** heart is not very clear to me. The color / lighting of the heart gives it a strange, flat tone (if I recall correctly, the previous version looked better in this respect). Must be difficult to get things right I guess : the rose, the cards, the chocolate, the knife, the petals, the background, ... With such an image, every viewer has also his own interpretation, including where he would like to put emphasis on. E.g. I liked the bright knife's end in the previous version too. It acted as a kind of visual binding element between the rose and the cards.
All in all a very appealing entery !

Cheers - Alain
Guest 25-Jul-2005 23:06
Thanks for the comments. I've tidied it up. I cropped closer at top left and bottom right; the heart is brighter and smoother; the rose brightness is more even; the knife blade is much duller and close to monotone; and, finally, the cards are not as bright any more.
John
Konica Minolta Users25-Jul-2005 13:25
John, wow! This is beauty. This symbolism, then execution, imagination involved, and inspiration .. simply remarkable. I won't comment on technical details, because they're not important to me; this image looks magnificient and conveys a lot more than eyes can see.
- Tom Pariz
Konica Minolta Users25-Jul-2005 09:12
I agree with the previous comments, the ligntning is very effective, but the knife's pike is too strong. The two cards are also a bit bright (as they are only secondary objects): they draw the attention from the heart, and the knife's line is also leading to them with the brigh blade. Without the explanation in the caption, it would be difficult for me to interpret the picture, and the role of the chocolate is still not clear to me. MCsaba
Guest 25-Jul-2005 01:03
Wow John, another winner...subdued yet effective lighting (although I think the knife blade highlights could be knocked back a bit). I like the way the 'leaves' on the rose caress the top of the heart.
I wonder if cropping off maybe a couple centimeters from the bottom would let the strongly lit foreground complete the diagonal (knife/heat/cards) more effectively.