Title:
Hidden in Plain Sight

Mandate:
You know, those everyday things that go unnoticed?
For instance, when in Chicago a few weeks ago I noticed some drain pipes
coming down from the L. Where they met the street they'd built up quite a
patina of paint, weathering, dirt, and oily grease. In a way, they were
quite interesting, but they go unnoticed by all but those like us, the
artists, and psycho paths... ;-) Capture something like that. Try to make
it beautiful.

The Images:
http://www.pbase.com/shootin/hidden

The Reviews:

Bret Douglas: not what I intended, not beautiful and an archive shot.  Need
I say more?  Keep trying, though, pal!

Jim Kramer: meets the mandate as there are many beautiful insects that go by
unnoticed (though the butterfly pushes that, as everyone tends to agree that
butterflies are beautiful...they even named a movie after it, or was that
butterflies are free? ;-)
The composition isn't particularly strong and the lighting is harsh.
Perhaps if you moved around 120 degrees to the right? ;-)

Brian Fane: I believe signs do meet the mandate--I'm often intrigued by them
myself.  The trick is to get a decent image of them, and I feel this makes
strides towards that end.  The lines of the image work well in moving one's
eye through the composition.  The power lines are a bummer, and the
ground/sign could have been lightened a bit in Photoshop, a legitimate
darkroom technique, and so available to us in the Shoot-In.  Well done
overall.

Al Denelsebeck: meets the mandate, and I appreciate that you at least walked
out the front door to get the shot.  Could've worked more at lighting and
composition.

Bowser: You're spot on the money in terms of mandate, though the fact that
the tide hides these is besides the point.  The shapes in the sand are
interesting enough, and would escape the notice of most passerby.  Now I
think you need to go back and get your feet muddy, getting down low with a
wide angle lens and really filling the frame with that subject.

Ken Nadvornick:  Good one Ken, though I'm not sure exactly what you were
thinking in terms of the mandate.  That's beside the point, as I can see
that the overall scene is quite interesting, with a certain aesthetic beauty
to it that could be easily overlooked by the casual passerby, and which
you've managed to capture quite well.  There's also the homeless man, and
they do tend to be hidden in plain sight, if for no other reason than eye
contact often results in solicitation.  The foot bridge on the left is a bit
distracting.

Matt Clara: Certainly one of the loveliest of the bunch, though as Jim
pointed out, it's been done before and so may not be the strongest candidate
for the mandate--still, the average passerby wouldn't give this area a
second glance.  This image would have been improved 100% if only the leading
edge of the mushroom cap was in focus.  (I have another roll with more
attempts, so I'm sure I've got at least one that will be "perfect"!)  This
is my personal favorite for this mandate, though I may be a bit biased...
;-)  Still, it fulfills the mandate and is well composed and "beautiful",
which I perhaps did not emphasize enough in this mandate when I said "try to
make it beautiful."

Eric Quesnel-Williams: You've got the right idea, and not a bad image,
though I'd crop more from the bottom.  The cabin certainly is hidden in
plain sight, though, again, not exactly what I intended.

Steve McCartney: again, I think signs have lots of potential for this
mandate.  These seem to have some irony going on, what with Power Av getting
cut short.  The power lines do accentuate "Power Av", too.

R. Schenck:  It's true, art like this is overlooked by the people passing it
by everyday.  Then again, art like this is crap.  Not your photo, just the
sculpture, and just my opinion.  Not a bad image of it, though a wider lens
might have made it more powerful.  The sloppy crop with the big white
triangle in the upper left corner is, um, sloppy.

Mike Henley: not sure what's hidden in plain sight, unless it's the London
Camera Exchange.

Vic Mason: again, not what I intended, though, if not for the telephone
poles in the foreground this could have been a powerful shot.

Brian Baird:  Great shot, and exactly what I intended.  Archive loses
points, as it's easy to go to one's archive and pull a great shot that fits
the mandate.

That's all folks.  Hope I wasn't too hard on y'all, and sorry they grew
progressively shorter, but I got tired of it!