Congratulations to Dneufarth for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 2 votes - View Previous Winners
I had the audacity to enter these three images in the portrait category of the Hasselblad Masters 2026 under the title of Strata and with the following description:
“Three portraits exploring layers of presence and perception, where interior selves emerge through subtle strata of environment, gesture, and stillness.”
I know that I won’t be selected for the public and jury voting, but it was very satisfying putting the entry together. C&C always appreciated.
Love the OOF foreground elements and the closeness of the models in the first two, the last one is nice but it doesn't seem to fit with the first two. Nice shots.
Hasselblad masters? yeah, maybe won't get selected, but they are all interesting and well done in their own right. Hard to really pick a favorite, which is good.
Detroitable wrote:
Love the OOF foreground elements and the closeness of the models in the first two, the last one is nice but it doesn't seem to fit with the first two. Nice shots.
Thank you so much. The third image does seem to diverge, but my intention was to show a progression of emergence from the first image to the third image. Perhaps, it does not read that way.
RWNPhoto wrote:
Hasselblad masters? yeah, maybe won't get selected, but they are all interesting and well done in their own right. Hard to really pick a favorite, which is good.
Thank you very much, I am at least grateful that they are already being seen by people who might not have seen them otherwise.
Derek, for me #1 is just absolutely, without quetstion, one of the most stunningly beautiful compositions I’ve seen on this site. IMHO, you have ticked all the boxes AFAIC. Especiallly noteworthy for me are the “layers” of focus depth from which the woman emerges. Amazing. Tony
Great pictures!
The first has real intimacy as the observer looks through the foreground.
The last picture has motion in it from the out of focus background patterns, and the raindrops on glass somehow add to it. The first glance I had was just the top two thirds of the frame and it was more apparent to me then.
Dneufarth wrote:
I had the audacity to enter these three images in the portrait category of the Hasselblad Masters 2026 under the title of Strata and with the following description:
“Three portraits exploring layers of presence and perception, where interior selves emerge through subtle strata of environment, gesture, and stillness.”
I know that I won’t be selected for the public and jury voting, but it was very satisfying putting the entry together. C&C always appreciated.
You never know what will connect with those judging a photo contest. Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. I've had photos that couldn't garner a "meh" win contests elsewhere., and I am glad these got recognized here. Congrats, they are beautiful.
