Critique / Discussions

I think they are great fun! Love the middle one, this is by far the strongest image, clear message and great composition! Technically i would like to see the highlight on the top left corner toned down a bit, but this is just a minor comment!
All in all a great set of images, very well seen and taken.
It is difficult to see them all together as you asked, and I dont want to! I like the idividuallity as seperate images, they work well as a set but not in my opinion as a triptech. There is way too much conflict in messages for them to pull together, and this for me spoils the pleasure of the veiwing, maybe because the strength of the central image is so strong and we are led into judging the images against each other, and this imbalance for me spoils the triptech experience.
The first image doesnt have that initial wow factor as the middle shot does, although the top image deserves much longer viewing as it has a lot of much more suble information, which is in great contrast to the middle image.

So to be brutal, not as a triptech, but as a set of images, awesome!

Thanks Daren. By "together" I did not mean triptych but series unified by some common idea, theme, subject, etc...

I think display windows are excellent subjects for (society-related) photography.
not only they represent what moves its society and therefor tell different perceptions
of social states the peoples believe in and cultivate, but also they also tell us (especially
in "modern" societies of the western world, but also japan) what has to move us;
giving people security in their appearance, heavily depending on fashion.

although your three images should be seen together, they all tell (in my oppinion) take
a different approach to your over-all theme.

the first one (which is elaborately composed, by the way) has the reflection of the outside world just where it has to be... the reflection kinda "divides" the fashion model in order to put the subject into perspective and confront the viewer with another - contrasty - aspect.
however, I must say, the reflection in here does not make me "work" with the picture. I quite like the roof being at the position of the head, but beyond that there are no deeper elements which make me think. you could say that the emptiness of the streets represents the actual feedback on this fashion wear, but something like a little kid (all alone), staring into the display window, or a building site instead of the finished building, would add more philosophical depth.

the second one I like very much, as of its offensive handling of the subject. the point of view, the comp and crop are very clever.
the pic show three elements (for me). first, the model on the left, being contrasted by the very word "angel" (second element) - which makes you wonder for the first time - and the last: these breasts and legs.
these three elements work hand in hand to make you think. about very much, in my case.
which would be quite too much to write, in this case :)

about the third: this one is not only mostly built by black and white (which is great), it's even built in black and white diffusion (which is even greater). it gives the subject a corresponding superhuman touch... erh, yes. it's also very good that you took the ceiling lights into the composition.
but beyond that, the bottom on the right side kinda distracts me (what else could it do ;-) and I can't get anything out of the reflection, I'm sorry.

I think you've done good jobs by taking this pictures; together, they work very well and are interesting to look at. it just lacks the final touch which would make them classics.

erh... I was as critical as I could. if I didn't get the point of the pics, I do apologize.

Late I am but oki .. ;)

I just wanted to say that I like the first one best. I like that the head is gone, for me it makes me think of how personality (as shown in faces, expressions) are wiped out when women becomes merely objects. And taking in a commercial setting, for me it stress the symbolic value in the image.

Hence I like the #1 best.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to offer your opinions and critiques.
The reason why I asked that the three images be considered together--not as a triptych but as a series--is that there is a unified theme in the three. Other than the fact that these are photographs of store fronts they make a statement. Like Otaku wrote, store windows reflect certain aspects of society and that is what I tried to capture here. Those images capture what I construe as a promise made in order to sell a product and make profit. Those images are saying to women, that by buying and wearing those clothes you are instantly transformed into a beautiful, attractive and desirable woman. Innocence is not the message here but temptation, and the desire to be attractive and desired. There is also a certain implicit understanding that for this to happen, women need to be wearing those clothes and therefore buy them. There is also a certain depiction of what is a beautiful and desirable woman should look like, skinny, perfectly shaped and dressed or underdressed with an unmistakable attitude and sex-appeal. A very large number of women and men fall victims to such a message and pursue the promise with relentless hope of fulfillment of an ephemeral dream loosing all common sense and responding mindlessly to a hollow promise which is only a reflection of psychological manipulation for the purpose of only selling a product to make profit.