So much like an oil painting, I love it! I watched a documentary which exposed the treatment of those in the East who work for Apple's suppliers, and the refusal of the American company to admit to the abuses and deal with the problems.

A kind of canvas!

At least they apparently share the cooking responsibilities - those are big pots, and the primary reality here. Super image.

Superb capture and post work my friend. God bless.

Cartier-Bresson did shots of China which remind me of this. But his don't interpret the inner life like this. (Here's one of several famous examples, if you don't already know them: http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/henricartierbresson/assets/photos/000/000/024/24_lg.jpg) Life right outside the home....Man, your postwork is terrific. Again, those heavy dark sections, which are more than shadow or accent: They're life, they're hidden intense life. They have real mystery and presence. And your lit section, left-to-center, is almost rendered flat---reminds me of Matisse---which makes the closeness, here, come right up against our eyeballs. The pots are done in an almost mystical glow. The lines of the table and the wall behind it define/articulate the whole space. And the deep dark on the right---with bits of light peeking through---show the deep PRIVACY of these living spaces. It's marvelous, with douses of paint, very oil-like, turning an intimate street-scene into a painting. As in so many of your crowded urban scenes, this captures the mystery and utter privacy of these many repeated dwellings. You are a poet of every place you visit, Nikolay: You should be paid to do the photo-diary of the world. Even the little lights on the bottom-right are marvelous. (Your signature-block in dark red is marvelous.) Everytime I come here, I'm reminded that, when here, we're not looking at someone's art: We're walking with a master. Terrific.

Well, Mark said just about everything I was thinking. Your black and white photographs have been memorable. There comparison to Cartier-Bresson is justified. With this new direction, you have taken your art from memorable to masterwork.

Too high an esteem, Mark. Thank you anyway!))

Excellent postwork on it !

How the other half have to live. x

Nice work. Aloha

Mark ALWAYS says what everyone else was thinking, even if they didn't know it. So all that's left is for me to say "me too" and again I'm so in awe of your style...gorgeous work!

Is a real masterpiece!

Great suggestive image !!!!

such a beauty in this simply kitchen view.. I can't Image how they can live in so small places.. how lucky we are in europ! perfect composition of picture post work fit just great 👌

Me too! Me too! :) I came too late to say anything original that hasn't already been said. You are too modest, my friend. Don't you know how good your work is? In the mass of internet-published art these days, your images rise to the top like cream. Your body of work is every bit as impressive as that of "the greats."

The selection of hues really complement each other and create an interesting contrast to the metal textures and draws your eyes immediately to the pots, even one with reflections of the moss-green ... I love the choice of moss-green against the turquoise (steam arising from the pot maybe ?) another fine image, Nikolay ... BB Such a great pity and waste of resources, to see some of those vacant big city high-risers - most abandoned by now - when space here is paramount, makes you wonder, why bother building another high-rise empire elsewhere, instead leaving the others behind and unused ?

There is so much that can be said, and has already been said, about this image, and I'm adding my little bit. This reminds me of so many of the paintings I've fallen in love with, and it reminds me of the dreams I've sometimes had as well. Most importantly, for me, at least, it reminds me of the stories I enjoy reading and writing, but especially the ones I enjoy reading: there are so many writers who capture something similar to this: Orhan Pamuk is one of them, Aleksandar Hemon is another. Ursula K. LeGuin, Toni Morrison, and Michael Ondaatje rank among them as well. With each of those writers, and others, there is this very strong sense of emotion and of being that is usually conveyed through a physical description...usually of a place, but sometimes of a single object, a green pitcher for example, or a cup or a broken flower pot or an abandoned shoe. When these descriptions are offered, they give a glimpse of an entire culture, and through that entire culture, you are suddenly thrown into the very life of an unseen character: the person who lost the shoe, the owner of the broken flower pot, and so you get these objects that begin to take on the attributes of actual people. This image does that: I have no idea who uses this outdoor kitchen, but I can guess at the kind of life such a person might live, but you're presenting a pure image without a commentary attached to it. Your only focus is on the thing itself, and the viewer is allowed his or her own opinions. The commentaries are there, simply because these objects aren't separated from the world, but your focus is on the human element, even if there are no humans visible. This works so wonderfully on that level and it cuts through the assumptions we might have about one thing or another and it simply shows us what it is to feel something. This, among other things, is what makes this piece of work so utterly brilliant.