Great manipulation and fantastic result !

Wonderful manipulation, great feeling of memories that are not very definite !!

jolie

I love this; your graphic technique really works well here! High-key, very Japanese feeling...I wouldn't be surprised to see a very chilly geisha tripping up the street on her wooden platform shoes. Well done, Mark!

I almost doubted it was snow you had on this street, because you gave it this warm color where the white uses to be. It gives a very different feeling of a warm sunny day, but I can see the people dont at all feel warm, even though they are dressed well :-) The architecture is so beautiful. It made me think about Frank Lloyd Wright. What a beautiful result and interesting too :-)

Very nice post work!

I agree with Denise - this has a very Japanese feel to it. It's a simple, elegant, uncluttered scene that has been stripped down to it's essentials. The color palette threw me a little at first - I thought the yellow gave it a warmth that seemed inconsistent with snow (remember Frank Zappa's warning - "Don't eat the yellow snow!") - but I warmed up to the warmth. I especially love the stylized look of the people, the central tree & the reflections in the windows. I can easily imagine this as a page in a children's book or a panel in a graphic novel. Outstanding, Mark...

Very interesting and artistic treatment, Mark. The colors have a warmth and yet I know it is oh so cold.

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, Mark! I agree with Claude and Denise about the Japanese print look, which if course was what so inspired Picasso and his mates. Most enjoyable!

Nicely worked manipulation mark sounds like your having fun thats what its all about my friend lovely piece!!

Back to your old and accomplished practice of terrific high key manipulation in this panoramic image, Mark. And you included one of my favorite subject matter - barren trees - in this beauty. Lots of Japanese print in this, as some of the commenters mentioned above. A zoom really emphasizes the reflections in the windows of this structure that appears unChicago-like in design. I thought everything was brick, iron, and stone in the Windy City.

You do these high key shots so well; turning a regular street scene into something almost surreal. Very cool!!

This is amazing! I never realized that Chicago could actually share something in common with the Japanese "Floating World" with anatomically-correct human figures...and yet...you pull this out of your hat! It's a brilliant piece of work that sends my mind off in all sorts of interesting directions: some a bit more Eastern than anticipated. I love the way that everything comes together, in a way that also makes me think of an Arvo Part composition--one of those brilliant pieces of music in which silence is a key element of the piece. I get that impression here, not with silence, but with openness: breathing room, a gap! There's so much in this image and it's all implied by what's not there, and yeah, it's like brush strokes and that Japanese art thing again: where it's the brush strokes and the sheer "expressionism" of it that gives form and substance. I love this and I love that it's a winter scene, but with a warm tinge, as if it's a memory of a different winter enjoyed during some unspecified span of time. I love this!

Mark, this is a stunning image and one I am so glad that you shared with us. What strikes me most is the contrasting colors brought on by your amazing special effects. Another thing I liked was the distortion brought on by the effects, which caused this to resemble a painting more than a photo.

fantastic picture