The frailty of the human psyche can lead to madness and desolation.
Is it this frailty, or that of individual aspiration that is
mocked by the castle of cards?  From the text, "beauty can be found
in the most unlikely places." we can infer that the artist meant to the
scene to be sentimental or poignant.  That the castle of cards 
represents the beauty hidden within the overlooked soul.  I applaud the 
attempt here  to explore the topic beyond merely presenting a piece of 
architecture.

-Jim

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This image has a complexity of meaning,  strong atmosphere,
and level of detail that led me to spend a lot of time thinking about
the work. While by it's nature it's not as boldly beautiful as some of
the images this round, it certainly communicates a strong message.

The textures or lighting (or both?) give the image a soft, flat look.
I realize night scenes are very difficult to light, and are often
criticized for being too dark, but I think more contrast would have
given the image more drama. Still, very well done.

One of the meanings I take from this image is that talent and
ability are not always enough. Perhaps this person could have
accomplished much more than a transitory construction of
cards had he applied himself? At the same time it contains the
dual message that art and creation, for the artist, is all that is
needed.

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Jim Charter <jrc### [at] aolcom> wrote in message
news:3ed78cf1@news.povray.org...
> The frailty of the human psyche can lead to madness and desolation.
> Is it this frailty, or that of individual aspiration that is
> mocked by the castle of cards?  From the text, "beauty can be found
> in the most unlikely places." we can infer that the artist meant to the
> scene to be sentimental or poignant.  That the castle of cards
> represents the beauty hidden within the overlooked soul.  I applaud the
> attempt here  to explore the topic beyond merely presenting a piece of
> architecture.
>
> -Jim

This one definitely expanded on the concept well, and got well away from the
straight buildings that seemed to predominate.

I found the scoring in this round quite interesting in the number of entries
with wide extremes between artistic, technical & concept.  In every round
there are a few with one category standing out from the other two, but this
round there seemed to be a lot, both high and low.
Usually the wider spreads fall toward the lower end of the overall scoring,
but in this round 7 of the top 20 have a spread over 1 1/2 points, and 2,
including the winner, have a spread over 2 points.

RG

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"Jim Charter" <jrc### [at] aolcom> wrote in message
news:3ed78cf1@news.povray.org...

I like the stated concept for this image, but unfortunately the picture
itself did not convey that concept to me. I do not associate the man's
homelessness with being cast out from society because "society" is not
present in the picture for contrast. If I were making this picture, I
would attempt to suggest that the old man's house of cards is a
replacement for his place in home owning society. In order to show this
connection, I would place the old man further from the brick
architecture and change the camera position so that the old man's house
of cards would appear to be the same size as the brick houses, thereby
stressing the comparison. Your existing scene could be improved by
adding a very clean, visible, warm interior to the brick houses.
Everything looks so dingy and dark now that the old man appears to be
perfectly at home besides the brick houses, rather than cast out from
them.

 -Shay

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Shay wrote:
>"Jim Charter" <jrc### [at] aolcom> wrote in message
>news:3ed78cf1[at]news.povray.org...
>
>I like the stated concept for this image, but unfortunately the picture
>itself did not convey that concept to me. I do not associate the man's
>homelessness with being cast out from society because "society" is not
>present in the picture for contrast. If I were making this picture, I
>would attempt to suggest that the old man's house of cards is a
>replacement for his place in home owning society. In order to show this
>connection, I would place the old man further from the brick
>architecture and change the camera position so that the old man's house
>of cards would appear to be the same size as the brick houses, thereby
>stressing the comparison. Your existing scene could be improved by
>adding a very clean, visible, warm interior to the brick houses.
>Everything looks so dingy and dark now that the old man appears to be
>perfectly at home besides the brick houses, rather than cast out from
>them.
>
> -Shay
>
This is kind of awkward for me, but I intended for the buildings to
represent "society" - they may be ugly and monotonous on the outside, but
there's definite strength and structure.  The door is open, but either the
man can't afford the rent or he prefers the unsanitized "outside" world -
or perhaps both.  Originally, I planned to put the trash in the back along
the fence, move the door closer to the camera and make a soft, comfortable
interior to the buildings.  I even thought about putting a well dressed
child inside looking out at the man.  But I didn't think I could do it well
enough, so I decided to move the door to a less prominent location and
block the window with a card from a "fancier" deck - sort of like in Monty
Python's Holy Grail where a scene is described by the narrator as being too
fantastic to be portrayed in that film.
I like the idea of using the camera location to make the cards appear the
same size as the buildings, but I was trying to portray the house of cards
as the
man's creation instead of his enviroment.  I wanted the man to come across
as sort of an eccentric artist, caring only about his creation.  He doesn't
need or want things like a fancy house or expensive car that many people
value so much.
I didn't intend for the image to be quite so dark.  I was using an LCD
display and didn't realize how different it would look on a CRT until I
uploaded it to my webpage so I could show it to some people at work.  When
I saw how dark it was, I tried to compensate by increasing the brightness
of everything, but I think it just gave it a washed out look - especially
on the LCD.
I chose the title thinking about the architecture of society and that people
like this man are often overlooked as many people seem to judge others by
thier enviroment rather than thier potential and alot of good but
non-mainstream art and music go unnoticed.  I was hoping it would evoke
questions as to who is suffering the greater loss - society for missing out
on the creation or the overlooked person for missing out on society.  I was
hesitant about entering as I thought it would be considered off topic and
too - well - strange, but a friend at work pretty much insisted that I did.
 I really appreciate all the comments and advice.  It's been really
facinating reading what other people think about it.

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"James Moore" <jtm### [at] bellsouthnet> wrote in message
news:web.3edd41c7a5ea2c1c8cda3aa00@news.povray.org...

| This is kind of awkward for me, but I intended for the buildings to
| Originally, I planned to put the trash in the back along
| the fence, move the door closer to the camera and make a soft,
| comfortable interior to the buildings.

I think that this might be necessary to convey your meaning. If the
buildings are meant to represent society, something needs to communicate
that the man does not belong there. He looks now like he might have just
walked out of any of the houses. If you wanted to get just a little
abstract, you could raise the windows above eye level to emphasize the
man's exclusion even more.

| I wanted the man to come across as sort of an eccentric artist, caring
| only about his creation.  He doesn't need or want things like a fancy
| house or expensive car that many people value so much.

This aspect was well communicated in your picture, except for the artist
part. The man's creation looks more like the product of obsession rather
than creativity.

| I chose the title thinking about the architecture of society and that
| people like this man are often overlooked as many people seem to judge
| others by thier enviroment rather than thier potential and alot of
good
| but non-mainstream art and music go unnoticed. I was hoping it would
| evoke questions as to who is suffering the greater loss - society for
| missing out on the creation or the overlooked person for missing out
| on society.

An excellent concept, but what is missing from the picture is any
display of virtuosity from the outcast. True, few people may have the
patience to build a stack of cards like this, but few people can stand
on their heads, and I don't think society is worse for not seeing
someone stand on their head. The cards do fit nicely with the subject of
architecture, however.

I don't mean to come off sounding overly critical. Two months is not a
lot of time to express such a complex concept. It looks to me like you
have created a very solid foundation on which the intricate structure
you have conceived can be built.

 -Shay

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