FEBRUARY 2025: DAVID WRIGHT
PHOTOGRAPH: EYES
THE ASSIGNMENT BRIEF
From David Wright: “Particularly considering the portraiture part of my work, I'm gonna have to set eyes as a word because it's everything. That's the connection in the photograph, although obviously, this can be interpreted in a range of different ways. Perhaps the obvious way, is through a straight connection of meeting eyes through your lens by way of a portrait, but let's see what other roads are explored.”
HOW TO ENTER: IMPORTANT NOTES ON FILE SIZE AND ENTRIES
Send your entry to stories@photowalk.show. Your picture should be 2,500 pixels wide, if possible, for online optimisation. Or send the full-resolution photo, which we will optimise. Feel free to provide text as well if you think it will help explain the location, context, etc. Please don’t add borders or watermarks, and be sure to send links to your websites and socials so that we can link to your work on this assignment page. We’ll use a selection of photos you submit on our Photowalk Instagram to showcase your work to our community and help building connections.
Entries are shown below. Good luck!
Neale
DAVID WRIGHT
Finding eyes for this month’s assignment. Photo by David Wright.
ALLIN SORENSON
When I saw this assignment, I immediately thought of this photo that I took at the St. Louis Zoo. This is Donna, a delightful and friendly an Asian Elephant. I shard this photo with her trainers and it now hangs in their offices. Sadly, Donna was put down recently due to worsening health conditions. She was 52 years old.
See more of Allin’s work on Instagram.
AMANDA WOOD
A crocodile's eyes! So piercing. So menacing. And yet so beautiful - as long as they’re not focussed on you! Taken at first light on the Yellow River in Kakadu, Northern Territory, Australia
See more of Amanda’s work on Substack.
DAVID HORNE
I call this one “Beware of crossing Diesel!”. Shot in the Big Apple in May of 2023 with my Fufifilm X100V. I had given my self an assignment to see how many photos of billbords/signs I could shoot where it appeared as if the passers by were interacting with the billboard/sign. This one was my favorite. Cheers and many thanks for your podcasts and the extra miles plus the Fujicast with Kev. Great stuff, I’ve been a long time “other listener”.
See more of David’s work on his Vero profile.
CHRISTIAN MARGETTS
This photo was taken in Paris, near the Pompidou Centre. It was a dull old day so was shooting in black and white and on the hunt for contrast. I liked the whimsical element of the eyes that give a functional item its own personality hiding in plain sight while watching over us.
PAUL HENDREN
Things were kicking off in a League1 Ontario Promotion / Relegation playoff.
See more of Paul’s work on his website.
STEPHANIE DRAKE
This is my first time entering a monthly assignment. I had a long road trip this past weekend and was finally able to get caught up and find out what the monthly assignment was before the month ended for once!
When I heard the assignment was EYES, I immediately thought of this shot I took of a great horned owl a couple years ago near my home in Central Florida (Americaland). I spotted it resting on a dead tree and after shooting its portrait for a few minutes, it abruptly took flight straight in my direction. With just a fraction of a second to react, I shot off two frantic frames and was very fortunate that this one caught the eyes in focus.
See more of Stephanie’s work on Instagram.
RICHARD OLDROYD
I was out for a walk in the park, and this branch caught my eye. To me, it looks like some kind of long-necked animal with its head obviously with its eye and tongue ready to grab some food. I hope you and your other listener can see it also, as I'm trying to think so far outside the box that I can not even see the box.
MIKE MILLER
When eyes were announced as an assignment for February, I knew exactly what I wanted to image - our beautiful tuxedo cat, Xena. To add some interest to her green eyes, I did an exaggerated Dutch Tilt so that I could get her lovely pink nose and some whiskers in the image.
JADE LEE
I wanted to try something a bit more conceptual this month. Although my photo is of eyes, I wanted to use different filters to highlight the idea (or perhaps, eye dea!) of different viewpoints and lenses we all have of the world and how people view us. Hence the title, 'Eye am watching you.'
See more of Jade’s work on her website.
TED MANASA
This little Eastern screech owl (above and below) perched on my backyard fence last week in the twilight hours of the evening. Near-0° C wind blew through its feathers as it swiveled its head around searching for food. As the light waned, I shined a utility light on it through the kitchen window and photographed it through the glass. I took nearly 600 images to get the combinations of light, focus, pose, and expression I wanted. I included another photo of this owl I took prior to the sun disappearing.
PAUL FRIDAY
There is a bit of hero-worship going on here.
JOSHUA SHAEVITZ
This is a self-(eye)portrait where I attempted to capture the reflection of a physics equation in my eye. I didn't have time to set up a really dark environment or isolating flash, so this was lit only by a window and a lamp, resulting in a reflection that includes some of my office—oh well. Still, I think it turned out okay. This is one of my favorite equations in physics, the definition of entropy, which governs the physics of so many everyday things. It’s so important that Boltzmann has this inscribed on his tombstone. I realized that I should probably flip the reflection so you can read the equation. Best wishes from Princeton.
CHARLES GOLDBLUM
In the summer of 2010, between our son Aaron's sophomore and junior year of high school, our family volunteered in Ecuador.
Following our volunteer work, we traveled to Agoyán, Ecuador, nestled in the cloud forest within sight of the erupting Tungurahua Volcano. The eruption was significant, causing evacuations in nearby towns and villages. Sadly, I didn't capture any photos at the time, as I didn't own a proper camera until years later.
On our second day in the cloud forest, we embarked on a zip-line tour in the mountains near our lodge. After the exhilarating experience, we were resting atop a very steep hill. Due to the scarcity of farmland in this region of Ecuador, every patch of fertile land is cultivated. The slopes are so steep that modern machinery is unusable, and oxen are employed for plowing. While we rested, one of the women guiding the oxen approached our guide and asked him, in Spanish, if we wanted to see a bear.
It turned out to be an incredibly rare adolescent spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), a species seldom seen in Central and South America. Our guide, a man in his mid-30s, had never encountered one before. Many folks book dedicated tours of Central and South America in the hopes of spotting (and photographing) one of these rare bears in the wild.
Driven by excitement, my family, the guide, and I cautiously descended the treacherously steep hillside, navigating around barbed wire fences, to observe the bear beneath a podocarpus tree. Breathless and mindful of the potential return of the bear's mother, we managed to capture this somewhat blurry and unfocused photograph (recovered from a low-resolution JPEG) of the rare creature enjoying its late morning snack.
Charles (Extra-Miler living in Annapolis, Maryland)
MARILYN DAVIES
It's very difficult getting a cat to be still for a photograph. TC is one of our pets and I did ask him to pose but, as you know, animals often have a mind of their own. Cat's eyes are fascinating and I thought this one was a good one to chase for this month's assignment.
DAVID SHAW
Horse eye with me making a guest appearance.
GRAHAM GOODWIN
This is my contribution to this Month's assignment. It was taken during the recent Midsumma Festival in Melbourne Australia.
Midsumma is Australia's premier queer arts and cultural organisation, bringing together a diverse mix of LGBTQIA+ artists, performers, communities and audiences. The festival is held in Melbourne's summer each year.
See more of Graham’s work on Instagram.
ROB SPICER
This is my American Eskimo dog Lucy. She was playing in the snow and I took this pictureof her but it was a bit underexposed. I started to bring up the exposure and decided to go full on high key and this is the result.
HANS KRISTIAN LEREN
I found my way back to photography when my twins were born in 2017. Documenting their daily lives reignited my passion, and as they grew, my photography evolved alongside them. I started mainly photographing them but gradually explored landscapes and street photography, with the occasional portrait of the kids in between.
See more of Hans’ work on Instagram.
ROBIN CHUN
See more of Robin’s work on his website.
CHRIS SMITH
Wanted to send a picture in for the assignment as this is an old favourite that usually gets a comment when its seen. Listening to the podcast I learned from yourself the term spot colour photo and although I used the technique on this picture, but I had no idea that it had a name.
So onto the picture…
This was taken at a children's petting farm. We used to go there when my son was younger, and this monster owl was used to educate people about him and his smaller relatives. He was an eagle owl and always seemed to stare like he was weighing you up, but I was never sure if this was to eat me, something less sinister.
See more of Chris’ work on his website.
