4TheRcrd Mag.

Starting with this post, I am now going to be doing a “Best photos of the week” column every Tuesday. I will be picking out some of the best photos of the week from the 4thercrd.com Flickr photo group - http://www.flickr.com/groups/4thercrd/ So if you want your photos to end up here on an occasional Tuesday post - go head and join our Flickr group.

I look through the streams often and make sure I don’t miss any mind-blowing photos. This week I was really impressed by:

Although Christmas is over and so are these lights, I really liked t-dot-s-dot’s taken on the Christmas Lights on the roof of the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver. I especially like how the background is almost entirely dark thus the viewer’s eye is directly concentrated on the Christmas lights, being fully appreciated by passing Vancouverites. http://www.flickr.com/photos/runforcover/

Simon Clake always does a great job at photographing the environment at English bay and the sea wall. I really like all of his photos of wild trees with blown out branches and the birds that keep them company. I particularly liked this photo because it has such a melancholic and sincere vibe about it - the bird, for me, represents a creature that is dreaming and looking at the world with a sense of hope, maybe even loneliness. I guess for each, it’s a different cup of tea. http://www.flickr.com/photos/spclarke/

An excellent photos by John Goldsmith of the some of the participants in the Polar Bear Swim 2008 at English Bay. His stream included a new photographic style that captured subjects in all their glory amidst a dark background - making the tone of the photos very dramatic, almost like subjects were coming out of a storm. I am not sure if he used flash, Photoshop editing or natural lighting, but the photos are great. I like this one because it has a lot going on, and is very dazzling, maybe something out of a scene from a Cirque Du Soleil show. http://www.flickr.com/photos/waxypoetic/

Teresa’s photo called “Seating for two” is good enough to be printed in a philosophy book. The photo really makes you think, and is open to any interpretation. I really like the small white dots on the branches - I’m not sure if it’s the dirt in the puddle, but they look like snowflakes. The photo is abstract and magical, something out of the natural human perception. That’s usually how I like it! http://www.flickr.com/photos/7340694@N02/