Thank you all sooo much for the kind words and thoughtful feedback. Your encouragement motivates me to keep learning, shooting, and make the most out of my camera phone
I forgot to vote this one and only realized it about 5 minutes before roll-over. I had time to do nothing but open the thumbnail page. I must say that this one absolutely jumped out at me, and I said to myself, "That would have been one of my high scores first time through and I'd probably have bumped it!" Congratulations on the ribbon.
Congratulations! Your image is a super incredible portrait, the warmth in the eyes and the slight smile has a kind story. Your choice of B/W is perfect for this image. 10
First-class portraiture for my taste. I find the slight rotation to be the chef's kiss, too. It violates the convention just enough to invite a lingering gaze to find the other details in this frame.