Stills

this looks like an area the children would love to play in, anything from handball to acting.
The open and bright upper area takes this picture away from the dark solemn place this alcove could look like.
 

I find this picture quite difficult visually. I like the bicycle in the corner very much, then there is an eye puzzle in the foreground, this side of the concrete area of the property where the darker strip can either be vertical or a flat extension, it just keeps changing as I look at it: in the vertical position it looks like a step up.

Then I find the angles and framing that gives the light space in the top half of the picture slightly awkward. I'm just wondering whether the rule of thirds is not working for once!

This is not a cozy space.
 

Huh, you've found William Eggelston's bike in Tokyo ;-)
 

I am having trouble keeping my balance with the different planes; left side, roof top, drive way (?). Parrallex delux. Without the bike to provide a context, I would see this as a very abstract work. Just not working for me.
 

This uninviting space could use a potted plant. ;-) Despite the bike, it doesn't seem anyone is residing there. Sort of the opposite of Doug's suburban spaces.

The angles are a bit disconcerting, but I am drawn into the space and find some balance through the bike and the dark wall and door and their texture. I like the overall design created by the tones, but wonder if I might prefer less of the white wall area and more of the foreground texture.

As Doug said, it is an abstract without the bike, but I think that is something that makes it more interesting to me.

I'm suddenly wondering what color that door and wall are.
 

This would be very difficult to interpret without the bike - as various people have said: abstract and with a disorientating foreground. However, with the bike it is perfect.

I can't even criticise the out of focus foreground (one of my usual comments) because here it seems to be a natural boundary to the photo.
 

Matt: This was my only conscious effort at a William Eggelston Tokyo bike. It had been hanging around for a few weeks but as soon as I showed some interest in it went. As much as I could have moved it to a better position I like to shoot my scenes as I find them rather than create something that wasn't.

As much as I wanted it to be a plant I had to make do with the bicycle. The front door to the house is off to the left hand side and the gap up front could hold a car sideways. This is a 'smart' part of town and this house was a little smarter than its neighbours. I was drawn by all the blocks and lines that the rolleicord would love to distort and without the bicycle I agree with Colin that it would not work and I would not have stopped.
 

It's the skewifiness that I find so interesting as it makes me question my approach to this type of subject. I'm very rectilinear, if it's on an angle it's a diagonal.

The bike at the apex does dominate the 'space' despite its size in the image.
 

I ran across an Eggelstonian bike on my walk last night; it's surprising how hard it is to make a picture out of such a thing.