I love that the background is bathed in red which makes the two individuals stand out so clearly in contrast.  This picture is more a depiction of time rather than the thing itself.  From the original caption the viewer knows that the man on the right is the focus of the photograph, however when it stands alone that is not as apparent and the more striking part of the photo is that the two individuals are in the middle of a performance.  One that was occurring before the photo was taken and one that continued after the photograph was shot.  Both men have facial experssions that show there is continuity in the photo that it is not stagnent but had a beginning and will have an end.

This photo really captures both elements of time and of the thing itself.  Not only is the baseball player(Oswalt) being caught in the middle of his windup, a position you as the viewer know he can't stay in, but he his also the sole focus of the photograph, he his clear and detailed while the background is our of focus.  Oswalt also fills the whole picture with his body taking up most of the three center blocks in the grid.  The begins with his lead foot, follows the line of his leg up his torso to the concentration on his face, and finishes with the ball in his hand where the viewer is left in anticipation for Oswalt to finish his motion. 

The use of vantage point is fully in use in this picture of the ostrich.  Not only is the photographer taking a photo from a very close position to the ostrich but it it also taken from underneath.  This serves to make the ostrich's mouth all that more imposing and takes advantage of capturing the beauty of the sky as well as the heads of all the other ostriches in the background.  The photograph feels balanced between the bottome left and top right corners and between the top right and bottom right corners, between ostriches and clouds.  You can see so much detail in the in the ostrich's mouth and the hair on it's face that protrudes out from behind the mouth.  This is where the detail ends however and the rest of the photo is dominated by all that surrounds the ostrich's head.

The Thing Itself
In this photograph the young lion is captured in a vulnerable state, in its element, sleeping, being exactly what it is... a lion.  The light falling on the lion leaves shadows on the face and the front of the rock making a nice color contrast between where the sunlight hits the lion and the rock directly.  The background it fuzzy demonstrating that in this photograph the only thing that is important to view is the thing itself, the lion sleeping on the rock.  The eye follows her front up to her face and then takes in the rest of her sleeping body.  She looks so peaceful and gentle in this photo.  It makes me want to pet her and bring her home with me.

In this photo I love how the blue of the car draws me to other blues in the photo, like the blue in the woman's shirt in the doorway, the blue of the building farther back, the blue of the hanging laundry.  I'm not sure if the car is the focus of the picture but the reaction time of the camera was not set fast enough to completely stop motion hence the car is blurry implying movement.  I like that the photo has a nature vanishing point that the eye follows down the street and that you can just make out some of the things happening in the distance.  It's strange that the car in the bottom right hand corner of the photo was included, and I wonder if it was a necessity in order to get the rest of the shot.  I think the line of parked cars does make a nice frame to the right side of the photo.

This picture is beautiful and I just want to stare at it.  I like that there are three main colors that dominate the photo of white, blue, and grey.  The line of the pathway draws your eye out to the little white chapel were you eyes then follow the draw of the white color into the clounds. The chapel sets in the center placement of the grid and the horizon is nicely placed as well, not too high or low but easily at eye level drawing focus across the picture to offset the etreme desire to follow the stone path into the depths of the picture.

When I first saw this photo I did not really like all the yellow, I felt like it was too harsh for the eye.  However it uses grid lines nicely and the photo seems to begin in the bottom right corner where the eye is initially drawn to.  It is difficult for me to understand the meaning that is trying to be captured in this photograph.  To me it is something unique and organized sprouting from chaos, which is a beautiful thought however I don't know if this is meant to be the interpretation.

This photograph draws me in because of the intense color in the center and the lack of color around the edges.  Even though there is not a lot of interest in the bottom right hand corner where the eye is first drawn I feel like that is intentional because it slowly prepares the eye for the intensity of the color.  Being drawn next to the dripping paint before taking in the full splotches of color is pleasing to the viewer.  The use of primary colors is also interesting, I don't know if these colors are necessarily aesthetically pleasing however they are common colors that everyone is used to which may have some sort of cognitive appeal.