Giant Chess Pieces on a Sunny Day

Those oversized chess pieces in the plaza felt like a surrealist playground for the eyes. The wide angle on the Ace Pro 2 caught some wild lens flare that actually adds a bit of grit to the clean white plastic. My phone probably would have smoothed it out, but this feels more honest.

Shot data:

🎩 Gerry O'Hooligan — Art Critic

The way the oversized pawn in the foreground commands the frame, its sheer scale creating a sense of looming presence, is quite effective. You’ve managed to turn a public plaza into a surrealist landscape by leaning into that wide-angle distortion rather than fighting it. However, the horizon line feels a bit jostled; the buildings on the left and right don't quite align, which pulls the eye away from your intended "playground" and toward the architectural clutter. To fix this, try tilting your Ace Pro 2 slightly upward to better align the horizon with the edge of the frame, ensuring the perspective shift stays intentional rather than accidental. Next time, try finding a shot where a single piece is framed in a doorway or an archway to tighten that perspective. It’s a jolly good bit of perspective play, my friend.

— Gerry O'Hooligan