Glorious Wednesday greetings to all you fine collector people. August in New York has been unseasonably fantastic. It was verging on brisk yesterday evening, which made the after dinner ice cream that 20x200 superstar Kent Rogowski and I were enjoying seem almost impractical. (But really, is ice cream ever impractical? No.)

The daylight hours of this week have been warm but dry, perfectly clement conditions for poolside lounging. It's enough to make a girl wish that she had a lovely Chateau to repair to! Alas and alack, I think I used up all my poolside lounging hours back in July. (And in high style, I might add.) Today's edition from the talented and absolutely delightful-to-hang-around-with Gregory Krum takes me back to all that.

We've had Chateau in the queue for quite a while, and the capable Ms. Wendell's computer has been beaming its aquamarine goodness throughout the office since we selected it. As you can imagine, we churn through a lot of imagery during any given day, so the fact that its still there is a testament to its excellence. An image of a pool is sure to have surface appeal, but what has held our interest in this particular blue lagoon is Gregory's amazing, and often subtle, knack for composition in a square frame.

I still consider myself pretty new to photography, and so the question of defining the often ineffable qualities of what make a picture good are always at the forefront of my mind. (Perhaps it always will be? I hope it always is and that photography always feels new!) Never is this question more present than when we're reviewing entries for Hey, Hot Shot! which is how I came to make the acquaintance of Mr. Krum's work.

When we converge as a panel to review work, we look at the images on screen. An entrant has three images with which to distinguish themselves, and making a room full of image-saturated experts pause is quite a challenge. One might think that subtlety has no place in such an environment, but it was exactly the thing that made all us panelists pause when Gregory's work came on the screen. "What is it?", we asked, while looking at an undistinguished umbrella perched atop a cyclone fence from his series SHEK O. It's something, for sure, but I still can't tell you what exactly. Somehow though, there's a knack that he has for composing an image that brings me in immediately and subsequently taking to me all four corners of the frame. And it never gets old.

So, go ahead and dive in, why don't you? (If you haven't yet already, get to it. Everyone's sure to be into the pool by now.)

For those of you still reading, I'll be back earlier than usual next week. We've got a special bonus edition to announce on Monday, from one of our newest Hot Shots. Which reminds me: you've only got until this Saturday, August 23rd to have a look at their exhibition at the gallery. After that we're closed up for a little bit of Summer vacationing and won't return until September 12th, when Carrie Marill makes her NYC solo debut.