This picture was taken in Galway. People were celebrating in the streets in the evening and enjoying the summer. The main motif is the musician and the juggler, who is being watched by a friend. The facial expression of the seated man is very expressive in my perception and shows joie de vivre and the lightness of summer. That's why (and also because it won a photo contest) I uploaded the photo, but it was rejected.  
I would be interested to learn what criteria led to it being rejected at 1x. Thank you for your critique.

Camera : Canon EOS 6D

Lens : EF24-105mm f/4 II USM

focal length: 90mm

aperture: f/4

shutter speed: 1/100

ISO: 160

processing tool: Photoshop

Hello, Urs

Welcome to our forum. Thank you for sharing your image with us. First let me please remind you that we critiques do not have a say about the curation process. the curation process has been explained in the FAQ and applies equally to every and each image. We just look into the images to help you improve it via our experiences in photography and on 1x. There are different criteria curators think about the process. Your image is quite fine if you would ask me personally. It won a photo contest which I think had a suiting theme for it I suppose. 1X contests are different from the images sent to curation for being published and awarded. The shutter speed you used caused a well understandable motion in the image. In action or performance images I personally like to see this in the image and here I would probably even like to have had it even more. However, curators might have thought differently. Colors and contrast look fine. It is well decided to have send it to curation in color as it reflects the festive environment better and gives some clues  about the background. This angle shows a good composition but maybe curators would have been more interested in only the juggler with a more subject focused composition. Then there is a chance that those curators active during the voting might have seen similar images with a similar theme a couple of times and might have not found it original and thus might have rejected it. As the framing is a bit tight around the focused area I find it difficult to suggest you another composition. Maybe selecting the blurry background and blurring it a bit more and slightly decreasing the contrast and desaturating it just a little might bring the focused part more into attention. That's all I might suggest. I wish you good light. Cicek...

Thank you for the detailed comment, Cikek. I really appreciate that you engaged with my photo. I know that the curation process is always subjective and that there are several options in the design. It was important to me to show the context of the three people.
I uploaded photos that I understood why they were rejected. A street party is not an arranged scene, but a random snapshot that you like or don't like. Since the jury of the contest liked it, I hoped it would also be liked in the curation process. Best regards, Urs

Hi Urs,

I like your street photo very, very much. The atmosphere is authentic and you immediately feel like immersing yourself in the scene.

The fact that even good pictures are rejected happens again and again - you shouldn't let this discourage you. My tip: improve your photo a little and post it again (with comment "Rework") - it works for me and it will work for you too.

For example, I removed the power lines and increased the sharpness of the 3 main characters (the power lines already distracted a lot from the subject).

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you - the picture must and will make it!

Greetings

Udo

Thank you very much for your kind comment and encouragement, Udo.

I have to admit that I didn't even notice the power line, but of course I'll be happy to try again with your tips. Best regards, Urs

Hello Urs,

I like your street scene, but I find the background a bit restless. That's why I let it ‘recede into the background’ a little by taking away its colour. I emphasised the 3 musicians a little more.

Thank you very much, Ute, that's another good idea that I could try out. Best regards, Urs