The Best Seat in the House

Round 4
Image 4 - "Premium Seating" : 2.90
A stock photograph in a knitted sweater: the smile is aimed straight down the lens, the wine is raised for the camera rather than drunk, and the cat sits in her lap like a prop handed over a second before the shutter. Nothing in the frame belongs to the woman inside it, so the seat never becomes hers, only a set dressed to look like comfort.

Image 3 - "Not a Bad Place to Sit" : 3.25
The composition has real nerve, a throne of orange and red planted dead centre against a teal wall, flanked by plants and framed pictures like a shrine to the act of sitting down. What it lacks is an occupant: the man holds the pose of a man being photographed, hands placed, shoes together, face saying nothing, so a beautifully built chair advertisement ends up with a person left in it by accident.

Image 2 - "The best place is mine" : 3.45
The only entry that thought to ask who the best seat belongs to, and it answers in the voice of the cat: the humans are exiled to the far sofa in soft focus while the fluffy landlord takes the foreground cushion and the lens. The joke deserves warmer treatment than this showroom light, because every surface is beige and evenly lit like an estate agent's brochure, and a gag about ownership needs a room that looks lived in before it can be stolen.

Image 1 - "Best Seat in the Best Place" : 3.65
The chair here is not furniture but a burrow, and the picture knows it: she has been swallowed by cushions up to the ears, blanket over the knees, mug held in both hands, while low sun through the bay window turns the whole room the colour of honey. Best of the round because it makes you feel the temperature, the drowsy weight of the afternoon and the green valley outside that she is quietly ignoring. It never reaches past comfort for an idea, which is what keeps it well short of the top band, but comfort was the brief and nobody else delivered it with this much light. My winner.