[kenchi1983]

If some of you remembered, i uploaded my portrait photos here in this site somewhile ago, and i got some very good responses. So im going to do the same for this assignment.

Which alleyway is your favorite? #1 to #6.

 

[kenchi1983]

 

[kenchi1983]

Im from San Francisco, so these images are captured in downtown and Chinatown.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Call me weird, but I like #1. Maybe it's the fact that one side of the street is loaded with cars, and the other is empty yet has a bunch of those metal poles sticking up to break-up the long diagnal line, but it grabs my focus more than the rest.

#2 I find blown out and too light.

#3 is distracting since there is a car in the middle of the street.

#4 is nice, but with people in the middle.

#5 is nice but not as symetrical and seems out of balance to me.

#6 is nice with its slightly off vertical shot, but the guy isn't as distracting as in the other photos.


Great job again by the way Kenchi!!! Keep up the good work!!!

 

[kenchi1983]

other people that seen it said it be better if there are more people in it. personal preference i guess.

#6...that person is a she. hahhaah, a few have said its a man.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

True, all photos really come down to personal preference, which is why you, the photographer, need to take lots of shots wit hdifferent elements in them. Which is what you did in these shots. Some involve people, others cars, others nothing but the alleyway, etc.

All around nice job on the shots!!!

 

[wallijonn]

very nice stuff. your eye has improved. (are you consciously looking at the 1/3 lines on your view finder, or did you get a different viewfinder with 1/3 lines?)

reminds me of a certain photographer who specialises in door ways.

how long do you wait for lighting? have you ever tried night time alley ways? how long do you spend on composition?

my favourite is the industrial complex one - that door at the end of the alley makes the whole picture. unfortunately that open car door seems to ruin the composition - it detracts the eye, as does the trash on the left side, and especially the car that is blocking the door, and the men pushing the container. the one with the car coming towards you would have been great had it been the only car on the road. if you use a spot meter - had you exposed for the tree and burned for the shadows in the darkroom, it may give life to the tree. as it is it seems to be lifeless. perhaps on a windy day it may convey life. all the poles are a great touch! it gives 3d perspective to all the pictures (as does the barbed wire).


i would have loved to see an old chinese man bringing out the garbage, perhaps just as he opened the door.

you may also want to use a 1/4 filter so that it gives you a long enough exposure to have the people blurr. add a flash unit to capture motion - and you just may surprise yourself. and if you can rig a flash unit with a strobe sensor, it should go off at the same time as your main unit - giving you some great effects.

too bad there was no steam rising from manhole covers. or birds flying into the air after you clapped your hands. and a single rose on the floor of the alley (perhaps hand painted in oils)... you get the idea.

on the first picture i see shadows in the foreground. why? the black pole is lost in the background. and the flag is obscured. a windy day may have helped here. not much you can do with the black pole, except maybe wrap a red / silver / red ribbon around it. try adding "props" or re-arranging them to give a more pleasing picture. and i would have liked to see a bicyclist coming down the road with the poles on the right, or an airplane, moon, bird in the empty sky, even a fluffy cloud, perhaps. a child chasing after a bouncing ball...

why no rain pictures?

keep up the good work!!! and i definitely want to see more.

 

[DarkWolf]

Well, I guess I like number 5 the best. I like the tree. I wish it were a little more lively, but I like it. It seems out of place, but in a good way. I guess I'm not much for cities, I much prefer the country, or better yet, the woods. Most of the others each have something or another that I find distracting. An open door, too many cars, too closed in or two open, but I like #5. #4 is good too. Keep up the good work. I did a photography class last year, and I know it can be hard do some of the assighnments. How can someone assighn art? I guess my teacher was pretty up tight too.. We had to do a city theme, which is hard, becuase we aren't in a city here, so I just went through town with grandma and her drive through quickly while I unloaded a roll of film drive by style. I was happy with a few of the shots, but the teacher wasn't. She always had some reason why our favorite shot was bad, and then tried to talk us into liking her favorite better.. I was never happy doing black and white either, I always wanted color to capture what I saw in a scene. Good luck to you, you have a good eye.

 

[wallijonn]

#5 -

the man emptying the trash can through the open door: imagine you having a flash coming from that alley or door way. wow. as it is he is slightly (?) blurred. a flash would have helped out.

have you thought of multiple exposures? then you could have gotten the people walking up at different stages. as it is they blend in too much into the background (#1). if you could have had a fish head hanging out of the trash can (in #1) it would've been perfect.

the girl in #3 should have had a light jacket on.

#6 - if you used a long exposure you could have gotten the car to blurr around you and past the stop sign

#6 - the jeep parked on the right detracts from the composition. it should have been white. start looking for starking contrasts in your compositions.

come on, we want more

 

[kenchi1983]

Wallijohn, you are one super observant man. hahahhah. and some your comments are downright silly.

yeah, maybe if i wrap a large red ribbon onto the poles, it might make a good special present.

the slr im using right now dont have the 1/3 lines. its a Minolta srt201.

the time i spent on composing the images, actually its an instant thing. if i see a alley street i like, i will preview it on the viewfinder. if it looks interesting, i might snap the shutter. each of the shots took maybe 5-10 mins total.

One of my goals during the shoot is not to have so many things going on when the image is taken. so this is one reason why the images have that distant look.

for the last image, i did wait for someone coming out before snapping. hehehehe, the woman even turn her head back just to see what i was trying to photograph. hahahhha... she didnt know shes included in the pic.

The second print (the lighter industrial one), looks like a drug dealers car.

I also spent the most time on this print, because of all the white walls and white sky. My teacher even said, this image kind of balances the whole set. If you were to remove it....the presentation will look abit overly drab.

 

[wallijonn]

kenchi,

if you look at the first picture - and think commercial photography - you can basically put any product in the middle of the street and be able to sell it.

a raggedy ann doll in the foreground would be nice, while a white outline of a body would be gruesome. (there's an artist in new york city that outlines people's bodies on the streets & sidewalks. I wonder why he never outlined people against buildings (because it's private property?))

the second picture seems to have been dodged - the top of the building on the left side is darker than the bottom - when it should normally be the opposite (see the shadow on the tower on the right).

here in Arizona, there are people who will perch for hours waiting for the right moment to take one picture (especially if there is a thunderstorm in the area. they wait for the light going through the clouds, or rainbows, lightning, etc.).

me, i only take pictures between 10 am and 2 pm. and there had better be fluffy clouds. and i have to make sure that i don't overuse the polarizer filter.

i still miss my minolta srt201 and the f.7 lens. i gave up my photo hobby. i graduated to mamiya c330f, c220, m645... then when i moved to nyc, i lost all interest. but i still take a mean picture when people ask me to take their picture. they think all they are getting are snapshots, but i make them move to the best place for excellent composition, wait for traffic in the background to move, expose for the foreground (bracket) when shooting against or directly into the sun, etc. i know my pictures are hanging in people's houses right now, usually about 16x20s. i prefer poster sizes

i remember taking a picture of a japanese grandfather and grandson while we were standing in a river. the guy must have thought that i was crazy when i went into contortions to make sure that the background didn't detract from the picture. i'm sure that it is hanging in his den, it was that good. he should be proud of it. (it comes from my taking protrait and wedding pictures).

where were these pictures taken, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston? (nyc has taller buildings - creating canyons).

 

[kenchi1983]

wallijohn,

you are interesting me about the work you do. no wonder you have so much to add in your comments, hehehheeh. do you by any chance have your works online?

yep, the second image have been burnt badly. dodging and burning is still one thing im not good at.

I forgot to mention, this set is taken in San Francisco.

Maybe i can rename the work:

Two Alleyways in San Francisco. (but that sounds too commercial, like some postcard sold on the streets)

Are you famous? can i find your name on the net?

The camera im using is borrowed from a teacher, i will have to return it next year. So im in need of a good slr, so what would you recommend for a user that likes the srt201? Im thinking of used slrs, since cost is a big factor.

I was being extremely stingy when doing printing too, ive only used a box of 100 sheets for the four projects ive done.

 

[wallijonn]

this is what i want: http://www.mcp.com.au/fuji/gw670.htm or this: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/shinsaku/hiur.../makina-e.html

me, my favourite camera was the Olympus OM1 with a 105mm and a 1/3 grid viewfinder (they're interchangeable). and maybe a 17mm. i would trade in or get rid of the 50mm, unless i can exchange it for a 55mm f1.2 (or .9) The T4 is going for $1200, but you can find a good OM1 for under $200.

no, I'm not famous. it's just that i know a dozen or so people who have put my work in their living rooms. and I always sign my photographs

i used to do all my own darkroom work - from b/w, colour and slides. many, many years ago. now i just buy a $10 plastic camera or i use my Yashica MG-1 rangefinder (which I bought for $10). there's nothing like strips (contact sheets) and a lobe (along with a good marker) to compose before printing.

i think it's time i started looking in ebay for an OM1 & 105mm

 

[gerG]

I like #1 because it gives me a sense of motion. It still has a barrier blocking it, which somehow bothers me. What the hell does that mean?

Anyway, nice shots.


gerG

 

[raymondlin]

Sorry, but I find that a bit dull for me, there doesn't seem to be a focal point in the photographs. Your eyes tends to wonder around the photo and not really looking for anything. Have you tried to take it in portrait mode? and use the rule of a third to frame the "subject".