Here’s a trick that I often find useful – find some scene that I like – then using it as a background or backdrop, wait for someone to walk into the scene. You need something photogenic to use for the backdrop… a handsome or unusual building, a path in a park during autumn, or, as in this case, a nicely-textured wall.
This kind of thing is an example of the whole being more than the sum of the parts. The building, wall, or whatever may be attractive, but by itself, will seem too static. On the other hand, a person walking by an uninteresting, distracting, or ugly background probably won’t be an image worth a second look. But combine an engaging background with passerby, and you often get something compelling.
I had driven by this wall on King George Street in Annapolis some months ago. It was early morning, and I really liked the way the directional light brought out the textures of the wall. Filing the scene away in my sieve-like memory, I resolved to return with my camera to catch some passers-by.
Finally, last Saturday morning, I packed up my camera bag, drove back down to Annapolis and walked to that spot. Stationing myself across the street for over an hour and pre-composing my shot, I snapped away in machine-gun mode as various individuals and groups happened by.
This one is my favorite out of those hundreds of images. It’s my new acquaintance, Keri, and her two fine dogs Big and Murray. Actually, Keri was walking on my side of the street, and, after explaining what I was after, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind making a pass with her dogs against this wall.
I got five shots of her walking by. I like this one the best because of the way she and Big fill the large space between the windows, while Murray, in trail, tucks in nicely under the leftmost one.
Sorry I've been AWOL here. I have lots of photos that I've taken this year (mostly already posted to my new blog) and I'll start posting them here as well.Labels: Annapolis, Big Dog, Color, Directional Light, Dogwalkier, Early Morning Light, Horizontal, Maryland, Streetscape
6 Comments:
Kash, my picks
I like #3 because you want to know want is attracting their attention
#5, because he is pondering something while the dog is looking at you
#6, because the shadow on the half profile adds character
Dan
First of all, Keshav, what are their names? :)
My comments on this series:
#1 The man's face is mostly obscured by his hat and the harsh shadow. Not much going on the background.
#2 Much better from the lower camera position. The dog looks handsome. The man's face is still partially obscured, but the effect is not as bad as #1, because overall, his pose and head position draws attention to his dog. The dog is the main subject of this shot. This shot shows the man's feeling towards his dog. The lower camera angle also shows the trees in the background which happens to balance out the dark shadow on the left.
#3 Something or someone draws both their attention to the right, but the effect is a bit disconcerting because the portrait orientation does not really support the poses of the subjects. Even so, the composition is balanced.
#4 This one has a little whimsy and humor because it looks like his dog is staring at the man's shadow, but the disparate elements are not harmonious.
#5 I like the fact that the dog is looking straight at the camera here, and the man is in an interesting, contemplative pose, but again, taken as a whole, the composition does not flow well because of the relative positions of the subjects (not a flattering pose for either subject).
#6 I like the man's facial position. You can see his whole face. Perhaps you can lighten up the shadow on his face a bit in post-processing. You can see his whole face including a bit of his forehead for the first time in this series. I would crop off some of the left side to emphasize the man and the tree behind him. The tree would emphasize the man's strong character and cropping out some of the left would balance the man's gave to the right (his left). Instead of cropping, you could have composed this differently.
#7 This should have been a vertical composition. I don't think the background warrants a horizontal (landscape) orientation. You could have moved closer too, or you could have maintained this orientation and included something else in the background, like the road or more of the environment.
My picks are: #2, #3, and #6
Thanks for posting these here, and giving us some practice with critiques.
I would be also be interested to know which were your first 3 choices before you heard from us, and why.
--Warren
Thanks Dan and Warren. I haven't picked three yet and I posted them here because I want to learn from what you guys use as parameters to judge their work.
P.S. I see what you did their Warren.
Though, I must add that I found drawn to #5 because of the awkward composition and the thoughtfulness that came through on the man's face.
Ilike #3 and #4 pictures because can see his face and emotion. Nice light on his face, excellent shot !
Lena.
I would say 1, 5, and then 6 or 7 cropped a bit to get a little closer to him.
I think that combination shows their relationship and different poses. And your title suggests the man is more the main character of the story, so having a solo portrait of him is nice.
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