Street Photography – Final Trail / Refined Statement of Intent

Refined Statement of Intent: I intend to capture natural moments in society of those who are unnoticed and present them in a “spotlight” for my audience to view.

I changed my statement of intent because after multiple attempts and trails, I have decided that capturing natural happy moments of that sets relief to stress was not realistic. Simply speaking, those moments were too hard to find. Therefore, I decided to revisit my trails and attempts which concluded in the foundation of the new statement of intent. I choose this because I found it amusing to put attention upon “normal” individuals in society that is not explicitly noticed. Doing so not only creates an interesting presentation of subjects but also surfaces the stress many people face, which from the root can lead to the relief of them (stress).

Final Set of 5:

For this set generally, I choose to use very light editing such as slight shadow fixing and saturation managing to cope with the “natural” part of my intent as I believe to capture the explicit moments of unnoticed individuals in society, everything but be kept at its most natural form (edits were still applied).

<Man of Time> (Favorite)

Critique and Rationale: This image is named “Man of Time” because the imagery of the subject checking his watch while riding his bike makes him look like the manager of time, a figure related to the concept of “time”. To capture this image, I stood by the sidewalk and waited for someone to come into this setup frame and took the photo. This image was successful in terms of composition as it perfectly frames the man in the center while background elements contribute to the imagery. To improve, I should put blurs in the background leaving the man as the only focused and clear subject to contribute and enhance the imagery of “time” as well as the intent, explicit presentation of individuals. I choose this as one of my favorites because it demonstrates an abstract impression of an untouchable concept (time) for humanity.

<Back Then> (Favorite)

Critique and Rationale: This image is named “Back Then” because the subject with his back turned around looking into the roads felt as if he was reminded of his childhood and the early stages of his life where he had no concerns and was able to roam freely. To capture this image, I waited on the side of the road (already found this shade earlier) until someone came in and took this photo. This image was successful in terms of shadow control and contrast. I used the natural shadow provided by the shade to form this dark and light contrast creating the nostalgia feeling. To improve, I should frame the subject closer or crop the image so that the object the the bottom right corner does not ruin the photo. I choose this as one of my favorites because it objects the reflection of oneself.

<Fate> (Favorite)

Critique and Rationale: This image is named “Fate” because the subject of whom is a delivery person (offered referred as “unsuccessful” by parents) resents a sad yet harsh truth of “you can’t fight your fate” (delivery people are very unlikely to rise up and grow out of their poverty). To capture this image, I turned around looking for subjects at the perfect time when this man riding his motorcycle came into the frame while a strip of light shine down at him which I took a photo of immediately”. This image was successful in terms of lighting usage and natural momentum. Specifically speaking, the moment was just right, I was able to naturally capture this light strip and imagery without any setup or planning, it all just completely naturally occurred. To improve, I can edit the contrast and saturation a bit more to create a bigger difference, making the light seem like “hope” to the delivery person and as if he was in his redemption moment. I choose this as one of my favorites because it is a high succession of my natural and individual intent as well as an extremely lucky moment.

Critique Image:

Rational and Critique: By all means I do not hate or dislike this photo. However this is chosen as “disfavored” because it contains a mistake I repeatedly made, thus I have selected it to explicitly denounce. The occurring mistake here is framing error. Specifically, the intended subject, which is the girl in the center walking away is “too small” and since the framing is way too big, she becomes barely noticeable which makes the audience lose their focus. Moreover, the foreground and background is too “messy”, containing many other elements which “distracts” the audience and make them lose focus. To fix these mistakes and prevent from making them in the future, I will ensure that I properly setup my composition before taking an image.

Extra Set of 4:

<Summer Day> (Final vs. Original)