1. Candid Emotions

The photographs can aim to shoot at people’s faces and actions and also capture genuine emotions and interactions between people in public spaces. This could help me to tell a story through the emotional expressions of the subjects that I want to focus on.

2. The rituals of the Hutong life. (Everyday life)

The photos could also focus on documenting the daily routines and rituals of Hutong life. This can include activities such as commuting, shopping, eating, or exercising in public spaces. This concept helps me to pay attention to the habitual actions of people, showcasing both the mundane and the unique aspects of daily life.

3. Cultural Diversity

Highlighting the rich tapestry of cultures present in the Hutong also could be a good concept this time. Hutong is a representative of the Chinese culture so it can clearly express the theme of China life. Which aims to tell a story of inclusivity and the cultural expressions within the Hutong.

This time I will choose the second concept as my theme concept, which will be “Chinese people’s daily life” in Hutong. The concept is very easy to present and the shooting content is very broad.

Full Contact Sheet:

These pages of photos are all the photos I took on the Hutong trip.

Yellow Contact Sheet:

These are the photos I selected for the yellow contact sheet. Most of them show my basic vision of this trip. Simultaneously, all the pictures’ quality is clear, and some main subjects are suitable and good enough to become a photography work.

Green Contact Sheet:

These photos from my green contact sheet can represent my idea deeply and completely. These photos have the main subjects (people) in them and also include a background that can vividly show people’s daily lives. Otherwise, these pictures are more colorful than the others, the colors in the environment also could show the theme and idea stronger and give the audience richer visual effects.

Red Contact Sheet:

These four pictures are the photographs I chose as my final work. After adjusting the composition and hue, the photos became more colorful and textured, which are more related to the artist I had chosen. We can look through the detailed pictures to find multiple kinds of emotions in people’s daily lives: how their faces reacted, how their movements reacted… People reacted in different ways, and all these parts can infer everybody’s different lifestyles, this is what I want to capture and show to my audience.

My favorite one from this set is that girl standing there and smiling. This picture fits the rule of thirds just right, and it also shows the color contrast in the background. I think this picture is very vivid, and it includes a kind of positive, engaging, and hopeful emotions in it. Not only is the environment full of Chinese traditional style that represents China, but also the girl represents the positive energy of people’s daily lives.

On the upcoming trip to Hutong, my photographs will probably focus on shooting people’s movements and facial expressions with light and composition. My basic concept is ‘Chinese people’s daily lives”.  A good light source and great composition could have helped my street photos look better and convey emotions to the audience. I prefer my photos to be ‘alive’ and full of narrative and a high sense of feeling through either people’s face or their body language, these photos should contain a story inside each pic and include more depth. Based on that, I think the color selection is also very necessary for creating great photographs. I would shoot with a color lens, and I might choose high-saturation colors (Like Harry Gruyaert did) or high-contrast colors in my photos to enrich the audience’s visual experience and impress them with my photos. Moreover, I may also blur the background so that it can help me highlight the details and attention of my shooting subjects.

The pictures in the mind map also influenced me a lot, and I aimed to take shots just like these pictures. I think they are a good representation of the Hutong people and their lives.

Street photography is a photography style that records everyday life in public spaces. The setting’s publicness enables the photographer to take candid pictures of strangers, often without their knowledge. Street photography focuses on people and their behavior in daily public life. The most important point in street photography is to focus on the emotions, stories, and dynamics of a diverse range of subjects and situations. The style often includes a strong sense of composition, light, and context,  which encourage the audience to engage with the captured feelings on a deeper level.

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