The title of my project is Shopkeepers.

When I’m taking my photographs, I want to capture the change and beauty humans can create on buildings, lights, and surroundings. To take photos of these buildings that we pass by on a daily basis and pay no mind to. To capture colors and shapes that gives the scene a personality and a story to follow. In Sally’s photos, the colors are bright and interesting, the surroundings are more run down rather than a clean slate building.

Not only do I want to photography buildings, but I also want to try to photograph people moving through their daily lives. To capture either content or discontent of where they are right now. Either working a job or touring the area or simply lounging and shopping.

When the colors are toned down, the structure and shapes makes it interesting and gives it life. Lastly, the colors in some photos are white or dull with a pop of color. I want to aim for this look. When my audience sees it, I want them to be curious of where the photo is taken and what impacted its look. But I mostly want to focus on brightness and vibrance alongside the shapes.

After taking the shoot, I came up with the name. I thought all of these places are usually shops or frequently used residences. I decided to come up with the name “Shopkeeper” because the place we went to was mostly filled with tourists and shops selling to these said tourists. Their livelihood was visible through just the open windows, the condition of how it was now and what decorations these people thought best. The photos of the people also relate to the shop keepers, either buying from them and holding these purchases, or traveling to these places. All of them has some kind of service involved in them, which really shows the beauty of modern human relationships.

 

Something I love about these photos are the angels and the composition. The colors of the photos look almost dusty and in the moment. The lighting, either artificial or natural, highlights certain parts of the person. Especially the head area (other than the buffet photo, if not the light is overhead and covering their face a little).Some of the photos are also vibrant but not at the same time, in the second photo, the white-ish blues really stand out compared to the warmer background.  The composition of all the photos are similar too. It’s like a line going from the bottom left or right corner going up to the opposite.

 

I haven’t done my second shot yet, these are all from the field trip.

 

I really love the bright reds and the contrast in the back of the store.

 

 

 

 

 

1. Looking for things out of place or unusual situations

Some buildings and structures can be out of place, making an interesting shot. If the background was blank and it was centered, I think it would make an interesting composition. Sometimes it would also make an interesting battle against the background in color and shape. Sometimes the “out of place” detail is contrast in color, vibrance, or maybe even foreign impacts like spotlight.

Unusual situations are a little bit subjective,  but I think this is a cool concept. Humans often do weird things and I really do enjoy taking photos of some of these. They make the audience question what’s happening and what the story could possibly be behind it, either if it’s a living person or an object.

2. Framing

While I don’t know if it’s framing, I want to be weary of when I take photos of either buildings or people. The framing is the trees or any obstruction that would be in the way for the photograph. The frame gives the photo some personality and setting. Like the photo below, the boots makes us think that the place is crowded and covers the mother’s face, making the child the soul subject. It gives a lot more to tell with the foot than not, it also avoids the distraction that the mother poses.

Sterigos, My Own Little World

Framing can also be why the photo is interesting in the first place. Like the photo below, the color of the bus is cool and vibrant against more neutral backdrop of colors. Despite this, my eyes always drifts back to the man in the framed hole. His shirt is also bright compared to the grays and browns, and the disruption in the dark gray plank is also a nice focal point. In all, the composition is very interesting and the framing of how it’s taken (the bus, the actual frame itself, the bridge at the top) all takes up space and wraps around the man in the center.

Matt Stuart

 

3. Perspective and Angles

One of my more favorite street artists, Sally Davies, takes perfect advantage when it comes to angles.  The way she took this photo makes it look almost 2d or like a painting. The angle is straight on with the building and the camera isn’t tilted to the left nor the right. Not to mention how interesting the illuminating shop looks like in the pitch darkness. Because it’s so flat and you aren’t mostly comprehending the different angels and shapes, you can really take in each little detail. From the inside of the place to the bike and decorating details on the outside.

Sally Davies

 

4. Don’t move — fishing technique

While this technique takes a while to get a shot you really like, it gives the natural flow of daily life. The subject isn’t suspecting anything is happening, or maybe they are. Depending on where you’re fishing. But the look of this technique is satisfying, reminding people of a certain point in time where they might remember a similar scene. There’s no need to rush because to take photos with this concept, you need to wait for the best photo. It’s a lot of trial and error.

Erik Kim

I do like this technique and try to do it sometimes. I would wait by buildings and wait for somebody to walk by. The only downside is if they see you across the street, they might try to avoid the camera.

 

5. Capture Gestures

These photos look so fun to capture and can have very interesting results. If you do a capture and somebody on the spot, it might be interesting to see how they panic and get into a pose. Or maybe look at you and the camera directly. Both of these gives off strong emotions, either negative or positive. I would love to have photos like these, either startling people or asking them to post for the camera. I really do like the look of unfiltered emotion or judgement they could or would give off when looking over.

 

6. Visual Elements – Lines

The dynamic lines in this piece is created by the bars in the subway entrance (or whatever they’re called), making the direction of the photograph attention grabbing. Both the bars right at the camera and the curved bars in the background are both going to the lower right side of the photo, they also catch your attention but don’t block the subject entirely, making you look at the subject (the man) and into the dark shadowy backgrounds. It does distract you a little bit from the man’s face though, but it looks almost intentional.

 

 

MY SHOTS

Doesn’t help that the site decreases the quality more… the focus looks even worse

1. The decisive moment

I didn’t adapt this very well. I waited until she was mid air to take the photo, but a my problem was it wasn’t interesting with movement and the focus wasn’t good. This is a trend for more of my photos, my focus is usually horrible. What I do like is the contrast of the trampoline rim color to everything else, or the ground vs. the upper part. The green and orange kind of contrast against each other, and the rest is natural coloring. It really makes the colored parts pop.

 

2. Arm length

I wasn’t very close enough for it to be interesting, but I like the perspective of how close the camera is. I did have to ask for permission, it’s easier to do but also kind of unnatural. I was lucky enough for this shot to be more natural than not, but the cashier lady did notice the big camera pointing at her, LOL.

 

3. Framing

I like the photo because of the frame of the book return cart. It’s white like many of the pieces in the background, making it blend in pretty well and doesn’t take too much attention away from the main subject/person. It’s also not a very harsh, bright color, which is something I do like. I want to try doing more framing in the future.

 

4. Visual elements – lines and dynamics

The lines of the corridor/hallway brings the person’s eyes to the two distant humanoid figures. I like the light at the end of the hallway and the contrast of each wall. It makes the photo look almost split in two with two different colors on each side, and the distant shadows of people a dot in the middle to focus on.

 

5. Capture eye contact

This photo was a complete accident since I was trying to catch her off guard, but my focus wasn’t ready yet. Despite that, I really do like the image. I caught her off guard and she’s looking at the camera, but still giving a smile that doesn’t feel forced. More like a “oh hi!” smile, and that’s something I really do like in these photos. This would be hard to recreate with strangers, so I’m glad I could get this shot (and that Ms. Allison knows me….).

 

6. Harmony

The many shapes and the glare of hte lights make everything grayed out, except the green of the desk. You can see people wandering and looking around, but that’s not the most interesting part of the photos. The shine of the books, the amount of books even, it makes it more interesting by shapes and colors. Not to mention the strong green of the desk contrasting with the more grayish background, it might have a strong color but the back has more of an interesting shape.

Because this was a test shoot, I didn’t know what I really wanted. After this photo shoot, I realized the importance of color. If everything in the photo is a washed out gray, it blends together. But something I also saw was how shape and direction gives the photo a story and a place you can identify.

 

 

canva link because the blog decreases the quality, https://www.canva.com/design/DAG176wVoRw/BiI3EuXAY5kAHuYzbs_d2w/edit?utm_content=DAG176wVoRw&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

I was really inspired by Sally Davies photographs. They look very homey or at least rural. The places she decides to photograph look run down or lived in.  It really gives the idea of life in these places you pass by often or sneer at. The people walking by gives the addition to this too. These locations are well lived, have a story and a background, but people still pasts them without a second glance; either to get done with something else or simply not seeing the depth a vintage store could hold. The angle of how the photos taken also looks 2d like, like a picture or an artwork in time. I also noticed that nothing is symmetrical, that could lean into the beauty of the uniqueness and life humans create. Another detail I mentioned is the vignette is high enough to be visible.

can’t find the images provided to DX to link.

 

Looking at his gallery, I see a lot more photos. It’s not only the street (literally) but there’s photos that captures people, streets, and alleyways. There’s a lot, but the one thing I do notice is that he doesn’t entertain modern buildings. All of her photos are a little bit more run down and I think that’s the beauty of it.

In her artist statement, she says she grew up in a rural part of Canada, playing on her get-a-way since she was 6.  For her 12th birthday, she got a camera and immediately started taking pictures. In the artist statement, she says that “history decides our our legacies, not us, but I hope when I die, my work makes some kind of sense – that it documents a certain place and cultural time, and also tells my story.” This resinates with me a lot and confirms some of my guesses. She wants to document the cultural time that we’re in right now, to capture the graffiti and the things humans did to buildings or in their daily lives.

 

 

There are a few of my favorite photos, In New York and California. All photographs belong to Sally Davies.

       

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In the future, I want to also keep the 2d effect in the photos and the vignette. What I do like is that she takes images not in the bright day time, so I want to see if I can keep that detail, try to replicate it in the daytime, or go for a second shoot.

 

 

Street photography is the art ot taking photographs that captures the raw human emotion, daily commute, and the day to day natural scenes of society. Captures that doesn’t tell the full story of what is happening, but has a sense of familiarity so the viewer can piece together what they think is happening in the scene; this can be a certain emotion/expression or a situation the person is in.

 

My message in the triptych is how much influence nature and greenery has in different environments and places. Sometimes, these plants are planted as decoration. Other times, they’re accompanied by man-made objects. I want my audience to notice the natural aspects first, to think about different scenes they have seen that are similar or really think about the little details they miss in day to day life. The color flowers bring, the sense of life grass has, the frame nature creates. My inspiration comes from looking at natural formations and how they impact the photo compared to without. Mirrors also caught my attention. When browsing online for inspiration, there were a few interesting photos involving reflective surfaces. That’s why most of my photos attempt to have some type of reflective surface. With urbanization on the rise, we often miss the natural beauty the world has to offer us.

 

abstractionfinal_Emma Zhao