Ryan

Before:

After:

• Framing using plants
• Eye contact
• Depth, perspective
• This links to my statement of intent because, as we can see from the photo, there are numerous natural elements present, not only the plants that create the frame, but also a multitude of plants in the background.

Before:

After:

• Hand gestures
• Highlights
• Depth
• Focus
• This links to my statement of intent because, as you can see, in the back of the photo, the leaves that are dangling down from the tree really creates a very beatiful landscape, and also it fills the space above the main subjects, creating an interesting composition.

Before:

After:

• Eye contact
• Rule of thirds
• This photo relates to my statement of intent because, as you can see from the background of the rickshaw, the leaves and branches are dangling down, flowing with the wind, emphasizing nature in the photo.

Before:

After:

• Natural Expression
• Movement
• Eye contact
• This connects to my statement of intent because, as you can see, in the back of the photo, there are trees that relate to my intent of combining nature and street photography.

Before:

After:

• Natural Expression
• Eye Contact
• This image relates to my statement of intent because in the back, there are plants and trees, which again emphasize nature integrated with street photography.

Before:

After:

• Movement
• Space
• High angle
• Interesting Subject
• This photograph connects to my statement of intent as the top right and left both include leaves dangling down, and across the river, there are also a lot of trees and nature.

Before:

After:

• Lighting
• Tone
• This photo relates to my statement of intent because, as you can see, behind the rickshaw, there are plants, so the plants are the role of a background that emphasizes the subject of the rickshaw.

Before:

After:

• Lighting
• Natural Expression
• Center Composition
• Depth
• Tone
• This photo connects to my statement of intent because, as you can see in the back right of the photo, a distance away, there are trees that represent nature in my intent of connecting nature and photography.

Before:

After:

• Tone
• Lighting
• Focus
• Center Composition
• This photo relates to my statement of intent because in the top back of the photo, there are trees, and also the color of the trees contrasts with the color of the subjects, emphasizing the subjects.

Before:

After:

• Natural Expression
• Lighting
• This photo clearly relates to the intent of nature, as except for the subject in the left corner, all the other spaces are mostly filled with the tree in the back, emphasizing the subject in the image.

• Get Really Close

In this photo, I used a wide lens angle to capture a close up shot of my friend, emphasizing on his facial details. Also the close up framing and focus of the photo makes the audience feel as though they were standing there in person. There are also lighting elements in the photo, as the bright sunlight that shines on his face creates shadows and highlights, and also gives texture to my friends skin and hair.

• Center Composition

This photo is took during out last photography trip of 798. In this photo, it includes my friend standing in the middle of the road, depicting a center composition, which emphasizes on the subject that’s in the middle. There are also a sense of space in this photo, as there are less subjects except for the scooter that is also in the way, and thus also suggesting that the environment is very lively, as there are people constantly moving in the area.

• Strong diagonals

In this photo, the wall and the wires above form a diagnol line from the photo, creating depth and also guiding the eye across from the photo. The few colors in the photo also create a minimalist composition, as there are very few parts that pull the audiences eyes away from the main subject. Moreover, the old and rough texture of the walls evokes a sense of corrosion, or the fading out of old elements.

• Visual Elements – Tonal Contrast

Tonal Contrast is defined as the difference in brightness between the lightest and darkest areas of an image. In this case, there is a high tonal contrast, which creates a more dramatic effect. In this photo, my friend is standing in a dak tunnel, and in this perspective, his whole body is black. This is called backlighting, as the subject is dark and the light is coming from the background. This creates a strong contrast between my friend and the background, emphasizing on the subject significantly. Furthermore, the leading lines of the corridor guides the audiences eyes from the dark fore background to bright, vibrant background. In addition, the frame of the tunnel naturally frames this scene, creating a strong composition.

• Low perspective/angle

In this photo, The camera is placed behind and below my friend, creating a low perspective and angle. The low angle also enlarges the painting in the back, as though the painting in the back is looming over my friend, giving the scene a sense of scale and depth. Furthermore, the low angle, and the lines of the building also makes the building feel much taller. The colors of the painting also is very interesting. This is because the yellow and white colors creates strong contrast with the gray colors of the building, thus pulling attention to the painting in the back.

• The decisive movement

In this photo, it depicts a person passing the volleyball to someone in the back, especially how the player is airborne, extends his arms, and the ball above him, all shows dynamic motion in frozen time. In addition, the net splits the photo horizontally, giving structure to the whole photo, and the player forms a diaganol line, which adds tension to the photo.

“The general Concept I’m aiming to capture is the concept of combing nature and people, which is called “Environmental Portraiture”. This is because I think for me, nature is really what I love to take photos of, and combining the concept of this unit with what I like is an interesting concept, for which I will try to take photos of. Another Concept I might also take some photos of is just “Candid” Street photography, inspired by Bruce Gilden’s photos. I think the concept of taking a photo without any composition and techniques is very fascinating, especially capturing the candid expressions of people on the streets, which I think fits to my definition of what street photography really is like. However, one challenge I might need to overcome is becoming more courageous in order to take photos of people on the streets publicly.  One way I’m going to integrate the Hutongs and my concept of photography together would be to use the plants in the hutongs to use as a frame to take photos of the people, and also maybe using the photography concept of “Don’t Move”, of staying at a corner, and capture the movement of people there.

Ryan Li Street Photography Mind Map

This photo by Bruce Gilden, from his book Lost and Found, is a very captivating photo that demonstrates street photography literally. This is because in this photo, Gilden captures two men on the street, beside the car laughing at something hilarious. As you can see from the facial expression, the two men are laughing spontaneously, just like how people normally laugh, unlike the fake laughs models give from other photographic genres. In addition to the candid reaction, their movement are also very arbitrary. One man is leaning onto the car, and the other is opening the car door while still laughing. This gives off a lighthearted and ridiculous vibe and mood.

In this photo, we can see that the mid-background of this photo is the car that one is leaning on, and the other is trying to open the door of. Then, the background is clearly the streets, more accurately the city of New York, as Bruce Gilden’s works are mostly took in New York City. There is zero composition consideration, and almost  none photography elements in this photo, and this clearly shows how a photo doesn’t need any of those elements but only a interesting and candid enough subjects to gain popularity and interest.

While the photo is in black and white, I think this helps the photography because when there are colors, some parts of the image will draw away attention from the two main subjects, and also that it will decrease the contrast of the two people standing and the background. Moreover, I would infer that Gilden would be standing at the wheel of the car, as in the photo that we cannot see the head of the car, and also that he is using a wide lens camera to take shots. I think this shows the effect of a more first person perspective and can the audience can be more immersed into this photo, as the perspective and view angle is what we usually see with our eyes.

Something I can take away from this photograph by Bruce Gilden is that not all photographs need a clear composition and well-thought techniques and elements, but what they actually need are interesting subjects, especially when the subjects are unposed and spontaneous, which acts as a powerful hook that lures in the audience.

Inspiration Street photographer: Bruce Gilden

Bruce Gilden is a famous American Street Photographer, born in 1943, he is known for his candid style of close-up shots of people on the streets in New York. Gilden was born in Brooklyn, New York. Once, he saw Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Blowup in 1968, and influenced by this film, he purchased his own camera and began taking classes in photography at the School of Visual Arts of New York. Interested with the people on the street and the idea of visual spontaneity, Gilden entered to a career of photography.

His works are defined by “In your Face”, and is pretty different from other photographers works. For other photographer’s works in that time, which was at about 2002, the street photographs were colorful and vibrant, compared to Bruce Gilden’s black and white works. Also, the other photographers used long distance shots to take photos of people on the streets, comparing to the “In Your Face” shots by Gilden. In addition, another difference was that Bruce Gilden’s works were extremely more bold and aggressive, unlike the shy street photographers at that time.

Bruce Gilden’s photograph examples are took by a 28mm wide lense shot, capturing interesting details and subjects. He also likes to take photos from a low angle, creating weird compositions and making the subject appear larger than real life.

I think Gilden’s style of “In Your Face” photography is very interesting, and it also partly fits with my street photography idea because I also like taking pictures of people that are unposed. For example, I like taking photos of my friends or other people when they’re caught off guard. I think taking pictures that way illustrates the most spontaneous emotional reaction and action of the subjects, which I think is a very powerful hook for the audience. However, comparing to most works of Bruce Gilden, which are the close up face shots that clearly show detail of emotions of the face, I prefer to take photos at a farther distance, not very distant, but far enough to capture the subjects whole body and their action and movements. In this way, I think it catches not only the face expression and emotion of the subject, but also the spontaneous movement when they’re off guard.

What is Street Photography?

In my opinion, Street Photography is the genre in photography that presents photographs that captures spontaneous movement of people, and the unposed emotions and actions. Street photography mostly focuses on the real interactions with the environment without the use of equipment and planning.

Furthermore, people usually take photos of street photography in urban areas, such as streets, squares and other public spaces. Street photography captures the ordinary, and also captures meaningful situations, illustrating a story of human condition.

In addition, one interesting part of street photography is that street photography allows different opinions. This is because the meaning of some street photography images are undefined, which makes the audience to think and make out the meanings of the photograph, which every person might have a different opinion on. For most street photography photos, there are no actual right or wrong opinions on the photograph. This overcomes the limit of when only a few people can fully interpret the photo, contrasting a advantage of street photography compared with the other genres of photography.

This set of photos aims to focus on the contrast between nature and buildings. This triptych captures photographs that have a contrast between nature objects, primarily leaves, and also captures buildings from a lower angle. The first photo of the three shows two massive cranes in the background, and the nature element in this photo is the leaves that are close to the camera, which are not in focus. This photo shows photography elements of depth, perspective, and focus. The second photo shows the leaves around the subject of the construction of a building, including a crane with supplies traveling up for construction, and an interesting subject in this photo is the shadow of the construction worker on the top. This photo, I think, has an interesting composition and elements of focus, pattern, and texture. The last photo shows the corner of a building, and other trees surrounding it. The leaves from the tree at the right create depth like the other photos, and the other objects, like the metal bars, create contrast. This photo has interesting textures from the vines on the building, and also an interesting composition. In conclusion, I think this set of photos all includes depth, as the subject of nature and the subject of buildings are far from each other, and all have fascinating compositions. Some disadvantages of this set of photos are that the third photo doesn’t really fit in with the other two. This is because the tree on the right doesn’t stand out, and the subject in the back isn’t close to the other two, as the other two are both related to construction.

Set #1:

This set of Photos aims to focus on the contrast between nature and the sense of movement. This triptych captures nature, mostly on leaves, and the sense of movement from different subjects in the photos. The first photo, for example, shows contrast between the leaves at the top of the photo, and the two cars in the middle of the road that are moving. The second photo depicts Owen, my friend, standing in the middle of the road, while a delivery guy on a two-wheeler avoids him as he travels around him. The nature that creates contrast is in the top right, as the leaves swing in the wind. The third photo then shows the group of friends from ISB, on a rental cart, which creates a sense of movement, and then the leaves on the left create contrast. These photos all include leaves that create contrast with subjects such as carts, two-wheelers, and pedestrians. I think this Triptych creates a theme and mood of calmness, as we can see how the leaves swing with the wind, and also only takes up a small part of the picture. Something that I think is a disadvantage is that the third photo doesn’t create the sense of calmness like the other two photos do, which creates a sense that the third photo doesn’t totally belong to this set of photographs.

Set #2:

This set of photos aims to focus on the contrast between nature and buildings. This triptych captures photographs that have a contrast between nature objects, primarily leaves, and also captures buildings from a lower angle. The first photo of the three shows two massive cranes in the background, and the nature element in this photo is the leaves that are close to the camera, which are not in focus. This photo shows photography elements of depth, perspective, and focus. The second photo shows the leaves around the subject of the construction of a building, including a crane with supplies traveling up for construction, and an interesting subject in this photo is the shadow of the construction worker on the top. This photo, I think, has an interesting composition and elements of focus, pattern, and texture. The last photo shows the corner of a building, and other trees surrounding it. The leaves from the tree at the right create depth like the other photos, and the other objects, like the metal bars, create contrast. This photo has interesting textures from the vines on the building, and also an interesting composition. In conclusion, I think this set of photos all includes depth, as the subject of nature and the subject of buildings are far from each other, and all have fascinating compositions. Some disadvantages of this set of photos are that the third photo doesn’t really fit in with the other two. This is because the tree on the right doesn’t stand out, and the subject in the back isn’t close to the other two, as the other two are both related to construction.