Street Portraits - a meeting with a stranger

[peter27]

I don't know, I think I prefer #2: it makes me wonder what he's thinking.

 

[bigtwinky]

Agreed with pixmedic and amolitar.

In the first, I would crop off that black doorway which is a black hole that attracts my eye.
In the second, I would darken the houses in the background and the jacket so they are attractors.

Lew

Good point about the doorway, thanks!

Move the guy to the right to cover that face on the wall

It was intended to keep the face on the wall visible. I figure I could of moved a bit forward to emphasize the guy in the photo.

Still learning with street photos. This wasn't a portrait session, basically a 1-2 shots and then move on type thing. More of "into the moment and the story". Need to remember to take a step back and think more photo, even when I had just a few seconds.

 

[sashbar]

Pierre - the face on the wall does not add anything so to me it is a distraction. What is visually important - is the row of blue rectangles on the wall and the guy in blue jacket slots nicely into this pattern. But he needs to be positioned between two rectangles, not merge with one. It is good to take a step back and think, but from what I learn more often it is important to make two or three steps forward and close up on your model, it is definitely the case here. By doing so you will ,take a more intimate portrait of the guy, and in the process you will eliminate the much distracting ground and the line between the ground and the wall. Had the guy stood much closer to the wall between these blue spaces in his blue jacket and became a part of the pattern, he would look like belonging to this environment. Otherwise he is just that - a stranger. When you shoot someone with this kind of background its better either to put him closer to the wall and use wide lense with a close up for a dramatic effect, or put him like 20 feet off the wall and use 200 tele with 5.6 f to create a colourful blurred background.

 

[bigtwinky]

very good points sashbar, much appreciated!

I only had a 35mm lens on me with 1 camera, so variety of lenses wasn't a choice. As we were walking alone in some unknown places that were pretty run down, didnt want to chance more gear. Prefer to be discreet, people seem more comfortable when you dont have a huge bag with loads of gear on ya

 

[vintagesnaps]

I like the first one; I don't know if I'd 'lose' the door or keep it - it seems to belong there and balances the doors on the other side, but with the perspective there's an edge of blue brick to the left of the doorway that makes it seem not quite straight or a bit cut off (which is probably getting nitpicky!). I think it's very strong visually, there's a lot to look at and is part of the world of the subject.

Maybe the second one could use some adjustment, it looks like he's less in the sun than the buildings in the background so it might be the exposure in mixed lighting. I don't know if I'd consider this to be strictly street photography as much as a portrait in a real life setting, but I suppose it could be considered either/both and definitely seems to have a journalistic style which I like.

Having had a job doing home visits in a major city, going into someone's home might be safe most of the time but I've been in houses where people are coming and going and you don't know who else lives there - you don't want to inadvertently get into a situation you can't get out of or end up in the neighborhood crack house. If you developed relationships with people in a neighborhood in time you might get more opportunities to photograph the people there without putting yourself into any potentially dangerous situation.

And while Daniel (Ilovemycam) at times maybe you could phrase something differently or not post so many links in someone else's thread, I don't think Andrew it's necessary to say his work isn't very good or means nothing - I don't think that's the case as many of the photos show some talent in capturing life that's out of the mainstream (which I probably would have said in the other thread instead of here but it got locked). Street photography seems like it's a unique style and might be viewed differently than other styles of photography.

 

[amolitor]

I don't think I have told ilovemycam anything about his photography good or bad except when he's specifically requested it. The fact that he then runs around repeating it elsewhere is not my fault, and should not to be taken to indicate that I am slamming his photography out of school.