Reply To: Here Goes Nothing… Critique (+ Intro)

[Brownie]

Hi Andrew,

I don’t post here much anymore but I saw your post and gave it a chance.

Let me start off my saying Alec Street’s work is horrendous for the kind of game he talks. Using dutch angles for no apparent reason is pointless and sickening. Even his logo is disorienting and ugly. I don’t want to talk anymore about this guy’s work.

I will say that a few of Bri’s photographs hold a bit of interest for me because the compositions are pretty smart and well-done. Some is very abrasive and feels ‘clunky’  but some of her pictures I expect to see in basic (film)  photography at my university.
To get back on track, I was the only staff photographer at the yearbook I was apart of and it was pretty ridiculous so I know what you deal with.  I specialized in photographing sporting events, mainly football, so I was drawn to your soccer photographs and they are pretty well-done. My only criticism is that you have a ton of negative space that isn’t used effectively. Sports photography is all about filling the frame with action, basically, and the picture feels passive although we have these great expressions and whatnot but due to the distance, we feel apart from it.  Changing where you are set up or cropping will help that. I’d suggest the first one. The track photographs have more of that feel that work a lot better as an illustration of the event.

I also shot a lot of plays whilst in high school and they are a pretty good account of the event itself, it’s all about drama.I will say that one of my favorite moments of this is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63706846@N08/8844339605/in/photostream/lightbox/ but having dorothy’s features cut off is disappointing and detrimental to the effectiveness of the photograph for me. In general, the plays look good, obviously the color will be off because of their stage lighting but to rectify this. you could consider changing your white balance to match the degrees of the bulbs.

And to your graduation photographs: they are expected, but look okay.  I’m not crazy about the typical posed picture but there’s a place for that kind of thought process. What you can think about is to distinguish how you make this photographs your own so that the viewer can identify the photographer in the work, if that makes sense. Like  previous comment said, a fill flash would’ve worked wonders for you. I hated flash in high school because of how it was used but there are smart ways to use a flash, I’ve come around, as they say. When I would shoot, I always prefered being stealthy and making candid photographs than having all the ducks in a row and snapping them. I would consider using a flash with a diffuser over it and see how you feel about that. Obviously, you would have to change the white balance to match but I think you would be very happy with the results…

Also, editing: I’m 95% sure that you edited these people’s eyes significantly, but I’m not completely sure,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63706846@N08/8844785054/

if you did, I wouldn’t continue editing a single item in the picture and leaving the rest as is.

nesgran’s comment about narrowing your shooting scope is valid,  but at your stage in the game, it’s all about learning different techniques in different situations to make photographs for your publication. I wouldn’t encourage you to only work on one thing, but compile these different events into portfolios and work from there. Organization is key. If the photographers I admire only shot the same thing, it would get quickly stale.

I’m glad I looked at your work because I see someone that is actually interested in learning, in growing as a photographer. My hope is that in 10 years or so, you’ll see these pictures and think that they are a wreck, because you have improved so much and your understanding has increased exponentially.  The pictures aren’t there yet.

I thought I knew it all coming out of high school, I really did. It was only until college I realized how little I knew; that is humbling and key to developing. I study fine art and I make photographs. and I find 99% of things I made when I was younger to be horrific and cringe-worthy.

But I have talked way too long. Bottom Line: you learn from a combination of pure shooting practice, other artists/photojournalists and ambition to learn and I hope you never lose that. Look at work by photographers who make a ton of cash doing what you love. Email them and start a dialogue, it helps!

 

I hope a fraction of this was useful!