Assignment Three- Tutor Feedback

 

I was very pleased with my tutor feedback for assignment three. I chose to capture a narrative based on the Belfast Continental Market, and carried out great planning and preparation for this task. I feel that all my research prior to shooting resulted in a well structured and well photographed assignment that was of a high standard. My tutor agreed with this, and I was delighted with his comments. Below you will find some of my tutor’s positive and negative comments, along with any changes which were implemented in accordance with these.

Positive Feedback

“The assignment conveys a good sense of the atmosphere of the market with imagery that shows very good conceptual progression. The images show development in your approach and the positive effect on your image making of your researches.” I feel that this highlights how my work is improving throughout this module, and emphasises how my research prior to photographing impacted positively upon my photographic work.

Image 2-

“Of the stall holders I think this is your strongest image. It’s not a conventional moment that most people casual photographers would choose; it’s much richer and more engaging. Well done!” I loved this image, and so was very pleased with this comment. I feel that my own unique style and perspective is beginning to burst through in my work, and this is shown through this image.

 

Image 6-

“The burger shot is very atmospheric with the steam and smoke and in tribute to Winogrand feels very New York and candid. It’s another strong one in the series in terms of evocation. It’s making me hungry!” This image is a strong example of where my research prior to photographing paid off. Using tips from fellow photographers such as Winogrand, I was able to produce an evocative and atmospheric image that gave a great sense of the feel of the event.

Images 7&8-

“They’re a strong pair which again show how your research has moved on your image making and the efficacy of using a wide angle and getting in close. The second one of the character is glasses is the most sophisticated image you’ve produced on this module so far.” Again, very high praise from my tutor which truly encouraged me forwards in my documentary photography. I took a few risks within these images; using a wide-angle for image eight in order to get in close to the subject. I feel that coming out of my comfort zone when photographing street photography really works to improve my imagery; and these comments are proof of that.

 

Negative Feedback

Image 3-

“This is one of the ones that I feel could have benefited from a bit more processing. The cheese in the foreground is rather blown out and the shadows in the background rather blocked up, so I’ve used the Shadows/Highlights control on it, overall and selectively to put more tone into the highlights and more detail into the shadows. I’ve also cropped it a bit tighter to lose some distracting extraneous things just clipping the edge of the frame.” I took this advice on board, and made the suggested changes to improve the quality of the image. You will find my before and after images below.

Before:

After:

 Image 4-

“I think the ‘pasta moment’ was well chosen; he’s looking at it as if he’s wondering what it is that he’s pulled out of the water. Again perhaps a little more shadow detail is in order.” I made the following changes to the shadow detail in accordance with this comment. Please find my before and after versions below.

Before:

After:

My tutor was pleased with my narrative flow throughout, feeling that there was a strong connection between the images, and that they portrayed the theme well. However, he felt that the final two images would have been stronger had they also been food related.

“We are presented with the theme which ostensibly seems to be visually about food, eventually we see two people eating the food but apparently in a different location and then we go back for a couple more non-food stalls. Having established the focus as food then from a thematic narrative point of view it might have been better to stick with the making, selling and consumption of food; with more shots of people eating distributed through people preparing and selling. I think that would have seemed to have more of an intention, a story about food consumption. The last two images, while being effective in their own right seem like part of a different story.” I loved my final two images; and whilst upon reflection, I agreed that I could have chosen a food consumption theme and ran it throughout, this was not what I had planned and prepared for, and thus to change the images now would be to remove my honest experience and view of the event. The market was very much centred around food, but there was definitely a great deal of crafts and other stalls available; so to portray anything other than this would be to do the event itself an injustice. I feel that I photographed the event exactly how I saw it, and how I feel that other visitors would also see it, and therefore this was the narrative which I portrayed.

Final Tutor Comments

Good research that has really improved your outcome in terms of image making and approach; often students don’t manage to really reflect their research in their finished results, you have. Well done!

To conclude, I feel that this was one of my strongest assignments thus far, and I am extremely pleased with the comments and feedback given by my tutor.

 

For further reference, you will find my tutor’s feedback in full below.

Overall Comments

The assignment conveys a good sense of the atmosphere of the market with imagery that shows very good conceptual progression.

Feedback on assignment

The images show development in your approach and the positive effect on your image making of your researches.

It’s a very good introductory image, the character is open and friendly, addressing us directly and welcoming us to the series.

The head set and the stall tells us a lot about the situation already.

It was a technically challenging situation which on the whole you’ve handled very well, getting what was important to get sharp in focus.

The series could have amounted to a lot of ‘to camera’ portraits of the stall holders, good for the first image but variation was needed and you’ve supplied that in the second image and I think this is one, as you say, where the influence of your research particularly shows.

Of the stall holders I think this is your strongest image. It’s not a conventional moment that most people casual photographers would choose; it’s much richer and more engaging. Well done!

The next one transcends the typical portrait because of the boar’s head in the top right corner.

This is one of the ones that I feel could have benefited from a bit more processing.

The cheese in the foreground is rather blown out and the shadows in the background rather blocked up, so I’ve used the Shadows/Highlights control on it, overall and selectively to put more tone into the highlights and more detail into the shadows.

I’ve also cropped it a bit tighter to lose some distracting extraneous things just clipping the edge of the frame.

I think the ‘pasta moment’ was well chosen; he’s looking at it as if he’s wondering what it is that he’s pulled out of the water.

Again perhaps a little more shadow detail is in order…

I think the paella is the weakest shot both in composition, interest and technical quality.  Also the sudden change to a portrait format is jarring.

One can use that as an intentional effect to give one’s audience a jolt but in general it’s best to maintain the same, if not very similar, aspect ratio through a whole series.

The burger shot is very atmospheric with the steam and smoke and in tribute to Winogrand feels very New York and candid.

It’s another strong one in the series in terms of evocation. It’s making me hungry!

The two eating shots have a very different feel to the rest because the preceding ones feel night time and closed in whereas with these we’ve been chucked out into the street and surprisingly it’s a bright cold day.

They’re a strong pair which again show how your research has moved on your image making and the efficacy of using a wide angle and getting in close.

The second one of the character is glasses is the most sophisticated image you’ve produced on this module so far.

A point on the previous one; the sky is blowing out in the top left hand corner so the frame is bleeding into the border. A quick fix for this condition is to reduce the white point to 247 with the Levels control.

In terms of sequencing I’m not sure whether putting them together is the best strategy or not. I can see they make a buffer between the food counters and the other sorts of goods.

I think this points out a weakness in terms of narrative flow…

‘Present your viewer with the theme, further developments and complications and, finally, a resolution…’

We are presented with the theme which ostensibly seems to be visually about food, eventually we see two people eating the food but apparently in a different location and then we go back for a couple more non-food stalls.

Having established the focus as food then from a thematic narrative point of view it might have been better to stick with the making, selling and consumption of food; with more shots of people eating distributed through people preparing and selling.

I think that would have seemed to have more of an intention, a story about food consumption.

The last two images, while being effective in their own right seem like part of a different story.

Learning Logs or Blogs/Critical essays

Good research that has really improved your outcome in terms of image making and approach; often students don’t manage to really reflect their research in their finished results, you have. Well done!

Assignment Two- Tutor Feedback

I really enjoyed this assignment, and put a great deal of effort into producing a high standard of images that represented the theme of ‘hopelessness’ accurately. I was very happy with my tutor’s comments on my work, and feel that my street photography is improving with each assignment. Below you will find some of my tutor’s positive and negative comments, along with any changes which were implemented in accordance with these.

Positive Feedback

Image 1- “You have controlled the compositions very well at the edges, improving on the previous assignment.” My framing is most definitely improving. I took care to pay more attention to my compositions, ensuring that I did not eradicate any essential information or include any distracting lines or objects that may reduce the images success

“Images 3 & 4 are well composed and your researches have obviously informed your approach as they’re very much in the history and tradition of documentary photography.” I carried out much research into street photography in preparation for this assignment, and am glad to see that it paid off. My overall knowledge and understanding of street photography is growing through this research, and aiding in forming my own personal style and work.

Learning Logs or Blogs- “Good research, interesting quotes and you’ve argued your case.” I put a lot of work into researching street photography, and specifically the controversial area of capturing the vulnerable. This research provided me with a well-argued case which confirmed the necessity of capturing the less fortunate.

Negative Feedback

“With Image 2 it would have been good to have had a bit more at the bottom of the frame and less at the top to see the walking stick.” I completely agree with this comment. Upon later re-viewing, I too decided that including the walking stick would have improved the image. However, when capturing the vulnerable, I felt the need to quickly capture the image, taking care not to offend the subject. Thus, faster instincts to produce good framing were necessary here.

“Perhaps Image 6 doesn’t supply enough information to assume he’s homeless. Maybe he has shelter for the night but they’re not allowed to remain there during the day.” Possibly, my comments in assuming that this man was homeless were inaccurate, as there is not enough evidence to assume so. Therefore, I removed this statement from my assignment. However, I do feel that it is safe to assume that this man is indeed in a hopeless situation, as emphasized through his disheveled appearance, vulnerable situation and apparent lack of shoes.

I am extremely pleased with the above feedback, and I definitely feel that I have improved from assignment one. Whilst street photography is not my genre, I am beginning to enjoy the challenges that come with capturing the habits and lives of individuals and communities in various towns and cities.

Assignment One- Tutor Feedback

I was very happy with my tutor feedback for this assignment. Overall,  I think this was a good first assignment that introduced me to second year well. Prior to this assignment I found it difficult to find originality to capture amongst the everyday ordinary, and feel that this assignment aided in widening  my view on ‘street photography’ in this area. Below you will find some of my tutor’s comments on this assignment, along with my thoughts, and any changes made in accordance with these.

Image 1- “The use of obvious on-camera flash reads as a cold pinning of the subjects in a moment, like specimens, which is at odds with the warmth you feel for the community, consequently I think it would have been more appropriate with Image 1 to have had less fill-in flash to make it feel more natural and communal.” Whilst I agree with this statement, unfortunately, this image was taken at an evening service, and thus the lighting was not ideal. My camera did not have the ability to capture this shot without the aid of flash, and therefore I felt that I had little choice but to use it.

Image 2- “It would have been better to lose some of the dead space at the top and not crop through the man on the right. It takes practice in these fast moving situations to optimize ones composition. If you notice potential in a situation and the people are comfortable with you there’s no reason that you couldn’t ask them to do it again once you have a better framing.” I acknowledge that framing is an element of my photography that needs work. I find myself concentrating on the subject, activity and technical exposure and unwittingly neglecting the framing. This is one of the main weaknesses that my tutor highlighted throughout this assignment, and I intend to work hard to improve upon this in the future. My tutor suggested a stronger composition via cropping which I implemented. Below you will find the before and after versions of image 2.

Before:

After:

Image 3- “Image 3 is well observed, one of the stand outs of the assignment and neatly squared up at the bottom but the tilting line across the top is distracting. There are various ways you can address this in Photoshop. Here I’ve used the Perspective crop tool to align the plaster frieze with the top edge of the frame and then cropped in.” Again I agreed with my tutor’s comment here. This was one of my favorites from this assignment also, but the line across the top definitely took away from the image. I took my tutor’s advice on board, and made the following adjustments.

Before:

After:

Image 5- “Image 5 is very well observed and composed, another stand out for this assignment but it’s cropped unnecessarily tight either side.” Again, my tutor is emphasizing the necessity of paying attention to the framing of the image- one of my weaknesses in this assignment. However, in this specific shot, there were other children very close on either side of the four main subjects, and I felt that they removed from the strength of the shot, so I thus made the decision to crop in tightly, which I feel was the correct one.

Image 8- “Image 8 places the figure well in the space and there’s a pleasing sense of movement and enjoyment” I loved this shot, and so I am pleased with this comment. The smiling subject attracted my attention immediately, and  I thus made a quick decision to capture this shot. I feel that I framed and exposed the shot extremely well within the limited time space which I had. It indeed makes for a lovely shot that exhumes happiness which is how a church community should be.

Image 10: “Image 10 is lacking in compositional organisation. The figures in the background are confused with the foreground action.” I appreciate this comment, and can see what my tutor means. The background figures create a contrast with the main foreground activity, creating two contrasting halves of the one image. I cropped the image to exclude the background figures, and the overall image is now much stronger; concentrating on just the activity at hand.

Before:

After:

To conclude, I am extremely happy with my tutor feedback for this assignment. I didn’t feel that it was one of my strongest assignments, however, I acknowledge that street photography is not my forte, and this could be a reason for this. However, from working through this first assignment, as well as just completing my second assignment, I am beginning to get a stronger idea of my niche in photography, and thus my style is definitely taking shape. My street photography work is molding my portraiture and visa versa. I feel that documentary portrait photography is quickly becoming my passion, and my work on street photography in this course has been a contributing factor in this realization.