CHAT THREAD for the weekend competition 21st/22nd November 2009 - STREET LIFE

[bsmith]

OK, I'll have a go at my "Above and Bellow Crit" I'm going to perfectly honest so please don't be upset if say something cruel, Its just my opinion and possibly wrong.

Above, Snapshot in Time, the overall view is interesting and it does make you look up and down the street to see whats going on, so it does fulfill the brief ( much more than mine does ). Down side for me is that there is no one thing that is a focus for attention, none of the buildings follow the picture frame so everything looks lopsided to me, and so its a bit uneasy on the eye, as I said if fulfills the brief and is interesting.

Bellow, After the rain. Out come the shoppers and the sky clears giving interesting clouds. I like the framing, the image is square to the buildings and the perspective pulls you right into the image following the architectural details. Down side, no real point of interest, there are people but I may have waited for someone interesting to be in a good spot to complete the image. I am uneasy pointing my camera at strangers, so mine has no people in at all, so how can I justly crit this... I cant, this is a good B&W shot with nice contrast and a good feel, well done.

Bob

[HinFrance]

Above: After the Rain.
Lucky to find an 'after' and not a 'during' the way the weather has been lately. Nice and sharp with a good range of tones and high contrast. It doesn't actually look that wet to me, suggesting the rain might have been long gone. Meets the brief but not really enough going on to raise a lot of interest.

Below: Love is being generous with your sausage. Nearly got my vote as this is candid, humorous, well timed and perfectly sharp. Super street shot.

My 2p worth

I really enjoy pictures that transport you somewhere, and Jim's view 'Snapshot in Time' brought back memories of similar views from lofty places. A nice composition with lots to see; the reds on grey carrying the eye up and down meandering through the street (reminding me of a Lowry somehow). With only the gentle lean of buildings (that could be post edited to appear as the human eye registers Perspective) halting the sense of vertigo.

Del's 'The Only Life on the Street' also delivers with a similar sense of place; though this time I'm sitting (literally supping a beer as I write) warm and comfortable, while that poor guy wanders along outside in the rough of harsh grey weather (aptly caught in B&W with a good grainy effect towards separating environments) with the distant sense of a rainbow somewhere. Not everyone's cup of tea I know, but telling a good story.

I thought I would mention my choice this week, in Howard's take 'Clean Street Life', which plants you well and truly plumb, and in the way of the determined sweepers; almost capturing the need for cozy companionship (well they look quite cozy), as these two mean business with their washing machine dawdling menacingly towards you.

And talking of cozy companions - well done the winners, pity I only had one vote.

Great pictures all round.

[oggalily]

Well, looks like we have a draw. Congrats to jinky and wattig. Though I think jinky would be happy to hand over poll posting duties!

"Street" photography is a tough subject as it requires us to point a camera at strangers. I was pleased to see a decent turnout despite the challenge of going out of our comfort zones as well as the bad weather. Well done everyone.

On to the reviews:

Above: Homeless Street Life
I really like this shot and it got my vote. I lke how you have preserved this unfortunate person's anonimity, and the framing against passersby's legs works well. The blurring of the legs works well as it not only suggests motion but a detachment from the subject. This would make a good editorial shot. Good work.

Below: The only life on the street
I think you have made the best of some messy weather. The shot has a nice doumentary feel to it which is complemented by the grain and mono conversion. However it is a little too blurry for my tastes and the positioning of the car is unfortunate as it prevents the main subject from being distinguished from the background. Nice effort though, I know I struggled until the weather broke on Sunday afternoon.

[jinky]

Well done to all that entered. I`d decided that as I wanted to challenge myself you could all be challenged and was a bit selfish there - especially when I saw what weather we were all having. I had fun and it made me think a lot - got clocked by all sorts of people as I was trying for the shot. made me feel guilty one or two of the candids I tried for and missed them and was not brave like wattig and felt too challenged when I saw a rough sleeper and was tempted to take a photo. Put some money in his cap but did not havethe heart to take a photo though he was asleep.

Reviews:
Hinfrance - great shot with atmosphere and love the bike and the two guys crammed in those seats. Might have swayed me with a crop at the edge of the balcony on the left and a little off the bottom going up to the kink in the kerb. But great shot of it coming at you - the driver looks intent on mowing you down!
Chriscraft - sorry I just did not get this one. Interesting historical fact but the composition and lack of focal point of interest leaves it just a shot of a street with cars going away from you. getting further over to get rid of the building on left, have the church as a point of interest and maybe some people / cars or even a sweeper coming at you would have helped bu hats off for entering.

Thanks for your review H - you are too kind! Well not too kind - that would have been to vote for me and give me an outright win too. Glad you say th picture is sharp. As I said elsewhere this was taken with a lens I have on trial from a Flickr Leeds contact with a view to buying. Doing some portraits with it this weekend before making my mind up. Lookig to pay 210-220 for it with supplied filter if I can.

Wattig - with my experience of last week as ogga says I am more than happy to give you the job of posting the poll. I`ll message you a couple of ideas for themes but again happy to go along with any ideas you have for this weekend as I wracked my brain last week! I`m happy to set up the chat and entry threads if you would agree to do the poll

[chris-p]

Congrats to both the winners! I'm looking forward to the next one as I'd not entered before this weekend and I had a good time being pushed outside my comfort zone.

I'll have a bash at some C&C as well...

Above: "It's a Gas"
I like the lighting in this. It's an interesting perspective and makes a normally boring subject look much more interesting. I find the background lacking a little interest, but it's not the main focal point of the image.
I would like to have seen some more detail in the trees and the foreground in the bottom left of the picture but given the light levels that would really only be achievable using HDR.
Overall I like the shot, the colour is good, it's nice and sharp and the DoF is excellent.

Below: "Clean Street Life"
This is one of my favourite shots of this weeks competition. Lovely and sharp and a really nice mono conversion with loads of tonal detail. Perhaps the only thing I would change would be a slight crop to the left and bottom of the image to bring the kerb into the corner and to remove the diagonal line in the lower right hand corner.
Having said that, I love the subject matter and the way the 2 people are crammed into the cleaner.

[Delamanda]

Above: "Up and Down the High Street"
For me, the running boy really makes this. I half expect the pedestrians to be joined by the shopkeepers before breaking into a song and dance routine. So I guess what I like about the image is that it is so alive.

Below: "Hidden Pearl"
I really like this because the vivid blue just says Mediterranean and I want to be there, eating fresh shellfish straight from the boat, not out of a packet from the supermarket.

Del

PS. Forgot to congratulate the winners - the terror of having to comment on images taken by such illustrious company. Anyway, well done to Jinky and Wattig.

[HinFrance]

Yes, well done joint champions.

Thanks for doing the crits everyone - it always helps to have another point of view. I did try a few crops on mine, but decided to leave it just as it came out of the camera. Lens was the kit 18-55, and the mono conversion was done using the 'Andy' plugin for Bibble* mono film emulation - Agfapan 25, Refinal 6 minutes, Agfa Multicontrast premium paper, filter2. Abers knows what all this means, and heaven help me I'm old enough to have done this for real.

*Bibble is what Lightroom wants to be when it grows up.

[wattig]

First of all well done to all who entered, like a lot of others I found the subject a real challenge especially in trying to capture something with people interest without causing any offence. Thanks to all who voted for me its much appreciated.
Now for the hard bit, reviewing above and below.
Above, was hinfrance, clean street life, this one nearly got my vote and it was a toss up between this and jinkys. I liked the overall tone of the photograph and how the kerb leads you in towards the cleaner and the bike with the spray being kicked up from the street cleaner. The part that I really liked was how the driver of the truck looked like he would be much happier with something bigger, if there had been no reflection on the windscreen this would have been a lot clearer and helped his discomfort stand out a bit more.
Below, chriscraft, bodesia crossed hear. sorry but i feel that this one lacks a point of interest, the image might have benefited from a slightly different viewpoint, maybe even by moving slightly over to the right and then waiting for the traffic to move further towards the fron of the image, it would also help to try and get a bit more seperation between the people and the buildings on the right, at the moment they merge into the buildings and are lost as a result.
I hope I haven't upset anyone with the comments they are just an opinion and hopefully we can all learn from each other.

Jinky, sorry to wait to the end to put you out of your misery, yes I will have a go at setting up the poll, although I am at work on Monday so if I dont get time during the day it will have to wait until I get home. I will have a think about some possible subjects and drop you a mail, but if you have some in mind already then go for it.
Cheers Ian

[wattig]

Doh! just realised I was supposed to review those above and below my own post, dont know where I got the idea from but ended up revieing those above and below who I voted for. Well to keep things right here we go again.

Above: French Street Scene - Mentor, this is another that I liked, both in the content and the style, hoever I would have preferred it if there had been a clear route into the street rather than it being blocked by the panel at the end of the cafe, maybe moving moving a bit more to the left might have opened up the image a little.
Below: Up and down the street - oggalily, I like the idea of this one and the panoramic style compliments the idea behind the image. However I feel that the overall image would have benefited from a bit more activity or group of people doing something a bit different or of more interest. A minor crtisism and not something that you can control, l guess you just have to sit and wait for the right moment, or get lucky.

Cheers Ian