What do you think of these photos I took at a local art fest?

Question

From a photojournalism perspective....tell me what you think. Honest critiques welcome.

http://picasaweb.google.com/SJSpildener/LakewoodArtsFest

Thanks!

Answer 1

not much

Answer 2

I'm not a pro by any means so it's all my humble opinion.  I say you did really well with this from the photojournalism perspective.  I say that because your pictures told the story of this fair very well.  I have a clear idea of what was going on at this show. The only thing you might want to do is try simplifying the images more by creating a clear subject.  You did that really well with pictures like the pottery on the shelves. The one of the metal sculpture and the woman is terrific.  :)  I also love the one of the photo exhibit. I think you have done a great job with this project and I wish you a lot of success as a photographer!!!

Answer 3

You have a great eye for photography!

Answer 4

Photojournalism is not an easy craft.

I think the biggest thing when you go out with the intention of finding a photo story is to ask yourself:

"What is my intention?"

"What am i trying to say?"

"What am i informing the viewer of that they didnt already know?"

All are in their essence the same question, jut worded differently.

Its important to have a purpose with your photographs.

As such i saw what you were trying to show, a day at the fair, but i didnt see some things equally as important to any photo story:

1. A story. Westerners especially are infatuated with a story telling concept called the 3 act structure. Research it, view it in nearly every tv show or movie that has come out in the past 80 years, and in literature back to as far as the Iliad. There is no beginning, no set up of where i am. There is no middle, there is nothing definitively showing what is going on. I see many things like people at tents which is great, but nothing concrete. There is no end. No resolution. Its a perpetual fair from the images.

2. Cohesiveness. It goes along with #1, but its a random smattering of images. Classical pj work has this, and its similar to the 3 act structure.

3. Clearer Subject- Yes the fair is your subject. But what if you narrowed that down to vendors, or to children, or maybe just a collection of portraits of people at the fair. Again, this goes back to "What am i showing?" I know the fair is a big place with many people, but something more clearly defined in this area would help the viewer.

Enough of bashing you, becuase i dont think you failed. In fact i think its awesome youre willing to learn this stuff, and its important to start somewhere.

I see something very very important in your work, you shoot at different angles. You have no idea how huge this is. When editing down your images it is important to have options. (btw, most stories, at least in my school, are about 5-10 solid images. My story on police work spanned several nights, thousands of shots, and the end result was 5 of the most cohesive, not the best, photos in the stack.)

When looking through, i think if you narrowed down and formed a story, youd have something really nice. The ones i thought showed promise to be in a story would be:

17

15

12

10

9

6

4

3

are all options to build a story from.

The baby stroller one that someon pointed out is nice and chilling. However it begs the question, where is the baby? is this fair nothing more than an elaborate baby stealing operation? i know thats far fetched, but the image begs the question in the context of a photo story.

I hope i helped. Dont give up. Keep finding stories. Try to find someone you could shadow for a day and take pictures of, like a construction guy, or someone you find interesting. One on one coverage yields better photos than a large event type place. It lets you find and foster a story that your viewer would not have otherwise found. Dont pose, just find and react your pictures.  

Answer 5

i like most of them.

Answer 6

I have seen some of your others shots that were much better. Backs of people's heads  are not interesting, but I suspect shyness on your part which needs to be overcome. Not bad, mind you, but I am aware you can do better.

Answer 7

I think a lot of them are lame and boring. But I love the one with the sculpture and lady bending over. :]

Answer 8

Cool! It's so... professional!

Answer 9

awesome pix!

what type of camera do you use?

Answer 10

Love these:

#2, 8, 12, 16

the one w/ the dog is cute.

you definitely have an eye for photography

some of them are as good as the photographer that works for our local paper.

Answer 11

Eh, I didn't really like most of them. however, i do like the sculpture one that the other poster mentioned, along with that pink "fairey" thing and the "no parking anytime" with the flag painting in the background.

Answer 12

all of them seem dull, except for the stroller one really took my breath away!

Answer 13

I honestly think they're really good!

:)

Answer 14

Some of these are really great, like the one of the woman with the quilt.  It's got great color contrast, detail, and movement.  I also really liked the one with the shelf of pottery.  Others are okay, like the one of the glasses.  Not necessarily dull, but not striking either.  

I think the pictures with a lot of people or subjects in them become a little muddled, like the one with the two little old ladies, and another one of the group shots.  But your best pictures seem to be the ones with less activity going on.  Like the blown glass fish.  

I think perhaps, even with pictures that have a lot of things going on, if there's some way to make one object the focus while still capturing everything else that's going on outside, then that will work better in your pictures.  

I enjoyed looking at them though!  Keep shooting!  

Edit:  I know it's awkward asking people to take their pictures, but all I can say is go for it!  The worst that can happen is that they say no.  And the best?  You get a shot of a really adorable little girl merrily playing in a park in France.