Yesterday we went out to Long Island City, wandered around the area taking pictures, visited a gallery, and watched a professional photographer show us her process.
I found Long Island City to be a relaxing environment to take pictures in. It was not nearly as crowded as Manhattan or Harlem was, but had the same look about it. The people were much friendlier towards us about taking their picture. Here are some shots from the neighborhood.
I love the shadows in this one. They lead you across the street, towards the truck, and all the way into the photo. The composition of the photo leads your eye in as well because of its directional lines.
As I’ve said before, I’m a fan of messing around with aperture priority. I like that the entire photo is out of focus except for a section towards the center of the wall. The different focus keeps the photo from being a plain, boring photo of a brick wall.
This picture seems almost foreboding. I didn’t feel nervous at all while in Long Island City, but this photo makes it seem almost scary. You can see the street clearly but the sidewalk remains under darkness, pulling your eye all the way back in and making you wonder if you really want to walk down that street!
This guy was really goofy and asked me to take his picture. So I did!
I like this one a lot. I have a version of it where the American flag is in focus and the telephone poles are out of focus, but the one above is much stronger. It seems like the American flag SHOULD be the focus of the picture, but it isn’t. Sort of like how American should be the most important thing to the government, but it’s not….?
I like the reflection of the building in the water. Pretttttty cool! The photo is more interesting than a photo of a puddle and also more interesting than a photo of a building, because it’s both. Ha.
I thought about theming this photoshoot around focus/out of focus, taking the same image twice only once keeping the subject in focus and once purposely keeping the subject out of focus. Had I ended up doing this, I planned on doing just what I did here.. putting the two images side by side.
This was light bouncing off of a building that I kept out of focused and darkened a little bit in photoshop. It doesn’t even look like this was taken during the day, or in Long Island City!
I didn’t take any photos in the gallery, but I did take a few when we went to the artist’s studio. The building itself was amazing, covered in colorful graffiti that apparently changes more often than can be counted. We learned about the artist’s photography printing process and a few people even had their picture taken!
This one was taken inside, but you can get a very general idea of what the graffiti was like.
Rosy getting her picture taken !
June 17, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I absolutely love the first picture. The shadow and how you made the composition of it made the picture very eyecatching since people are led into the picture. I like other pictures and especially the way you arranged the photos here. I feel like I am back in the long island city again, and the pictures from the focused-out american flag to also focused-out light seem to share a same tonal range and pensiveness! and yeah people there were much more friendly, but it made me uncomfortable in a weird way cause I felt more like a tourist…..
June 17, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I like the perspectives( underneath the subway) and also the brick’s wall
June 17, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Keep experimenting! I like what you’re doing with depth of field. I really like the idea of taking 2 different photos of the same subject.
June 18, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I like your photographs, especially the ones were you are playing with aperture and creating interesting images with the focus.
Thanks for my picture, it’s amazing!!!!
June 18, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Sophie-
i think that all the work that you have done thus far, like out on field trips and whatnot, is great. however, your conceptual project that you shot for this final exhibition is by far your best work. it is a great, specific series that really separates you from the rest of the class. i really gravitated toward the images because of that early morning light you captured so well. i think you should not give the viewer too much information about the images, kind of leave it open for interpretation. nice work
June 18, 2008 at 1:46 pm
sophie my dear, these images are brilliant! we had a very “interesting” time that day (no diet pepsi, we don’t drink that here… like we were supposed to know!) anyhow you were able to capture this area very well, even though it was not so visually appealing. we should have taken some diner shots now that i’m thinking about it…
June 18, 2008 at 1:47 pm
oh and the puddle picture with the reflection is outstanding