A Subway Scene

Looking through my photo archives for a photo to discuss this week, I came across this one. I never thought very much of this photo when I took it, it was an on the run capture and I don’t think it was ever really what I was picturing to capture. After not seeing it for a while, I find it pretty interesting and rather funny. And even more surprising, I now love the composition of the shot. It is almost like it is not even a photograph, but a child’s view of the scene, hidden behind other passerby's. This scene has so many details that create a multitude of stories and ideas for the audience. Probably the most unusual detail is the native american fellow towards the right side of the photo. He immediately pops out as almost out of place, almost creating a staged feel to the photo. He is in the one open spot of the scene, where behind him a woman is in mid walk, and even further behind, two people are having a conversation. Its not surprising to believe that this is of course in New York, a city where you find all kids of people by just walking down the street of any neighborhood. Street and urban photography, like portraits, always provide great stories and profile of real, unscripted lives. Similarly to portraits, theres always that aspect of street photography that you can’t control, even greater than portraits usually, too. This is why journalists and reporters are some of the largest groups of photographers who create captivating street photographs, the ones which are featured on the front page of the Times and trend all over the web. What do you like about street photography?

Hannah

Portraiture is one of my favorite types of photography. You can capture so much expression and so much of a story just from someone’s facial expression. This photo is of my sister Hannah, it was taken in New York over winter. So what makes a great portrait? There are basic rules of photography, pertaining to lighting and focusing and the sort, this structure of the photo, commonly referred to as the rule of thirds, and then there is this untouchable element, the human, that is the wild card. The rules and structure are simple to follow, even for the most novice photographer, but this third element is usually where the photo either makes or breaks it. Well, this isn’t an easy question to answer. There is only so much you can do to manipulate someones expression. A good portrait must also reflect on its surroundings and the mood of the light, as well as the person’s intellectual state. I think this portrait of my sister almost captures all three aspects perfectly. Not only is she in a great spot, but the lighting is almost spot on. You can get a great sense of depth from how the lake looks like it continues on and fades into the distance. Her face is outlined by the focus of the lens and her expression says it all. Although her face is relatively small when compared with the rest of the photo, you can tell she is taking in the atmosphere and environment and enjoying her life. 

Chinatown

This is an older photograph of mine that I took with a film camera. One day during the spring I was in New York city and was snapping all kinds of urban type shots, this one specifically is from a fish market in Chinatown. I had found an old 35mm film camera in my house that needed some work, so I got it repaired at put it to work. Film cameras often yield much different types of photos than digital pictures, they just have a more vintage feel to them, even if they’re just as sharp. They seem so much more untouched, no pun intended considering that film comes out pretty much raw disregarding the modifications that can be applied in the darkroom. The high contrast and graininess of the photo make it unique, and the fellow standing front and center adds a certain mood to the scene. Although his face expression is small, compared to the other parts of the photo, you can tell he isn’t happy, he looks tired. He probably works long and dull days and doesn’t make the best money. From the appearance of the store, it doesn’t look like its in the best condition and may not be the image people get when they think of Chinatown and New York City. I find taking pictures of strangers, and urban settings, interesting. You get so much personality and character since its on the fly and usually in their natural setting (not a lab or set), and a real story can be developed. Lighting, objects, and the scenery is all natural and not set up. Two summers ago, I walked all over New York with one of my friends and took pictures of all types of New Yorkers, young and old. Look forward to some of those photos in the coming weeks.

Bike Restoration

I took these photos a while back, over winter break, when I was restoring an old road bike that I found lying around my house. The bike was in great condition considering it was 30+ years old, but the paint had lots of chips in it that we filing with rust. The first picture captures one of my favorite parts of the restoration, when I used the paint stripper to remove all of the paint so I could sand the frame down. I had never used a paint stripper before, but learned that it was very toxic and very dangerous. You could see how the stripper ate away at the pain and made it easy to wipe right off. Despite the hazard, it worked wonders on the bike frame and made it very easy to remove the current paint which was old and was applied very thick. I think this photo of the bottom section of the frame is a really interesting photo, I was able to get a very neat angle with great focus on the frame. The lighting is a little on the dark side, but the light is visible where is counts and lets you see the stripper bubbling up the paint. After I stripped all of the paint off of the bike, I proceeded to sand it down until the metal was smooth and then I applied a primer coat, and then the green paint. With the new paint job, which can be seen in the second photo, the bike frame was now smooth and looked much sleeker. I really like the contrasts in the second photo of the bike frame; the bike frame stands out from the newspaper but also blends in, but you can tell the newspaper is not the focus of the picture, even though it is in focus and almost in the same depth of field as the bike. All together, the bike restoration took about a week, which included taking the bike apart completely, stripping, painting, applying all new parts and cables, and reassembling. I’m thinking about making it a side business of mine.

Springing Forward

Spring is right around the corner, and we’ve been experiencing some great previews of the glorious spring weather soon to come to the valley. After reading over some of my past posts, its time to reassess my topics of these posts, they have become to much like journal entries, so here it goes. I saw the perfect opportunity to capture some really cool shadows the other day walking back from class on Pollock Road. The sun was in an interesting position where I had to focus my phones camera behind a tree to not get the sunlight into the lens, and I loved the results. There is a really interesting contrast between the highlights and the shadows here, especially towards the bottom of the photo. I also want to point out the shadows and highlights from the trees at the right side of the photo, the lines are really crisp and the highlights are not to bright, it is the perfect mix for an interesting shadow. The photograph seems to be a bit dark at first but when you look further into it, it brightens up and you can see the light, almost like the winter months are almost ending and spring is near. To build on that concept, it is worth noting that people on the right sidewalk are walking into the picture, into the light, into spring, inferring even more of a forward movement. The color effects I added to the photo help to make it seem somewhat old and over/under exposed and bring more personality to the photo; a pink sky and yellow sidewalk are pretty uncommon but focus on the sunlight. After spring break, I plan on upgrading from my cell phone camera and bringing my professional camera up to get more creative with my shots, so be ready!

Just Dance!

The biggest highlight of this past week had to be THON. As old as THON posts are getting, I will try to keep this one as unique and non-cliche as possible. It was hard for me to stop taking pictures with all the different colors that were surrounding me and all of the ridiculous dance moves that people were showing off. Being on the floor provided me an awesome opportunity to take some great photos of dancers working hard throughout the weekend, but I felt a bit awkward taking photos of random people with my little camera. Dancing were crying, laughing, struggling, and pushing through and I wish I could have captured these moments that help people see what THON weekend entails. One of the most captivating moments on the floor of the Bryce Jordan Center came when it was time for line dances. Everyone on the floor who is tired and resting gets up, and almost everyone in the stands participates. The first few times were a bit messy, but towards the end of the weekend, everyone in the BJC was dancing to the same dance and it almost looked jaw dropping. In this photo, I tried to get a perspective from near the stage of the line dance. One could see that everyone seems to have similar movements going on, it made for a great capture. All of the colors help to show the audience of the photo how much personality the event has and how excited people get about THON. Overall, this picture really helps to capture the spirt of the past weekend.

Snow, Snow, Snow

State College has quite interesting weather patterns. We’ve experienced some beautiful snow storms and many ugly rainy days. The photo above was the image outside of my dorm a few days ago. This is why I love west halls and why I love the campus here at Penn State. The image I woke up to was absolutely beautiful. Everything was covered in snow, yet the sun was shining brightly. As much as I love the snow, I’ve grown to dislike it a bit seeing that I have to trek to classes in blizzards sometimes. When your a child and you live a carefree life and you can come home and ride your sled, you have a much different feeling towards snow. The abnormally warm weather that we have been experiencing has been great, but as an avid snowboarder I’m a bit disappointed. I am beginning to really believe in global warming. Over the past few years we haven't seen nearly as much snow as we have in the past. It is hard not to believe in global warming, or at least think that something is up, when one day its snowing, the next its 50 degrees, and then later in the week its snowing again. I was very excited to bring up my snowboard when I heard the valley usually receives a lot of snow, but that was not the case this winter. Yes, mountains make artificial snow but please, its not real snow. It all becomes ice overnight anyway. All things considered, I cannot wait for the spring weather to really kick in.