Jake-
Agree, agree, agree, disagree, agree
.
Firstly; thank you for these critiques. This is exactly what I was looking for. Although the bias comments from my friends and family on Facebook are moderately pleasing, this is the kind of feedback I hoping to find. So, thank you!
In order to keep myself from getting confused, I'll name the images (both sets included and combined,) 1-8.
So, it's funny, if I were to pick one these sets as a favorite, it would probably be the first one. I see more message and purpose in these.
Image 1 is probably my favorite of the batch. I was trying to convey the almost dream-like feel of standing amongst the dune grass, and peering into the sun-lit fog. I included the road on the left edge to not only add contrast, but to give the feeling of length and depth.
Number 2 is just a play on the blinding light of the unobstructed sun, and the view I had. There's no real strong journalistic quality here, but I liked it because I thought that it was "pretty" and "neat."
Numbers 3 and 4 were some of my fave to shoot. I don't often step out of my comfort zone and shoot human interest-esk stuff, like this, very often. While my intention that day was to shoot the water and some landscape, I saw these surfer's bravery, madness, and calmness, very captivating. Neither shot is of high quality or resolution, and neither has very good lighting. But especially in the first one, the feeling of contemplation and anticipation really do it for me.
Number 5 is the culmination of about 100 snaps I took of this look out at this scene. Again, the resolution is pretty low, but I'm glad it seems to work as intended. I did think those maples were interesting.
Number 6-
The bleh sky does bother me, a lot. Although, I'm not sure whether or not I could have achieved the same effect on the sand, with a more vivid sky.Could I have? My intention was to play off of the juxtaposition of the moonscape-like sand and the soft water. I saw irony in the fact that the sand looked less inviting and comforting, to me, than the soft and blue Pacific.
I agree that the shot is very un-unified (I make up words because I can,) and that a unified shot of say, the surf crashing over would be very strong. Though, the feeling of separation that I find in this image would be lost. I appreciate your comments about it. They give me a ton of ideas for future outings! I think that a set of three images- one broad, this one, and one unified might convey my intended message better. I'm still hop-scotching over the line where messages are clear to my audience. Why can't everyone just see what I see?!
6-
meh... I've fallen out of love with it. To be honest, my intended subject want the seagull until I cropped it, which probably explains the disjointedness of it all. It gives me ideas for future similar images, done much better of course.
7-
I loved the tufts of grass. This is example of the "subtractive" idea that you speak of. I see far too many distractions in this image. The tree in the upper left was intended to frame the image, but is weak sauce to say the least. If I had it to shoot again, I would have focused only on the grass tufts, and left the rest in the scrap pile.
Great critiques, Jake. I appreciate all of them. I hadn't noticed my downward looking perspective in these sets, until you pointed it out. Funny though, most of the time I am "that guy" on the ground, getting his side muddy, just to get the shot. I guess I was feeling lazy this day... poor excuse, I know.
Mucho gratci-
Tobiah
