today, i walked around two blocks of my office building looking for a good, no, excellent street shot. someone from our london (england) office asked me to submit some of my photographs of the streets of toronto, for an upcoming issue of our firm's worldwide magazine. the deadline? on monday. the way i read the e-mail was that she had asked some people in our american offices to put in submissions since last december and buggers probably didn't bother. so now she's going into print end of next week and she doesn't have any submissions yet.
she sent me a long brief, at the same time warning me that their standards for photos are so high therefore i need to adhere to the brief. i looked at the four previous issues and i thought i could reach their high, if i really want to.
this is one of the shots i took today. i don't know if you can discern a story here, and if you can let me know please, because apart from 'wow there's red on that bike' i see no story nor value to this shot. so why don't you guys humour me and tell me what story you glean from this shot.
if i like your answers then i will go about tomorrow and sunday and hunt for that perfect street shot. (maybe i should take @northy with me, the kid's good with this stuff!)
thank you for your kind visits and comments; know that they are truly appreciated.
oh man! i'd love to go on a street photo meander with you... really it's all kind of random tho... just wander around and see what's happening... i'm betting for your magazine (specially because it's a law firm, right?) it's going to be more about the city street than about people... although you'd likely want a human element... why not go around to old city hall and the courthouse for some shots? or maybe something iconic with the cn tower in the backdrop somewhere?
i like the pop of red in this - but, i'd be inclined to crop the shot a bit because at the mo', my eye isn't sure if i'm supposed to be looking at the cyclist or the building... but that might just be me - i'm easily confused :)
Oh wow.. I had a push figured out for you and then I read what you'll be doing this week, and I don't want to pile on (tee hee, sports term!) Reading about at your list of pushs, I see that you feel technically challenged and that you can't teach an old dog new tricks because you're 60? Pish tush! If this old dog gets to where I can't learn something new, just shoot me! ;-) I was going to suggest light painting since you don't seem to have done that, but then I figured I should come up with something you could do while looking for these magazine shots. Then i thought about mirror lock up, since that would help with crispness and threw that out because I thought you were shooting with a d3000 and that camera doesn't have the MLU feature. But now I see that you have a T3i. So now that I've looked up if that camera has it, and it does, so long exposure with MLU is my challenge to you: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-enable-mirror-lockup-on-a-canon-eos-rebel-t.html And if that's just something you already knew and use all the time, you're stuck with light painting. :-)_
@kali66 - I HATE HOCKEY! or i hate watching professional hockey games, all they ever do is try and kill each other, and often there's blood. gheez! talk about sportsmanship or lack thereof. whew! you got me started there, my friend. hahaha! these assignments are really difficult. thank you, kali.
@northy - i was thinking tonight of a scenario of some hockey fans goofing about in the streets. but partner wouldn't go with me! and as for this shot, and where to focus, that's the kind of comments and critiques i'd like to get. because, yeah, i don't know where i should focus, too. the truth is i was just looking for a shot, and although these things are subjective, i think the first person to know what the story is (if there's any at all) should be the photographer, and i don't know what the story here is. tomorrow, imma stand in some corners downtown and wait and see what story i can come up with. gheez, louise, i'm not good at this last minute crap anymore! thank you! maybe i just tell them 'next issue, folks!' aaargh!
Jane sped through the intersection on her bike. She barely saw the small crowd across the way waiting for the light to change. Once it turned green they would file across the street like blood courses its way through the veins; a rhythmic pulse that only the city could produce. But the blood in her veins seemed clogged and the tears on her cheeks stung harder than sleet on a windshield in the dead of winter. How could her world ever return to normal? She felt betrayed, abandoned, and desolate. Although the sun shone brightly, and the cars continued merrily on their way, Jane felt only darkness and longed to be swallowed up by the deepest midnight a dreary winter could produce. It was not Spring! There was no hope! Gleason missed a key block in the final second causing Bernier to allow a goal by the Montreal Canadiens. And once again those hated rivals would deny the Maple Leafs a trip to the playoffs!
Well, that's my story. Now I forget what I was going to say about the shot.
@summerfield That is something I would notice, isn't it? But honestly and truly- I was so bent on making the story match the title and using the correct rivalry teams and athlete's names that by the time I finished the story, I really did forget what I was going to say about the picture!
March 24th, 2014
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i like the pop of red in this - but, i'd be inclined to crop the shot a bit because at the mo', my eye isn't sure if i'm supposed to be looking at the cyclist or the building... but that might just be me - i'm easily confused :)
@lafish - thank you, laurie.
@altadc - thank you, alta.
Well, that's my story. Now I forget what I was going to say about the shot.