Feedback and response to Assignment Two: Photographing the unseen - Wonder

Fantastic and encouraging feedback to Assignment Two from my tutor :)

I had fulfilled the brief and produced a tightly edited set that illustrated various conflicting interpretations of the concept of "wonder" in street photography style, with a recommendation for future work to explore the idea of focusing on one aspect of an idea and pushing deeper within the same idea, rather than laterally around the idea (I will try to do this for Assignment Three).  My tutor recommended I research Dana Popa's "Not Natasha" series for a deep and personal insight into trafficking to get an idea of researching deeper into a theme, which I will in preparation for Assignment Three.  She mentioned the risks of choosing a travel theme for an assignment but this had been a consistent approach.  I will however be attempting this again in Japan for Assignment Three?

From a technical perspective, the feedback I received was that the images are strong, with colour and depth of saturation making them stand out.   The focus is good and detail unusual for this stage of my development in street photography, with compelling compositions and the impression of being close to the communities I photographed.  The tight editing had worked well and something to remember and keep up for future assignments.

To be honest, this is better feedback than I could have hoped for!

The only picture my tutor did query was Picture 6 - the dog and the shadow:

With this photo, I was trying to achieve a sense of mystery.  While I was shooting it I had held the position for about 15mins over the real dog - I was practicing exposing for highlights against shadows, and was waiting for something interesting to happen while watching the shadows change.  Finally a second dog came into view, but of course all you can see of the second dog is its shadow, which at first is confusing as it looks like the real dog has its shadow in the wrong place.  But, at the time, when this great dog-shape came into view through the view finder, it actually felt quite sinister - it completely changed the light for one thing, but it also felt like the shadow dog was creeping past the sleeping dog.  When I then put together my series and paired it backwards with the policeman looking alarmed and forwards with the child hiding behind bars, I was trying to get a sense of a frightening aspect of wonder across.  I do have some other mystery shots I could substitute - but I felt that this one worked the best in terms of the peeling onions and transition from positive to negative concept of wonder.

Finally, to explore street photography further, she recommended researching further:

• Joel Sternfeld
• Stephen Shore
• Saul Leiter
• William Eggleston
• Helen Levitt.

I'm already familiar with Saul Leiter, although I haven't previously mentioned him in my blog, but the others are new.  I will certainly research these photographers!