I have attempted a B&W photo documentary of the Chinatown Friday Night Street Markets here in Sydney. Here are a few 'sets' from that. The entire collection can be viewed here: http://faswad.zenfolio.com/p1026983425
Thanks for looking and as always, criticism is more than welcome.
Love the gritty feel of these. I'm not sure if the contrast is bumped a little too much or not. It's a matter of taste. In my opinion, it's just a tad too much.
However, for the grittiness of these and the street scenes of people shooing you away and what not, it probably works well.
I really enjoyed this series. While once can certainly make an arguement for and against the processing, the documentary aspect is undisputed. While never havng been there, I feel like you've given me a great sense of the vibe for the place and atmosphere. Tattoos right there outside on the street. Haven't seen that in my parts of the country!
Well done.
-Tim
I think you did a nice job capturing the feel of the place, but the processing makes the images look a bit cluttered and confusing. I'd back way off on the contrast, and watch out how you isolate your subjects so that they don't get lost in the background.
Great candid series Faswad. You have certainly captured the essence of this place quite well, with all the different faces all around. I am also fascinated by how you organize your images into different emotions. Quite unique in my opinion, and an idea that I hope to borrow from and somehow incorporate my work into it as well.
Hostility #3 is great with the hand-motion and the woman with her eyes fixated to yours. Takes guts to take shots like these.
However the processing seems a little too extreme here, which takes away from the feeling of candid images. I think that a more traditional b/w conversion would work better here.
take care Faswad. And thank you for your proliferation of kind and constructive criticism on the board. It really is noticed
Thank you all for the comments. Its great to know there is something in these shots. I realise there are mixed feelings re the processing and contrast, but StevenZ and Tim ONeill approve so I can keep 'em this way .
I will experiment with different processings and see what I get. Thanks for the feedback.
Eric, you'll find I come around with a deluge of comment and then dissappear for a while and so forth. The stresses of life I guess. Great to know you have gotten something out of this series. now you gotta pay me royalties though . I looked at the shots and immediately saw they presented the different themes. It was never initially planned.
As some of the others have said, for me there is too much contrast. so much in fact that I was unable to enjoy the images but as we have worked out I have quite simple tastes.
Thanks Martyn. I have received such conflicting views on these, with yours being the strongest in opposition. I guess this means I really must rethink what I am trying to achieve with these.
Thanks!
I like the subjects, the candid captures. But I join Martyn. I feel the contrast is too intense, making these images a bit too busy and, to my eye, sometimes harsh. A few others are a bit HDR-ish, but I'm not a fan personally, unless there is a reason to be over-the-top, like T-Bone's comedy series.
"Anxiety" stands out as an especially good capture in terms of candid, content, composition, but again, I find the compositions excellent.
Documentary feel, check. Slice of life / "real" look to it...definitely.
Driving all middle tones to black is excessive and not particularly attractive to my eye. Gives the images the feel of looking at a negative. If it were channeled to selectively darken areas of less interest, then I think that you would have a winning look, even done to this extreme. However, since it appears that all middle tones were just flattened, I think that you lost more than you gained here. Certain types of shots like abstracts and detailed still life shots, particularly with industrial subjects would likely work with this approach, but for these scenes.
I am drawn most to one of your middle images with the fan in the lower section of the shot and the woman's face half eclipsed. Composition on that shot is quite good, and the processing is much closer to complementing the scene rather than working randomly.
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