Yeah, these are for the governor school which in the second round there is an interview, where they ask questions like "what were you thinking when you did this?" and stuff like that so I guess I should maybe just start shooting a lot more and start a theme. The deadline is January 4th, so I have a little bit of time.
A few thoughts for you with potential picture ideas:
A series of portraits of students, friends, faculty, family that are both a nice portrait and show something about the person that identifies them or perhaps emphasizes how they have influenced your life. This means that the background/foreground works with the individual in the context of the image. The girl who is a friend in her bedroom with all her plush animals, transitioning from being a child to a sensitive adult; the gruff chem teacher that is teaching you to organize your time, the coach who shows you what you can do when you work as a team..... Now you go out there and make pictures that work that are not cliches, remembering that cliches often are rooted in truth..........
Short photo stories that feature topics that are near and dear to the heart of your peers: getting/using/polishing/cruising in your first car'''or suddenly detailing the family car. Cars are big expansion of your world: how do you celebrate that.
More mundane learning experiences like learning to buy your own clothes. If you have been through this, what was you biggest goof?
Pictures that show modern influences, like a discussion where everyone is wearing an I-pod...........
The influence of younger siblings..........
Make pictures of people where you interact with them as more or less equals; no little children, no bums--that's too easy...
No specific comments on the images, except to note that your technical execution is pretty good (see #6 and #20), so you need to put more work into composition, soul, and feeling in each image. Good execution of the craft of photography is necessary, but not sufficient, to the creation of art in photography. That is where these photos need to get better. Good start, don't get me wrong... I just see more potential in them.
But mostly, I'm glad to see that you (a) asked for critiques and advice, and then (b) listened to what was said. Some people will be gentle, some will be very abrupt. But all answered with an intent to help and be useful, and some people don't have the wisdom to appreciate that and accept what may actually be very painful comments, but no less valid for being negative.
When asking for C&C in a forum, do provide some background; it'll help people to know whether they're evaluating the skills of a landscape pro or a sophomore in high school, and how (or for what) the images will be used. It gets you better, more tuned-to-your-needs feedback.
