Nature Evalauation

This is 3rd and final photography exhibit and I wanted to capture a lot of nature around the area that a live.  The easiest places to capture images of nature are Hyde Park and Werneth Lowe.  

This image was taken in Hyde Park and the reason I like this image is because I like how the sun shines through the leaves on the trees and it really stands out.  There isn't really a main focus with this image because the subject is nature and nature is everywhere is this picture. The rule of thirds works well with this image and because you have the tree on the left, then the middle with the light and the the right tree.  The only thing that I did when I edited was that I turned down the brightness because the sun was to bright so I turned it down.  I should off cropped the image on both sides so that the extra trees weren't in it that would of made it look better.  I don't like how you can see fences in the photo and if I was to take the picture again I would try to get a less of the fences as possible.

This is the 2nd image that I put into the exhibit, I like this image because of the singular mushroom on it's own and it stood out as soon as I saw it.  All the leaves were naturally already there, but the leaf on the left looks like it is falling down to the floor.  I used manual focus to try and just focus on the mushroom because I wanted that to be the main focus.  What also stands out is the moss around the bottom of the trees.  I turned the flash on when taking this picture because I took one similar without the flash and it looked to dark so I took it again with the flash and it looked a lot better than the first attempt.  When I edited the photo all I really did was scale it up the make the image bigger.  If I was to do the photo again I would maybe make all the photo in focus instead of just having the mushroom in focus.

This is the 3rd and final picture that I used in the nature exhibit.  The thing I like about this picture is that how just one of the leaves is in focus instead of them all being in focus.  I like how one thing is just in focus because it then makes the subject in focus the main focus and in every image you should have a main focus.  I like how much detail is in the rain drops because when you see rain on a leaf it just look like a wet leaf but by doing this you can see the rain drops individually and it has a lot of detail which I like.  This photo was originally landscape and worked well with the rule of thirds but I then liked how the image was portrait and then the rule of thirds didn't really work.  But I still used the image because it stood out to me and I enjoyed it.  As I just mentioned when I edited it changed it from landscape to portrait and that was the only editing that I did to this image.  If I was to go back to  taking this picture maybe I could of taken I different range of photos including water on flowers or with a water feature that would of looked really good and would of stayed with one topic.

When I finished this exhibit I was happy with what I had done it wasn't as good as my other two exhibits but it was satisfactory and I still enjoyed talking image in the woods.

Street Life Evaluation

My next exhibit is my Street Life which I think is my best exhibit out of the 3 that I did.  Some people may call in documentary but I gave it another name so that I stood out more and that because it is the street life of Manchester City Centre and no matter what you will see people like this no matter what city you are in because it's just the way life is and people are trying to earn money for there families.  For each image that I chose there is something different to it.

This is the first image I chose for my Street Life exhibit, I chose this image because who ever is under that suit isn't doing it for themselves he is doing it to raise money for charity no matter how hot it maybe in that suit he is doing it for others in need of the money.  I like how the fact you can see the shadow of Pudsey the Bear on the wall and even though the everything around him is in black and white you still know that it is a sunny day, you can see a bank just behind and it makes the image stand out because you know that he is in a populated area because banks are in populated areas so people can get money and then maybe he could raise more money for charity if he is in a populated area.  Once I got a back to editing the image the image was slanted so by rotating it, it made it straight and then by scaling in it made it bigger.  With all these Street Life images I decided that I wanted all the backgrounds black and white and then I wanted the main focus in colour so that they stood out more.  If I could go back to taking this image to make it better I think capturing somebody putting money into the collection I think that it would get the message across a lot more that helping others is important.

Here is the 2nd picture that I used and it is an image of a man working for the MEN (Manchester Evening News) this may not be the best job in the world for this man, but these days it is very hard to find a job, so he probably did his best and found this to earn some money.  What I like about this image is how he is stood there with a newspaper and he looks like he is looking directly into the camera.  Also I like how I managed to capture other people into the image because otherwise if it was him on his own and nobody walking past it would look like the image was set up which I didn't want it to look like that.  There are lots of shadows in the image coming off the people and then coming of the newspaper stand showing that it was a sunny day and sun shows many emotions that it could be a happy day.  I tried my best to use the rule of thirds for all the images as best as I could so that there was something in each third and for this one you have the man selling the papers in the middle then on the left you have the women walking past and then on the right you have the newspaper stand.  If I was to come back to this image I would sure there was a little less head space and zoom in a little more to capture the facial expression of the main focus.

This is my 3rd & 4th picture from my exhibit and they are both very similar and they are what you call buskers, they guy from from the top is performing the saxophone and the guy below is dressed up as Predator, they are both trying to earn money for themselves because maybe the are unemployed and can't find a secure job so they find there own ways of making money.  I like how they are both are outside of shops so that they are easily noticed by customers and the customers then

might give them some change.  I wanted the message from these two images to come across as how life isn't so easy for some people and that you shouldn't take things that you have in life for granted because these people may not have that much in life.  You can now tell that it is later in the day or there was a quick change in weather because there are now no shadows unlike the previous images.  Both images were edited so that they were straight as possible and using the rule of thirds.  If I was to go back to taking these pictures I would do 2 things on the top one picture I would zoom in more on him playing the sax and eliminate some of the head space and then for both of them I would of liked to capture and pedestrian giving them some money showing people that giving them some change isn't a bad thing and it could eventually end up helping these people out. 

This is my 5th and final image that I used on my Street Life exhibit and from all the other images this one differs because this guy look like he is doing well for himself it looks like this is his own business and he picked a good spot to place it in the middle of Manchester because it is always busy and people may not won't to pay food court prices.  What I like in this picture is how people are actually buying food from there and this is what I wanted to do with all of the images is somebody to contribute and I got that with this picture.  The owner even has a charity bucket on his stall and what he probably does if some lets him keep the change he will put it in the charity bucket and this is what life should be like not keeping everything for yourself and helping out others.  The facial expression of the owner is that he looks really happy and that maybe because he enjoys what he is doing or he might be having a good conversation with the customers.  I was quite for away for this image but I zoomed in and managed to capture a lot.  This image was really slanted when I came to editing it so I had to do a lot of rotating so make it straight and look presentable.  This is the only image that I wouldn't want to change anything because I thing it is a really good photo. 


After completing these image I was highly satisfied with what I produced and couldn't be happier with this exhibit.  Because it had a lot meaning behind it and it also told a little story this is why it was my best exhibit out of the 3.    

Architecture Evalauation

I really enjoyed taking photos of the architecture around Manchester because there are so many different types of buildings but I chose to mainly focus on the newer looking buildings and then did the odd older looking building to compare how they differ over the years.  I ended up selecting 3 images to exhibit and I am going to evaluate all 3 of them.

This is the first picture that I decided to put on my exhibit, I really like this image just because it is an unusual looking building and you don't see a building like this every single day.  This building was directly in the view of the sun so you can see a lot of reflections coming off the building because of the sun which makes the building look a lot better because if it was a dull day the building would look ugly.  There are no clouds in shot when I took this picture which makes the building more of the main focus because there is nothing else you can see.  When I went back I then edited this picture and originally it was a bit slanted so I used the rule of thirds and then I rotated the image until it look as straight as possible.  To improve this image I would eliminate some more of the sky so that then there would be more detail in the building.  Also if I was to get a worm's eye view of the building I think it would look really good.

The next image I selected was this image of a church and as you can see there is a building behind it which is more of a newer build and I like how that the church makes the building behind look really scruffy and it makes  it look like a poor piece of architecture, it goes to show that old building today still look nice just because they are a piece of history.  Also you can see the tree in front of both of the buildings I could of easily of picked another picture without the tree in it but I liked this picture more because you can see a bit of the natural surrounding because no matter where you go there will be nature around architecture.  You can see that its a clear day but even if it wasn't a clear day and it was dull the image would still look good because the colouring of the church is dull and it would match.  Using the rule of thirds again once I edited it to make sure that the image looked perfect, with this image to I added an effect to it and it was a grain effect you can only really see the grain effect when you look at the sky.  If I was to improve this image I would go back and I would like to get more of the church in the image to make it look like the church is the more dominant of the two building that you can see.

This was the 3rd and final image that I added to my architecture exhibit and I went back to the view of a newer looking building and like the first image the majority of the building is made from glass.  You see a lot of newer looking building made from glass obviously it's not just glass it will need metal to support it but a lot of the metal will be hidden.  This building is of a store and it is a well known store and if the building looks unusual then people tend to remember it more because it stands out.  There are two other building next to the main focus and it looks like the 2 other building are holding up the main focus.  Again it is a clear sunny day and because it is sunny and the building is made from glass you can see reflections you can see on the left side the sun  is shinning off it and then it you look closely you can see some of the building structure on the inside on the glass.  If I was to come back and do this image again I would eliminate the clouds but I would keep a lot of the sky in it because it stands out more than it does in the first image because it is a slimmer building.  I went up close to the building and got a worms eye view of it, it would look good because it is a rounded building and it would look unusual and look like something you haven't seen before and when doing photography you want unusual because it you just take pictures of bog standard things it would look boring and people wouldn't look at them the same.

After I had exhibited my architecture I was happy with the 3 images I selected and I think they were the best 3 that I took and couldn't be any prouder of my work I put in 100% and the only things that would make them better is the improvements that I mentioned above.    

Arnold Newman (Documentary)

Arnold Newman born in Manattan, New York on March 13 1918.  Arnold Newman is well known for his environmental portraits of artists and politicians, also know for his carefully composed abstract still life images.  He found his vision in the empathy he felt for artists and their work, he photographed many personalities including John.F Kennedy, Harry S Truman, Pablo Picasso, Ronald Reagan and Audrey Hepburn.  Newman is credited with being the first photographer to use so called environmental portrait, in which the photographer places the subject in a carefully controlled setting to capture the essence of the individuals life and work.  Newman used the subjects in familiar surrounding so artists in a recording studio or stage or politician in their office or representative  building.  Newman didn't often use colour, his main style was black and white.  His best know colour image was of former Nazi slave labor boss Alfied Krupp in one of Krupp's factories.  In 1946 when he moved back to New York City he opened Arnold Newman Studios and worked freelance photography for Fortune, Life and, Newsweek. 

This is a picture that Arnold Newman took of Ronal Reagan when he was President of the United States of America.  Right from the off you can tell that this is an Arnold Newman because of the background he is using because he likes to take pictures of people whilst in there profession and this is Ronald Reagan in the White House where he will have spent a lot of his time whilst he was president.  The facial expression Reagan is using look kind of smug like he is one of very few people who have had the privilege of working in that room also he looks proud to be in power of the country.  The lighting in this room is relatively bright and if think that when you think of the White House that you think that inside it should always look bright and clean which in this picture is does because it is considered as a great place and it is highly recognised across the globe so it needs to like presentable.  I think that Newman is stood a bit of a distance away from Reagan because you can see that there is a lot of headroom but that is because he wanted a wide shot so that he can get the majority of the room in shot so you know where he is.  Reagan is dressed very smartly and people expect him to because he is president but the picture would look good as well in something less casual because behind close doors I don't think he will wear a suit all the time because it can be uncomfortable so the image would of looked good if they had casual clothes on to see how the president dresses on his down time.   

Lee Friedlander (Documentary)

Lee Friedlander in Aberdeen, Washington on July 14 1934.  Friedlander studied photography at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calafornia.  In 1956 he moved to New York CIty where he photographed jazz singers for there record covers.  Working mostly  with Leica 35mm cameras and black and white film, Friedlander main style focued on social landscape.  His photographs used detached images images in urban life, store-reflections, structures framed by fences, posters and signs all combining to capture the look of modern life.  In 1963 he had his first solo exhibition at the International Musuem of Photography at George  Eastman House.  Freidlander now works with medium format cameras like Hasselblad Superwide.  Freidlander suffered with arthritis with made it hard for him to carry on with his photography so with the little he did he photographed his surrounding as much as possible.  His book 'Stems'  reflects his around the time of his knee replacment surgery and says that his limbs remind him of plant stems.  These images display textue which were not a feature of his earlier work.

You can tell straight away that this is a Friedlander images because of the style because he likes to capture images of everyday life and this is what this image is, it looks like a cafe and you can see the two people in the window and they look completely oblivious that they are being photographed, another style you can tell is the reflection of the other shops in the window.  Even though the image is black and white you can tell that it is natural lighting because he is outdoors and you can see the reflections.  The image look like it was taken across the other side of the road and then used a zoom lens to capture the facial expression. The older man looks like the owns the shop because he is dressed professionally and he may be looking outside to see how nice it is or he could be looking to see if any customers are coming, then the kid could be a customer or he could be a relative of the owner and he looks bored.  You see the Coca Cola advert in the window and its shows how long Coca Cola has been around and how widely recognised it was even then. 

Robert Capa (Documentary)

Robert Capa born in Budapest, Hunagary on October 22nd 1913.  Capa was most well known for his photography which documented on several wars.  Capa originally wanted to be a writer, but he found some photography work in Berlin and then he learned to love the art of photography.  In 1933 he moved from Germany to France because of the rise of Nazism and persecution of jewish journalists and photographers and found it hard to get freelance work.  Arounnd this time he changed his name from Endre Friedmann to Robert Capa, Capa was his nickname in school and it was more American sounding and it was similar to American film director Frank Capra.  He found it easier to sell more pictures under his new name.  Capa's first published photograph was of Leon Trotsky making a speech in Copenhagenon The Meaning of Russian Revolution in 1932.  In 1947 Capa co founded Magnum Photos in Paris with David Seymour, Henri Cartier Bresson, George Rodger and William Vandivert, Magnum Photos was the first cooperative agency for worldwide freelance photographers.  The 5 wars he photographed were the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across europe, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the First Indochina War.  He documented the course of World War II in London, North Africa, Italy, the Battle of Normandy on Omaha Beach and the liberation of Paris.

Robert Capa most famous image named 'The Falling Soldier' was captured in the Spanish Civil War.  The soldier has just been fatally shot by the enemy and is collapsing backwards  and the gun is falling out of his hand.  In the image you can see a lot of landscape even in the distance, there seems be a lot of clouds in the sky and they seem to be grey so it must have been quite a dull day.  There wouldn't of been any adding lighting because he would of wanted to capture the image in natural lighting because it not like it's a image taken  on a set it's a man doing his job in the Spanish Civil War.  Capa would of been relatively close to the soldier that had just been shot.  The picture probably was intended to be of a soldier being shot and killed, Capa probably just wanted an image of a regular soldier doing his job but just at the time he was taking the picture the soldier had been shot wish was unfortunate but it also shows what actually happens in wars and it wasn't pretty.  There isn't really any facial expression you can only see one side of his face and his eyes and mouth are closed so maybe the soldier had died on impact of the shot.  You don't see many pictures like this you either see a image of a soldier that is doing his job or that is already on the ground but he is captured an image where he has only just literally been hit by the bullet.    

Herb Ritts (Portrait)

Herb Ritts born in Los Angeles, Calfornian on Auguest 13th 1952.  Ritts first started off working in the family furniture buisness, until he moved to the east coast to study at Bard College in New York where he earned his major in economics and art history.  It wasn't until he moved back to Los Angeles that he became interestd in photography where he and his friend Richard Gere who at the time wasn't aswell known as an actors as he is today, decided to take some photographs in front of an old jacked up Buick.  The photographs gained Ritts some coverage and he begin to think more seriously about getting into the photography business.  He photographed Brook Sheilds for the cover of October 12th 1981 cover of Elle, he then also photographed Olivia Newton John for her physical album in 1981.  Five years later he used the same pose for Madonna and her True Blue release in 1986.  Over the years he worked for several magazine and Fashion designers icluding Esquire, GQ, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Levi's plus many more.  He took many photos of celebrites over the years including the likes of Cindy Crawford, Michael Jordan, Ronald Reagan, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Stephen Hawking plus many more.


This image of Michael Jordan is Ritts style of photography he loves to use black and white images and black and white images for portrait look better than they do in colour, they stand out more because they are different.  The facial expression he has is a kind of seriousness and because he is holding the basketball in his hands that he is serious about the game of basketball and that the loves the game, it could also be taken that he is being smug because he is known as the best basketball player in the world.  Because it's black and white you can't really tell about the lighting but you can see a little bit of light on the middle of his face because in the middle of his face its lighter than either side and you can see a little bit  of light behind his back through through the arches of his arms because of the way he is holding the ball.  The way the photo is taken Ritts must be quite close to the subject, there is no head space and the image seems to be quite full apart from above his shoulders they could of taken the picture on a basketball court filling the picture in and making look like he is  in his natural surrounding.