First attempt at a triptych

Thirdfox

Hey guys, I know I haven't been around much these days (I've moved to the US for study purposes for this year so have been awfully busy!)



Apologies for those who've seen these photos separately already. I'm entering them as part of an university visual imagery competition.

First question: without a contextual narrative does it work? I'd appreciate comments on anything from the background colour to the actual photos themselves, does the one b&w photo in the middle work? Is the title apt?

Oh and are the colours/gamma of the picture okay on your screen? My laptop isn't calibrated professionally...
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We are allowed to write a narrative so I wanted to explain that the 3 photos were chosen as a group because it represented a slice in time that will never happen again as the old style Beijing is metamorphosing into something new (old, modern and post-modern existing side by side). I try to link the 3 images by using the theme of movement and vehicles "moving" into the future. I used the title "Changing" because not all change is positive and the photos reflect that to create something new, often something old has to be destroyed or discarded. The face of the man in the middle represents the person "stuck" between the two periods, and in a way it is up to him to decide what path the city and country will take.

With the contextual narrative does it work better? I'm just worried it sounds verbose/false...

Thanks for the help guys!

Dan

Thirdfox

44 views but no comments? Is it that bad? Or worse, that bland?

0utpost31

Some people just mightn't have anything to say either way.

For example, when people put up sports pics, I have a look, but I'm not into sports pics so I don't comment at all. If I was to say what's in my head everytime I see a sports pic I'd just comment "I'm not into sports pics". Ya know?

I like the idea of a tryptich.

Without the title it's only three pictures. I wouldn't know the tryptich is about change unless the title was there.

And about that title...

These are all modern pics from china so I don't get the sense of change you're trying to convey. The couple on the left are wearing trendy jackets. There are nice new shiny buses in the center pic. And the 3rd pic is... a building.

The first two photos are great by themselves. They are very professional looking, like some photos I saw in the National Geo when they covered china. I love my national geo.

Colour is fine.

Thirdfox

Well the building itself is the Microsoft and Google (headquarters I assume) building in Beijing.

And the pictures are modern - but I was thinking of the change contained within - the Hutongs (shacks in the first picture of a few hundreds years of history) are being pulled down to build new apartments, the bicycle is giving way to SUVs and the infrastructure is now rivalling any modern city. But underneath that shiny veneer lies the question of whether this change is desirable or being done the right way...in my opinion anyway.

fguihen

they are nice, but too small for review purposes. I was hoping that when clicking on them there would be a decent sized resolution of each image. not massive, just something that takes up a nice portion of the screen. could look at the detail in each then.

Thoie

I'm not 100% sure that the black and white in the middle works very well for "flowing" through from left to right.

The colours in the left are sepiaish (without being sepia, if you know what I mean). The one on the right has the eye popping modern colours. The B&W kind of jars in the middle for me.

I have no idea how or if this could be done, but if you could make the middle one coloured in a kind of "1980s colours" that might help show the transition?

minikin

whatever about the three images not working together (have you coonsidered converting all to monochrome? Would work a lot stronger as a triptych... that typeface you've used for 'Changing Beijing, Changing China' is gick

Thirdfox

fguihen wrote: »

they are nice, but too small for review purposes. I was hoping that when clicking on them there would be a decent sized resolution of each image. not massive, just something that takes up a nice portion of the screen. could look at the detail in each then.

I was trying to stick within the guidelines for posting images on this forum - if you click on the picture you can see the original size version (should be 10000 x 3000 pixels in size).

Thoie wrote: »

I'm not 100% sure that the black and white in the middle works very well for "flowing" through from left to right.

The colours in the left are sepiaish (without being sepia, if you know what I mean). The one on the right has the eye popping modern colours. The B&W kind of jars in the middle for me.

I have no idea how or if this could be done, but if you could make the middle one coloured in a kind of "1980s colours" that might help show the transition?

The "sepia-ish" colour is the result of orange street lighting and white balance unable to cope... (should have shot raw). What would be "1980s" colour (I wasn't around at that time - pastel colours?)

minikin wrote: »

whatever about the three images not working together (have you coonsidered converting all to monochrome? Would work a lot stronger as a triptych... that typeface you've used for 'Changing Beijing, Changing China' is gick

Times New Roman for typeface then? And I'll give the 3 monochrome idea a try thanks.


edit:
I've had a quick play around with it...seems like the middle photo has way too much contrast compared to the two beside it

Dragan

To be honest, without a contextual narative i have no real idea what you are trying to portray? All the photos would have been taken around the same time, yes?

As it is, any change show appears to be based purely on location. Ideally to show change you would ( imo ) show something happening that normally would not, something acceptable that before now would not have been.

I like the images, but the colour variations don't work for me, as already stated. The black and white image looks out of place in the middle.

Personally i would try BW for the first ( depending on the conversion ), low/medium saturation for the second and then full sat for the last. This would indicate a consistant "change" across the 3 images, rather than change, change, change?

It's hard to over advice though when i have no real idea what the competition goal is.

PJW

I'm not sure if the #1 photo is a good starting point as it has to many modern items in it, the jackets as stated previously, the electrical pole with all the supply cables, even the motorcycle indicates an advancement on the pushbike which is domonant in #2. A more "rural" Beijing photo for #1 would probably work better as a starting point.

On the visuals maybe all monocrome would be better with the modern structure shown colour in #3.

Thirdfox

Looking at it maybe all 3 in colour would be better:
1. faded colours of twilight
2. clean crisp colours of today
3. explosion of colour for tomorrow...
^ I have uploaded a completely b&w version of the triptych above...

As for the first photo, the Hutongs are as rural as modern Beijing city gets really (in fact the house you're looking at has probably been demolished already - there was a bulldozer right beside it the night I shot it...its neighbours were already pieces of rubble).

Thirdfox

I think that each picture seems to work well on its own...but as part of this triptych it doesn't coagulate so well.

Dragan: the variation is based mainly on location (though they are all in one region of Beijing) but I believe that this kind of diversity may be enough - the fact that a hutong can exist (or not) alongside a skyscraper or thousands of bicycles with millions of cars means that it really is an intriguing time for China right now, as it decides what future it wants.

Thirdfox

All 3 in colour:

Dragan

Already a much stronger prospect to me!

With the title, it still looks a tiny bit out of place almost. Does it need to be a specific title, or would it be possible to come up with a three parter, each part being placed over and relevant to the image below?

Thats just a curiosity though, as opposed to advice.

Thirdfox

Which one, the full colour or b&w?

I don't think it needs a title in any particular format (or at all). I don't want to put too much narrative on the picture (as we get to write a separate narrative).

I think I would prefer no title (and rely solely on the narrative) than putting in three titles (as I'm trying to tie the three photos together).

Thirdfox

Final shot at this:

I think it looks better with a black background (since it's all colour I don't need the white background anymore...)

mikeanywhere

Usually the background is white/cream (but I suppose it is down to personal preference) and the one main critique would be to reduce the size of the images so the border is somewhat bigger. Or increase the border as I don't know how big the overall picture is going to be.

If you use a white background, put a black stroke around the images to separate them from the background and it gives them a cleaner look too. If you use a black background, use a white stroke.

sheesh

I think all colour and black background looks better. the modern elements in the first image are acceptable as you are representing 3 views of china the old, the current view and the future all existing at the same time.

I think.

like the triple point of water, solid, liquid and gaseous state existing at the same temperature you have 3 different states of china in one time.

Thirdfox

Mike:
The reason the borders are so small is that the "suggested" size requirement is that the piece be no bigger than 8.5" x 11"...as my piece is a triptych it's massively wide compared to its height (either 8.5" x 30" or 3" x 11") Therefore I'm trying to cut down on the width as much as possible - I'm hoping they'll accept a 6" x 20" piece...

Sheesh:
That was my idea too - but as you say, it could be seen as bs by others (it's intention that counts right? )

magicbastarder

i'd imagine a triptych works better with the three photos in portrait format; plus, there's little visually linking the shots, they could be taken thousands of miles apart.

Thirdfox

Funny thing is that they're taken all rather close to one another (outside of Peking University) - in a way of exploring the diversity (cultural/infrastructual/technological etc.) of a developing country.

Thanks for the suggestions guys - I'll submit it and tell you how it goes.

challengemaster

Having been to Beijing, I can certainly say that you'd be surprised how styles etc change, like seen by the pics, in only just a few hundred metres... I found it quite amazing, that things preserving the culture, things like temples, etc, can exist in the middle of such a buzzing city, which does have quite a lot of large and new buildings/complexes. It's just an amazing place, and you really have to visit it to see for yourself.

I'm fairly sure while I was there I saw where 2&3 were taken

I like the black bg + coloured pics Nice job

Thirdfox

Japan is a place of even greater contrasts - so modern yet cultureally rooted (you see mini-skirts alongside the hundreds yeasrs old traditional kimono dresses). The most modern arcades in the world alongside fantastically old Shinto shrines.

I was really glad to have visited Japan during my year in China. Someday I hope to go see Seoul too.