Self As Selves C&C

Isar

Hi. Im in first year in art college at the moment and we are doing a photo project called self as selves which is about your own identity. For the project i decided to photograph my interests portrayed buy other people. One of my interests is traditional music, so i went down to the pub on thursday and took some photographs of a band that plays there every thursday. All C&C is more than welcome!
flute pubman.jpg

mr & mr flute.jpg

sean + fiddle.jpg

the whole gang.jpg

Weidii

Did you take those pictures?

Isar

yes... why?

jen_23

Hi Isar,

the first photo seems a little out of focus to me, could be a little sharper??.
And I would have cropped the third one a little from the top though it's also quite blurred (were you going for this effect?)
The second and 4th are quite good.

Isar

In the first photo its only the background thats a bit out of focus, and thats the effect that i went for. I'm not a big fan of cropping either unless its completely in need of it.

whyulittle

What do you consider to be the background, as the guy playing the flute is out of focus. Which is fair enough if you were trying to focus on the drink/social/pub aspect of the music.

Isar

there you go. The man playing the flute were suppose to be out of focus, as the drinks were in focus.

smelltheglove

Because its important for a project I will be completely honest with you and say I am not mad on them, reason being there is not much interest in the subjects, not the actual photos so to speak. I'm not seeing any emotion, What I would consider to possibly work better for you would be taking a trip to Temploe Bar if possible and get some of the trad musicians on the street who put huge amounts of raw energy into their performances.

Another thing that I think may work for you if you are going for traditionao music is possibly pictures of instruments themselves, I know my dad has a bodhran that could make a great shot, if you think 'outsidethe box'.

I am not saying there is any problem AT ALL with your shots, just in the context of your post saying it is a project I take it you will want to wow the examiner and I'm just not getting WOW.

I hope you don't take it as any insult, your shots are comkpletely acceptable but I know myself I would want to be above acceptable, I am sure you are the same. Out of interest what else are you going to photograph?

With these pictures I do like the first I just don't feel you are getting what you need from it. Would work in a beer campaign though;)

forbairt

Just my personal views I quite like the shots but ..

1: Quite like it but I'd get rid of some of the extra height at the top as it feels like its taking away from it

2: Nothing really seems to be the center of attention

3: I'd have tried focusing on the fiddle more and the man less

4: Feels a bit like the beer table is the center of attention

Isar

I'm also interested in tattoos, so i was down in the tattoo shop yesterday and took some photos of a guy with loads of tattoos getting tattooed. Well, i love beer and alcohol as well, so for me it doesn't matter if the beer was the main focus. I will also be photographing a world famous norwegian band in norway in desember. Check them out at www.wardruna.com they have traditional norse music.

decimal

kneel/sit down next time, it gives better composition and a more relaxed feel.

smelltheglove

Isar wrote: »

I'm also interested in tattoos, so i was down in the tattoo shop yesterday and took some photos of a guy with loads of tattoos getting tattooed. Well, i love beer and alcohol as well, so for me it doesn't matter if the beer was the main focus. I will also be photographing a world famous norwegian band in norway in desember. Check them out at www.wardruna.com they have traditional norse music.

My uncle owns a tattoo shop!

democrates

Well done on getting out there and doing it Isar.

It's an interesting angle to use other people to represent different facets of yourself. Are the subjects representing you as you are now, or where you want to be in the future? Maybe a series of diptychs could work for a compare and contrast story.

I sense you're a tad miffed with some of the replies here, I'd encourage you not to lose heart with doing c&c which can initially be hard to take when you've made progress and it's some of your best work so far, but in fairness people are decent enough to take the time to examine your work and offer valuable advice that can help you get to the next level. The thing to bear in mind is that the critique is not personal, the helping hand is.

Keep at it and good luck with the project.

smelltheglove

If you go for the angle beer and music that shot is covering both and as said by democrates, sometimes the c&c isnt always what we expect but always meant in the kindest of ways. Some shots I thought were perfection were torn apart for me to realise what more I needed to do, I think if you take the c&c as it is meant this forum will improve you sooner than the real world.

Thoie

Isar wrote: »

there you go. The man playing the flute were suppose to be out of focus, as the drinks were in focus.

The drinks weren't jumping out at me. Two suggestions - maybe show us the original in colour, as the green and yellow of the beer might make things "pop" a bit more?

Alternatively, if you were going back for another session, try taking a similar picture from a lower angle so that the beer and bottle fill the frame a bit more with the out of focus people behind them?

indieJones

Nothing seems to really jump out at me in any of them but here are a few specific things.

- What mood are you going for? The b/w and somber expressions seem a little grim and serious. I would imagine trad music being more lively and colourful. This might be what you were going for though so just my opinion.

- Are your photos sponsored by Heineken? The first photo seems to entirely focused on the beer. All the branding sort of stands out in an otherwise spartan environments.

- Agree with whoever said you need to get the camera lower. Especially in the group shots so it appears like your another person in the group rather than hovering above.

Isar

Thanks alot for the replies. The reason why i converted them to black and white is because we are only suppose to have black and white photos in the second week of the project. Thanks anyway.