project c&c

red_ice

hey, I had a documentary project to do for college the previous semester. Thought I'd share it with you guys and see what you think.

Cheers

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red_ice

ignore this post

AnCatDubh

I'm seeing competent images there red_ice. Some nice work.

In terms of C&C as you've requested (and please note this is just a personal interpretation - yay if it works for you but ignore if not);

Of note, quite a bit of motion blur - whether that is as an intentional design characteristic of the shoot or a distracting element is best described by yourself. For me, it would be the latter more noticeable if the images were to go large as part of a gallery exhibition etc... at which point you would question the overall usability.

On review of your narrative (I presume there is more to the story than revealed here) I'm slightly worried over my own interpretation of documentary and the images presented.

You seem to be shooting from afar - yes, you are capturing what is happening but detached to the point where the difference between these being of a planned and executed shoot and being of an incidential set of snaps, is hard to tell. For me, there is a lot missing here - principally the close ups. Capturing the soul and that which defines the skate people (skaters?). Who are they. What are they doing. How do they do it and why do they do it. imho, answering such questions are part of a documentary series or posting. I don't get any of that from the series as presented. It involves getting "in there" - close and personal if necessary. I want to see the lines of their faces. I want to hear the scraping of the metal on the concrete. I expect to feel and grimace on a tumble - and here I don't expect perfect exposures and prepared angles. These are shot from the hip and of the moment.

For example, this one is a really nice image but without the context of who the individual is, how they got there, putting on their skates, their fear, their adrenaline rush, their motion, their sweat.

Hope this is useful as an alternative perspective. Overall, I think they are reasonably competent but presenting as a documentary set, I think they are perhaps falling a little short in context.

Cheers.

BlastedGlute

These are pretty cool man well done! I'd probably second the c+c above though given the context of the project! Ive only ever taken pictures of a skater once and that was 2 days ago. I got 2 photos I liked but I reckon I'd do a better job next time.I see your flash is actually in a few of these shots, I'd try to avoid that. Purely to maintain a kind of mystery to the scene and it's lighting. Like in a movie you don't really want to see the boom mic or lighting rig, even though you know its there. Use the flash in manual mode and increase the zoom all the way out to 107 or whatever. Play with this idea a bit you'll find something that works! I wish I knew any skaters or skateboarders, I love the scene and the imagery. I'll post my two shots on another thread. Feel free to c+c maybe we can give eachither pointers on this subject matter! Keep it up man!

pete4130

They are just photos of skaters skating. If you skate you'll see the tech side of the grinds, grabs, if its switch, how hard each trick is but to the layperson they are unintersting. Your using off camera flash but its really harsh.
To document something like this you need something other than just the tricks. You need to show the lifestyle, the people, the places you go.

.Longshanks.

Been brutally honest, I've opened this thread twice now & because the pics are embedded I didn't bother looking.
Maybe I'm lazy...but there you go

sineadw

It'd be much better if you embedded the images - its hard to see them as a set when you're looking at them separately.

I've never shot skaters, so please feel free to take all below with a large pinch of salt. I have shot a large documentary series though, and I'd agree wholeheartedly about context. There's no real narrative at the moment. I think you need introductory shots (arriving? getting kitted up? the buildings?), a lot more close ups of the guys, the equipment etc, interaction between them all? and an ending. At the moment they're shots of skaters, but there's no real cohesion. Again, maybe it'd work a bit better if we could see them all in one go though..

red_ice

AnCatDubh wrote: »

On review of your narrative (I presume there is more to the story than revealed here) I'm slightly worried over my own interpretation of documentary and the images presented.

You seem to be shooting from afar - yes, you are capturing what is happening but detached to the point where the difference between these being of a planned and executed shoot and being of an incidential set of snaps, is hard to tell. For me, there is a lot missing here - principally the close ups. Capturing the soul and that which defines the skate people (skaters?). Who are they. What are they doing. How do they do it and why do they do it. imho, answering such questions are part of a documentary series or posting. I don't get any of that from the series as presented. It involves getting "in there" - close and personal if necessary. I want to see the lines of their faces. I want to hear the scraping of the metal on the concrete. I expect to feel and grimace on a tumble - and here I don't expect perfect exposures and prepared angles. These are shot from the hip and of the moment.

Thanks!

There are about another 8-10 images which i havnt really worked on - these are just some of the ones that i have and while there is a bit of blurr, they printed very well and you wouldnt really pick it out. While it was a documentry we did have to present it and explain the body of work which I obviously havnt really done here. One thing i think that you hinted at was it being about the 'individual', which it was. Group sports like footbal etc are completely different to a sport like this, and the rest of the photo's explain that side of things, but i dont really like the images that i took.. but they are still there. Ill upload them later.

BlastedGlute wrote: »

These are pretty cool man well done! I'd probably second the c+c above though given the context of the project! Ive only ever taken pictures of a skater once and that was 2 days ago. I got 2 photos I liked but I reckon I'd do a better job next time.I see your flash is actually in a few of these shots, I'd try to avoid that. Purely to maintain a kind of mystery to the scene and it's lighting. Like in a movie you don't really want to see the boom mic or lighting rig, even though you know its there.

cheers!

I used the flash to try and highlight each individual in whatever given case. [url=https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/1538/159874.jpg[/url] in particular. By hiding it do you mean completely out of sight or do you mean just putting it behind the post?

pete4130 wrote: »

They are just photos of skaters skating. If you skate you'll see the tech side of the grinds, grabs, if its switch, how hard each trick is but to the layperson they are unintersting. Your using off camera flash but its really harsh.
To document something like this you need something other than just the tricks. You need to show the lifestyle, the people, the places you go.

I get that, im skating since 95. The tricks in these shots arent even hard, i thought that the shots were the more interesting to me personally because i felt there was a sense of calmness in them. And while they are just a set of photos of people skating, if you knew the personality of the guys in each photo the photo's would probably speak more to you. As AnCatDubh said, you dont really have the full picture - probably should have uploaded more.

sineadw wrote: »

I've never shot skaters, so please feel free to take all below with a large pinch of salt. I have shot a large documentary series though, and I'd agree wholeheartedly about context. There's no real narrative at the moment. I think you need introductory shots (arriving? getting kitted up? the buildings?), a lot more close ups of the guys, the equipment etc, interaction between them all? and an ending. At the moment they're shots of skaters, but there's no real cohesion. Again, maybe it'd work a bit better if we could see them all in one go though..

Yer, i think ill do up a few more images and add them to this!


Cheers for the feedback everyone!

BlastedGlute

I think you have a great opportunity to get some shots of these guys. I wish there was some people like that around galway! With the flash I mean I think you should take it out completely!

((EDIT**Can I embed an image here as an example?))

I posted my images here, the flash I'm talking about is in the first one. That image is fairly cropped to. I had the flash around 15ft away on around 70mm zoom manual mode. It gets just enough light with burning out or over highlighting the subject. At the end of the day this is your style to im not saying its wrong, but im not a fan of seeing the actual flash in a shot. Ironically I can see it on the first frame of the multishot, just on the left, even though i wasnt firing it. Shame!!! haha

pete4130

I know what your saying, I've been riding BMX since '99 and shooting for magazines since about 2002. I think you could have conveyed more through photos that didn't even have any skating/trick shots in than any trick shot photos could contain, to relay more of the lifestyle than the action. I think people would relate more to seeing a lifestyle than a photo of tricks they don't understand. When I shoot BMX photos I try to shoot a photo that would be interesting regardless or not if there was a person in the shot riding bikes.
I think its easier to post some photos to show what I mean than try articulate it in words and all/most of the shots I"m posting as examples are non trick/riding photos, that show more of the pain, isolation, commaradary, spirit and friendship of being involved in something like skating/BMX than just trick shots.


Ghetto Set Up by No online presence, on Flickr


Blood by No online presence, on Flickr


Luke by No online presence, on Flickr



Hands by No online presence, on Flickr


Ghetto Tallght Jam by No online presence, on Flickr


Crash by No online presence, on Flickr


Paradise life relaxin' by No online presence, on Flickr


Tallaght Ghetto Street Jam by No online presence, on Flickr

BlastedGlute

just wow! these are amazing and exactly what has been pointed out to the OP. Capturing the essence of the sport and not exactly the tricks involved. Great work!

sineadw

They're brilliant Pete :O

RCNPhotos

Al Hooi (one of the skaters) always makes for good shots.

BlastedGlute

are these guys all irish? bmx chaps the OP'S bladers?