rambling post w/ random shots

lizzard_nyc

So as I was about to head to the store to get a calendar for 2012 when I decided why not make a calendar of my street shots...Then it hit me--that's it? a kitchen calendar from my street shots?
Seems lame.

As I had the window open to download my street shots to the calendar making tools I started going thru some old shots from when I started street shooting in '09. Some which I never posted.

The day I knew I wanted to be a photographer and that I didn't like Posed shots nearly as much as candid moments. This was posted in "people" before "street/pj" opened. It's my all-time favorite.
1.


Taken for B.D.'s second exercise on the newly formed street/pj forum. I never posted it because I didn't think it was as great as my others, lol. I got so trashed on that exercise:) Here is to the possible WTF factor I didn't appreciate back then.
2..

I was soon addicted to street and high contrast grainy--I miss those days sometimes.

3. Taken w/ my old Oly E620 under the high contrast grainy setting which is no longer operational.



4. Taken over this summer


5. taken this month



6. taken this month

So I decided not to make a calendar. But still trying to figure out what to do with them. Feels like it should be something more.

Also anyone ever look back at their work and think "hey I was better before"?

I was also going to attempt another 365 project. I got as far as April last year and though I took many a cheesy horrible shot, it forced me to have my camera with me everyday for 4 months and it was the very reason for some of my best street shots this year as was posted on the "best of 2011 street shots).
So I am craving a project. I need a project that will hopefully not end up on my kitchen calendar (I will save that for my family shots).

Told you it was a rambling post.

bfjr

Also anyone ever look back at their work and think "hey I was better before"?

NO! Neither should you, because it would not be TRUE!

I dig the 1st & the last

Happy New Year :ivar

RSL

#1's very fine. Liz. I think Levitt would have been happy with that one. The others don't quite come up to that level, but the last one is fun.

torags

bfjr wrote: »

NO! Neither should you, because it would not be TRUE!

Happy New Year :ivar

Maybe not, There are some captures you will never be able to get ever again

#1 is good .

Your pix show improvements in your technique. The captures? well as opportunity presents...

Happy New Year everybody

Richard

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

Also anyone ever look back at their work and think "hey I was better before"?

Nice to see that first shot again, Liz. Loved it then, love it now. #3 is also great.

As for being better before, I seriously doubt it. One learns to see better over time, I think, and your technique and equipment also improve. Nevertheless, there's an undeniable element of randomness (call it luck, if you want) in street shooting. Some moments never come again, which is why it is so interesting. But my guess is that you are probably far more capable of seizing those moments now than you were several years ago.

RSL

Richard wrote: »

...there's an undeniable element of randomness (call it luck, if you want) in street shooting.

There's an interesting film-clip of a live interview with a very old Cartier-Bresson in which he tells about poking his lens against the boards in a fence to get "Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare." The interviewer says, "Then it was luck?" Henri responds, "It's always luck." Of course he didn't mean that choosing the shot and framing the picture was luck. He meant that street photography depends absolutely on the luck of finding a shot worth shooting. It involves more than just an "element" of randomness.

Richard

RSL wrote: »

Of course he didn't mean that choosing the shot and framing the picture was luck. He meant that street photography depends absolutely on the luck of finding a shot worth shooting. It involves more than just an "element" of randomness.

The randomness is always there, but the eye is not a matter of luck. That's why the great shooters are so consistently good, while the rest of us struggle.

RSL

Right, Richard, but there are two things involved in "the eye." One is a natural ability that the photographer either has or hasn't. The other is learning what really works by stydying the masters. That means studying, not just flipping through the stuff. An awful lot of people with natural ability aren't willing to do that much work, so they don't really know what to keep and what to dump.

Juano

Liz I'm your fan... what can I say. Happy new year, great shooting in 2012!

rainbow

Sounds like a crisis of confidence and some self-doubt creeping in... Especially if you post a photo here and no one responds...

But you know that you have improved greatly. If you shot a "365" and compared them to your previous attempt you would see that right away. And your fan base here knows you have improved greatly because when you do post, "we" have higher expectations of the quality of photo that we will see.

Your first is a wonderful shot, and one of your best. But you have shots equal to it (such as the birthday cake photo you entered in the mini-challenge). Your recent dancing series was also very good. These are few and far between, but your ability to see and catch them is much better today. Overall, your body of work is superior to your beginning stuff and you can't hold them up to #1 as the arbiter of whether you have improved.

As to a project, figure one out. Remember Richard's challenge of ten shots (only!) in two hours of shooting and post the three best? How about a photo essay on a subject of your choice and interest? If you won a mini-challenge, what challenge would you present? Go stand on your favorite street corner for an hour and take shots there... Then post your results here so we can rip you apart some more...