Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/11/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Richard -- Photographing OWS gatherings in such a way as to be original is going to be very hard. I've been in NYC now since around the time the whole thing started and hear about it almost every day on the local NPR station, have attended a few of the rallies, witnessed the huge police presence one Sunday night when they cleared Washington Square Park with goon squads, came across a sidewalk march even today, hear the hovering helicopter(s) whenever I'm in lower Manhattan. I looked at your collection of photographs and noticed immediately the darkness present in each image. This can be a powerful technique and you use it effectively in many of your pictures. I have several other comments: -- the mix of Xpan and regular 35mm images don't work for me, I'd rather see a consistent set of one or the other -- the long crowd shots could be anything, I think for this (or any essay) to work, you have to get in close -- while the sign pictures are "in close", they are too easy, and are easily over-used As with any photo story, the photographer needs to ask themselves what they want to say with their pictures. Yours are all over the place and I don't see anything that I haven't seen before. There is one student in one of the classes I am attended at ICP who is a very, VERY serious 99%er and she has taken it upon herself to photograph the events here daily. She showed the glass her pictures and got much the same feedback that I have given you above. I think I heard today that she has interested The Nation magazine in her work so she must have lasered in on something. Technically your series is absolutely fine -- but I ask "where is YOUR story"? and what sets your series apart from the many that have come before and will come after? Like I said, originality (even though nothing we do is TRULY original) is a major challenge. . Dave. -- See my 2011 Picture A Week (PAW) Gallery <http://www.dlkphotography.com/paw>originally begun in 2007. Please join my photography mailing list<http://dlkphotography.us2.list-manage2.com/subscribe?u=3d9dfbb5b18c4817532a37b90&id=4dd441d8fe> .