July Voting Thread - Capture a Stranger, Street Style

[AB22 Easy Tiger]

Vote for as many as you like and you have 7 days to vote.

Voting Guide (which you can ignore of course)
Photographs should be judged on how well they meet the current challenge topic.
Photography equipment used should not be a criterion for rating a photo.
Evaluate the photo in various aspects, set a consistent norm and give your vote accordingly
If you don't vote for a picture, please try to provide constructive criticism how the shot could be improved.

If any of you can't see one or more of the pictures drop me a PM listing what you can't see and I'll stick them on Flickr or something similar.


Good luck everyone.

[Hue Jorgan]

some good efforts this month well done folks.

The great Soprendo gets my vote this month.

Durham big meeting seemed to be a good source for material for many.

One of the things I like about big outdoor events is the 'people watching' element, there truly are some weird and wonderful sights out there with some errr.... how can I put it 'unusual/interseting' looking folks.

I think people watching is one of the reasons why Big Brother was such a big success in its early days (it began to fail towards the end because it was no longer 'real' the situations they were put in).

I have been browsing ll of the pis that I took at the village festival, and there are some real corkers, I am still happy with my entry tho, kinda old guy meets childhood.

well done to all those who entered.

[TiredEyes]

I found this theme and the other very, very, similar theme "environmental portraiture" an extremely dull subject and didn't even bother with an entry, so all your shots are better than mine.

I loved the photographic learning themes such as bokeh, chiaroscuro, urban fragments and rule of thirds both educational and interesting, more of those themes please ! Consequently only two votes from me this month.


tom tom macute - Nice shot, your "stranger" has managed to pose in the perfect position, although I hate the big blob of post production colour in the lens, however it's definitely in the top two shots in this poor monthly theme. - VOTE

Les the scientist - tis ok, looks like the Mad Hatter? Not enough for a vote, but interesting.

dan42 - meh, hate those "The Levellers" alternate types, white people with dreads other than the subject it's a bit dull.

ThankHeavenForShed7 - The cars the star, just a bit boring otherwise for me.

taipesafc - Nice shot, nicely framed by the verticals, just not enough there for a vote.

The Great Soprendo - Standard sneaky shot of a person on Metro, meh.

peachbum - you usually have something about your shots but this is easily the worst photo of any theme over the last 12 months by you, wtf were you thinking ?? (white dot by her nose too)

Elliot - Nice railings, scruffy homeless woman, s'ok imo.

phil - It's Terry from Brookside, escaped jail and is now working in a market in Cyprus selling olives from a jar. It's ok but the light cast on the "tasting" guy is distracting.

clyde - Ok, just her face is ruining the shot, lets hope she smiles at the wedding?

Hue Jordan - Brilliant, it gave me a big smile, the winner for this month, poor Grandad got roped into this you'd think. - VOTE

MaDMaCKeM - Quite interesting, I like the pebbles they make a good background and something to look at, I'd like to see their faces though.

Not Spavin - A bit dull, 3/4 of it is all the same dark colour.

Amnorrageordie - It's ok, little girl on her Dads shoulders, wish she'd had an ice cream dribbling on her Dads head or something to lift it a bit.


Just my amateur opinion.

[janiep]

The Great Soprendo for me: beautiful subject, beatifully observed, beautifully lit

[andy m]

Went for Clyde, he had a really good set from London - lots of decent ones to choose from this month but I think the expressions and slightly bizarre nature of that one won it for me.

[AB22 Easy Tiger]

Originally Posted by andy m

Went for Clyde, he had a really good set from London - lots of decent ones to choose from this month but I think the expressions and slightly bizarre nature of that one won it for me.

I think it's his best entry since the competition began.

[peachbum]

Originally Posted by TiredEyes

peachbum - you usually have something about your shots but this is easily the worst photo of any theme over the last 12 months by you, wtf were you thinking ?? (white dot by her nose too)

I enjoy your round up comments. The white dot by her nose was a nose piercing stud.

Regarding the theme. At first I thought Environmental Portraiture/Snap a Stranger were similar but infact they weren't.

With environmental portraiture you needed to use the environment and props to add to the person so we had some idea what they were about, did etc, you could interact with your subject etc. I found capturing a stranger totally different. It was a case of going round town taking shots of random people. You didn't interact with them, they remained strangers. I found it hard and wasn't going to enter, because I didn't think I was going to get anything very good as I had many subject strangers but I felt wrong taking pictures of them, and if I asked they wouldn't be strangers any more. I saw delightful ~6yr old twins, a beautiful Asian guy in unusual white robes, a guy doing gymn tricks on a bus stop seat, and several others. But it just seemed rude to photgraph them.

In my picture I was actually taking a picture of the guy behind my main subject. I had gone into a shop to be a little more subtle, and just as I took the picture someone walked into the shop doorway. When I got home with very few pictures I decided my stranger filling the picture was a little different from the other entries, so I entered it. I would have preferred her eyes to be a little more noticeable. I actually prefer it to my EP entry (not hard I know).

[tom tom macute]

Clyde and Amnorageordie for me.

Both totally different photographs in terms of colour,contast,exposure etc. but fit the challenge for me with both subjects being caught off guard but not embrassingly so.

[MaDMaCKeM]

Clyde and Hue Jordan for me, best of the bunch

[AB22 Easy Tiger]

Originally Posted by TiredEyes

I found this theme and the other very, very, similar theme "environmental portraiture" an extremely dull subject and didn't even bother with an entry, so all your shots are better than mine.

I loved the photographic learning themes such as bokeh, chiaroscuro, urban fragments and rule of thirds both educational and interesting, more of those themes please ! Consequently only two votes from me this month.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother!

Sorry if you don't like it but IMHO the themes you mention in your first para are as much about technique as those you talk about in your second.

The point of the challenge is to get entrants thinking about how they come up with their shot and therefore to improve as photographers, and I believe that's working. If you look at the entries for Jan 2010 and compare them to the last challenge I think you'll see that most entrants have improved.

There are so may things to consider in both environmental portraiture and street photography and to do either well is not easy, although some may just want to take a "snap" and that's up to them, but I don't think they'd get may votes.

I read somewhere that a photographer's most important tool are his legs. I think that's exactly right.

The current month is a wee bit different and is more about artistic impression than technique but we're back to techniques again in September and will continue with that until the end of the year.

By the way, if anyone has any ideas for themes I'd be delighted to consider them. Just drop me a PM.