COMD 2340 Spring 2018

Greetings,

For my final project, titled “Let’s Talk.. Sidewalk Chalk”, I have photographed the pavements that line our city, with close attention to the quiet staple that is, sidewalk chalkboards, whom dress the horizon of storefronts and restaurants throughout our city. I look to capture them in their most unadulterated forms, amidst the pedestrian chaos, yet paying mind particularly to the angles and lighting when composing a shot. This signage has a certain lure, that intrigues me with the insight they offer to the personality of a business that they represent.

I’ve made several trips to various affluent neighborhoods, more specifically in the boroughs Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Primarily I used a loaned Canon 7D to shoot, all times of the day morning, afternoon, evening, and even night within my loan period, with no use of flash, only natural light. Utilizing a a variable lens 15-85mm only, I flirted with the exposure length, often finding that a quick shutter speed worked best with the relentless sea of foot traffic in the city streets. For that same reason working with a tripod was less tangible, not to impede walking paths, I often found myself maneuvering on foot for the best shot so I had to find a balance, 1/200 being my selection of choice.

The idea for the project came from an assignment we had earlier in the semester. The emphasis was on depth of field, or rather creating the illusion of depth between nearby objects by closely monitoring my aperture settings, and how I chose to fill the frame of a photograph. While shooting a few street view photographs in the Lower East Side, a sidewalk chalkboard had inadvertently made it’s way in to a couple of my shots. An idea was born!

I want to break the monotony of seeing things in the plane of eye level only. A crime we are often guilty of in our walks of life. I look to raise awareness to your surroundings, all things included, even below waist level. In this case, sidewalk chalkboards, and the many things they encompass. It could be a silly joke that caused you to crack a smile on an mundane day, a deal that saved you a dollar or two on your morning regimen of a coffee and croissant, a lunch special at the tightly nestled corner restaurant you otherwise would have continued to overlook had it not been for the character of their chalking, or perhaps the tantalizing happy hour specials at your local watering hole. I want you to open up the metaphorical blinders we have developed in our daily commutes, much like I open to a new world when I remove the cap from my camera lens. This series is here to bridge that gap.

I feel like I would continue to build this series past the boundaries of the semester.  These boards are constantly changing, yet so unique.  They encompass the spirit which is our city, and they have challenged me to capture new compositional elements in my photographs outside of my comfort zone, or a cliche straight-up shot.  For that I am thankful, and growning

Cheers!

For my final project, I want to take pictures of people. So I went to Coney Island which is the perfect spot for me. Because it is the closest place near my home packed with people and it’s one of the iconic places in New York City. At first, I had a hard time to choose my topic. I only knew I would take pictures of people. However, when I got there I noticed people came here with their families and friends. Then I decided it would be my theme. I think the most challenge thing of taking street photography is looking for the right subject matter and capture their right moment. So, I basically held my camera for the whole time and stay in one spot to wait for people coming to me. If I had more time I think I would stay longer to wait for more interesting people coming in.

For this project I needed to go to the dog park. Once I got there, I asked the owners if I can take pictures of their dog. Some owners where nice enough to get their dogs to sit for me to take a picture. The hard part about this project is the dogs kept moving around.

It was a great experience for me, this project pushed me to travel and find the best spots to take pictures. I discovered artworks I’ve never seen before, from all sizes, small to big. I was made to get models to really make my photos appealing, I interacted and directed others, something I haven’t done before. Throughout this experience, I really saw the importance of angles when it has to do with large pictures. These four are my best pictures.

This final project was very interesting to me. All the places were relatively close to me so I was used to seeing them. But because of this project I had to now view them with a different pair of eyes. I had to try and make normal interesting. I also had to interact with people wondering what I was doing taking pictures of these random delis.

My best pictures.

My thoughts on the project was that it was enjoyable. I like walking around parks taking pictures of plant life, but I should have tried to avoid taking the image when I was facing the sun. there are some of the images of plants in yards that are blurry, that is because I didn’t really like taking pictures of strangers’ yards. I took pictures of parks, yards and a flower shop. I did like seeing all those flowers growing, especially one where there was one flower that didn’t belong in the group that stood out like a sore thumb. There was one that I had of chestnuts on the ground, which I nearly fell over because they were everywhere!

My final thought was that it was a relaxing way to complete a final project. For me, it was taking a walk in the park (Yes, the pun was intended).

Greetings,

Took a walk down to the F Train – York Street stop and enjoyed some of the pre-summer vibes. One of my better shots was the result of a speed light underneath the overpass which landed a great example of split lighting.

Enjoy!

I like this photo because to me it feels like the swirl in the background fits well with her smirk or smile. The lighting really emphasizes her proud pose.