travel photography critique

Dear Christian,

I am so glad to have stumbled upon your site.  I have had a love of photography from a very young age.  My dad is an avid photographer and an architect.  I spent a great deal of my childhood “Looking Up” when travelling with him wherever we went.  I have always been of the mind that I should therefore be a good architecture photographer.  This weekend I bought a new mirror less Fuji X-M 1 and am wanting to start fresh.  

I have shot exclusively with my iPhone in the past 2 years and before that a Canon EOS Rebel while living/travelling in Europe.  I am a keen Instagrammer and submit my photos in the occasional contest and have won a few.  I participate in photo walks monthly with a group of avid Instagram Toronto folks and what they have told me is that I have a good eye but lack the fundamentals.  Here is the dilemma, I love the art so much that I snap photos of everything… food, landscapes, people, street etc.  I am being told I need to narrow down my focus.  “Maija, your photos are a mish-mash of a whole bunch of styles and I can’t tell where you’re head is at in terms of a portfolio.” was a friends recent comment.  What I am submitting to you are three photos that I love, thats all.  Anything you have to say will be greatly appreciated.  

I only crop and sometimes filter my shots but I do not use Aperture or Photoshop to add elements or remove them. 

Cheers,

Maija 

Maija

thank you for your submission. I can appreciate your images from your perspective and I love the fact you do have a good interest in photography. Your images are as per your comments above, a little bit random, but that is not the issue, as this is not a consistency contest.

My comments from strictly technical point of view should not be taken as too harsh. I do not see much composition intent, they look like happy holiday snaps. The first image with the various spices has a story behind it, I can see that. where is the composition , where does it begin, where does it end?

Is it about the first bucket. is it about a texture of the buckets and spices? is is about the boxes in between. I cannot see what you would call this !?

I also cannot see much graphical impact that a good equipment will give you. This image can be taken by anyone and that is the my main focus…try to be different, try to see the world through your own eyes, even with an Iphone, but ask yourself how does this image make you stand out?

Intersection

is this about the diner? is this about the traffic light? what do you want to tell me with it?

I can definitely identify a subject here, a jumping man, in a colourful flooded alley. Composition is not helping, I would probably shift up or down the line of the water to make it more interesting and still showing the jump and the reflection. I do not like the fact the man is blurry, it shows no skills in capturing the action. If you are telling me it was intentional , than I would say you need to control your shutter speed either to make it sharp, or to blur it out more. Aslo exposure level looks random, dark water corners. this could be a better picture…

I hope you do not take my comments too harsh, your images are much better than many other I am receiving and not even posting as many people are having a go. Yours shows interest in photography and I salute that. I guess you need to look around and find your path, and perhaps some better equipment.

did you see our composition video?

Please let me know your thoughts and if I am not fair in my words above

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