Assignment 3: Place

Untitled I

Untitled II

Untitled III

Part I

Untitled I:  The composition is outside of Sexton school in Lansing. It is natural lighting and the fence rail is supposed to lead you into the scene. It has an urban feel to it and the viewer can tell the place is unkept and overgrown. I think the fence is the strongest part of the composition. I like documenting urban places that are worn down and not picture perfect. It makes for a beautiful and interesting composition. It may be ironic but the most beautiful, well kept, wealthy areas are so pleasing to my eye in person, but photographed, can sometimes be boring or lack character. Whereas I would not particularly want to live in a place like the one photographed, but it creates a more beautiful and captivating photo than one of the suburbs. The method for this photo was observing me environment and exploring parts of lansing I had never been too, then working with different angles and with the setting sun to get an interesting composition.

Untitled II: This photo I took in passing at Eastern High School in Lansing and it ended up being my favorite.  I can't tell what the room is used for, maybe a variety of things or a debate class, or meeting room. I like that you can see on the far wall it says the name of the high school and the American flag is on the wall.  The repetition of lights and chairs are interesting and the natural light coming in the rows of windows makes it strong.  I took the photo through a glass window so you can see a light reflection of ceiling arches in the upper right hand corner. That adds an extra layer of interest. This photo is a document of schools in Lansing and the environment students are being taught in. This photo is not supposed to have a negative or positive shadow, just a documentation. 

Untitled III:  The concept of this photo is much stronger than the composition.  I wanted to show the halls of eastern lansing high school as prison like, and document the environment students go to school to learn in. The goal was to show the help this school needs to encourage students to attend and help them succeed, but after taking the photos I think you have to be their in person to get the idea. Or I would have had to have complete access to all rooms in the school and be allowed to photograph the students. That would have been much more interesting. The lighting wasn't very good in the hallway so the focus is pretty blurry. I intentionally included the lock in the left bottom corner to make the photo seem less inviting. So for this photo the photographer, myself, chose what was in the photo and what wasn't. In away the documentation was constructed because I chose what to focus on in the photo.

Part II

Untitled I: Not many comments on this photo, classmates liked the design and texture the fence makes and the focus point. I would love to take more photos like this, documenting places I have never been before and places people live that I am unfamiliar with. Urban landscape is probably one of my favorite things photographed. 

Untitled II: Others interpreted this photo as a classroom, patriotic, and an old building, possibly taken in the past.  The lighting, reflection, and repetition are working in this photo. A jumping point for this photo is to take more photos of rooms or places behind closed doors. Whether it is to capture the reflection created in the image or imitate a forbidden or inaccessible room/place.  

Untitled III:  Others interpreted this image as an uninviting school but agreed it would have been better to take more pictures and maybe have students in the photo.  What is working in the photo is the vantage point makes it interesting, what is not working is primarily the out of focus. The improvement I would make is to have taken this photo on a tripod.  I would love to do this project again and be able to have full access to the school rooms and be able to photograph the students. It would be very interesting and I think I'd learn a lot from it.