Photography Experiment

For my History of photography class our final assignment was to go out into Victoria and take photographs in a famous photographers style or our own. Being sick of researching and analyzing the work of others I opted to just take random pictures of what inspired me. I decided to show you guys the result...for better or for worse.

So this is the one of the first ones I took. I wanted to take photos of people around Victoria...of course I strayed from that idea...but it's where I started. This image is of a soapstone carver sanding one of his sculptures as his selling his figures on the Inner Harbour Promenade. I felt that I had to ask his permission to take his picture, yet I didn't really want to because I feared he would pose. As you can tell, he just acknowledged me with a nod and a brief smile and kept on sanding, as if I wasn't there. I wanted the photograph to be the view of an unseen observer...not a posed image. (I was also afraid it would look like a tourists shot, but I think I avoided that.) I wanted to capture his concentration and effort he made to make and sell only a few pieces of art. I think I managed to do that...I think...

Okay, this next one I'm including just because it amuses me. (And I know you Star Wars fans will appreciate it.) I took this while on my "People of Victoria" idea. It's of a violinist who dresses up as Darth Vadar (he even has a lightsaber). I didn't include this in my project because I didn't like how the light turned out. But otherwise, this photo turned out better than I expected, because of the movement and angles of his figure.

These next two are images of when I decided to take pictures of still life, particularly texture. They were taken in China Town. I always loved the displays of food and merchandise on the sidewalks in China Town. They are so colourful and fun to look through. The first photograph is just of an arrangement of baskets. I liked the colours and the variety of textures. The second one is of green vegetables on display. I was not sure this photo would turn out because the sun was setting and the light was fading. However, the fading light is exactly what made this photograph work. It created shadow, texture and depth to the image, all of which wouldn't have existed if I'd had full light.

This is the last one I'm going to post. I took this one when I was walking in China Town, past Fan Tan Alley. I took it on a whim because of the interesting reflection I saw in the window. I wish I had framed it more carefully, but all things considered I think it turned out rather well for such a spontaneous picture. It's my favourite out of all the images I took, because there are so many levels to the image. I can count four different levels within the picture: the inside of the store, the store front, the tree and the sun and the store fronts across the street. My eyes feel assaulted by the combination of them...but I like it. It creates an interesting effect.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my photographic experiments and wasn't too bored by them. Let me know what you think if you're feeling generous!