Tyler, I really like the photograph you have of the older gentleman in the IMRC. It follows the rule of thirds well and has a crisp focus. While this may sound weird, it lets us see how his beard and the table feel. It also gives a little window in his personality, which straight-on portraits often have a hard time doing. The mood of this photo is very quiet, whether that is due to the muted color palette or the fact that he’s reading a book (or both), I have no idea. The ISO may be a little off as the photo looks kind of grainy on my monitor, but thats the only technical aspect of the photo I have to critique. You also could’ve wanted it to be grainy and messed with the ISO on purpose, if so, nice work. Overall a very solid photograph, keep on keeping on!
Tate, I would have to say my favorite of your photos has to be the close up of the Reversing Falls. The slow shutter speed you used really helped convey the speed of the water. Additionally, by keeping your focus on the gravel, you managed to establish an important thing with this photo. That being how you made this piece feel very “wet.” It sounds weird, saying that water looks wet, but stay with me here. You managed to capture more than just the fluidity of the water. Due to the overcast lighting and the varying moistness of the rocks, I can tell how humid and cold it was by the Reversing Falls. Another neat aspect of this photo is how the perspective can leave the viewer wondering where the photographer stood, which is always fun to play with. To us, it seems like you’re in the middle of the river. Nice work on the finely composed piece.
I believe your photo of the train bridge that focuses on the right side does a lot of things really well. The first being the relatively high shutter speed you used. By using such a high shutter speed, you were able to capture the roughness of the water, which helps develop the tone of the photo. Due to the choppiness of the water, the barren nature of the bridge, and the light combined with strong diagonal shadows, you’e created a piece that is full of melancholy. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the over exposure of the skyline, but it does help draw attention to the water and slowly decaying trusses. To achieve the same effect, maybe you could try removing some saturation next time? It could help keep clarity while still moving the viewer’s eye to what you want to focus on. I really like how you managed to capture the “sound”of this bridge as well. Nice work!