Totally ordinary

Photo essay: Wires, pipes, ventilation

by Marjan Zahed Kindersley
19-Nov-2008
 
I'm experimenting with different views and photographic styles of shooting totally ordinary objects that one might not notice, e.g. wires, pipes, ventilation, as they are part of the day to day, when walking along the streets of London. Some of the photos when next to each other, show the tiniest bits of differences in the angle of shooting and the result is a totally different picture. The artist/composer Ralph Lichtensteiger , www.lichtensteiger.de, (a veritable library) compositions Musique Trouve, have set me on a path of "objets Trouves". I'm also working on discarded objects at the moment.
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First Time...

by Sid Sarshar on

I must admit, this is the first time I heard the expression of having my socks blessed.  You made me laugh.
As far as #18 goes, may I suggest your friends cross their eyes when they look at this image, sometimes things make more sense that way.


Marjan Zahed Kindersley

Bless your cotton socks, Sid!

by Marjan Zahed Kindersley on

Brilliant. thank you so much for taking the time! Not only a criticism, but how I should fix things! THANK YOU!

Funny, exactly the pictures I was unhappy about....Except 12. I have to defend that one. It is very very slightly off middle and if I had a Hasselblad, I would have pushed it even further.

And people don't like 18 , it's not a gem, but it works because of the "knob" at the top.

 

I'm going to copy your comments and think about them further. Thank you truly for taking the time.

 

Sun's out and it's shooting time! ;) 

 

M.


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Feedback

by Sid Sarshar on

Marjan,

Since your name is the same as my little sisters, I feel comfortable to share some ideas and thoughts with you.  In general, when shooting objects like this, Composition is the most important thing to keep in mind.  This is a subjective term and each person has their idea of what is composition.  I take some pictures like this and what I look for is Composition, Texture, lines, lighting….. The more of these themes get incorporated in an image, the more interesting the results.

To be more precise, I hope you don’t mind to look at your images and provide some feedback.

The following images worked for me:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (like the light  dark contrast and everything is in focus), 9, 10, 11 (like the vertical lines to break the image), 12 (I would get a bit closer to the subject, but still show some of the wall around it.  May want to try the same shot putting the subject off center instead of the middle), 13 (right side is fine, left side out of focus which becomes dead space.  Try taking a couple of steps to the right to avoid focus issues), 15 (nice texture), 16, 17 (lines on the right of the frame make it interesting), 18 (tilt is tricky, but works hear because of the Strong composition), 19 (Crosses make pictures more interesting, a western rule), 22 (it works), 23 ( like the image, try it horizontal, too much dead space at the bottom).

  

The images which did not work for me were:

4 (foreground out of focus.  You can play with out of focus subjects but they are tricky), 7 (shooting the subject flat or from the front may work better than in an angle),  14 (same issue, angle does not work for me), 20 (angle issue and lack of composition),  21 (lighting is not right.  Try this type of shot in Macro mode).

 

I also recommend framing the image.  Take several shots from different angles and distances…. And see what works.  This is when digital cameras are valuable.

 

I am sure this is more than you asked for and I hope you find it useful.  Feel free to let me know if something did not make sense.

Sid.


Marjan Zahed Kindersley

Great Thank Yous

by Marjan Zahed Kindersley on

Thank you for your comments, especially pointing out which ones you do like.

Out of curiosity and eagerness to improve, which ones fall totally flat?

I'm not so sure about quite a few myself;I might be too close to them.

 

To Aref Adib. That's one of those techno problems. My scanner thinks it has to cut the negatives and JJ then was forced to take the time to put them into some form of frame.

 

Abamard. Your comment made me laugh. I didn't either, when I started to shoot them. I thought I had finally lost the plot in the artist bAbble.


Abarmard

This album

by Abarmard on

I just don't get.


Aref-Adib

Great!

by Aref-Adib on

I love them but I'm not so sure about the two black bands on the side of your photos. They distract the attention.


Iranian Reader

Hey, very good!

by Iranian Reader on

I love it. But then again, I find the landscape of an abandoned warehouse romantic. Maybe it's an Iranian-woman thing!


Jahanshah Javid

Excellent

by Jahanshah Javid on

I like almost all of them. My favorites are number 1, 8 and 12. Just to notice what we usually don't (99 percent of all things?) is original enough. You have turned it into high art as well.


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keep noticing things...

by Sid Sarshar on

It is wonderful how one can become more aware and notice everything around them once they have a camera in their hand.  These images are an example of that.  Nice work, keep noticing things.  my favorate is #5

sid sarshar