New Joiners - People #548

I can see the issue of exposure here - from deep shadow to (almost) blown highlights. These situations are tricky to compensate for but you've done pretty well. I think that the negative space to the right works well in comparison to the commuter's carriage but I think it might be too much - a sort of visual modifying verb in the sentence. Perhaps a simpler, more direct half/half/ might have worked better as I feel I'm staring into an empty driver's cab - and that means getting a more intimate and closer frame. Good effort though.

I really like this frame. Despite its rather blown highlights, compositionally it's graphically strong and I think rather brave. By luck or judgement, it reminds me very much of Rodchenko's constructivist photography and of Moholy-Nagy's designs and images. The shadows and the figures (part) intersection with them only add to the fun. I would have liked a complete rendering of the man-hole cover on the right, but that's a minor niggle in a complex and wells seen image. Lovely.

Even though the exposure here is problematic I think that the shape of the fame and the geometric composition of the figures within it just about make this a cracker. If I'm honest, I might like to have seen more of the right hand arch - but ultimately the success of frames like this depends on the photographer controlling highlights and shadow which is about accurate metering. Keep pushing.

I'm unsure where this was taken but I get a real sense of Australian Gothic - like the songs of Nick Cave or Joan Lindsay’s 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'. I might be entirely wrong in that but there is something sinister about the overarching nature and the direct gaze of the figure - doubly sinister with the green cast which I suspect is a result of an average colour balance. Still this is a pretty decent exposure and one that I'm sure encompasses the photographer's feelings - which is entirely the point of the image. Well done - a striking frame.

I really like this and it's the brave use of composition that makes it. I like the low viewpoint that forces us to examine the (partial) echoing of the train tracks and the bridge. A good exposure overall but I wonder whether the figure might have been placed slightly to the right to void walking 'though' the tree in the back ground? That said this is still a cracking frame.

Firstly, well done for 'freezing' the flame with such a fast shutter speed. It really works. Well done also for trying to isolate the figure with a small aperture that throws the crowd out of focus. Sadly, I still think that the background still largely distracts from the foreground - but sometimes that is the issue in such a public place. Perhaps if you'd have shot from a lower angle we might have had more neutral space behind the flame to isolate the performer. Still, a good effort.

This is a rather intriguing frame that asks questions rather than gives answers - and is all the better for it. I think that there's a conversation here that we're not party to and in that sense it's all about what we make of it. Technically, it looks like film which gives a sense of a fleeting moment vicariously captured (at a grainy, high ISO). It reminds me very much of Miguel Rio Branco's sensuous and erotic Brazilian imagery. Nicely done.

This is just a well seen and well executed frame. I love the visual pun and the frame that follows the shape of the actors in it. Nicely muted colours mean that we aren't distracted from the central action and the exposure is effectively done. Overall, an engaging image that makes us look twice.

There's an interesting image within this scene but I think that you've struggled to articulate it. The photographer's job is to visually include or exclude what they are trying to say in a photograph. Here, it could be about the abstract nature of the figures walking down the street after rain - but a little thought before you press the shutter is the difference between a 'snap' as evidence and a photograph as a meaningful image. Keep trying.

Although this is shot on a phone (nothing wrong with that) this image has a lovely delicate quality to it with a hint of Eggleston in its colour. However in terms of composition I'd liked to have seen less of the back of the car seat and other passenger and the frame ending at the mother's (?) hand. That way we get a more intimate and deliberate statement of what's happening and message. Still, very nice.

I quite like this - the use of the wooden shutters as an interestingly coloured but dimensionally flat backdrop to the story unfolding in front of it. I quite like the spacing of the 'action' the headspace of the other half of the frame too - but the scene is static. That's not to say every image has to be full of action but essentially this is a still life that would work equally as well without the figures just concentrating on the wall and the barrow. Sometimes we have to wait and wait for an image (as Cartier-Bresson called The Decisive Moment) and I think a bit of hanging around to see what might have developed would have improved this image no end.

There's certainly something here and despite the sparseness of the frame I can see what you've tried to do. I like the separation of the elements of the frame - the boat and the couples and the exposure isn't too bad despite the midday sun as you say. However, I wonder whether we actually need the boat at all? Cropping in frame so we just have the couples and the sea creates a much more dramatic image and once you have that in the bag, you have an interesting frame in which to let serendipity happen - perhaps there would be other elements coming into the space between them - a child, a bird - something like that. Still a good effort and push more with being brave in composition.

Usually when, within a portrait someone shields their eyes and puts their face into shadow it's considered less successful. Here however, I think that it works pretty well. An overall excellent exposure and complimentary composition that sees her head harmoniously enclosed within the lush green background. I even like the horizontal tree that bisects the frame. Nicely done.

There are several great photographs within this scene but I'm afraid that this isn't one of them. Photographing people can be tricky and intimidating but there's no better way to start than by being close and working out what you want to say with your image. Here, for example, the uprights (of the pier?) are interesting compositional aids for an image that you could 'anchor' the men between. Or you could make individual portraits. Personally I like the blue netting that metaphorically suggests 'sea'. Whichever way you conceptualise it, getting closer and more intimate - by chatting or smiling - is the first step. Keep pushing.

Whilst I understand the potential ethnographic value of this image (everything from clothing to posture to gaze), as a photograph it might have been better to either concentrate on the strength of the portrait of the girl and ignore the child behind by framing OR make more of both by moving your position and perhaps using the frame as horizontal. Additionally I suspect that this is an automatic exposure that has tried to compensate for the whiteness of her smock. It's meant that the shadows are compromised. It's very easy in tricky situations like this to snatch at frames but I suspect better images - for whatever purpose - are often made by taking a deep breath and thinking about what you want to achieve before making. Practice is essential so keep on going with that.