jc1305us Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 I decided to enter an employee art exhibit at my work. These two photos came up on my short list of options to exhibit. The first, Grand Central is a combination of 5 exposures, which allowed me to highlight the incredible space that is the great hall. The second, is Princeton University, shot on a Rolleiflex using Kodak Tri-X. The Grand Central print is approx 20x30”, the Princeton photo is 12x12”. Thoughts? Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcstep Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 I MUCH prefer the B&W. The color one looks like you used too low a shutter speed and the colors seem too saturated to me. I don't understand why you show so much of the ordinary ceiling. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels - NHSN Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 The station photo wants to do too much but fails to deliver IMO. The lower half of the photo appears to have a focus problem or maybe it is an effect of combining 5 photos? The black and white has some nice tonal transitions going for it and a classic composition. Maybe not the most exciting photo but I think it will work well in a group exhibition where there is likely to be a bit of visual noise. 1 Niels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanKlein Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 A lot will depend on where the judges work. People familiar with Grand Central Station and it's star lit ceiling may be more impressed with it. The other Princeton photo is artsy, but are the judges? One comment about the first. The walls seem to fall back too far. They're not plumb. Can you adjust so they are more up and down? You will probably lose some of the sides of the pictures. But you'll have to judge if the edit is better. 1 Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanklein2000/albums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc1305us Posted March 4, 2023 Author Share Posted March 4, 2023 4 hours ago, AlanKlein said: A lot will depend on where the judges work. People familiar with Grand Central Station and it's star lit ceiling may be more impressed with it. The other Princeton photo is artsy, but are the judges? One comment about the first. The walls seem to fall back too far. They're not plumb. Can you adjust so they are more up and down? You will probably lose some of the sides of the pictures. But you'll have to judge if the edit is better. Funny you should ask, I work for a large commuter railroad agency. 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanKlein Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 12 hours ago, jc1305us said: Funny you should ask, I work for a large commuter railroad agency. 😊 I guess you have your answer. 😉 Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanklein2000/albums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanKlein Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 I hope you don't mind. But I adjusted the vertical to make it stand up straight so you can see what I meant earlier. Good luck on the contest and let us know how you made out. 1 Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanklein2000/albums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samstevens Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 The train station feels unnaturally processed to me, bordering on illustration. The perspective and composition are awkward. The Princeton shot is a good photo. It’s better, IMO, as part of the series you originally presented, if I’m remembering correctly. I really liked that series. This photo added greatly to it but doesn’t stand out on its own as well, IMO. I’d look for one in that series that works better as a solo. I seem to remember there were some that would stand out as singular shots. Good luck. 1 "You talkin' to me?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Smith Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 B&W for sure. I don't really like the converging verticals on the B&W but it's better than the GCT pic. Robin Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc1305us Posted March 7, 2023 Author Share Posted March 7, 2023 Ok black and white it is! I’ll let everyone know how it goes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemorrellNL Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 It's good that you've made the call for B&W and I'm not in any way suggesting you change that. I've never visited GCT but FWIW, I really your GCT photo. Converging verticals don't bother me so much and are not so difficult to adjust in PP. What I really like about the photo is that some 80% shows the serene 'beaux art' design of the interior - particularly the restored 'celestial ceiling' in all its glory. And the bottom 20% contrasts this (for me) with the modern bubbub of modern life and travel. I just like this juxtaposition between relative 'timelessness' (19th century) and relative 'transience'. FWIW, I also really like your B/W photo of the Carnegie Mellon stairs too. Both the form of the staircase and the interplay of multiple textures/patterns. Just a suggestion to ignore if it's not useful: if you haven't already done so, you might want to google your candidate images on keywords (GCT, Princeton.Gothic/Cloister Arches, Carnegie Mellon Staircase, etc.). Just to compare you photo's with similar ones. We both have no idea what the acceptance/judging criteria might be. But 'something different' (rather than a well executed photo) just might be a criterium. As far as I can quickly see from internet, there are few GCT photos with a similar perspective to yours. So your CCT photo 'all-encompassing' perspective is relatively rare. Your 'Princeton Arches' photo is excellent. Just be aware that there are many more similar 'Arches' photo's floating around on Internet. So the 'Arches' photo looks to me to be relatively ubiquitous. In that similar photos could be taken at many cathedral cloisters. Your 'Carnegie Mellon Staircase' photo - with this quality - looks to be relatively scarce. The only comparable photo I've found at finartamerica retails in poster format (with a 10% discount) at $100. I'm not suggesting that content 'uniqueness' in standing out from the photo crowd is - or should be - a criterium. Just that it might be. If the criteria are 90% 'photographic skill' and 10% 'content' then any well-taken and interesting photo would be fine. I'm not sure whether there's a 'theme' to this exhibition or who the judges are. It does occur to me that if you work for a 'large commuter railroad agency' and it's an employee exhibition then the GCT photo might just fit in well with 'railroad'. Good luck! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Smith Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 B&W is much more suitable, even if it's a bit of cliche. But most of us take cliches all the time. I wouldn't try the GCT one. Robin Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc1305us Posted June 5, 2023 Author Share Posted June 5, 2023 (edited) Brought 5 images to the exhibit, and, no surprise, the GCT print was the big hit. The bigger hit, however, was my rolleiflex 2.8f which I brought as a prop to show people what I had taken the other prints on (all medium format prints) Peooke absolutely LOVED the camera and were genuinely curious about how it worked, and what you could do with it. Another photographer actually had a taxicab MAT, but really had no idea about it, so I walked him through the workings of the camera. All in all a fun day! Edited June 5, 2023 by jc1305us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Smith Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 There you go. De gustibus non disputandem est Robin Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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