Favorite Shots and Why!

The first ever assignment for photography class is to select 10 of our favorite photos, 5 being from professionals and the remaining from our own cameras. Without further ado, here it is!

The first 5 are from professional photographers.

Photographer: 无限TX

First of all, I like how the subjects of the photo tells a story. The distant birds are soaring high, while the girl is rooted to the ground, only gazing with unrevealed expressions . It gives a sense of unreachable heights. The subjects are also placed tastefully off-center. The way her clothes blend in with the background is also aesthetically pleasing.

Photographer: Alessio Albi

The way the sunlight is filtered onto the model interestingly looks like polka dots. Those spots also somewhat resembles the freckles on her face, which creates a sense of rhythm. The sunlight distorts as the surface it hits changes in contour, which also is an attraction. Her face displays a shred of awe, adding to the total mysteriousness of the shot.

Photographer: Alessio Albi

This photo gave me all sorts of feelings when it caught my eye. Wistful and lonely, longing for freedom. The walls are plain and clean, which makes the 'freedom' look all the more beautiful and outstanding. The outstretched arms did a great deal in emphasizing the feelings mentioned before. It made the photo feel surreal, which is one of my favorite genres. This one was chock full of emotions. Hats off to you, Alessio.

Photographer: Nicolas Bruno.

Nicolas Bruno has a series going on, which he uses photography to portray his nightmares and experiences during sleep paralysis. This is one of the photos in the series which caught my attention. The use of the fish-eye distortion cleverly exaggerated the size of the building and made it look more ominous . The lone figure's outline is solid black due to the high contrast back light, which adds a sense of incoming danger. I have to say, I also liked this photo because it kind of hit home with my own experience with sleep paralysis.

Photographer: Alex Pan

This photo was taken at a hotel in Budapest. What I liked about it is its minimalistic and clean quality. The background looks like it was drawn, rather than shot in reality. The model, although small in comparison, is very much more detailed, which attracts the viewers attention. The cute pastel colours and plastic-like feeling is also a charm point. The sky and the lower wall being the same colour was also a nice touch.

Now, onto my own photos! Most are them are shot during visits or road trips in the car, haha.

Old buildings are one of my favorite subjects, and this abandoned building had peaked my interest. I quickly snapped this photo while passing it in a car. I like how the interior is completely not illuminated, as if you might see an apparition if you stare long enough. I also like how the streetlight divides the building in half. The decaying parts of the wall looked outstanding against the dirty yellow paint.

This one was shot in a car as I was stuck in the traffic of Vietnam. The streets and shops over there was quite bizzare. Shops are very narrow and street cables were crazy. I am quite found of how the sky and the shops divide the photo into 2 portions, and how they contrast each other. I also like how the banner and the ledge is the same colour as the sky. The sky is clean and simple where the eyes can rest, and the shops are detailed and serves as the main attraction. Overall I feel there's a lot of energy in the photo.

Firstly, I like how the details like the pipe and the rusty door and the other door have different colours, which highlights them from the rest. I also like the textures on the building which makes it look old and weathered. The sky highly contrasts the alley, meanwhile casting interesting shadows on the walls and ground. I find my eyes tracing the edges of the shadows.

There's no deep reason why I like this photo, but I just thought it was a lovely cat family portrait. The cats were somehow posing for this! I also made sure that the main focus was off-center to make the composition more interesting. The cats are so adorable though!

For this one, I'm quite fond of how the cables converge and guides the eyes to a single point. I always find crisscrossing wires charming. The details of the buildings are also what attracted me to take this photo. The cool colours also blend nicely, where the main focus is in a bright azure. If you look closely, you can see the edges of the building forming a negative space. This was also shot in Vietnam. This shows how crazily close each rows of houses are!

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