always enjoy your series.
maybe its the places you travel to or maybe it's your style but your work is alot of street (photojournalistic) travel photography, an area i am particularly poor in. so seeing more of shots is a darn good way to improve that side of my photography.
i dunno why i thought that some of the categories' winner's shots ain't really that fantastic and in particular their attempts at asian streets are a little disappointing. maybe that is just me....
well, you might be right. but most times the judges are spectacularly experienced photobuffs, so creativity (originality) comes more into play than technicality because they have perhaps seen all matter of pictures. but then again... its just choices of few people. recently i look at some
new york atmospheric pics by Nicole Bengivino (travel photojournalistic), and absolutely loved it. i would never have seen those shots! bottomline, is learn as much from these pictures as possible but know your style and seek out photographers that is of similar style if you wanna dwell further or seek out other complimentary styles.
resin also cost a bomb. each singh ray GND cost S$150 at least and more. besides, for 84mm cokin p there is only resin and cheaper plastic.
i use singh ray (ND2HS/ND2SS) and they seem to hold up really well in the padded sleeves that comes with it, perfectly neutral. and i dunno how many ND you need but your SGD300 should be able to get you singh rays too. but maybe i used my ND Grad more selectively than you do, you even use it on people e.g. #34. i shoot (77mm wide lens) with my ND Grad using Cokin slim holder removing any other screw-in filters, with little noticable vignette.
in fact, i have not really considered sending my pics for critique to some of my favorite magazine ... becos somehow i dun always agree with their opinions on composition and cropping of other reader's submission... maybe i'm just plain wrong and stubborn, but i need to be convinced of getting good critique that can buy me over
you should, just for sake of doing it.
RadiantVista is VERY 'mak nyah' but one of few video critique which gives you more info than just 3-4 lines in those magazines and FREE, no need to print to submit. i think to each it's own but i strongly believe that you need to know the rules in order to break them. but to be fair, these are general magazines aimed at anywhere from beginner to pros so its moderated to a certain extend focusing more on the technicality rather than creativity.
you know, some people are better off and prefer to travel alone, as they wanted the subject all to themselves. there's one guy called marco pozzi, a UK paediatric cardiac (baby/children's heart) surgeon, who is also a travel photographer. we share some similarities in the way we shoot and process, but there is some differences. he quoted that he usually shot 30-50 pictures per subject, which is hard of me to understand becos i always feel that i'm bothering someone when i photograph him/her. i'm quite a passive photographer and dun insist on going thru tough situations to get extraordinary pictures. but his style is more aggressive, and he may bring his subjects to a favorable background or find subjects to add to a favorable background. i dun. all i do is to ask them to turn the other side, so that i can shoot them with good light on them.
again you should try. i travelled quite abit on my own some as long as , and i found that it simply forces you to pick things up faster. and on this subject i always too shy (or simply claim that i am a purist recording the scene), but afer a few solo trips it is slowly becoming natural to 'actively' compose your shots because it's only me and him/her. usually after a while, the person would warm up alot more as well. most times these are the keepers because you have the precise end result in mind. but as a qualifier, we have to know the customs and sometimes, know the price. but still, i'm dying to attend one of those small workshops with a good travel photographers to know how they do it, what is too much? etc when it comes to dealing with people.
Pic #3 is Shiva Linga, symbol of fertility among hindus as Shiva is lord of fertility (and destruction), i was explained about the shape having some meanings too but can't remember.
onto some critique of these series, i think a few of cropping (or the lack of it) is abit off, that also leads on to my next thought. most your pics have impactful story but the few that i thought was abit off got me asking, 'so what are you trying to tell me or show me?'.
