Themed Assignment
We decided to spice up the assignment this time around. Each of us assigned a specific theme to the other.
Jason was given the theme, “Yellow”.
Bradley was given the theme, “Shadow”.
Shelby was given the theme “Architecture”.
Bradley’s Shadow Favourites
Shelby gave me the challenge of Shadows(and not B&W). Fun and vague enough that I felt like I can twist that meaning a little. Are the shadows the subject? Do the shadows intentionaly mask the subject? Do the shadows frame your subject? Is the vast area of the image in shadow? Lots of options and I really like some of the images I got from it.
Fine, I made one B&W. sue me. Also, the door and the man holding sunglasses I actually took just before I was given the challenge, but liked them enough to add.
Shelby’s Architecture Favourites
This may be a hot take, but I never enjoyed architecture before this assignment. I’m not going to pretend this assignment has me completely on board with this kind of photography, but it has definitely helped me appreciate building design more.
Whenever I was looking at architecture, I found myself asking, “Why”? Not just in terms of function but in terms of cost and design. I can’t say I found the answers to most of the times I asked it, but it was interesting to actually contemplate and put myself in that position.
Jason’s Yellow Favourites
Brad gave me the tricky theme of “Yellow”, it was tricky because I hate the colour yellow. However, by the end of the challenge, I was finding it exciting to hunt down pops of colour, from lights, clothing and textured surfaces.
My goal was to make Yellow the focus of the frame, and I found some success with that, but often the images I liked the most had it as a supportive role. For example, in my hero image this month, the yellow table plays a commanding role drawing the eye, but I still feel the people are the subjects. I also loved the geometric foundation of the picture, with vertical and horizontal lines separating the subjects, further played in body language, one sitting, one standing
In this set of images I felt I wanted to connect around how people interact with this colour, from the busy Berlin U-Bahn, to street lights and yellow chairs. Although not the most ground-breaking of images, I was enjoying playing with the colour as a way to bring out subjects. The first two images here have subjects wearing all black, offering great separation of the background. Compare that to the third image, where light fills the scene, almost as a filter. The final image in the set is simply a very subtle touch of yellow, I just enjoyed the very human interaction with a foot up on the chair while engrossed in a book.
Prater Park, Vienna. A pastel, retro feeling with some subtle yellow chairs
My last set of images are from my recent trips to Vienna and Berlin (a photo trip to hang out with Brad and Shelby). I immediately noticed that public transport across these cities we’re always using yellow, in contrast to the red buses in London. I wanted to capture a few images of small moments of people interacting with these trains, buses and bikes.
There you have it, a tricky but fun challenge. Now I’ll take a break from all this yellow.
Thanks for going through our themed assignment! Stay tuned for future assignments.
