Critique: Age UK Images

[Jake Mongey]

Congratulations on the forum! I saw you suggested that we could submit a image for critique so I thought id share a set of photos that I could use your opinion on.

These images are from a day where I worked in an age UK Centre in Canterbury with the college and they asked me to photograph it. I decided to try and make a body of work on the day that showed more than just the college and tried to get a feeling of the place (Age UK is a charity which helps those in old age and this centre was acting as a social hub and making meals which people could come and enjoy with company.) These are the photos which I took trying to tell the story of the day and I photographed what I saw, what do you think?

Age UK-11 by jakemongeyphotography, on Flickr
Age UK-23 by jakemongeyphotography, on Flickr
Age UK-4 by jakemongeyphotography, on Flickr
Age UK by jakemongeyphotography, on Flickr
Age UK-6 by jakemongeyphotography, on Flickr
Age UK-30 by jakemongeyphotography, on Flickr

I dropped by a series of these prints once I had finished as i promised some of the subjects I would. These were shot on ilford HP5 at 3200 and devved in Microphen scanned on my canoscan

 

[peterm1]

I like your images. In particular, I love shots with a touch of vignette - it draws the eye in, inviting the gaze to focus on the main subject and also adds visual interest overall. The very first image is a case in point - what could be an ultra boring photo of a non de script official form of some sort is given interest and meaning through the power of good composition and execution. Well done.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Nice and grainy grannies! Also, not just average pictures at photo forums.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Jake,

This is the kind of thing that would make a great long term project, if they'll allow you to come back on a regular basis and photograph. Get to know the individual people there, the workers and the elderly people they're helping. Get more photos of them interacting. Do some portraits, too.

The only negative criticism I have is that they're too high in contrast. It gives them a harsh look that seems out of place for the subject matter. I know you're facing a technical challenge, shooting in low light. Delta 3200 is a great film for that, but Microphen is really not the ideal developer for it. Try Ilford's DDX developer or Kodak Tmax Developer. Either of them will give much better shadow detail, which will alleviate the harsh tonality.

Aside from that, the photos you have so far are a great start.

 

[Jake Mongey]

This is the kind of thing that would make a great long term project, if they'll allow you to come back on a regular basis and photograph. Get to know the individual people there, the workers and the elderly people they're helping. Get more photos of them interacting. Do some portraits, too.

Ive never actually shot a project of this type long term, I spent christmas day in the darkroom printing these and am going to give some to the centre and the people I photographed. If I did want to continue how would I approach them?

The only negative criticism I have is that they're too high in contrast. It gives them a harsh look that seems out of place for the subject matter. I know you're facing a technical challenge, shooting in low light. Delta 3200 is a great film for that, but Microphen is really not the ideal developer for it. Try Ilford's DDX developer or Kodak Tmax Developer. Either of them will give much better shadow detail, which will alleviate the harsh tonality

Ill give it a go, the lighting was really harsh as the room was fairly dark with huge bright windows and I was shooting in manual and overexposing a stop VS my meter but the negs were quite thin. They do look softer wet printed but only a bit!

Do you have any examples of that combination in 35mm? Ive never liked delta in the three developers ive tried (ilfosol, Microphen, ID11)

The very first image is a case in point - what could be an ultra boring photo of a non de script official form of some sort is given interest and meaning through the power of good composition and execution. Well done.

Thank you, I actually started taking shots like these after doing real estate photography up in london last summer where the photographer taught me the importance of "detail shots" to indicate the lifestyle within the house. Im glad you liked it as I wasnt too sure about those images in particular

Nice and grainy grannies! Also, not just average pictures at photo forums.

Thank you, Im glad you enjoyed them!

Thank you all of you for taking the time to look at these and evaluate them.

 

[robert blu]

A good series Jake. I fully agree with Ko.Fe: these are not average pictures and I like that there is story here and your essay has an interesting rhythm. Well done.
robert

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Ive never actually shot a project of this type long term, I spent christmas day in the darkroom printing these and am going to give some to the centre and the people I photographed. If I did want to continue how would I approach them?

Wen you take the prints from your first group of photos to the centre, tell the person in charge that you would like to hang out there some more over a period of time to document the people there more.

Tell him or her that you won't photograph anyone who doesn't want to be in the photos, and that you'll give them a set of prints. I think they'll say yes, based on my experiences.

Do you have any examples of that combination in 35mm? Ive never liked delta in the three developers I've tried (ilfosol, Microphen, ID11)

I know that ID-11 is probably the worst choice. It is basically the same as D-76, which I have tried and hated. Delta 3200 was designed for DDX, and Tmax Developer is similar to DDX. You'll get better results with either of those developers. Here are some examples:

The light here was very harsh but it still has better shadow detail than yours developed in Microphen.


The next two were shot on the 120 size version of Delta 3200 but they give good examples of the tonality that is possible.

Be careful about underexposing Delta 3200, it has little underexposure tolerance compared to slower films. The negs do typically look a little thinner than other films, though. I think if you switch to Tmax Developer or DDX, you'll see a big improvement in shadow detail.

 

[Jake Mongey]

Wen you take the prints from your first group of photos to the centre, tell the person in charge that you would like to hang out there some more over a period of time to document the people there more.

Tell him or her that you won't photograph anyone who doesn't want to be in the photos, and that you'll give them a set of prints. I think they'll say yes, based on my experiences.

Okay, that makes sense ill give it a go when I go up there.

Delta 3200 was designed for DDX, and Tmax Developer is similar to DDX. You'll get better results with either of those developers. Here are some examples:

These results look nice, ill put in an order for some DDX and my shop does stock delta, ill probbably stick to 35mm as I needed a fast lens. Maybe this will be a nice first project when I get my grandfathers canon 7 back from service

A good series Jake. I fully agree with Ko.Fe: these are not average pictures and I like that there is story here and your essay has an interesting rhythm. Well done.

Thank you! What do you mean by it has an interesting rhythm?

 

[robert blu]

I find a rhythm in the way you made the sequence, you alternate details, environmental portraits, portraits and this adds interest, makes the viewer curious to see what comes next.
Great, I like it.
robert

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Okay, that makes sense ill give it a go when I go up there.

These results look nice, ill put in an order for some DDX and my shop does stock delta, ill probbably stick to 35mm as I needed a fast lens. Maybe this will be a nice first project when I get my grandfathers canon 7 back from service

Thank you! What do you mean by it has an interesting rhythm?

Good luck. If you're able to shoot more, come back and post the new shots for us to see 🙂

 

[Jake Mongey]

But what if someone just doesn't like the way digital looks, or just loves the film process including using ancient out dated equipment like Nikon F6s, Leica M7s etc?

Thats interesting I never looked at it like that, i simply put it so no two photos of the same type were together! Ill think of that next time i put a body of work together.

Good luck. If you're able to shoot more, come back and post the new shots for us to see

Thank you! I sure will, this is the first time ive posted images for criticism on internet that havent been slated! I learned from previous criticisms still just it was always a bit demoralizing. Im glad you liked them

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Thank you! I sure will, this is the first time ive posted images for criticism on internet that havent been slated! I learned from previous criticisms still just it was always a bit demoralizing. Im glad you liked them

What's "slated" mean? Did they disparage your photos without telling you how to improve them?

That style of critique doesn't do anything but hurt feelings. The purpose of doing these critiques is to help you improve your work, not to discourage you from even trying!

Years ago, when I was in art school, the photo professor got a locally famous fine art photographer to come to our class and show us his work, and look at ours. This guy shot everything on 8x10 film, and was basically trying to be Ansel Adams by only shooting western landscapes.

He told me two things about my work that even then struck me as especially idiotic:

1) "There is nothing in Indiana worth photographing. You need to go out to California and find some beautiful landscapes to photograph, not this **** here."

2) "Your work looks like crap because you're shooting with toys." (35mm and medium format. This was in the 1990s, before digital) "Get a large format camera and you'll have some potential."