Portugal, in Monochrome

boomguy57

boomguy57

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Here is my most recent book that I made from my two weeks that I spent in Porto and Lisbon in March 2012. It has been in the pipeline for a bit, and I'm happy to finally have it done.

A mixture of film and the X100...I'd appreciate any feedback the nice people on RFF might offer; I'm not a pro by any means and want to get better!

Here it is: "Portugal, in Monochrome"

Here is the second, updated and edited, version: "Portugal, in Monochrome"

Thanks!

-Trevor
 
very nice album! one comment i have is that it may be a good idea to have lesser repetition, ie, force yourself to choose which are your best images.
 
So, overall, there is a lot of excellent material there, but next to very good pictures there are lots of average pictures, and many pictures that look the same. At times, the theme looks to be the graphics of light and shadow, other times it looks to be a reportage about the city strollers. On a technical side, I would prefer not to see ugly digital images, like the one of the coloured girl sitting next to a window. In my opinion, it would have been better to stick to film. To sum it up: you should trim this down to 1/3rd of the images and you will have a real showcase book ready !
 
I agree with the remarks of MFogiel (though most would agree that's it always easier said than done)

A big well done for effort and encouragement


Thanks
 
mfogiel said:
So, overall, there is a lot of excellent material there, but next to very good pictures there are lots of average pictures, and many pictures that look the same. At times, the theme looks to be the graphics of light and shadow, other times it looks to be a reportage about the city strollers. On a technical side, I would prefer not to see ugly digital images, like the one of the coloured girl sitting next to a window. In my opinion, it would have been better to stick to film. To sum it up: you should trim this down to 1/3rd of the images and you will have a real showcase book ready !
Click to expand...

I guess my question would be: does the theme have to be one of those? Can't a book have light play as well as people?
 
boomguy57 said:
I guess my question would be: does the theme have to be one of those? Can't a book have light play as well as people?
Click to expand...


My answer to that is to imagine that your work is a gallery.

People don't understand the mix BUT if it's divided as a gallery divides, then it is much better and much easier to understand.

Just my thoughts...
 
mfogiel said:
On a technical side, I would prefer not to see ugly digital images, like the one of the coloured girl sitting next to a window. In my opinion, it would have been better to stick to film.
Click to expand...

So there is a visual distinction to the viewer, or your personal preference is just anti-digital? I'm not sure how to take that comment.
 
I enjoyed the book. I like the shadow play in many of the photos, and I also enjoyed a number of the juxtapositions of photos on facing pages. I also liked the fact that the collection was not entirely street photography; that you included some urban landscape and detail shots. My main criticism (which I think may be partially what MFogiel noted) is that a number of photos could have been taken in any southern European country in March; they didn't capture or reflect a sense of place that's particularly or uniquely Portugal. This may argue for editing the selection down further, so that the unifying theme of the collection is more clearly reflected in the photos.
 
Relating to the digital comment - yes, I do have a preference for film, but this is irrelevant. What is relevant, is that your body of work should present itself as a homogeneous and well thought out project. If you shot half of it with an 8x10 view camera and the other half with a half frame Olympus Pen, there would be the same kind of visual clash. This technique clash between film and digital B&W sometimes is very visible and disturbs the viewing experience.
 
The images you picked for the book are excellent.
Keep on making books.

Edit: I just noticed that you replaced the cover. I like the single man with shadows and door better.
 
Very nice images. I'm surprised that these photos are from a short two week stay in Portugal. Do you mind if I ask how many photographs you took on the trip in total?
 
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