my photos of Tokyo

[thetokyoguy]

hello

i've just finished my site about Tokyo :

http://www.thehiddentokyo.com

1200 photos, covering almost the whole hot spots apart Mt.Fuji
what do you think ?
pics are taken using an old Canon Powershot A100
resized in 512x384 to save bandwidth

any comment welcome :)

[ArcticEOS]

Alot of the pictures seem like just snap shots. There are alot of good ones but alot of "snapshots" in there. Cool website :)

[Robert_Lay]

Other critics may be of a different mind, but for myself, I prefer to see a single image, or at most two, to which I can direct my attention. It just doesn't seem possible to do justice to dozens of images.

Thank you,
Bob

[montreal]

It just doesn't seem possible to do justice to dozens of images.

I agree... try posting one or two. You'll get more feedback. :)

[Broncobear]

In my photo journalism course they taught me at most ..at most post 3 or choose 3 for any submission. 1 or 2 would probably be bets but I that that 3 at the most is a good rule.

[thetokyoguy]

sorry unfortunately my concept wasnt to make good "single pictures" but more some sort of a travel report, mainly because of the limitations of the Canon Powershot A100 i used.

some samples :

http://www.thehiddentokyo.com/asakusa/asakusa-IMG_0161.jpg
Asakusa - Senso-Ji Temple

http://www.thehiddentokyo.com/ueno/ueno-IMG_2521.jpg
Ueno Train Station

http://www.thehiddentokyo.com/ginza/ginza-IMG_0926.jpg
Ginza Skyline

http://www.thehiddentokyo.com/akihabara/akihabara-IMG_0750.jpg
Akihabara

http://www.thehiddentokyo.com/ginza/ginza-IMG_0861.jpg
Ginza Cop

http://www.thehiddentokyo.com/akihabara/akihabara-IMG_1061.jpg
Akihabara - inside a Robot Store


your opinion : i made these pictures when i knew pretty nothing about photography, also they were taken without tripod nor good lights, kind of paparazzi style since most of the subjects dont usually agree to being taken into strangers' pictures.

do you think i should better make less pics with more text comment, or use larger pics, or just completely change the concept and use a normal thumbnail/album/large-pic style ?

(now i use a Nikon D-50 and my pics are waaaay better so indeed i should focus on quality rather than quantity as in this case)

[thetokyoguy]

snapshots : i dont know which monitor resolution you're using but on a normal 15" tft 1024x768 the pictures slide is more or less ok, at least for a travel report.

yet i always wonder, what if the users have a 1600x1280 or even bigger screen ?
would they see the pictures as small thumbnails ?
i think so, but what could i do ?

i can't post 10 hires pics in 1 page, it would take 3MB ...

[ArcticEOS]

Snapshot meaning there is no composition, thankyou.

[Broncobear]

You know when I did go check out your site, I went through a few of the pictures. The layout of the website was very nice but I thought the pictures for the most part were bland and boring (subject wise)...it seemed you went around taking pictures of everything around you without an expression or emotion.

Out of the 5 you put up (to me...this is just my opinion) I thought 1 and 4 were decent...

Your showing a personal and a vivid side of tokyo, the other one's bore me a little.

there is a book by Bryan Peterson that I think could benefit you, it's called

Learning to See Creatively

It helps you bring out something vivid from within your subject.

Please understand I do not mean to insult you in anyway , everyone has a differen't *eye*...but I think as we gain experience , our eye changes a bit for the better.

Think about what elements in the shot that you people to pay attention to, the rule thirds helps but that is only a suggestion , ideally an array of composition that can allow the viewer to relate or see a some sort of story within them.

hope this helps

Good pictures are not just about monuments or buildings and especially not signs....I think it's more about the purpose (does that make sense)

[thetokyoguy]

thanks a lot BroncoBear !

HONEST critique is what i'm searching for !
no matter if people think im ugly or my works are ugly,
all i want is honest, unbiased comments.

yeah the layout seems to be ok, nobody so far complained.
but.. pics are indeed crappy, im the first to know it,
after all this was my first photo set (it's 2 yrs old).

point is : when i posted the link long time ago in travel forums
lots of people liked it, since they see it as a "travelog",
while in photography forum they all say it's crap because
the pics are ugly and obviously non-professional.

the concept is infact me walking around tokyo and shooting
at anything weird i see as well as monuments, hot spots etc.

that's indeed not what a PRO photographer is interested about,
but at the same time that's what many casual travelers like to browse.

how can i synthetize a chapter with 100 photos in just 3-4 pics ?

take for instance the one about Akihabara, there's just SO many
weird details.

i got an email from a newsmagazine asking me to send them
a selection of the best 4-5 pics , i did, and they never replied :(

infact i can't honestly find so much "good" pictures in this photo book,
in one way or another they're all sloppy with bad light, bad colors, and bad framing.

i'm downloading the book you mentioned from eMule, hope it will enlight me :)

i mean, for hobby i do also illustrations, comics, and some painting, if i have to draw
a concept, i'll just choose maximum 2-3 subjects and draw them in
a way it gives the viewer a message and a concept, no matter if the technique
is mediocre, concept and message should be what art is all about.

but then WHY cant i apply this to photography ? :(

[Davidsl222]

I enjoyed your show (what I looked at so far). It's like sitting with a friend and seeing their vacation slides. I've been to Tokyo twice and it was fun to see so many shots of the city as if I were walking around it again.

If you pared down some of the photos to the best ones and added some stories about the places that would be cool too. (i.e. The Asahi building has a giant golden idol on top of it. My wife, daughter and I refered to it as the giant turd. You can use it as a landmark as you wander around Asakusa. When we got lost we would look to the sacred and giant turd to find our way to our hotel or to the metro station next to the ferry.)

[Broncobear]

point is : when i posted the link long time ago in travel forums
lots of people liked it, since they see it as a "travelog",
while in photography forum they all say it's crap because
the pics are ugly and obviously non-professional.


Yes I can see how your photo's can serve a greater purpose for a travel log, especially for people who speak or are learning the language....

I'm in no way a professional.

I myself am actually more of a poet than a photographer, but what I genuinely try to do is if I can take a shot that speaks for itself or looks really good..then I'm happy.

I think there would be nothing wrong with adding text in your case


I think Photography has many animals....
(photo-journalism...wedding--tourism- even art)

Each discipline has it's own rules and politics...

I think of photography simularly to how I think of architecture, to fulfill a need for a portrait like building a structure you can be simple and uncreative...but when you create something beautiful that will marvel people, the you have done something good.

Your pictures have potential.