Critique on a Photo Essay

So i did my first photo essay thing. I would especially like some from street photographers or from people are into reportage. the whole set is here:

http://www.flickr.com …o/sets/72157629​749601308/

here are a few i cherry picked for this thread:

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What you shot is the middle of the fair.....If you shot the set up, the city setting barricades, vendors setting up etc.

at the end people picking up trash you would have a complete story.....

as for pictures, some are light, some are dark, cropping is an issue...missing body parts

on flickr you talk about colorful costume yet you shot in B&W, You say it's a peace event looks like halloween in the castro district. it doesn't say peace to me.....yes I know its the nutty people of sf...but you will have a hard time with an essay with your pictures....turn it into nuts of sf then you got a story.... If you had the occupy movement instead you could sell it as peace event...

Processing is all over the place....many images too dark to make out detail. Step one would be to calibrate your monitor.

stanclark wrote in post #14449434
What you shot is the middle of the fair.....If you shot the set up, the city setting barricades, vendors setting up etc.

at the end people picking up trash you would have a complete story.....

as for pictures, some are light, some are dark, cropping is an issue...missing body parts

on flickr you talk about colorful costume yet you shot in B&W, You say it's a peace event looks like halloween in the castro district. it doesn't say peace to me.....yes I know its the nutty people of sf...but you will have a hard time with an essay with your pictures....turn it into nuts of sf then you got a story.... If you had the occupy movement instead you could sell it as peace event...

ah ok it totally didnt cross my mind to take shots of set up and clean up.

i actually didnt know much about the event so i just googled some info on it so i have no clue if it really does promote peace or not but point taken!

Woolburr wrote in post #14449458
Processing is all over the place....many images too dark to make out detail. Step one would be to calibrate your monitor.

if you have the time could you tell me which images are too dark for you?

i'm using a macbook pro so i have no clue on how to calibrate the monitor on this.

roosterslayer wrote in post #14450911
if you have the time could you tell me which images are too dark for you?

i'm using a macbook pro so i have no clue on how to calibrate the monitor on this.

Umbrella guy is too dark for one.

Much of these are under-exposed, but could be fixed with simple levels. interesting none the less. I agree with stanclark about the before and after though. If you had arranged like 10 photo's from setup to vacancy then it would be more epic. I am guessing this is a California shoot? no other place is so drugged out and F'd up. Infinite subjects.

edit -p.s. I just read ur avatar and I had guessed CA by the pics before ever reading that you are in CA. I gotta visit the state ,but im pretty damn sure I wouldint wanna live there.

StaticMedia wrote in post #14452466
edit -p.s. I just read ur avatar and I had guessed CA by the pics before ever reading that you are in CA. I gotta visit the state ,but im pretty damn sure I wouldint wanna live there.

come to sonoma county less nutty people.....wine country....hundreds of wineries to shoot. just 70 miles north of these nuts.....

Yeah, I saw the first few images and I immediately thought San Francisco - and sure enough.
But as an essay you need to set the stage - the location - so something emblematic of SF in the background of the first image would do the trick. GG Bridge, Alcatraz, Transamerica, or a SF Fire truck.
Love the image of the guy who demands "Pay Me" (for what?). Pretty much sums up the philosophy of a lot of folks nowadays.

Some great feedback here, so take in the points and don't be disheartened. B&W can be tough... you need as much detail in there as you can - no black or blown out white bits - and nice contrast and balance. A straight conversion from what looks good in colour to b&w usually doesn't work without a fair bit of work, but if you do a search here on bw conversion, you'll find a ton of stuff.

incidentally, I find the shots interesting. I spent a week in SF years ago and loved the place! Look forward to seeing more of your shots.

i appreciate the feedback guys! yeah i do see your point on the underexposure but the umbrella guy in particular was purposely done that way to accent the glasses.. maybe it didnt work like i thought it would? the other ones underexposed are by accident

i'm going to get rid of more than half of these images anyways but i wanted to see what everyone thought of the 30 i had decided to work with. since i dont have a real beginning-middle-end i think i may just incorporate some of these images into a later project.