Suburban Angstby
BackpackRComment by digital_knight: since you asked for comments...
In my world, there's a couple of reasons photography really stands out.
1- It's a photo of an extraordinary thing (landscape, event, bigfoot)
2- It's a photo of a normal thing in an extraordinary way
Number one tells us that even a camera phone photo of the tear in the brides eyes during the first dance will mean the world to the brides mom and family. Your photo probably doesn't fit in this category.
So we have a normal thing in your photo, a street scene. How could we show it in an extraordinary way?
Camera angle is one. Get on the ground, on a ladder, right next the wall, a macro of the texture, or even tilting your camera to give angle to all these straight lines will start to add something special to this.
Lighting can bring out what is special to you about this scene. So a reflector card, off camera flash, a tripod mount so you can use a flashlight to paint a bright spot on what you like best, these make the ordinary extraordinary, and dramatic.
If any ordinary person walked down this street/alley and glanced over, they would see your photo. You have recorded exactly the level, the lighting, the everything of what I would see if I were there, exactly how I would see it. My human eye looks at that and my brain says, "oh, I've seen that before" and the finger clicks a low number and moves on. (I didn't vote on this one)
So I'm left wondering what it is about this scene that compelled you to photograph it because the photo kind of lacks any focus on any one aspect. A white door? Rule of thirds tells me that might be it. But I've seen stuff like this before, in fact I've tried to photograph stuff like this before. I've learned a beautiful girl in front of it, and some lights behind me make scenes like this a photo that people will stop and look at.
So you have a great shot of a great background to go back and do something remarkable with. Borrow some off camera flashes, go back with a couple of friends (because you can't afford light stands) and a pretty girl, or at a different time of day, or night, and shoot it in a remarkable way. Then come show us.
I hope, if nothing else, this helps you think about it in different ways. My way isn't the right way, but maybe it will help you think about it from a new perspective.
With regards,
Photographer found comment helpful.
