The first body of work I am going to look at is 'eyes of the city' by Richard Sandler, it is a body of work based around all the emotions of living in New York. I really like his use of both high and low contrast images to portray different emotions, I also really like the way he doesn't always include the subjects faces yet the images aren't boring back shots of people.
This photo, taken in an NYC subway in 1982, is the first image I saw of this project and what drew me to his work. I really like how everyone in the frame is looking at the camera and I like the way the pole down the middle separates the frame in half. This image was shot using a wide lens with a small aperture, you can tell this because the man closest to the camera is just as sharp as the man furthest away. The light in this photo is coming from the lights of the train which is a cold artificial light, they are blown out indicating that Sandler exposed for the darker parts of the image which would be necessary to maintain the detail in the subjects in a low light situation such as this. Despite this there is a lot of contrast in the image and it comes off as very punchy and striking. I like how Sandler has frames the image and the way the people are positioned within the frame, he is shooting slightly to the right of the carriage is just slightly above the woman's eye level. This allows the viewer to see all three people and creates a nicely balanced image with three 'items' surrounding the main focal point. The background of this image is interesting to me as its so messy and not cared for yet it resembles the patterns on the woman's bag. I also think the background contrasts with the subjects as they all seem very high class.
The next photo I have chosen to look an image of three old ladies looking up at three mannequins dressed in white. I like this image because in a way it is the complete opposite of the previous image I looked at because there isn't a single pair of eyes looking at the camera. This image was shot with a wide lens with a mid/wide aperture, this is because they three ladies are sharper than the three mannequins. The image appears to be shot under natural light, there are no harsh shadows which makes me think that these were taken on a cloudy day. The contrast in this photo varies, the three woman are very contrasted with their 'opposite' fur coats yet the walls either side of them and there mannequins are a lot less punchy. this helps draw your eye into the centre of the image and directly to the focal point. Sandler has shot this image head on with the camera positioned in-between the woman and the mannequins heads. I like the way this photo plays with both the rule of three and pairs and having the three woman stood close together and all looking up to these mannequins that could reflect them being younger allows me to create a sort of dialogue in my head.
The next I will look at is an image taken on Tremont street in Boston, it shows a crowd of peoples legs walking with the shadows of two people passing something. I really like this image and would like to try this in my own work as it is a different side of street photography that I never really considered. The image is a really wide shot, as you can see the photographers shadow in the image. He shot with a wide aperture in order to draw your attention to the legs and shadows of the two people as the background mess gets more blurred out and less obtrusive. The image was taken in bright sunlight but not at mid day as the shadows are harsh but long, because of this the image has a lot of contrast. Sandler shot this at his eye level, angling down towards the floor, the lack of thought in composition in this image is how a lot of street photography can be where you only have a split second to react and take the photo. This image is ever so slightly underexposed and he has done this order to make those shadows stand out and make sure that highlight on the ground doesn't become too bright this makes the image a darker toned image.
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