Review: London Riot Aftermath: Image from BBC

The truth is I feel really short of time to do the assignment in the OCA course book. Part of it is because I spend more time on the comment from my tutor. One of them is reviewing other people's image.

Here is another one that I notice on the use of symmetry. This is an image take from BBC in the London riot last year. Due to copyright issue I cannot just copy the image over here, but you can see it on this link, it is image 9 of 11.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14436195

The damaged car frame is in the foreground and it provides most of the structure to the image: symmetry of the car frame. Then there is the street background at the back that provide more detail of the story.

I look at this image this way: what if I do this shot without the car frame? And what if I only shoot the car frame without the street background? I would say the former will still very symmetrical but a little bit boring. Later is too typical, so even if there is damage on the street due to riot, it is hard to spot them in a board street picture.

I think even if you have a strong subject matter, it is too plain to just have it all by itself. Somehow this image works that out quite nicely.

I remember that glass picture that I shoot. As a learning experience on how to set up light, it is totally acceptable. However if I really produce glass and need to put a nice catalog sales pictures out, it is too boring. Will it stand out and get people to view? I don't think so. Background element comes in handy because it provides additional touch to give more information, make the colour more interesting, etc. It is always a difficult decision on what background to include. When I walk on the street of London, I ususally find the background is too strong that it overtakes my subject in the photograph.

There is only little time left of the next assignment, and I am planning for the shots. To be honest, I don't want to run too much risk on the background at this stage, so I am planning for minimalize style - Not totally plain, but it won't be too dramatic in shapes and colour.