1. Wide-angle
The photo shows the busy scene at the street corner of Causeway Bay, which captures the gate of the shopping mall, the buses, the taxis, the pedestrians and the skyscrapers at the back.
2. Zoom
The camera zooms in on the main body of the skyscraper on the right. It emphasizes the extraordinary height of the building.
3. Focus
The photo captures the scene before a fruit stand and focuses on the red bananas in the front.
4. Crop
On the street market and look up, it can be seen that the sky is cropped by the buildings around. It seems that the sky is surrounded by the buildings rather than the buildings are under the sky.
5. Bird’s eye/aerial
Looking down at the street market from the bridge, I could see the streams of people and cars flowed by. Observing the street from a different perspective brought me the feeling of alienation, which provides me the space to perceive the pace of the city without getting involved.
6. Worm’s eye
The photo was taken by looking through the metal grid from a lower perspective. The skyscraper is standing in front of the viewers, imposing the pressure through the height. The grid also provides an exceptional sense of incarceration and depression.
7. First person view
The blurred scene implies the motion in the photo and shortens the distances with reality, providing the audience a direct view as if they were inside the scene and witnessing a story.
8. Skewed angle
Different from the common street view people can observe, the buildings in the picture seem to be distorted. The buildings are no longer vertically standing but being skewed, which can be quite peculiar.
9. Perspective
A pedestrian was captured at the glimpse through the gap between two boxes on the street. The narrowness seems can reveal endless views.
10. View frame
The grid provided a perfect rectangular frame for the street scene, which includes the stores, buses, typical Hong Kong signboards and people inside.
11. Seriality
This series of photos all focus on the Look Left sign drawn on the street with different colors of vehicles passing by. It implies the speed and noises on the roads.
12. Chiaroscuro / Contrast
There is only one bridge between the typical local street market and the international landmark of Hong Kong—Time Square, which shows the most distinctive characteristics of Hong Kong– the contrast between globalization and traditional local culture.
Description of the Worm’s eye photo:
The photo took the upward view of a skyscraper through a grid, which aims at emphasizing the height of the building and expressing the feeling of pressure under the large object. The camera was set almost reach the ground. The building is so high that it seems already blended in the sky, and the people have to raise the head to look up to it. It may imply the substantial pressure of people who live and work in this huge city. The skyscraper may stand for the far and unrealistic dreams they have, but there are always barriers like the grid on the way of realizing them. The dreams gradually become the illusions which can only be watched and imagined. Before the inevitable reality, who is not just a worm?
By Yang Shuran (3035448548)
You have some successful photos that tell a story, like the Chiaroscuro Shot and the Worm’s eye Shot. You can improve the photos by being more selective about what to include in shot. For example, in the Aerial Shot, if you are interested in the people and vehicles, you can position the camera parallel to the ground so the viewers are directed to the street rather the two buildings on the side. You have good ideas, the next step is to represent them visually through photographs and films.