An ordinary Day at the Station

[JK6065]

Since I started attending an University in Holland I travel by train a lot. Thursday I started a project that I would like to continue during my study: Capturing people in their all day business. It's interesting to see l these different people rushing to work, home or maybe their lover. What I would like to capture is the ordinary life on a way you never pay attention to. I also would like to capture pure emotion a railway station draws from people.
Street photography isn't that much my cup of tea until now so feel free to comment on this first couple. I appreciate it (tips are also useful).

This series (and I think more of my shots at the station) is shot with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8. It makes my camera look very small (helps stand out less in the stream of people). I also don't have to worry about focal distance and be able to work with bokeh.


5 minutes Delay

f/2.5 . 1/800s . ISO 400

Take it easy

f/2.8 . 1/200s . ISO 400

The Unknown

f/2.5 . 1/125s . ISO 400

Lost in Time

f/2.0 . 1/500s . ISO 200

Feel free to comment.

[carregwen]

Very good shots, Jeroen. You are right about using a small camera/lens. I use my G1 for street photography and no one pays any attention. I'd like to see more of these.

[JK6065]

there will be more on their way. I really enjoyed taking these shots. Because I travel to en from this station every day it's easy to do a lot of these.

[carregwen]

there will be more on their way. I really enjoyed taking these shots. Because I travel to en from this station every day it's easy to do a lot of these.

That's why I got the G1 - I carry it everywhere with me. How are your studies going?

[JK6065]

I started the study Mechanical Engineering at the University of Technology in Eindhoven, the Netherlands about five weeks ago. Luckily I really enjoy the study and the content is very interesting, but is a lot of hard work. I spend about 50 hours a week studying and that's barely enough. For now the goal is to make it through the first year (you have to get a certain amount of points (ECTS) to may continue to the second year). Hopefully I'll make it, but we'll see.

[David]

Hi Jeroen - Interesting images. Technically, I think they are all well shot and well processed. However, #1 falls a bit flat for me as most of the shot is out of focus and the subject, the man on the right who is in focus, does not appear that well differentiated from the crowd. I'll come back to #2 in a moment. #3 and #4 I think are great shots. The man with the case in #3 makes the image as does the pointing pencil in #4. These seem to me to be good example of the Cartier-Bresson philosophy of the critical moment. An instant either side of the actual exposure and the shot is lost. Back then to #2, and here is an example of no critical moment, the shot then is not so interesting.

Anyway, as always with crits and comments, they are only my suggestions.

Cheers

David

[JK6065]

Thank you for your words David, these suggestions is what I'm looking for. Good you mentioned Cartier-Bresson and his philosophy. It's an inspiring source for this type of photography. I agree with you about #2 lacking the critical moment, it makes the situation less powerful but somehow I like the overall feel of it.

[Camellia]

Hi Jeroen

I really like number 4. I like the flow of the notice boards. If I didn't know that this was taken in railway station, I'd be wondering what is he doing? There is a sense of the unknown in this photo. It makes me curious to know more about this man.

[JK6065]

Thank you Raylee,
I find it interesting how older people struggle to cope with all the technological developments. It makes me think of what will happen when I'm about that age.

[Shadowman]

Thank you Raylee,
I find it interesting how older people struggle to cope with all the technological developments. It makes me think of what will happen when I'm about that age.

Jereon,

It may not be that he is elderly but new to taking trains. With the economy being what it is, imagine a powerful executive who normally gets chauffeured to work but now has to take public transportation.

[JK6065]

That could be possible, though most of the time (like my grandfather) people of that age find it difficult to keep up. The exact reason of why he wrote down the departure times (he was writing the departure times at the bus stop, therefore the pen in his hand) we won't know but, as Raylee said, it's interesting to wonder about.

[JK6065]

I finally took some time again to do some shots in Eindhoven.


#5



#6



And of course some architecture

#7

[MiniChris]

I don't know that every moment in every day has a critical point of exposure, especially when we are dealing with the reality of life. The people riding the escaltor, in my opinion is one of the strongest pieces because it portrays a moment of rest in an otherwise busy day. Good vertical movement (though I would crop out the downside at the left), nice tonality, and I see that perfect moment.
Often, I think we wait too long for that moment of drama and miss the subtlety of it actually happening. I like the overhead shot the girl as she strolls briskly along and the man at the computer...each lost to their own world, own time. Nice work.
To critique, I would leave out any shot which requires an explanation such as lost in time...even though there isn't much more he could be doing, it sort of loses that uniqueness of the moment for me.

[JK6065]

Thank you very much for your comment Chris.

I took #5 and #6 at early morning before I went to University at a usually busy shopping mall. Only a hand full of people where already at the mall, so it was a great way to observe and isolate the individuals.

Since I started to look more for this type of photography I started to appreciate these individuals. For example, on the station everybody has in common that they're travelling by train to work, University or family and are all in a hurry. Though every individual is unique and has his own story. I like to (attempt to) capture this in a photograph of that individual. I think "capturing the moment is very powerful in street-photography. Observing great street photographer's work reveals this.

Maybe a good balance between 'making the viewer wonder about that story' and 'make sure the shot doesn't need too much explanation' is the way to go. I prefer that first style more, that's why I posted it. You might prefer the second so you would let it out .

[arith]

Top one is top photo; I used to travel by train to university, a 100 mile round trip. I was offered somewhere right next door but I was married and her indoors said no.

Didn't think of taking photo's though.

[Nomadr]

some nice photo's jeroen, keep shooting, if you can get some interaction between people then all the better, also look out for the unusual, if you can get a decisive moment like cartier-bresson then all well and good, in my view the title of the piece should tell the story, i know these days that new artists dont want to give a title and would rather you guess as to whats going on but i am old school, the title can be the making or breaking of a pic, cheers martyn

[CNelson]

This is an interesting project....sort of a commuter photo essay. I like image #5 best. I understand the advantages of small lens but I might be inclined to use a telephoto lense as it lets you get close to people without alerting or intruding on them. The trick seems to be to catch people when they are doing their thing and not noticing you but faces are important and you may have to use telephoto to get faces. Good luck with your studies and keep shooting.

Chuck

[JK6065]

Thank you Martyn
Somehow I find it very difficult to come op with good titles. It might be that writing in a foreign languages affects it, but also in Dutch I can't think of some good titles. Most of the time I add a title because I should and than they feel rather silly. So now I prefer leaving the title out. I see your point, but I think it's better to leave the titles out until they really add something to the photo.

Chuck,

These last three are shot with a telephoto lens (70-300mm) with the reason you mentioned. I agree with you on getting close and capturing the faces, but I feel like I'm crossing a boundary when getting close and frontal. I don't know if it makes sense but I wan't to avoid confrontations with people which aren't happy with me photographing them.