First Critique

The first critique over the paint chip assignment went relatively well for me, but my eyes were opened to a few things that I need to work on.  I had a total of five images, and the general thought was that 4 of my images were stronger than one of them.  The image that was seen as not as strong is below.

The reason this image was seen as less strong is because the sense of design and composition were not as strong at the other images.  This image had more of a snapshot quality, which has some truth to it.  Looking back, I may have taken the time to compositionally structure this image in a way that was more pleasing to the viewer.  

The image that the class agreed was the strongest was of an abandoned house in Cooper, TX.  The image is below. 

This image was seen as the strongest for many reasons, but the reasons that I heard most were that it tells a story, and makes you wonder more about what is going on in this situation.  We see a house that is painted yellow, but not finished, or most of the paint is worn away.  It fits the theme "yesterday's yellow" very well in this sense, and I believe it is a successful image. 

Overall, the things I heard from the class were that my compositions are very structured and strong, but my concepts could use some work, and this is very true.  I always take the time to make interesting compositions, but sometimes the meaning of the image is more of an afterthought than a preconceived idea.  I intend on homing in on this problem with my photography and putting an end to concept-less art.