"Mark Vander Pol" wrote in
senet.com:

Any comments on my photos and/or website would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.mvpol.com

The new photos gallery is what I am most interested in getting
critiqued, but I will take anything!!

I am still learning and last time I posted my website I got some very
good advice and I hope that I can continue to learn.

Mark Vander Pol
Soli Deo Gloria


Hi Mark. I seem to recognize your name, and I suspect that I've been
in contact before, but I admit that none of your images look familiar.

Overall, you have a good selection of images that I would call
'stock' - simple, direct, and for the most part with good technical
control. The images are such that they are open for a variety of uses, and
impressionistic rather than, for instance, being able to show behavior or
identifying traits (this applies more to the nature and wildlife end, or
course). I would like to see more of them with a real hook, a strong
subject that grabs the viewer and directs attention. This would make your
portfolio stronger.

I see a lot of simliarities in your work to my own approach, and some
of the images look way too much like my own stock ;-). I suspect we would
find the same subjects if we worked the same areas.

For a lot of images, you have a predominant color, and I think this
helps quite a bit. It allows usage of the images as accents and decoration,
and can provide a theme or a mood where needed.

I found just a little too much emphasis on centering. I don't
recommend following any particular compositional rules all the time, and
centering can work well in some circumstances, but for some of the shots I
think offsetting the subject would produce more of a scene than a "here it
is" effect.

Some of the shots suffered a bit too much from Velvia's high
contrast. While it's a good film and produces great colors, in contrasty
conditions (like direct sunlight) it has too narrow a range, and you often
end up losing either highlight or shadow detail. At the very least, bracket
in the tough conditions, but I'd also go for the lower contrast films like
Astia at times.

How was the reaction to the wedding portfolio? Your approach was
different, less emphasis on the romantic aspects and more on glimpses and
abstracts. It's always hard to say how well departing from the tried-and-
true (you can also call it 'hackneyed') will be accepted, and how much the
couple might want to see the same-ol'-same-ol'. Which is why I asked ;-)

The portraiture, to me, seemed too direct, but I always prefer not to
have scenic portraiture subjects looking into the camera. I like to be a
'witness' rather than a participant, but that's just my approach.

And finally, your baby shots reminded me of something else. Heard a
child photographer speak last year on his new package techniques, one of
which sold like wildfire to new mothers (he calls it "Baby Parts"). My
first attempt at the technique can be seen at http://wading-in.net/Ian -
the applet is kind of slow loading, especially on dialups, but there's 13
images in all. If the amount of hits on that non-public page are any
indication, the kid's mom approves as well ;-). I think it could be better,
but okay for a first go. And your approach seems to come pretty close to it
as well, but I'd boost contrast in your B&W work.

Good luck with it all!


- Al.

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