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ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>141443
>I want to see your city in six photos.

Niagara Falls in six photos. 1/6

This is the waterfall itself. I normally don't take a lot of pictures of it because, well, everyone else has it pretty well covered. But it would be weird to show a photoset to represent Niagara Falls and not have Niagara Falls in it, and the ice formations you get this time of year are pretty impressive. Fun Fact: The falls actually look their least interesting during the tourist season.
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>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
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2/6

Tourists! The lifeblood of Niagara Falls. Also, a Canadian casino in the background.

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>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
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3/6

This is Michelle, whose job is to try to convince people to go park in the $5 lot run by her employer rather than the $10 lot run by the park service. She's standing in front of a sign that says "Falls Parking $5" with an arrow pointing the other way, and she gets to stand in this spot all day with her flag (and her shouty voice) directing tourists towards the cheaper lot.

I didn't frame this as well as I'd have liked to, but it was a victory for me to actually work up the nerve to go talk to a stranger and ask if I could take their picture.

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>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
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4/6

Niagara Falls isn't doing so well economically. The area right around the falls looks pretty bad, and if you go a few feet out from the immediate touristy area, it makes the touristy area look vibrant and full of potential. This row of empty businesses is within easy walking distance of the falls and the hotels and is still empty. There's also a huge mostly empty outlet mall right smack dab in the center of town.

Converted to B&W for INSTANT-ART and to hamfistedly overemphasize the decrepit nature of the town.

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>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
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5/6

We're right next to Canada. Looking back, I think a shot of a Tim Horton's would have better conveyed this point, but it's fucking cold out and I'm not going out again. So, boring flags.

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>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
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6/6

The nice thing about having a massive amount of fast moving water right there is that the Niagara Power Authority can generate assloads of extremely cheap, environmentally-friendly electricity for the region.

The bad side, of course, is that a lot of industrial companies wanted to take advantage of that cheap power, which has left most of Niagara Falls covered in factories and brownfields. People don't want to live right next to big factories, so ironically, the thing that drives a lot of businesses into the area drives people out.

Well, that and the bitter, bitter cold. That costs us a lot of people, too.

~fin~

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>> lurker !rK4K86e49M
i went there once. besides the falls i went to the wax crime museum and the ripleys believe it or not place. I think itd be a pretty cool place to live.

>>141652

my favorite.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>141660
>I think it'd be a pretty cool place to live.
You'd be surprised.
>> Anonymous
*yawn*
>> fence !!POey2hdozCZ
i read all the captions along with the pictures first, to evaluate the aesthetics. then, i went back and tried to figure out what photo was about without thinking about what you had written. this was to evaluate the documentary quality. i'll give you my quick thoughts on both for each photo, plus a totally arbitrary grade.

1- aesthetics: A-
documentary: A-

obviously, a photo of niagara falls the place needs an artsy photo of niagara falls the.. thing. the close crop kind of makes the falls look tiny, though.

2- aesthetics: B+
documentary: B

I like the casino in the background, but i wonder if you couldn't have made better narrative use of this photo by including the falls in the composition. maybe it would be redundant, but i don't look at this photo and instantly think, "niagara falls!"

3- aesthetics: c
documentary: A-

ONCE YOU SEE IT, YOU CAN'T UNSEE IT. I'm sorry, dude, but you gave this girl the meanest case of horns. it's all i can see now when i look at the photo. but i like the little slice of working class niagara. gives a human touch to what could otherwise be a series of static scenery.

4- aesthetics: C
documentary: A

i don't like the vertical composition in this one at all. it should have been horizontal, since it's basically a panorama of a failed street. i'm also a stickler for color choice, but this just a preference. i think if you decide to shoot a series in color, you have to stick with color the entire way through. otherwise, it really is just monochrome for mono's sake. on the other hand, i think this photo tells the strongest story out of the entire series.

5- aesthetics: c
documentary: c

eh, you already know everything i could possibly say about this. should have been a border crossing, or tim horton's, or whatever.

6- aesthetics: a-
documentary: a

not crazy about the composition, but i love the story it tells. plus, i totally had to look up brownfields.

good job on the whole series, man.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
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>the close crop kind of makes the falls look tiny, though.
Yeah, mostly I was taking a picture of that neat outcropping of ice there. To put things in perspective, that outcropping's about the size of my car.

>I like the casino in the background, but i wonder if you couldn't have made better narrative use of this photo by including the falls in the composition.
I very nearly did. Here's the Plan A shot. I decided at the last second that I preferred the shot I uploaded. A big part of that was the redundancy thing, but honestly, it's just that I'm sick of the waterfall.

Also, I had wanted to get a casino shot in there, and after considering it, I decided that the shot of the Seneca-Niagara casino that I had was a boring photograph of an interesting subject rather than an interesting photograph.

>I'm sorry, dude, but you gave this girl the meanest case of horns.
Shit, you're right. I really ought to have taken some more shots of her, especially given how long we chatted. In the end, though, I only had two to work with, and the other has bigger problems than tree horns.

>i don't like the vertical composition [...] you have to stick with color the entire way through
I don't agree with that. By which I mean, I don't agree with your assertion that series should stick to all color or all B&W. I *do* agree on further consideration that I should have left this one color. If you'd like, I can upload one of the landscape-color shots I took so you can compare and contrast.

>not crazy about the composition, but i love the story it tells.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
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>>141700
Yeah, I like this way better than the one I originally picked. Maaaan.

Ohwell.

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>> Butterfly !xlgRMYva6s
>>141650
Thats cool, never seen a shot like that before so points for originality.

>>141651
Shitsux, framing very boring, looks like a tourist shot (ohh look flags!). Look into trying to convey something with the position of the flags, the USA flag is flying pround but the Canadian flag is only 1/2 up. The local flag? is dead, blarg!

>>141656

Not liking the framing here at all, looks very hastly composed and the cut off of the tower in the topleft is really distracting. Being able to get the whole CASINO sign in view would have helped a lot.

>>141652
Not bad but the vibrancy and tightness of the frame makes it look very happy and warm to me even though the subject is obviously cold. A (considerably) wider shot could have helped convey the futility and pointlessness of her job.

>>141654
This rocks, the insta-art gives it a real noir slum kind of look, very much workign with the idea of a destitute area. The crowded subject helps to impose on you making it seem very opressive.

>>141655
Like the style, STRAIGHTEN THE HORIZON! Would have got the bottom of the fence in at the centre to help lead the eye around the frame but otherwise nice work.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>141740
>Not bad but the vibrancy and tightness of the frame makes it look very happy and warm to me even though the subject is obviously cold. A (considerably) wider shot could have helped convey the futility and pointlessness of her job.
It was like 36 degrees (Fahrenheit) and sunny out. Relatively warm for March in Niagara Falls. She actually seemed quite happy with what she was doing--her previous job was indoors and nowhere near a window. This one lets her get out in the sun. And she's earning money to help her pay for college doing it.

I wasn't trying to say "All jobs in Niagara Falls are a bleak world of freezing toil", just "Here's someone who works for Niagara's tourist economy"
>> beethy !HJGkSBB3Ao
ac, i'm impressed
a really good series overall

6/6 is fucking amazing
>> Anonymous
>>141798

le sigh

you two make a quite nice couple
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>141800
Thanks! I'm hoping we can get married at Niagara Falls. It's so beautiful there. The only remaining argument is whether I get to wear the dress or if he does or if we should just both wear one.
>> Anonymous !SDPEsPMnww
>>141848
Oh god, please take pictures <3
>> Anonymous
Nice. I didn't feel like I knew the city that much, but except for>>141650and>>141654(due to shopping)
it feels like a real 'whole' to me.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>141740
>Look into trying to convey something with the position of the flags, the USA flag is flying pround but the Canadian flag is only 1/2 up. The local flag? is dead, blarg!
I waited around a bit in the hopes that the Canadian flag would be able to get it up. I get so much spam telling me that Canadian pharmaceuticals can help me get it up that it seemed like it shouldn't have any problems. But then I got bored. And I felt that I had other good shots that I could use to replace that particular frame. Turned out I liked those ones even less.

>>141798
>6/6 is fucking amazing
I find it interesting that everyone seems to have wildly differing preferences. 6/6 is one of my least favorites of the set, personally, which is especially sad since it was the most challenging (physically) to get. Had to walk uphill in the snow, just like your grandfather going to school. I hadn't previously had a feel for how annoying walking uphill in the snow is.

(Also: Bumping 'cause a guy was all like
>someone poast, i don't wanna go first
in the challenge thread and this was all the way down on page 10)