Information + graphic

Well constructed infographics are amazing device for synthesizing and communicating data into a visual format.

This example from National Geographic is a great example of a simple infographic that clearly and effectively relays the information.  It’s about population growth in the 20 largest cities in the world.  Displaying the cities on a map gives the viewer an instant geographical reference and allows him to place cities with which he might not be familiar.   The three numbers clearly show the growth pattern and prediction for each city.  The circles also serve as easy symbol of relative size.

Here is an infographic from Deliver Magazine (pdf only) about what “the mail” consists of for the average person.  The icons are very intuitive and enable the viewer to quickly get an overview.  The text and numbers provide further concrete data to complement the visuals.

This is another great example of an infographic from National Geographic.  I like this one because it does a great job of visually representing the numbers.  The data is much more powerful in this format than mere text alone.

Red Square

For my photos in Red Square I focused on two main topics.  The first story was inspired by a set of empty chairs that started me thinking about everything that passes by those chairs on any given day.  The second story looked at the physical evidence of the area’s popularity with skateboarders.  I trained my eye on damage caused by the boards, efforts to prevent it and also the harmless nature of a pair of longboarders cruising around.

My photography experience is similar to the average person my age (i.e. pictures of friends, trips and cool landscapes) so it was a challenge to go out and look for subjects to shoot.  My goals were to get better at shooting close up, focusing on a single aspect, and searching out photos that were aesthetically pleasing and told a story.  It was both challenging and interesting to start changing the aperture and length of focus.  I quickly realized how much more I would be able to manipulate the shots with more complex camera and telephoto lens.

I think I definitely improved my knowledge of how to change the depth of the photo by focusing in on different parts of the same frame.  I’d like to get more experience manipulating the aperture settings.  During my shoot two skateboarders suddenly appeared.  I excitedly starting shooting pics without really thinking about the focus issues that I’d been practicing.  It made me realize how tough it is to shoot a quality photo that isn’t preconceived.  In the future, I would try to be more prepared with certain subjects/themes of what I wanted to shoot and  try to plan to be there at an optimum time.  I really wanted to get a series of midnight longboarding but bad weather got in the way.