Hi Nathan, I held off commenting on your photos at first because I wanted to digest them and process what I felt about them. I have just read through this thread and seen the different comments, so here's my two pennies for what it's worth (by the way, it's worth more than two cents
until the Pound and Dollar reach parity anyway)
Overall I like the look and feel of your images, and I love taking pictures of people in the street also. I think generally these are very interesting and you are doing really nice work
Where you have effectively used natural light to create contrast and a kind of spotlight I think they are brilliant and some, like the teaism, are wonderful images. Maybe it could have been tighter and more 'in your face' but hey, it's still lovely and engaging
However, on the whole I tend to concur with Ken Tanaka's observations in a number of areas. Now this is just personal taste as we know but for me I do think you are sometimes a bit heavy handed with post processing and vignetting verging on overkill....but as I say this is only MY TASTE and I try and keep the scene as close to what I saw in the VF as possible a lot of the time because I am stuck in my ways
And
where it appears you have used PP to create the impression of a spotlight rather that actually painting with the ambient light itself (which is how some appear to me) I find this a little contrived. If you have never done this I apologise but some appear to me as though you have selectively shaded areas to make it appear as though you have 'caught' beams of light - maybe it's the vignetting which reinforces this feeling I get. Almost any effect or tool overused loses its impact anyway, don't you think?
Personally I don't like the rounded corners but that's just a superficial niggle and if you love this which you obviously do, then who am I to say anything?
However, I do think that where possible you could get more engagement with your subject...it's quite brave to get up close and personal with strangers and risk their ire for invading their space but on the street everyone is fair game. However, it leads to more exciting images IMHO.
I think you are already streets ahead (sorry for the pun) of most modern DSLR photographers I come across in other forums (present company excepted) where their idea of a 'great' picture is a macro of a flower or butterfly or a distant landscape - in other words, subjects that can't answer back and tell you to p*** off - because that doesn't engage anyone or risk any confrontation. Potential confrontation is what can give street photography its adrenalin IMHO...done well it gets your blood pumping
maybe that was three pennies