Meaningful Object

Before:

After:

What object did you choose to photograph and why?
I chose to photograph my bike as my meaningful object because I got my bike last summer in Santa Cruz on a spontaneous trip with my mom. The bike has ever since been something meaningful in my life and brings back good memories.

Do you think you were successful in translating your thought into a visual form? What aspects of the photograph lead you to this conclusion?

What I wanted to capture with this photo was a feeling of nostalgia that I tried to capture by placing the bike in the street and showing the houses and the sidewalk behind it because to me, I always  associate riding my bike with something very special and memorable in my childhood. 

What compositional element(s) did you choose? How did the compositional element(s) add to the meaning or purpose of the photograph?

The compositional elements I chose were balancing elements and rule of thirds. In the original photograph the tree in the background served to function more as a balancing element, but once I cropped away the excess space the rule of thirds was more prominent in the photo. The rule of thirds helped show the feeling of nostalgia by showing the houses in the background and not just cropping in on the bike itself 

What would you do differently if you did it again?/What would you make better? 

If I did this again I would have taken it earlier in the day with better lighting so that the viewer would see more of a childhood summer day riding a bike, which I wasn't able to do with the available lighting.