So, I'll call this set of photos:
Corruption of a Boy
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| The beginning of our story, as it were; an image of somebody coming up in the pleasing South Street Seaport, with its nice Helvetica font and unassuming, if only somewhat interesting imagery. |
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| But the kid doesn't really accept that. He challenges it, wants to be more. He sees the contours of the plain door, and makes it stark. Marking virtual territory in his mind, he seeks to stake a place in the unassuming space in which he exists. |
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| There was something else there too though. Aside from anger and fear, some degree of silly hope. Less contorted choices go through his mind, beginning to want to change. He begins to chase the playfulness he found in the games of his youth. |
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| So he joins the empire. He now sees himself much smaller in the world, and directed by a new fear. One which dominates with the strength of iron. What, against such magnates can he do? Escape? Flee? But he is too far gone. |
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| There's always hope though. That imagination, springing forth from ether, will lead away from that empire of iron. |
In the first picture, I rather liked how "cool" the imagery used was, in terms of colors, but also the fact that the design is direct and to the point. The visual information isn't really crowded or overbearing.
The second image is all about contrasting the first image. The image is extremely busy, particularly at the center, where the graffiti lies. But, the windows themselves are also made with a design that eschews a sort decentralization of just the frame. The image itself has multiple points of interest, the door being the most striking. As a note, I see graffiti as a form of advertisement in itself, mostly one that says what not to do as much as what to do. These are contrasting messages as well, one inviting and dapper, the other off-putting, like that of a rabid dog.
The third image is a contrast of the first two images. These image of the octopus and the hedgehog/Bubble Bobble critter have a symmetry between them, if only indirectly. The Post No Bills that lay between them is not the actual focal point, though it is a point of interest. The image itself spreads itself out rather nicely, due to the consistency of the Post No Bills on blue creating a widening effect, and black creating a focal effect.
The fourth image is contrast as well, but one of extreme symmetry. It moves from a couple asymmetrical images to a building that is entirely symmetrical. The result also gives the perception of looking upwards, due to the placement and the road sign that seems "bigger" due to it being a focal point, but still considerably smaller, as though one who obeys these signs, advertising what a person can and can't do, is small, the "empire" lumbering over those on the ground below it.
Finally, the last image is that of something that has structure and is also somewhat disjointed, that of a magazine. A magazine is a place of personal interest, and seems to relate to the third picture, if one has a level of familiarity with videogames. Made more obvious by the textual narration, the image is structure last to finish the story, but also because the image is more calm and less intimidating than many of the other images, despite using a contrast of black and white. In a sense, it brings the image back to the first image, something that is structured without being overbearing.
Update: Additional stuff!
Pic 1:
Uses a sans-serif font, with a New York City element is normal, south street seaport and the website address elements use bold style
Uses a formal structure
Some contrast from the background due to it being white and the elements being blue, but the elements themselves are all virtually the same color - not a busy image
the image is symmetrical
a lot of literal white space in the image, mostly used to focus on the image itself, the background sort of creates a positive/negative effect where the text seems to "burst" out of the image
Pic 2:
Hard to tell, but the font here is likely sans-serif
Uses a radiation structure, focusing on the door
We see stark changes in terms of symmetry and asymmetry here, perhaps the most striking of which is the windows in the upper left corner and the door on which the graffiti lies - position plays an important part here
Pic 3:
Abyss is obviously sans-serif, as is POST NO BILLS, which is a bold font
the structure is formal, playing across the POST NO BILLS line, while the ground is the second line
the image seems to balance the symmetry of POST NO BILLS and the asymmetry of the grafitti, which provides a black/white contrast, yet is somewhat absorbed and softened by the blue background
Pic 4:
the font is sans-serif
the structure is concrete, where the buildings create the lines upon which the image is read
the image is highly symmetrical
there's a strong direction from top to bottom, and a definite sense of size in relation to how the image reads from top to bottom
Pic 5:
the font is, again, sans-serif
there's an implied concentric structure, yet it seems somewhat informal, taking into account the magazine's header
the image is symmetrical
the usage of circular objects and variations in size and font weight create the sense of a half-circle enveloping the viewfinder, creating a center balanced towards the left of the layout
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