Assignment 208: Research: Comparison of Street Photography

Comparison of Street Photography: How My Research Has Influenced My Work

As in the last blog I want to compare a number of images from my research on street photography with some of my strongest images.  With street photography it was much harder to isolate and replicate the research  -   instead what I tried to do is identify what it was that made the images and how I could bring this into my work.

This image by Cathal McNaughton was taken as an ironic piece - the Queen isolated below all of the other dignatories - an image that I took of an street seller captures a similar sense of isolation - but without the irony, however the pink feather boa and bucket add a strong sense of colour that you get in Cathal's image. 

The lack of eye contact from the people around her also echo the sense of isolation that the Cathal image portrays.

This image by Alfred Eisenstaedt captures a sense of excitement from a group of children - I dont know what the occasion was but the range of facial expressions keeps you looking around the image.  The quotation that went with the dialogue around this image was about clicking with the people - not the camera - which is why I have chosen to compare it to the image below.

Although this picture is focused on one person - similar to the above image it is about capturing a moment - an expression - not posed for - but giving a sense of the crowd and action that was going on around.

This image of Cathal's was about capturing the reality of the harsh,political side of life.  It was about not planning but capturing a moment - taking a photo and moving on - being decisive.

Whilst the images below may not have the same aggression in them - they were taken during the EDL demonstrations in Birmingham - which were kept extremely peaceful - but these two images were about me being decisive in what I wanted to capture. They have both been slightly altered in photoshop - the first one cropped tighter to frame out some of the distraction - the second has been slightly altered to excentuate the colours and contrast

I have found it harder to compare my research on street photography to the images that I have taken which leads me to the conclusion that I need to review and refine my research - or consider expanding my images to reflect the research.

The strongest influence to date has been Cathal's work - and I would like in my research to find more photographers that blend the political statements with their work.