Assignment 208: Location Photography - Research Theme 2: Martin Parr [part 1]

The second of two videos talking about how Martin Parr works.

In this video he talks about not wanting to hide what he is doing - wandering around with a big camera, mounted with a flash.

Listening to Martin talk about the work within this video he is very fascinated with a suburban lifestyle he himself didn't experience growing up as a very middle class child.  He gives a sense that those scene's he is capturing are of people 'beneath' him - actually hearing Martin talk about his work has taken away the sense of fun, of laughing at you - not with you.

Assignment 208: Location Photography: Research Theme 2: Martin Parr [part 2]

This video is one of two exploring the work of Martin Parr.

Martin doesn't talk about how he has taken the picture, the equipment he used or how he engaged with his subjects.  What Martin does do is talk about his motivation for his work - the reason behind his projects - what he was trying to capture about the topic or subject.

He focuses on style and content - and many of his themes could almost be viewed as derogative about the way people live.

Assignment 208: Location Photography - Final 10 Images - Theme2

Location Photography - 
Final 10 Images - Theme 2 
Street Photography - Birmingham (with an exotic ending)

I visited Birmingham over a period of three weeks capturing images of the city at play on a Saturday.  I was lucky that over the three weekends that I visited the sun shone, even though it was moving into autumn/winter, and there was so much happening that it provided copious opportunities to capture many different dimensions of this multicultural second city.

Every time I visited the streets were littered with university students collecting for various charities - providing colourful, playful images to capture - most of them never shied away from posing for the camera for a bit of change in their cans.

I was also lucky enough to time my visit with a number of key political activities - and Birmingham provided a listening platform for these different statements to be made and heard - a number of my images in the final ten are from celebrations of the death of Gaddafi which was a significant event for many, I also have included images from the EDL demonstrations in Victoria Square and the Occupy Birmingham camp outside the city hall.

The Queen
ISO 400, f5, 1/320

Although not the best image in terms of quality I enjoy this image - it presents a slightly surreal image of the queen collecting for charity in a busy shopping centre - everyone else around is rugged up for the cold but this brave collector took her image seriously!  The image has not been altered except to crop the dimensions.

The Big Issue
ISO 400, f5, 1/1000

I chose this image because of the high contrast in colour saturation between the big issue seller and the two passers by in the street.  It was a bright sunny day and the fact that passers by are almost 'washed out' in contrast to the seller give him greater presence.  I took a number of image of this big issue seller because he had such a presence about him that made him stand out in the crowd.

A Private Moment
ISO 400, f4.8, 1/500

I chose this image from a number that I took of the inpromtu celebration of Gaddafi's death - the majority of the celebrations were being led by young men and women - I like it because I feel like I have captured a private and completely honest moment of joy.  The image has been slightly cropped, no other alterations have been made.

Blending in
ISO 200, f5.6,1/400

I've chosen this image because the way in which the street collector stands out by her pink scarf.  Her role is to encourage the passing public to donate to the cause she is promoting but she appears isolated and uncomfortable in her role. This image has not been altered, only slightly cropped.

Making a stand
ISO 200, f2.8, 1/320

I chose this image from the EDL demonstrations for a couple of reasons - the symmetrey of the two men wearing hats and glasses, the red scarf that draws you in - and the set of their facial expressions.  No alteration has been made apart for cropping of the image to focus on the two men.

My Own World
ISO 400, f4, 1/800

This has made my top ten because I like the composition of the image - the character in the forefront immersed in his music with the background thrown out of focus like it doesn't matter - which it probably didn't for him.  The image has not been altered at all - not even cropped.

Tired
ISO 200, f3, 1/500

This is one of my favourite images of my sessions - it says so much about what the demonstrations stood for.  The gentleman holding the placard fits so well with the strap line and brings a depth to the image.  This image did come out a little washed out so it has been worked on to bring out the depth of colour and excentuate the character of the mans slightly weathered face.

Isolation
ISO 200, f2.8, 1/640

Another of my favourite images.  This lad was part of the Occupy Birmingham camp at the city hall.  The previous week there had been a lot of activity around the Occupy Birmingham camp, this week they were sectioned off behind harris fencing in case of riots errupting around the EDL demonstrations that were taking place in Victoria Square.  This gave the Occupy camp a sense of isolation from the rest of the city.  I have cropped this image and turned to a black and white image as I felt it bought out the 'cold bleakness' of the situation to a greater degree.

and the exotic..

My final two images are of a different genre - they are taken during my travels - but I wanted to include them as they present a different dimension to the street photography above - the first image was taken in Sharm El Sheikh.  It is not the best quality image - but it was the closest I came to producing a 'Martin Parr' moment so felt it had to make the cut!  It was, honestly, unposed, this holiday maker was just standing there next to the post in this pose and I was sitting at a table a few feet away.  He totally blended into the post of the bar which is why I wanted capture it.  The image has been slightly cropped and the exposure altered slightly.

Now you see me..
ISO 200, f13, 1/500

This final image is from the backstreets of Seville.  I have included this image as it really draws me in - the vibrant colours of the shop interior, the obvious signal of the location from the red apron - and the young Spanish girl huddled in the corner on the step bringing the modern contrast with her texting.  She seemed to want to disappear or minimise her presence.  The image has been cropped to tightly wrap around the doorframe.

Huddled
ISO 500, f4.2, 1/500

Assignment 208: Robert Doisneau: Review of Selected Portrait Photography

Robert Doisneau - Gentilly -Sur -Seine, 1912

After attempting to compare my street photography with my research to date I felt that there was a gap between what had initially inspired me to capture urban moments with the content that I was producing.  Therefore I wanted to carry out further research to identify additional photographers that I could help me to continue develop my work.

I found Robert Doisneau in book entitled Icons of Photography, The 20th Century published by Prestel in 1999.  The image in the book was 'Kiss in front of the Hotel de Ville'.  This image is an iconic one - having been used in advertising campaigns and postcards.

Dosineau was actually taken to court by the couple who believed it was an image of them taken without their consent - which was, at that time against French law.  This court case forced Dosineau to reveal that the image was staged - he had used two actors to capture this moment - a kiss that he had observed from a cafe table, but did feel comfortable to capture.  He asked if they would kiss again allowing him to capture the moment on camera - which they happily did.

This picture reminded me of a couple of my images - where I had captured displays of public affection.  The couple below were completely oblivious of the crowd around them, this image was taken just after they had finished a passionate kiss - unaware of the fact that they were actually in a road and a car was waiting to move through!

This image was from a serious I took of a women joining a group of family members - there was much hugging and many kisses exchanged at the joy of reunion

Doisneau lived and worked in the Parisian suburbs where he observed people, expressing empathy with their lives - he attempted to compress this sentiment into a single photograph.  Many of his images portray the unabashed displays of young couples in love - oblivious to their surroundings.

reference:  

Robert Doisneau - Wikipedia

Masters of Photography: http://www.masters-of-photography.com/D/doisneau/doisneau_articles3.html

Icons of Photography - The 20th Century

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.

Assignment 208: Location Photography: Post Production - Contrast & Curves

Photoshop - Post Production - Contrast & Curves

With this image there was little cropping required, I feel that I focused on what I wanted and just about delivered on the right composition. 

The minimal amount of cropping done to slightly tighten the focus

I felt the contrast on the image needed deepening to bring a greater depth to the image as the original looked slightly washed out

I also played around with the curves function - I thought this alteration made the image much clearer and seemed to remove the shadow around the image

I was happy with the colour image produced above but wanted to see what the effect of turning the image black and white.  I liked the fact that it dulled out the background - but overall feel the image had more warmth and impact in colour.

Assignment 208: Location Photography: Post Production - Cropping

Photoshop - Post Production - Cropping

This image has too much distraction - the break in the harris fencing, and the label on the fencing.

The aim of the crop was to create total focus on the boy behind the fence, but retain enough of the fence to keep the sense of isolation and enprisionment.

I also wanted to see if this image worked in black and white - personally I feel the colour image has greater impact.  In black and white there is no punch to the image - it doesn't add any depth, whereas in colour the muted hues add to the sense of desolation.

Assignment 208: Research: Cathal McNaughton: Street Photography

Cathal McNaughton: 1978

Cathal McNaughton is an award winning photojournalist with over ten years experience.  His work spans a variety of disciplines and styles from gritty shots of conflicts, to colourful images that capture a sense of irony and fun.

His images have featured in high profile advertising campaigns and has won many accolades, including UK Press Photographer of the Year, Royal Photographer of the Year, and Nature and Environment Photographer of the year.  The breadth of these awards gives you a sense of the diverse nature of his work.

I chose to review Cathal's work after reading an article in the magazine Digital Camera - because I found the variety of his images inspiring - it was good to see that you photograph across such a broad range of subjects.

The images that I have chosen to review were also published in a series of features run by Amateur Photographer over the past year - in each of the photo insight features Cathal explained the inspiration behind the image, and gave an insight into how he composed the image and the equipment he used providing an excellent set of tutorials.


Cathal advocates always shooting in manual - having total control of your camera.  He also talks about passion - which is why I have selected the image below - this close up draws you in because its colourful and the vivid colours of the painted face help to highlight the raw passion of the person coming through the eyes and the mouth.

In his tutorials, and the magazine article Cathal talks about being bold and getting over any shyness you might have.  If you are going to take a close up of a person be prepared to be challenged, engage with the subject - and learn to judge wether the person is happy for you to take their picture.

The image below is in total contrast to the other images I have chosen as its from his work as a photojournalist.  I picked it following my second session in Birmingham where I was taking images of the captialist demonstrators and the EDL demonstrations so it was interesting to read how Cathal would approach this subject.

The key to this style of photography he said is to remain calm, don't hang around and keep yourself safe by not remaining static.  You need to be aware of the events that are evolving around you.

Another article that I suggested the key success to good street photography is always having your camera to hand ready to capture a shot.  This is echoed in the image below - Cathal saw the diver whilst driving along, he then saw the fishermen - and thought - 'there is an image there'.  Even though the elements of the image were random - capturing the final image did take planning, Cathal had to guesstimate the timing of the jump and shoot to capture the exact moment that he would pass over the heads of the fishermen, and ensure a sufficient depth of field to keep all of the people in focus.  The final image works well with the contrast in the subjects, and the total lack of connection between them.

Cathal talks about the learning to read the scene and your subjects - for example if you look at the image of the gentleman sunbathing, and the picture of the funeral.  One of the images is bright, comical and fun, the other a very sombre and private affair - both needed equal consideration around the sensitivity of capturing the image.

Research: 

Digital Camera Magazine - October Edition 2011

www.cathalmcnaughton.com

news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/in_pictures_cathal_mcnaughton0s_award_winning_year/html/1.stm

www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/features/Photo_Insight__Cathal_McNaughton_features_305940.html

Assignment 208: Principles of location photography: Theme 2: Street Photography

Street Photography - Shoot 3

Birmingham - 29th October 2011

A few more shots from my time in Birmingham - this was a return visit - the weather wasn't quite so favourable - a bit drizzly which meant there were less people around.  It was also the weekend of the EDL demonstrations and there was a very heavy police presence in the city - but I still managed to take a few shots that I am pleased with.

This time I tried approaching people and asking if I could take their photo, as well as the chance photographs.  

This lad was camping out in Victoria Square which was all cordoned off to keep separation between the demonstrations.  He has been camping out for 12 days - and is planning to stay as long as it takes.  Last week the protesters were surrounded by photographers, and there was an air of a summer camp out - today it looked bleak.

ISO 200, f2.8, 1/640, focal length 105mm

ISO 200, f2.8, 1/320, focal length 105mm

How much better would this photo have been if they had all been wearing hats!

ISO 200, f3, 1/640, focal length 105mm

ISO 200, f2.8, 1/80, focal length 105mm

As part of the demonstration there was a stand showing how to tie a turban - it was very popular.

ISO 200, f3.8, 1/500, focal length 105mm

ISO 200, f3.5, 1/200, focal length 105mm

There was no shortage of demonstrators happy to be photographed

ISO 200, f2.8, 1/640, focal length 105mm

Away from the demonstrations there were the usual street collectors and performers.  

ISO 200, f5.6, 1/200, focal length 105mm

ISO 200, f3/5, 1/80, focal length 105mm

ISO 200, f3.5, 1/250, focal length 105mm

This lad asked me what I taking photo's for and when I explained he thanked me for taking his photo and including him - I was just really annoyed with myself that the image wasn't as sharp as it could be - it was actually really crowded round him and I was struggling to get a clear gap.

These dancers came over and asked me to take their email address so that I could send them some of the images.

ISO 200, f3.5, 1/400, focal length 105mm

ISO 200, f3.5, 1/400, focal length 105mm

ISO 200, f3.5, 1/400, focal length 105mm

ISO 200, f3.5, 1/400, focal length 105mm

On this shoot I used a fixed focal length lens - I am not sure that this proved the best lens - at times I found myself too close the subject and having to back too far away to get the full frame - which then lost the intimacy of asking for the photo.

Out of the three attempts that I have had at street photography, I feel the best lens was my zoom lens giving me both options - I just need to get a steadier hand.

But I am definitely getting more confident at taking my shots I feel