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