P&P-Assignment Two; Learning Log; People and activity

Learning log – P&P assignment 2; People and activity

 My Thoughts

When doing this assignment, strangely I felt relatively at ease, I thought that on doing this theme for this assignment, I would run in to a big problem of people looking directly at me or asking me to delete the photos I had taken of them, but instead, people kept asking me to take photos of them!, with their camera of course but at least I was not accosted with confrontation. Oddly enough, by doing what I was doing, people were not concerned, perhaps they thought I was taking photographs of someone I knew.

“You are a big part of your picture. Even when you are trying to blend in and be invisible on the scene, you are still behind that lens. You own that frame, that fragment of reality, so claim it.”

 

(Rena Effendi – from the interview by ENTER – World Press Magazine)

So true, I really try to do this every time but sometimes feel disappointed that I missed an opportunity, as I should have had my camera at my eye more, or I should have as Rena says “claim it”, I will try and take charge (mainly with myself) in the future. Just reading through my tutor’s feedback again and realised that he mentioned Rena in a handy tip on how to sharpen an image, I will try it for my next exercises and assignment.

Here is one of her images where I thought she “owed/claimed it”.

(Rena Effendi – Boy running with self-made toy. Balakhani oil village. Azerbaijan. 2002 - From “Pipe Dreams-A chronicle of lives along the pipe line”)

 

I think this is such a great image, the way she has framed it and used the shadows to her advantage, it also relates well to this assignment, due to the boy playing with his toy. I think it is an active yet oddly peaceful photograph.

 

 

I found a photographer online who I thought was extremely interesting her name is Alexa Meade and she paints her models, so they them self’s look like actual paints, on looking at these images (website below) I was blown away by her talent, these people do 100% look like a painting, here is an example;

She has to be one of the most talented photographers/painters out there and she apparently taught herself how to paint. I thought I would include this as it is something completely different in portraiture photography.

 

Strengths on my assignment

Observing;- Is the depth of field, I like how I have the little girl pointing and the father looking in to the distance

Round and around;- I like the fun portrayed in this image and that they are all linked

Nearly!;- As I previously said, her expression is priceless and I am pleased I managed to get this shot

Couples;- I love the sharpness of the woman, I think it is the clearest shot I managed to get out of the whole series

Speeding;- I like the way it looks like a round tunnel, focusing on the guy in orange in the middle

Professional;- I like the depth of field with this one and the reflection in the blue Perspex to the side of her where there is another person skating behind her

Whoops;- I love the stance of the girl in this image and that it brings an essence to this series of images

Family;-  I like the way I have cropped this, originally, I left the other people’s faces in the background frame, but I think the decision to cut them out was the correct one

Say cheese!;- I like the side profile of this and the little girls face, it always makes me smile looking at it

Blades;- I think this is my favourite image of the whole series of photographs, I defiantly think it’s a telling moment, the reflections look great, as well as the depth of field
 

Weaknesses on my assignment

Observing;- I would have liked to have gotten behind them to view what they were viewing ,as it were. I feel it would have made a more powerful image if I had

Round and around;- The girls are not as sharp as I would have liked, I should have panned better for this shot and used a larger F-stop

Nearly!;- Again, this image is not that sharp, I wanted to include it as her expression was great, but it would have been better with a faster shutter speed to capture her facial expressions in a better way.

Couples;- I should have focused in on the both of them and used a smaller F-stop for this image

Speeding;- I wanted to get an image where there was no one in front, however, it was difficult to do, so the girl in the pink being in front was the best I could create under the circumstances 

Professional;- Another one where I would have liked it to have been sharper on her face and maybe more of a front on/semi to the side shot would have worked better

Whoops;- I regret just focusing in on her feet and hands rather than the whole image, it would have been stronger if I had used a different F-stop 

Family;- I mainly focused in on the little girl, but I should have focus on the whole family

Say cheese!;- Maybe a different angle would have worked better with this one, where I was taking a photo of the person taking the photo

Blades;- Again, I am disappointed with the sharpness of this image, this was the best panning I could get and I was shooting through dirty Perspex, which didn’t help

 

Some of my research sources-Books, websites and documents

The Elements Of Photography; By Angela Faris Belt; (I focused mainly on one photographer in this book;- Adam Jahiel, he did a series of photographs called “The Last Cowboy” which produced beautifully powerful images of working on a ranch in the USA and he works with black and white because “it allows me to boil elements down to their very essence-shape, lines and light” (Adam Jahiel-The Elements Of Photography; By Angela Faris Belt) 

Light Science & Magic, An Introduction to Photographic Lighting; By Fil Hunter, Steven Biver and Paul Fuqua; (This book always helps me understand lighting, I haven’t read it all yet, however, I used sections from it to help me with this assignment.)

http://www.floydphotography.co.uk/ - (To research Paul and examine his photography)

http://www.refendi.com/ - (To research Rena and examine her photography)

http://www.visuramagazine.com/pipe-dreams-rena-effendi - (To research Rena and examine her photography)

http://photos.uk.msn.com/slideshow/photos/your-body-is-my-canvas/2xqugab4#10 – (To examine a photographer I found which I are mentioned on this learning log)

 

 

 

P&P-Assignment Two; People and activity

Assignment Two; People and activity

Object of assignment two

This assignment is to plan and execute a set of images of people in some sort of meaningful activity and produce approximately 10 final selected images, which I can choose between depicting the same person (or small group) at different kinds of activity, or different people at the same single activity or event, I chose to do the latter.

I had to concentrate especially on two aspects; telling moments and ‘explaining’ the activity.

At first I thought about doing a wedding, but as I had done that in my exercises I decided against it. I wanted to try and photograph an outdoor activity, so to give me more light and more actual active things to photograph, rather than people sitting down doing an activity, as it may be to stagnant.

Thinking about outdoor activities at this time of year, there was really only one choice, ice skating. I also chose to shoot on a weekend at half term, so there would be a variety of people and I stayed there for about 4 hours, as the ice rink had change around times, so everyone would get a go, which was perfect for me as it created a lot of diversity for the shoot.

I used one lens for the assignment; - EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, so to give me the range I needed, to be able to capture people in different situations. I did try my wide angle lens, but felt the images where distorted and found it difficult to capture the ‘telling moments’.

I chose to shoot at the ice rink at the Natural History Museum, mainly because it was a prime location for a lot of different people choosing to skate there, there is a ice rink at Canary Warf and I went there but the light was not really able to reach the rink due to the tall buildings, also as the rink is in the business district there were very few family’s or children there. The day was a cloudy one, and there were a lot of trees surrounding the rink, so I managed to get some dappled light and some strong light at times.

 

People and activity

On researching the photographers my tutor suggested, looking throughout them all I decided to concentrate on two of them, these people both represent in their own right ‘People unaware’ and ‘People and activity’.

Rena Effendi; Rena is from Azerbaijan, her work to me represents people unaware; she has taken images by following the oil pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey, with regards to the environmental effect and people surrounding it. On looking at her work on her website, there are some pretty powerful images on there and interesting ones regarding this section of the module. Notably her images in her portfolio of “Last dance of Tarlabasi” where in some of the images people are looking at her and in others they are not, each images tells a story of the poverty which engulfs people, but she captures it in all its glory with strong vivid colours and people which I think links to this part of the module.

Paul Floyd Blake; Paul was the winner of the National Portrait Gallery’s 2009 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. Looking through his work, a few of his images are people portraits where they are looking at him, however, I was more interested in looking at his ‘Commonwealth Games’ images, with regards to people doing an activity, which in turn relates completely to this assignment, for which I was inspired by his work and tried to emulate it in one of my photographs fro this assignment, seemingly the panning images, like this one;-

“Commonwealth games; Velodrome-© Paul Floyd Blake 2002- www.floydphotography.co.uk”

I really love the movement in this image, the way there are there, but not and the black and white gives it a certain edge.

 Books used for this assignment;

• The Elements Of Photography; By Angela Faris Belt; (I focused mainly on one photographer in this book;- Adam Jahiel, he did a series of photographs called “The Last Cowboy” which produced beautifully powerful images of working on a ranch in the USA and he works with black and white because “it allows me to boil elements down to their very essence-shape, lines and light” (Adam Jahiel-The Elements Of Photography; By Angela Faris Belt) 
• Light Science & Magic, An Introduction to Photographic Lighting; By Fil Hunter, Steven Biver and Paul Fuqua; (This book always helps me understand lighting, I haven’t read it all yet, however, I used sections from it to help me with this assignment.)

Websites used for this assignment;

http://www.floydphotography.co.uk/ - (To research Paul and examine his photography)
http://www.refendi.com/ - (To research Rena and examine her photography)
http://www.visuramagazine.com/pipe-dreams-rena-effendi - (To research Rena and examine her photography)
http://photos.uk.msn.com/slideshow/photos/your-body-is-my-canvas/2xqugab4#10 – (To examine a photographer I found which I will mention on my learning log)

Observing; 1/100 seconds at f/7.1

Whilst on the balcony, I tried to capture the essence of the event, I was taking images of just the skaters, but then a father and child stood next to me and he propped her up to get a better view, I took a few photos of the skaters first, so to not arouse suspicion and then managed to get one of the little girl pointing and telling her father “look”, I focused on them for this image as I wanted them to be the main focus.

Round and around….; 1/50 seconds at f/11.0

Still on the balcony, I noticed these girls going round and holding on to each other and having a laugh together, it looked like fun, so I decided to capture that feeling with just the three girls; I focused on them and panned to get the shot.

Nearly!; 1/100 seconds at f/8.0

I went downstairs to get some close up shots, this girl was wobbling the whole time about to fall over, I just love the expression on her face of happy panic, that moment where you may or may not fall over.

Couples; 1/100 seconds at f/6.3

This was a sweet couple, they held hands the whole time and were always laughing and joking, I was lucky that the light came out for this one where she was smiling and the light was dappled, I decided to mainly concentrate on her as you could never really see the man’s face properly , due to his jacket.

Speeding; 1/5 seconds at f/22.0

Paul Floyd Blake inspired this image, I wanted to get a feel of speed in to this series of images, so I set a high aperture and slow shutter speed, then whilst taking multiple photographs I zoomed in and set the focus to the middle of the frame.

Professional; 1/100 seconds at f/7.1

This girl came on the ice in the third hour and had clearly been doing it for years, she had her own skates and helmet and whizzed around the rink with no trouble at all, I love the concentration in her face, she never changed or faltered in anyway, I had to pan quickly for this image as she was very fast.

 

Whoops!; 1/100 seconds at f/7.10

This girl kept falling over, but she gave it a really good try, I managed to catch her just at the right moment, when she was in the stance of, just fell forward but not wanting to go down all the way.

Family; 1/100 seconds at f/7.1

I just love the expression on their faces, you know he is telling the little girl something, possibly to look at her mother and with her hand slightly reaching towards his, needing the security, I think this makes for a lovely image.

Say cheese!; 1/100 seconds at f/8.0

I was surprised to see so many people being able to skate and take photos at the same time, (probably because I can not skate!) I took a lot of images like this but I think this is the best one, she is happy but forcing the smile to the maximum, I think this is a great image with the ‘penguin helper’ helping her along.

Blades; 1/100 seconds at f/9.0

I wanted to get that ‘moment’ that told the whole story and I think this is it, simple yet effective, I had do panning and take a lot of these images before I got the right one, I also wanted one that had different ice skates to the rest, so it would stand out more.

 

 

My tutor suggested that I include some contact sheets, now if I included all of the contact sheets on this assignment, it would be full of quite a lot a images that would not be up to par, so instead I have included the images that I liked but did not make the final cut.

 

I chose not to put these in as they lacked a certain something, however, I did want to include the backward panning image, but as I already had my zoom shot for the assignment, it was a choice between the two, I chose the other image as I felt it was stronger.

P&P-Part 2; Exercise 7; A public space

Exercise; A public space

For the final exercise, I had to photograph a semi-organised public space and instead of one event happening, I had to photograph a variety of things that were happening.

I went to Windsor Castle for the day and photographed the varied events going on, even though some were planned by them, I had not know about the plans, nor had anyone else.

This was a fun day to photograph, as there was a lot going on and I was able to capture a variety of things happening throughout the day.

1/60 seconds at f/20.0

I used a high f-stop to keep everyone in focus and as there were a lot of people taking photos next to the guard, this was an interesting shot.

1/200 seconds at f/5.6

I wanted to get an image of the guard on his own, which was difficult to do as everyone kept standing by him, but I managed to in the end. I feel that this is a good image.

1/125 seconds at f/20.0

Again, using a high f-stop to keep everything in focus I wanted to focus on the tourists in the grandeur of the place, however, I think I may have missed the boat with this shot and could have focused more on the people, rather than the wall.

1/800 seconds at f/5.6

I didn’t know the guards where doing a precession until they walked past which was nice, I used a shallow depth of field to concentrate on them solely.

1/600 seconds at f/5.6

As it was a bright day, I had to use a high shutter speed, I used a shallow depth of field as I wanted to give longevity to the image, I like how it looks like a really long path towards the castle and with the people in the image reflects that well.

1/80 seconds at f/22.0

I wanted to keep the whole image in focus due to the guards in two different places, I think with the coves and just the two guards, it works very well.

1/800 seconds at f/6.3

I concentrated this image on the scouts and the man in the blue shirt giving direction, I also wanted to get the guard in there to give a sense of scale.

1/80 seconds at f/22.0

 

This is my favourite out of all of the images, I love how the people seem to be marching alongside them and the shadows on the ground, I would have got more of the shadows in but I wouldn’t have been able to capture the people alongside them.

 

 

P&P-Part 2; Exercise 6; An organised event

Exercise; An organised event

For this exercise, I had to research look for and prepare in advance, an organised event where there will be plenty of people, so I can photograph confidently and freely, so, for this exercise I choose to photograph a wedding, I had to liaise with the bride and the other photographer, go to the rehearsal and discuss the plan for the day as I was the ‘add on’ photographer, I would mainly stay out of the way of the ‘major’ photos and photograph the candid shots.

For these photos, it was a real challenge as it was the first time I had photographed a wedding and trying to capture moments was quite difficult, although the kids actually made it a lot easier!, they always say “never work with kids or animals”, but in this case they helped me get the shots I wanted to achieve. I used as flash for all of the inside shots and no flash for the outside ones.

1/60 seconds at f/4.5

I like this natural image; it’s a great start to the day as well as this series of images.

1/60 seconds at f/4.0

This is one of my favourites; it’s such a natural image of getting the bride ready, I photographed in black and white as I felt the image required some softness of the event.

1/60 seconds at f/4.0

This is a really fun image of the children being fascinated with a brass dog statue; I feel it gives a great feel to the day.

  1/250 seconds at f/10.0

I couldn’t do this exercise without including the brides and groom; I included this image as it’s a natural shot of them listening to a family member.

  1/400 seconds at f/10.0

I included this image as again it’s very natural and I wanted to get images of the people not looking at me.

  1/320 seconds at f/10.0

This girl was hard to shoot as she kept looking at me, however, for a split second she looked away, which is when I managed to get the shot I wanted.

  1/60 seconds at f/4.0

I couldn’t get an image where the little girl wasn’t looking at me for this one, however, it’s rare that you get a photo where the adults aren’t looking at you, as they are normal always more aware of a camera, so I’m pleased I managed to achieve this shot.

  1/400 seconds at f/10.0

This is a great shot, I love the way that the brother and sister are communicating.

  1/400 seconds at f/10.0

This is my favourite shot of this series of photographs, I timed it perfectly and it defiantly captured the moment.

  1/60 seconds at f/5.0

I like the essence of this photograph, but I am unhappy with my technique, the light is to bright and I didn’t check my settings before shooting it, which I’m really annoyed by, I wish I had as it would have been technically perfect otherwise, I included it for the fun and cute factor, rather than the technical.

  1/320 seconds at f/10.0

This is a cute picture of a moment between grandmother and grandson, again the light was bright and I should have bought put it up a notch or two.

  1/320 seconds at f/10.0

This is a lovely image, they aren’t quite kissing and he is almost uninterested as she goes in for the kiss, but I still think it works well.

  1/320 seconds at f/10.0

She’s playing peek-a-boo with me, which was great and luckily for me, she stayed in this position for quite a while!.


 

  1/15 seconds at f/2.0

In this image I changed lenses, fortunately the other photographer was a lovely chap and he lent me his 35mm lens (after using it I have since purchased one) this was a real eye opener for me as I had only used my zoom lens for this type of photography and had no idea the images I could achieve with a really great prime lens.

All in all I loved this assignment and it gave me the confidence I needed to continue with the course.