Assignment Four; A
sense of place
Object of assignment four
This assignment draws together all of the various strands
explored so far – including the skills in camera handling, observation, reaction
and the underlying appreciation of what spaces and buildings mean for people
who live in and among them.
I have to imagine that I am on an assignment for an
intelligent, thoughtful travel publication that is demanding a considered, in
depth treatment.
I have to create six final images, but at least twice
this number of good publishable images, in which to make the final selection
from. I need to aim to include a variety of subject matter and scale.
I decided to concentrate on areas that I know well, as
the brief suggests. I chose three areas in London;-
·
Camden Town
·
Regents Park
·
Piccadilly Circus
As a collective I would say that these areas are North
West central. Without people realising, these areas are a short walk away from
each other, as is most of London. This
is the reason why I chose these places, also because they are diverse in their
areas.
When photographing this assignment I realised it was
quite difficult to get the feel of each place without the tourists. As a Londoner I visit these places, as do
many tourists, so I have tried to capture this assignment with both as it is
impossible not to include them. I feel privileged that I live in such a vibrant
diverse city and part of what makes it so diverse are the tourists, as well as
the locals.
A sense of place
When thinking about “A sense of place” I thought about
what it meant to me, did it mean buildings, people, and interaction with my
surroundings, community, nature or landscapes?.
Then I realised it is all about what it means to me and
how I portray that feeling through imagery, to be able to influence or provoke
feelings in others in the way of how I see it. With this in mind there is a
huge scope in which way to portray my feelings about these areas and what they
represent in my eyes.
There is photographer called Alex Saberi who has taken a myriad of breathtaking images for
National Geographic, he has published a book called “Richmond Park” which is
where I got the inspiration from to do Regents Park, I chose to photograph
Regents Park instead of Richmond Park due to the location.
Alex’s photographs have been taken over period of seven
years, his images are breathtaking and certainly represent a “sense of place”,
here is one of my favourites.
(“Octmists-023srgbhome”
– by Alex Saberi-URL http://www.alexsaberi.com/
- Date website accessed 28/01/2014)
I
believe her work is a true and inspirational look at street photography. Her
work is a gritty, up close and personal look at street life with her subjects
and surroundings alike.
(Untitled – by Anna
Delany – URL http://www.annadelany.com/street/
- Date website accessed 28/01/2014)
This image gives a great high contrast, which is what I
have tried to achieve in quite a few of my images in this assignment, as well
as the up close feel to some of my other images.
·
Visions of Earth: National Geographic
photographs of beauty, majesty and wonder; By National Geographic; (This book is made up of images from National
Geographic photographers and I feel represents a definite sense of place within
the majority of its pages, it has a plethora of amazing images from around the
globe of different things. This book was
given to me as Christmas present and it has really helped me gain inspiration
through its images, it has also helped my composition as a lot of the images
are extremely well composed)
·
The New Street Photographers Manifesto; by Tanya
Nagar; (This book is a fantastic insight in to street
photography with a great selection of different street photographer and history
behind it. It helped me on how to choose different angles and how to shoot in
different lighting conditions)
·
Digital Photo magazine: Editor John Adams; (This magazine has been a massive help to me with my
photography, as mentioned in my learning log, how to take sharper photographs
and many other items like night writing photography to post production work)
Websites used
for this assignment;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_of_place
- (To have more of an insight as to what other people think “a sense of place
means to them)
http://www.annadelany.com/
- (To research Anna Delany and examine her photography)
http://www.alexsaberi.com/
- (To research Alex Saberi and examine his photography)
http://www.thenec.co.uk/whatson/the-photography-show/
- (To see about the speakers at the photography show)
http://stevemccurry.com/
- (To research Steve McCurry and examine his photography)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Kenna_(photographer)
- (To research Michael Kenna)
http://www.geraldodebarros.com/main/?page_id=714
- (To research Geraldo de Barros and examine his photography)
Camden Market
For
the first two images, I tried to capture the hustle and bustle of the market. I
have never seen it quite here, not just with tourists but the locals as well. I
also wanted to incorporate the quirky feel of the market, not just of the
market but also of the people who frequent it.
1; 1/160 seconds at f/8.0 – Lens EF-S 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS
This image is one of my favourites. When I was wondering
around Camden market, I realised there was an upstairs area that I could walk
around. I wanted to get a different perspective to the images I had already
taken so I went up to the balcony area.
Whilst taking photographs of people down below, the sun
came out and shone this woman who was on the stairs which made her vibrancy
visible. When looking at her I felt serenity come over me, she seemed extremely
calm, almost as if she was watching over the people and basking in the
sunshine.
I used a low aperture as I wanted to have more focus on
the woman, rather than the rest of the scene.
Contact sheets
I had taken a variation of images of this woman as you
can see. It was a difficult choice to decide which one to include in my
assignment as I was going to use one of the closes up photographs, as her stance
and demeanour was interesting. However, I decided against it as I felt it did
not represent the feeling of the assignments directive.
I wanted to get the feeling of the image I saw, which I
feel included the people and market that are in the rest of this image.
I
chose not to use image 7588 as the composition was slightly off and I felt the
image used was better composed.
2; 1/30 seconds at f/3.5 – Lens EF-S 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS
This is a fun image which I think represents the
quirkiness of Camden. Anna Delany influenced me with taking this image as she
is known for taking images which are up close and personal.
Whilst walking by the river a guy at a pizza booth was
singing loudly which made me take a closer look.
I saw that these “seats” were acquainted with the pizza
booth and were lined up along the river bank, which I think is a very novel
idea and one that everyone else seemed to think so as well.
I was going to take the image with all of the peoples
backs in the frame a bit more, but whilst I was composing the photograph, I
realised this was not the best option as it took away from the power and
feeling of the image.
I feel this photograph represents the “sense of place” by
representing the area of Camden extremely well.
I did not take multiple images of this particular scene
as I felt this image was the one I wanted for this assignment, hence the reason
for not having a contact sheet.
Regents Park
For these two images I tried to capture the serenity and
multifunctional use of the park, I felt extremely calm when coming here, which
is ironic due to the park being situated in the heart of London.
Runners,
families, locals and tourist’s alike visit the park but it still felt calm and
peaceful.
3; 1/125 seconds at f/7.1 – Lens EF-S 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS
I wanted to include an image with a lot of contrast,
dappled light and silhouettes. When I was coming in to Regents Park, the sun
was low enough for me to be able to achieve this. I was walking up the path
which was on a slight hill, then the clouds parted and the sun came shining
through. This was fortunate as there were a few people on the path at the time
and I was able to create the look I was trying to achieve. To me this
represents the feel of the park well, especially with the runner and family’s
being in the image.
As with the previous image there are no contact sheets
for this image as I only took one image.
4; 1/50 seconds at f/5.0 – Lens EF-S 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS
Still in Regents Park at the lake/river area, I wanted to
achieve another high contrast image with the water. I took quite a few
photographs of the actual lake, however they were solely images of the wildlife
and I wanted to include people in this photograph.
I waited at the river for a while for people to come
past, which they did, however I felt they were lacking something and I had to
change my composition.
I like the lead in lines and slight shadows reflecting on
the people in this image. I used a low aperture to keep my focus on the women
and I had to use a slow shutter speed due to the low light.
Contact sheets
There were only a few images left that I had not deleted
at the time and in hind sight I should not have done that, however here are the
ones that I did take. The reason I chose the image above is because it is the
sharpest image and it is the best image with the lead in lines.
The other images were not as composed as well as the one
I used, I liked image 7698, however there is too much sky in the frame and due
to the way I took the photograph I could not do a rotation crop.
Piccadilly Circus
I wanted to show the twilight hours of London and the sheer
power that London can project by a busy, popular and famous area.
Unlike
the other two areas, there was a lot of people pushing and shoving, so much so
I was include to think the many locals were here, rather than tourists. On
second glance though, there were a lot of tourists in this area, due to the
amount of people with their cameras.
5; 1/20 seconds at f/3.5 – Lens EF-S 10-22mm
f/3.5-4.5 USM
This is another one of my favourite images. I wanted to
get the feel of the busyness of Piccadilly Circus in to the image, along with
the public transport, advertising boards and people.
I crossed over to the crossing island and possibly put
myself in little bit of danger by getting as close to the edge as I could
crouched down and rested my camera on the dividing sign.
I wanted to use a higher aperture to get everything in
focus, but to my dismay I could not get the sharpness and brightness I needed
for this image by doing so as it was taken at dusk.
I think this is one of my favourite photographs as it
encompasses the whole area by using my wide angle lens.
Contact sheets
Originally I wanted to use the original black cab images
for this assignment, however when I looked at the images they did not translate
very well and were extremely dark.
It
was a difficult choice even when I had decided to use the silver cab. I was
going to use picture 8016 due to the blurred bus as I felt it gave a perception
of busyness, but I wanted to keep the silver cab in focus and it was too
blurred in image 8016 for what I wanted to portray.
6; 1/15 seconds at f/4.0 – Lens EF-S 10-22mm
f/3.5-4.5 USM
This is another one of my favourite images in this set
and a difficult one to achieve.
When taking this picture I thought it would be relatively
easy. However,
crowds of moving people and low light made it a lot more difficult.
I wanted to include this image as I thought how “London”
and European this is, when the sun is out and even when it is not, there are
always street performers, with viewers of tourists and locals alike. I think
this is one of the reasons I love London so much, it gives you a sense of fun
and culture which translates in any language.
I used a wide angle lens for this as I wanted to get the
crowd of people in to the frame as much as possible, I had to use a low
aperture and shutter speed due to the light and I also wanted the break dancer
to be blurred.
Contact sheet
This was a difficult set to choose from, I really like
all of the movements the break dancer was doing, so to narrow it down I
concentrated on the composition of the framing and crowd of people.
I chose the image
for the assignment due to the clarity of the crowd, all of the other images are
slightly off, I liked the movement in the other images a bit better but I did
not want to compromise on the quality.
Twelve publishable
images
The following images are the ones that I feel were strong
enough to be published but perhaps not as strong as the first six.
I
have chosen four from each area so to represent each area fairly.
1; 1/80 seconds at f/7.1 – Lens EF-S 10-22mm
f/3.5-4.5 USM
This
image represents the shoppers and feel of Camden. I focused in on the pole to show
the reflection to make it a high contrast in depth image and I wanted to
include the posters that are dotted all around Camden.
2; 1/50 seconds at f/5.6 – Lens EF-S 10-22mm
f/3.5-4.5 USM
As
above I wanted to represent the shoppers in Camden, but this time show the
quirkiness and diversity of the actual shops. I wanted to the people in focus more
so than the shops, however even with the low aperture, a lot of the photograph is
in focus.
3; 1/25 seconds at f/18.0 – Lens EF-S 10-22mm
f/3.5-4.5 USM
I
could not use photographs of Camden without including the river and the iconic
entrance to the market, even though the image has lead in lines, I wanted to
get everything in focus to show the area off as
a whole, I also wanted to have the people partially blurred in the image.
4; 1/30 seconds at f/3.5 – Lens EF-S 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS
Inside the market this time, I wanted to get the enormity
of the market and show that it is on two floors as well as the hustle and
bustle of the market. I focused on the lights so the people were less prominent,
I also wanted the people to be more of a haze.
5; 1/30 seconds at f/3.5 – Lens EF-S 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS
This
is a favourite image of mine. I wanted to get the focus on the board, hence the
reason for the low aperture, with the people in the background getting their
change for the mulled wine. I like that I managed to get their full bodies in
to the frame.
6; 1/125 seconds at f/7.1 – Lens EF-S 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS
On to
Regents Park next, as I said previously I felt serine here and I think this
image depicts it well. I focused on the couple on the bench, but I wanted to
include the rest of the park to show how quite it was. I also wanted to include
the rays of light with the flare in the image.
7; 1/80 seconds at f/5.6 – Lens EF-S 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS
This
is another one of my favourite images, however I chose not to include it in the
main set as it was not as sharp as I would have liked. I used a low aperture to
focus in on the pavement and the shadows, I also like the longevity of the shadows
and low sun creating a high contrast image.
8; 1/50 seconds at f/5.0 – Lens EF-S 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS
This
image did not turn out as well as I had hoped for. I focused in on the people
feeding the birds but I feel the image is a bit flat even with post production
work. However I like the fun feel to
this image as the birds are going a bit crazy for the bread.
9; 1/100 seconds at f/5.6 – Lens EF-S 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS
This
is a nice image of the girl of the family above wanting to feed the birds on
her own. Again I chose a low aperture to focus on the girl. I like the
isolation of this image even though she is not on her own, I think this photograph
depicts it well. As with the previous image the colour is very flat due to the
lighting.
10; 1/30 seconds at f/4.0 – Lens EF-S 10-22mm
f/3.5-4.5 USM
I like the high contrast and silhouettes in this image. As
I said previously I wanted to portray the power of the area and I feel that
this image with the diverse contrast depicts it fully.
For this image I got knocked around a lot as I really had
to crouch down to be able to achieve the photograph I needed.
11; 1/30 seconds at f/3.5 – Lens EF-S 10-22mm
f/3.5-4.5 USM
This image is one of the weaker ones, but a famous one
none the less. I actually focused more on the building on the left as it has fantastic
lines and looks great when it has the most clarity. I wanted to keep all of the
people anonymous in the dark.
12; 1/15 seconds at f/3.5 – Lens EF-S 10-22mm
f/3.5-4.5 USM
For
this image instead of focusing on singular points of the composition, I wanted
to incorporate the entirety on Piccadilly Circus. With the bustle of people,
the advertising boards, the beautiful buildings and the main transportation
link as it has great lead in lines in the framing of the picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment