Welcome

When doing this shoot for 'street photography' we had a section of text with a brief description of ideas for a shoot. On the brief we had 'shadows' which could be interpreted and portrayed in different ways.                                                                                            

In my first album , I was travelling on a ferry and wanted to show the bold colours whilst at sea. Although there is a component of the ocean in all my images and this is fairly dull in colour, I planned to use other parts of the image to have a strong colour contrast. I wanted to have various points that stood out in my work, I found this easier when the sea was included in my images as there is a stronger colour variation within the foreground and background. I felt this was done successfully. I wanted the composition to be an integral part of the shoot with both the horizon and any other objects in the images. One thing I think worked well is the pastel colours that David Noton had in his work. 

Some of my images had a glare reflecting off the sea which caused some of the images to be overexposed. Another thing I found caused issues was using manual focus as some of the images came out blurry. Whilst shooting, I experimented with framing photography that I have previously researched. 

During my second shoot I experimented with manual focus and manual mode on the camera. I did not have a set idea in mind for this shoot so I experimented with various camera techniques.Whilst using manual mode, some images became overexposed when I was attempting to capture clouds in the background and a vehicle in the foreground. I found this difficult to get the correct levels of exposure without having glare.

I used inspiration from Noton with regards to his pastel colours. Although I did not have the same dramatic landscapes as he did, I wanted to achieve the same composition. I felt like my work did not have the same impact as Nortons work. In the future, I would try to incorporate greater vast spaces such as valleys , although this may be difficult to achieve.

During this shoot I particularly experimented with manual focus especially with the framing images. Similarly to Album 1, I wanted to have bright colours to contrast with the plain colour of the sea. By using objects on the beach, I felt I could have a colour contrast that would compliment each other without overshadowing either component of the image. I believe the most effective images were the ones that included the sea and again, like Noton, pastel colours.

This shoot I wanted to focus on composition and using mainly vertical objects I feel I successfully did this. Some of the images have shadows which I believe ruined the theme and tone of my album. I attempted to rectify this by using manual mode however, I could not achieve this with the various amounts of light being absorbed into the camera. For some images, I had a slower shutter speed . I did not have a tripod which caused some of the images to become blurry. 

Further on in the shoot, I returned on the boat, similarly to the first album shoot. The day was not as clear which resulted to having dull images. I attempted to rectify this in post- production.

Whilst experimenting with framing photography, I found it was important to use manual focus to control where I wanted the image to be in full detail. I want the framing to capture something as if it was an image in a frame. This was in my thought process when shooting. Looking into the composition of the images, I still wanted the outer 'frame' to be present. This was to give different textures and colours in the image, as well as given context to a viewer.

These four shoots were in quick succession of each other. They all had a similar feel which is why I decided to have them as one collective piece. I wanted to explore landscape and framing photography . When editing these images, I had a similar process for each, often using vibrance to bring out the pastel colours Noton successfully achieves in his work. Although I did not have similar landscapes, I feel as if I have created similar tones and atmospheres in my own work.

Before shooting I wanted to find a photographer that captured the tone of what I wanted to capture , more so than Snelgrove had. Chris steel perkins work has a better vibe I wanted to achieve. I want to capture the beautiful dartmoor landscape whilst capturing a scene, animals or otherwise.

From experimenting with black and white stills in my Related Study and my landscape work previously, I would like to incorporate elements from both projects and now focus on documentary photography in a city. This is something I am passionate to explore through a lense.

Tish Murtha was born in March 1956 and is best known for her work of documentary photography in the North East of England. Her style of work includes her being inside these communities and capturing various situations as they unfold.

Her work has great depth and meaning with the majority of her images including people, typically showing a still of an event occuring. I particularly like the way Murtha blends the setting with the characters to create one cohesive piece. Her work shows life as if you are seeing the communities from the inside. Her various projects all show the reality of life in the North and this sheds light into what happened during this time.

This particular image interests me as there are various points of focus in the foreground, mid-ground and background. In focus is a lone woman looking in the distance. She appears to be deep in thought. In the mid-ground, there seems to be a crowd of people playing or conversing. Each part of the image sets completely separate tones and without the other, I do not think this image would be as effective to the audience. I like the way in a single image,  there are various focal points. 

I particularly want to take inspiration from Murtha with regards to how she tells a story with the people in these images, just from one still.

These are my first edits for this shoot. I wanted to highlight the main class divide in Plymouth by incorporating various different subjects in an image . I wanted to make my images have meaning and depth by tackling serious topics such as deprivation. Whilst editing , i wanted to alter minor details to still keep the heart of the image intact. My main focus of my shoots are to document the reality of class division so by editing excessively, it loses the main focus of my work. 

With this particular image , I wanted to show the diversity with the homeless tent with the people casually walking past with their dog. I felt this had a sense of irony. I found the homeless tent and the people walking their dog within the space of a couple of metres really interesting as an image

When i typed in ‘Plymouth’ into Google, these were the first set of photos. The Hoe, Royal William Yard and the Barbican are the first main set of images. The Hoe is particularly an ‘Icon of Plymouth’ and these images are the ideal views of the city. I want to go into depth with the reality of these locations and show the whole truth with documentary photography. I want to explore the deprivation within Plymouth whilst showing the main highlights of the city.

My intent with this shoot is to continue with my ‘Divide within a city’ work but in a new location. I scouted possible shoot locations via google maps and I have chosen these locations as i believe they have the greatest amount of juxtaposition within the 

The images I chose to edit are the ones I felt linked to my previous shoot or had similar and coherent themes. I still edited with the same style as i did previously 

With this shoot I had various issues. The zoom lens kept jamming which restricted me whilst taking photos. Another issue I had was the automatic focus on the lens, due to the darkness, struggled finding a target to focus on. To overcome this, I used my phone torch with manual focus to attempt to capture my desired images.  A few of these images were still too dark which if possible, I would like to take these images at a different time of day to capture more of the landscape. 

This exam piece I will be exploring themes as a starting point. Looking into 'Nocturnal' , I found images from various artists I found interesting. 

All these images have various components I found interesting. The lighting in the images sometimes reveal something in the darkness. There are various compositional techniques used in the work all adding to the image. I like the way the lights are seeping through the windows, suggesting that there a busy ness and liveliness. Some of the images have figures that have various tones. The images that contain roads lead your eye to want to see more. The images that include lights use a slow shutter speed to capture the light. To restrict the blurriness, I would typically use my tripod.

My Work

I want my work to include features of these images, starting with roads. I will still aim to have a main focus of my image, using lights in some. My work has so far looked at areas of the city at both day and night. Darkness as it falls across the city brings huge change. A safe street becomes a red light district, a play park a crack den, a beauty spot a place for dogging. It is one of my works aims to show these two faces of Plymouth- without judgement. I will use classic photographic strategies of composition, colour and tone to create an intriguing image that will in turn draw a viewer in, asking them to question and conceptualise the work. This approach has been inspired by the likes of Stephen Shore- who’s American road trips used simple vernacular photography to discuss the complexities of 1970s American culture.    

Stephen Shores work in the 70's of America particularly inspires me for my new project. I like the way leading lines hints at something more. The way he captures one street in a city but makes you want to see further really interests me.

The deliberate composition of these images is pleasing to the eye. The restriction Shore had with taking images with his 10x8 camera is really appreciated by the viewer. During the time, black and white was unconventional for photography pieces. The majority of the buildings are beige or brick, but the colours such as street signs really compensate for the plain buildings.

This shoot I wanted to use roads as a main component in my work. After using Illustrator for some time, I am confident with using the pen tool and following the road around. The curves in my work have gotten smoother, therefore I can get a much more smooth line. Doing this makes my work look more refined, and I can capture more interesting lines. 

I had more bold colours this time which I found worked well with the lines. I tried to find more interesting lines to then add in. I tried to visualize where the eye is attracted to and use that to my advantage when placing lines onto my images.  

Maier was born on the 1st February 1926 in New York. She took over 150,000 photos in her lifetime. In around 1956, Maier decided to switch to colour photography. This gave her photos a more refined look. At the beginning of her photography career , Maier took close up shots of New York civilians. As she began her  coloured work, objects such as newspapers and items in bins replaced the civilian photos. Her work shows a variety of thoughts and emotions , from joy to fear. Maier took various shots of a range of people. Upper class citizens to paupers.  

Maier was a nanny for around 4 decades while taking photos secretly. Her work varies from abstract to candid photography. From looking at Maier's contact sheet, it seems she was very conservative when taking photos, typically only taking one photo per scene. As camera reels were limited,only when she found something really interesting, she only took several photos of scenes that she thought was really interesting. 

Her portraiture shows the subjects emotions in one still and although I do not plan to capture characters thoughts and feelings, the buildings in the background is my focus for my work. I want to highlight the key composition lines as the focus in my work.