P & P - People Interacting with Place - Exercise 3 - Making figures anonymous

This exercise asks for some photographs to be taken that include a person or people in a particular place but make them deliberately unrecognisable.

When i started thinking about this and looking at some of the suggestions for the exercise there are a lot of ways in which this can be done but the art is to capture moments that can tell a story. This then becomes more difficult since most images of people contain their faces, and its through their faces, their expressions, and their body language that we can understand the emotion and often its this that we want to express in the final image.

The challenge is to take some images that contain unrecognisable people and that the image is primarily about the place.

I've continued to convert my images into mono as I feel I can lose the distraction of colour and move the viewer to my subject more easily



Image 1

In this image I've used the 2 trees to help contain the image and the key figure in the foreground has their head down whilst using their mobile phone. For anyone who has seen the youtube clip "Look-Up" its prime example how using a mobile phone for reasons other than making a call can isolate you to what is going on. The lady certainly didn't see me taking her photograph.

Whilst Gary Turk's "Look-Up" video suggests we look up and away from of "devices of delusion" as mentioned in my earlier post with quotes from Cartier-Bresson I feel I have also started to learn to look-up and see things, things I can begin to capture with my camera. For those that haven't seen this video, do watch this and listen carefully to the words, also wonder think how you could also apply this to photography:

Look-Up Video Clip



Image 2

Under exposing the image and adjusting the contrast has given greater anonymity to the person in the foreground looking away from the camera and also to the people walking toward the camera.

Is this simply a timely capture, is the darkened figure stationary waiting in the dark for those in the light to move into the dark, or is the person stationary and wary of the people walking toward them?

Photography can create awareness and give clarity to a situation but it can also cause some confusion. If it creates a talking point then perhaps the photographer has succeeded


Image 3

A side on view maintains the anonymity of the couple but placing them in the foreground gives more interest, especially with the lady's finger pointing at an item. The lead in line as a diagonal also takes the eye past the couple and to the people sitting a tables in the street. I've used a blue filter which gives more contrast to the image and also darkens the tree in background which is important as I feel this is the final resting place of the eye as it move through the couple, the people at the table and then to the trees.

Image 4

Initially the man with the dogs was interested in what I was doing, waiting around taking the occasional picture allowed me to wait until he become interested in another subject and I could capture the moment when he became anonymous to the camera.

Looking at the image I wonder which person captured his interest but if you look at the reflection behind him in the shop window it perhaps answers the question?

Street Photography Now - Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren

This is a really interesting book some iconic and inspirational images. Some of the images depicted include those from people such as Bruce Gilden, Martin Parr and Alex Webb.

Interestingly the book credits a number of people whom the authors have engaged in creating this book and these include Charlotte Cotton, David Campany, Susan Bright and Anne Braybon.

Most of the images in the book are displayed at 10 x 7 inches some much smaller. Some of these images we may have seen before but many of them I have spent a long time just staring at, absolutely captivated by what the photographer has captured, very often a never to be repeated moment.

The book gives some background to some of the photographers and their work and some text is from the photographers themselves reflecting on their thoughts about photography.

It is not a deep book, but a book that shows all these moments that exist around us everyday, a few of which are captured and available for the rest of us to view, enjoy and consider.

For anybody that enjoys street photography or who wonders what type of genre street photography may be this gives a perfect insight into this world. It touches on many photographers whose work can be researched further.

One of the interesting and almost bizarre quotes is from a photographer called Boris Savelev and his quote in the book is  "I take a lot of photos when I'm drinking and they usually come out well. Sometimes if they're not happening I'll just drink some more."

Another is from Ying Tang; "For me it is a personal journey to be out there on the street. I'm trying to catch a moment that means something to me"

There are many of these quotes and they do give some insight to what it is that drives the photographers to capture the images that they do.

It also focuses on 10 iconic images and the photographers themselves detail how they came to take the images

For me personally its a book I will re-read and re-study and it shows what is around us if we take the time to look at the right moment, even better if we can capture it as an image.

P & P - People Interacting with Place - Exercise 2 - Busy Traffic

The exercise asks we choose a busy location with a good viewpoint that gives a satisfying composition but also with a good sense of the nature and function of the space.

We are asked to take some time looking around to get a feel for the flow and motion of people.

Before I went to a town location I had a look on shutterstock for some inspiration and ideas. these 2 images caught my eye and were very creative and the images were taken in completely different ways

The first image side on and the people in silhouette, anonymous and some motion blur given a feeling of movement. 

This second image whilst static but an aerial image above the people making them look like ants whom we associate as busy creatures.

In a street situation there is often one or more static people amongst a crowd of people moving. I think this contrast can highlight busy also in an interesting way. I did consider using a tripod and thought about the capture of a single person but by using a slower shutter speed capture motion blur in those moving, however I thought the motion blur idea perhaps a bit too cliche and also it would make me stand out more an decrease the chance of me capturing an almost anonymous image as if I wasn't there.

By standing still I can quickly become anonymous and by occasionally bringing the camera to my eye and looking around I can be quickly ignored. For street photography this is what I want. Doing this and moving around the city I came a across a busy location but was taken by the old and unconfident chap centre of the image looking to ask shoppers to sign-up to the campaign that he was helping to champion. Though the people around him are frozen by my shutter they still have the energy of movement and this is captured in the image adding to the feel of the location being busy.

Having the static man in the middle, looking for a friendly face to ask to support the campaign he is part of, creates a contrast and makes the location busier as a result. The dynamics of the 2 ladies on either side of the frame, the left side lady her hair waving as she walks quickly and the lady on the far right in mid stride I feel adds to the overall busyness of the image that I want to create

Henri Cartier-Bresson - Some of his quotes that can improve my approach to photography

Since I've started the People and Place module I have found my confidence in taking "street" images has increased and having got over that initial feeling of being uncomfortable I'm finding that I really enjoy doing it.

In addition I feel that I actually see more of what is going on around me because I look, rather than let it enter my brain un-processed and quickly dismissed.

Reading some of Henri Cartier-Bresson's quotes I find they are 100% correct, inspiring and offer a very interesting approach which I'd like to take on board as part of my photography.

I've listed just a few below that I found good lessons to learn:

“A photograph is neither taken or seized by force. It offers itself up. It is the photo that takes you. One must not take photos.”

“The creative act lasts but a brief moment, a lightning instant of give-and-take, just long enough for you to level the camera and to trap the fleeting prey in your little box.”

“Photography is, for me, a spontaneous impulse coming from an ever attentive eye which captures the moment and its eternity.”

“Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.”

“You just have to live and life will give you pictures.”

“For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity.” 

“Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.”

“To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.”

“Thinking should be done before and after, not during photographing.

It is the last two quotes which suggested to me I should stop using a short tele-zoom lens and instead used a fixed prime lens. Once I get used to its focal length I know that in my eye I already know what I will capture within the frame and I will not lose time changing the focal length but instinctively capture what it was that first attracted my eye - I will not lose the moment fiddling with the focal length.

I have done some research on what focal length would suit me on full frame and many options exist, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm etc. In the end I purchased a second Nikon 35mm f/2 AF D lens, relatively cheap and 1/3 the price of a second hand Nikon 35mm f/1.8 AF G lens.

The advantage of the D lens is that I can use the focus distance and setting the camera to manual already know what I will capture within the focus depth of field, very handy for quick images. the focal length allows me to get in close and also capture a fair angle of view.

 I'm hoping this aids me reducing my thinking during the act of photography and I do indeed increase the times where I capture the moment that fleets in front of my eyes.

Lets see how this works in practice....

P & P - People Interacting with Place - Exercise 1 - A single figure small

This exercise required the capture of a small single figure. Whilst the brief allowed for the image to be set-up using a friend I wanted to keep my image real.

The considerations to creating or planning this image included where to place the figure in the frame and how obvious the figure will be. Keeping the figure off centre can add a dynamic to the image but the figure should be visible and not lost.

I currently work at Heathrow Airport and getting their requires a number of trains. The journey into Paddington Station  sees the train increase with passengers until the last stop arrives and then the flood of passengers leave. The reverse journey sees the opposite, this stop being Gloucester, my stop,  the second to last on the journey back from London to Cheltenham.

On this occasion I was able to pick a doorway where people weren't walking toward me to leave the train but instead walking away. The reason was because the doorway where the figure is will be right outside the station entrance / exit. I know because I do the same myself to be one of the first off and avoid traffic leaving the station car park. Some planning is good as you can create an opportunity, timing meant I had this figure at the end of carriage with the lead in diagonal lines from the seats and the lighting allowing the eye to move along these lines to the figure at the end.

I've also applied a vignette to the image and the framing of the figure on a "zing point", an intersection of the rule of thirds lines also adds to the dynamic of the image which otherwise is static. This I feel gives an impression of movement which is good because at this point the train though slowing is still moving.

Converting the image to mono eliminated the distraction of colour and for me accentuated the diagonals in the image taking the viewers eye to where I wanted it

Exercise Learning

1. Though "street" photography is about capturing the moment and so focused on the spontaneous understanding your surroundings can allowing some planning within the image

2. Elements learnt as part of the TAOP showed me how to use diagonal lines to create energy within an image, use of lead in lines allows the photographer to lead the viewers' eye to where you want it to go. Patchways are always explored and followed by the eye