Assignment
Brief
As I always do, I'll add my tutors feedback in red within this post and and my comments in relation to them in green
The aim is to draw from the exercises explored earlier to produce 6 images for a specific location demonstrating an appreciation of what spaces and buildings mean for the people who live in and among them
We are tasked with producing an initial strong selection of 12 images then reduce this to a final 6 "publishable" images with a brief to fill around 6 pages of travel publication. There is emphasis on travel and not tourism. The images should have variety of subject matter and scale. In terms of scale I interpret this to not be the size of the published image, though in a publication this would matter, but of the scale of the scene contained within the image.
I'm not sure what size the 6 pages should be. Of course final publication space, format, expected amount of text might vary and these would be things I'd question when given the brief. Always clarify the brief, this may be by listening and questioning during the brief process or a discussion to determine more details about the expectation of the final brief. Important activities if you want to produce a set of images that meets the brief and to also get paid.
Assignment
Ideas and Research
The brief points to a set of travel and not tourism style images. I could clarify this with my tutor but at this level we are expected to interpret and stylise with our own creativity.
Paul Theroux is a well known American travel writer and novelist. He is quoted as saying:
“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travellers don’t know where they’re going.”
Its an interesting quote and suggests to me that he feels the tourist is perhaps ticking boxes of places to visit for the sake of it and the traveller is a bit more adventurous with an aim of exploration and discovery.
I wondered what images would be selected for the
covers of his books:
Looking at the book covers I noted they appeared distant, and though appealing, they were not intimate. Of course no doubt produced to a different brief that I am to follow. A key element missing from the pictures were people and their interactions with the locations.
I decided to investigate some covers of well known traveller magazines:
The Lonely Planet Traveller
The National Geographic Traveller
There seemed to be a common theme, great images but no sense of people interacting with place. This made me wonder if the brief was correctly described as requirement of images "for an intelligent, thoughtful travel publication (not tourism promotion)".
This pause for thought and consideration had me puzzled for some time. I then realised that perhaps the answer lay in what Theroux said and my view of what he meant. I interpreted his quote to mean "the traveller is a bit more adventurous with an aim of exploration and discovery" and there lay the answer to my approach. Find a location that is known but photograph elements of it that not only reveal its beauty but how people have discovered and explored elements around the pond and how they have interacted with them.
I decided on selecting one of Cannop ponds as the location for Assignment 4. The location is a short drive from me an the following Wiki page gives me detail to the location:
To help me generate an improved sense of capturing images of people interacting with places I studied a few photographers and their work:
Michael Donald
Not a mainstream photographer but successful in his own right. He has produced a set of images which I summarise below but need to be viewed on his website individually to fully appreciate how he has captured people and their interaction with place:
His images spoke a lot to me about the locations but also the people within them. When he wanted to, he creates a strong connection between the subject and the viewer. I found this aspirational.
Simon Roberts
Simon Roberts is a well travelled British photographer and is noted for his work travelling to many locations across Russia and has one several awards for his published work.Much of his images have been taken using a large format camera and interestingly he took a series of images using an old plate camera fixed on the top of a motor home he travelled in to enable a higher perspective for his images,
Simon's work can be found here:
An interesting set of images he has taken are those from the Philippines typhoon in 2014. He has combined portrait images of affected people and mixed these in with people dealing with the devastation from the typhoon. This approach is very clever as the portraits I felt brought me closer to the fact these are people like you and me, rather than distant figures. My research suggested that Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 7,300 people and that 1.2 million people were evacuated.
When death tolls are announced there is I think a number that once reached and surpassed make it difficult for the human mind to process. The images of people up closer to the lens in contrast to some of the wide angle images me allowed me to better feel the human cost and impact to their lives. He also mixed a few locations taking images at the same location separated by 9 months allowing the viewer to see the change
Another interesting set was:
Here he captured almost landscape images of people pursuing leisure activities.
This is an approach that I will aspirationally partly align to as part of Assignment 4
National Geographic - How to take Photos of People in Places
The National Geographic have produced a gallery of images with tips of how to take images of people in places. It contains some good help and very interesting photos:
Assignment 4 - My Aims
My aim was the following:
1. Capture engaging images of the location
2. Capture people interacting with their location
3. Create within my images "a sense of place"
I made 2 visits to the location capturing images in slightly different light. However a lesson I learnt from from the initial shoot was that taking a single camera body with an ultra wide angle lens meant I was not close enough to the people to capture them within my images so that their interaction with the location could be observed. My subsequent visit I took two bodies, one with a UWA lens and one with a more traditional 85mm focal length.
I needed to be seen to be observational and not interfering with people, not appear as a threat in anyway and simply enjoying myself as much as everyone else. I've learnt 2 techniques as part of People and Place:
1. Shoot and Scoot - Don't appear to obvious, take a few images pointing the lens elsewhere all the time focusing the mind on what you want, taking it and moving on
2. Blend into the Background - See someone with a camera and you yourself will look at them, not aggressively but out of interest. As the photographer people will do the same so accept what they are doing and why. If you go about your business people get bored and accept you. You can then observe and wait for that moment.
I recall Cartier-Bresson's words: “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.”
I expect I am not alone in recognising a missed opportunity through carelessness, being too slow, or in the wrong place at the right time. I believe I may be starting to recognise this. An opportunity missed is just that but finding the right place, patience and anticipation are a combination of luck and skill. Do something to increase your opportunity, quite often this is simply moving from the well worn path
Tutors Overall Comments
Just
like for the previous assignment, you could have taken more time to slowly
explore your chose subject and also explore the various techniques that you
have learnt for this section. You have done the exercises but they seem rushed
and so does the assignment since you could have re-visited it several times.
Every
time that you do a shoot you have the opportunity to analyse your work, see
what was good about the images and what not and think about how you can improve
them. This was definitely possible for this assignment since you have shown
that you are capable of making good images but you have not used the opportunity
to make excellent images.
You
did create a good sense of the place but since the brief was to shoot for a ‘thoughtful
travel publication that demanding a considered, in depth treatment’ a more
profound approach was needed.
This
required that you find the right time of the day, perhaps a sunnier day during
the golden hour and experiment more with various angles and shot images with
more variety for example experiment with different angles, shoot wildlife, and
more people during some kind of activity.
In
order to make excellent images even very experienced photographers need to
re-visit a location several times and shoot a lot more that the amount that you
shot for this assignment.
The
images 1, 2 and 5 are the most successful in terms of the travel publication
although there are several things that could be improved in them, which I will
point out in the feedback.
My first reading of this feedback left me rather disappointed. I have not knowingly rushed my work actually making 2 visits, the second with a separate camera body following my review after shoot one.
Spending some time later and rereading this I think my work may require additional thought before during and after the shoot and a much more critical review of my images. The words of my tutor "you have shown that you are capable of making good images but you have not used the opportunity to make excellent images." I think is the key and I do appreciate that he is very much trying to encourage me to up my game. Its consistency of images I need and/or recognition that when the the high standard is not met that I should consider and perform a reshoot perhaps rather than be accepting of images that may not be meeting the standard I should be aiming for.
Since receiving this feedback I have exchanged several emails with my tutor who has given me some additional help and suggestion of improvements
Assignment Images
I performed 2 shoots at Cannop ponds, the second shoot bringing a 2nd body allowing me to switch between a UAW lens and portrait focal length length lens. I found having 2 lenses gave me better freedom of image composition. I took a total of 92 images (pairs of jpeg / RAW) in the first shoot and 80 in the second shoot.
Following a review of my images I lower this to an initial 23 images, the contact sheet for these is below:
The brief asked for an initial selection of 12 publishable images. I selected the following giving a mix of people and landscape images but all 12 giving what I feel was a true sense of the place, Cannop Ponds
This now left a very tricky selection of 6 from this list. Having reduced this provisionally on paper to 8 I canvassed the views of 2 other people who new the location and asked them to select 6 images that they felt gave them as a set a good example of the feel of Cannop Ponds. Interestingly we had selected a consistent 4.I then chose an additional 2 images which continued the set. I left this for an afternoon then revisited the set of 12 and reduced set of 6 and was happy with this selection. This was 4 images of people interacting with the location and 2 image of the location without people to give a sense of the location and express how peaceful it is,
The Final Set
Image 1
For this image I waited around so that people stopped wondering what I was doing and I could wait for something to happen created by them. The central man in the water is in an almost contemplative mood with the people watching from each side of the frame and the small child in the middle. The dynamic here is the triangle created by them all, with all eyes leading to the man in the water
Image
1 – This image is very composed and you captured the scene in the right moment
since there is a very good balance between the people and the place. You captured
and described the ‘triangle’ of all people’s eyes leading to the man in the
middle very well and that seems to create the balance between the people and
the place.
The colours
seem to be slightly off since there it has a ‘magenta touch’ in it. This would
need to be balanced out if you where to send the image for printing or
publishing.
Also
for that purpose you would probably want to shoot this image in a sunnier day
in order to enhance the colours and contrast. To shoot a scene as this one in
the early morning or late afternoon could significantly improve the image.
Yes I did wonder why this image appeared duller than some other images taken at the same time, I think the dry mud areas and quality of light have not allowed me to capture the colours of the scene, certainly as I saw them. I had recognised this and attempted to correct this but it would appear it may need some further work. I have attempted to correct this moving away from potential magenta colours:
Image 2
I wanted to include a few landscape images amongst this small set of 6 so that the viewers could get a sense of the place. Why would you want to go here, what feeling does this location give you, why would you want to return? With this image I wanted to express the feeling of peacefulness and separation from the world. There were areas for people to enjoy as groups and areas to enjoy by yourself. In this location I could lose myself for a while and this is what I hope the viewer can also feel. Including the bank in the foreground gave better balance to the image and I was able to include the 2 trees, it could have been wasteful to have it filled only with water.
Image
2 – This image is very good since you did convey the feeling of peacefulness
with this image although some interaction between people and nature would
probably be make the image more engaging.
Its a difficult decision balancing which images should have people and which should not when creating an image. I think what I should do is actually create multiple images of the same scene with and without people, with variations of angle and light. This then gives a greater choice rather than going with just a few shots of the scene I wanted
Image 3
This particular location is not easy to get for a sure footed person yet this lady has found her way to enjoy her solace. You can tell from her hair this is a lady enjoying her later years and if the image is enlarged you will see her walking stick on the seat. I moved quietly not wanting spoil this lady's thoughts and I can only wonder at what they are. I positioned the lens so that the lady and her light coloured clothes and hair are in contrast to the dark tree trunk. Everybody has different needs and each can seek different enjoyment from a location. Interestingly, and a sign of the older generation, is that she sits to one end of the seat keeping the rest available for anyone else to also sit down. Though not young these days I suspect I would have been unthoughtful and sat in the middle.
Image
3 – The image is well composed and overall a good image but not individually striking
enough for a travel publication.
I think I have to agree here. However at the time of taking and working on the assignment I felt quite attracted and moved by this scene and the image I captured. Looking at it now perhaps some of that feeling has gone and I'm left with the image thats not creating the feeling I originally had. Perhaps this image would have been the better choice as it was the one I selected Image 3 over
Image 4
I took several images of this scene as the girl moved down and there is a connection in colour between the red of the discarded bike and the red of the little girl's hoody. I have deliberately keep the right hand corner in the frame to give an understanding of the width of the stream. There is an element of controlled or perhaps implied danger which i felt as a parent but also as a photographer.... what if she lost her footing? The image is slightly cropped and I have tried to include a sense of flow of the water from left to right and some tension as the girl moves toward and down the slope
Image
4 – This image is very good due to the composition and the interaction of the
girl with its surrounding. Also there is
consistency with the colours (repetition of the red colour of the girl’s top
and her discarded bike) and there is a tension in the image, which makes it
overall very good.
However
it seems to me that the location is not dramatic enough to represent it as a
place of physical activity and excitement like a skiing or kayaking holiday so
I am not convinced that this type of photograph fits in to the brief of
representing this specific place.
Ah OK. My thoughts here was that I was trying to create an image where people were interacting with their location
Image 5
This is an almost voyeuristic image taken through the branches of trees. Not all people take the time to stop halfway across a bridge to enjoy a view as this couple are. The bright colours of the couple in an interesting "pink for girls" and "blue for boys" seemed unusual for an older couple. The symmetry of the reflection in the water is what initially caught my eye. There is a bit more to discover as the man under the bridge is travelling down the stream and the young girl to the right waits for her Mum before she steps onto the bridge
Image
5 – This image is beautiful and it is very well composed. I like how the people
create a balance and how their reflections are seen in the water except for the
man in the pond. I think that he significantly disrupts the sense of
peacefulness and harmony that this image was supposed to convey. Just as for
image 1, this image would have been better if it was shot on a sunny day or in
the early morning or afternoon light (golden hour) since the golden glow of the
sunlight would add to beautiful colours and enhanced the texture and given the
image the necessary depth in order to be outstanding.
I think then this image with its feedback is a good example of how to turn a good image into an excellent image. Its this change by setting my own bar of excellence higher than it currently is. The course work is about learning and improving skills and this is clearly one that I need to work on more
Image 6
This final image for me sums up the location in terms of obtaining a sense of place. This is later in the afternoon toward the end of my second shoot. I've attempted to create an image with a larger depth of field to give the viewer an insight of the location at a larger scale. Often the issue with images like this is foreground interest. I picked up a small stone ready to gently drop into the water to break up the water causing ripples and already framing to include some of the grasses / reeds bottom left. However if you look closely I disturbed 2 small birds and their escape created the water ripples. I have slightly altered the contrast to create a bit more drama in the sky and also to help reduce the lighter area with the sun behind the clouds.
Image
6 –This image is very good in regards to getting a sense of the place but due
to the dark dramatic clouds and the enhanced contrast it gives the viewer a
sense of a place of danger. Also the splash in the water and the waves that it
created without the source of it being visible and without any people in the
image, gives it an unsettling and uncanny feeling. Individually I like the
image because of the slight sense of mystery but for a tourist publication it might
not be suitable.
I thought the contrast gave the image a sense of mystery and therefore opportunity for exploration for any potential tourist. I had not recognised its possibility for creating an image of a place with danger. I expect there is a potential fine dividing line between danger and mystery which as an explorer / traveller are interesting I feel. I've stripped most of the changes I've made, and wonder which is better:
Personal Reflection
What did I set out to achieve?
The brief asked for a final set of 6 images with a variety of subject matter and a variety of scale. I find this location to be very peaceful and it offers areas for groups of people to enjoy their space and also elements to interact with. I'm not sure at what size a pond becomes a lake but it is a fairly large body of water. The images need to be a set with the location or "place" as the central theme. In addition to the areas shared by people; for those willing to explore and walk around there are other areas and spaces where more solitude can be enjoyed. This interaction of the location with people or people with location and the feel of the location itself is what I have tried to convey in my images. In addition my goal is to create a set of images based for a travel and not tourist publication. In addition I reminded my self of my interpretation of Theroux's quote. Repeating my statement earlier " I interpreted his quote to mean "the traveller is a bit more adventurous with an aim of exploration and discovery" and there lay the answer to my approach. Find a location that is known but photograph elements of it that not only reveal its beauty but how people have discovered and explored elements around the pond and how they have interacted with them."
How well did I succeed in my goals?
On my first visit I felt I was missing the reach of a longer lens that I was not getting with UWA lens. I was able to capture the sense of the place but not people's interaction with it. This first shoot also enable me to judge what images worked well and what didn't. On my second visit I had 2 camera bodies allowing me to quickly switch between focal lengths and in a few instances this speed allowed my to capture several moments that could have been lost. My tutor recommended more patience from my photography and I also interpreted this to be anticipation of activities, especially where people were involved. Interestingly no images from my first shoot made the final 6 though a few did make the interim 12. Whilst I have no problem in returning, had a been a professional this could have meant wasted time but I do have this knowledge and people say the best mistakes to learn from are often mistakes you have made yourself. However an excuse to visit this location again was very enjoyable. For this location I did not envisage any time of access problems, simply that I need to be mindful of pointing a camera at people. Earlier exercises with People and Place have helped my start to develop skills of being able to blend in and become unnoticeable and non-threatening. That said I always carry my student card and small mini-moo website publicity card just in case. How well did I succeed? I think I need to understand my current skill set and ability to see to determine how well I did. I've no doubt I could do better as its a constant learning process, "move-in, change the angle, change the height, wait longer" etc however I do feel I have captured an element of the feel of location in my images and that includes the serenity of the location and how it can be used by people, My final 6 images are all in landscape, the targeted publication would have resulted in specific format and layout but as this wasn't a feature of the brief I've interpreted to be the in this format. I enjoy this location and I hope an element of what I feel is included in my images
How might I have approached the assignment with no end result in mind?
Creating a final set of 6 images was of course very restrictive and perhaps akin to explaining to someone a location description in just 6 words. However what this means in practice is that I felt I needed to have a very clear goal in mind and try to use the whole frame to capture my visualisation. This is of course the key; A set of 50 images may capture it all, but to do this in a very small number is the challenge and the art of photography. It made me slow down, be more patient and think more and I hope this can be seen in my final set. I've no doubt the keen eye of my tutor and his experience will find ways for to improve and to get better. I think this set of 6 images far better explains a sense of place than what 6 words could and this restriction enables me to give better clarity
Learning Logs or
Blogs/Critical essays
Your
blog is very good and have been sharing your thoughts on your work but also on
your research very well so it is on track right now and doesn’t need any
specific improvement.
Suggested reading/viewing
I would recommend you to continue your
online research as well as visit some exhibitions. The OCA blog always keeps
you updated on the recent shows and publications.
Here are also a few websites focused on
photography such as:
Also there is a great book called: ‘Street
& Studio’ where there are various photographers published who worked in the
studio as well as on the streets.
Select the photographers that you find
interesting or intriguing and research them and document your reflections on
how they inspire or help you in your practice.
Thank you very much for your suggestions for research
Pointers
for the next assignment
Think about a subject that you would like to work on and choose an
imaginary client that gives you an assignment to work on.
Take your time
making the choice since it is important that you choose a subject that you are
interested in and therefore can engage with it entirely. If you are not happy
with it feel free to start again since it is important that you are excited
about it since it the last one for this course module.
Try and incorporate everything you learnt form the previous assignments
and from this feedback.
Feel free to e-mail me when you have decided on the
subject or if you are having trouble deciding and we can have an informal chat
about it.
Also please send me some printed images from this
or the next assignment so I can give you some feedback on the quality of the
print before you send you work for formal assessment.
I have discussed printing and also my plans for Assignment 5 with my tutor across several emails following receipt of my Tutor Feedback for Assignment 5
