Photoessay

In addition to printing off my photos I also put them into a moving photo essay inspired by the Magnum in Motion Series

Patterns, Architecture and Examples

While shooting for my first project I encountered an issue regarding the direction and narrative possessed by my photos; after a few nights in the town I realised I had an erratic array of images that didn’t really point to my concept or tell any sort of narrative, at the end of each shoot all I had was a collection of photos of the city, at night and not specifically an eerie, mysterious city I wanted to portray.


Therefore I have decided to look into patterns and architecture at night after being inspired by the cover of Brassai's book, 'Paris De Nuit'

I have found some photographers who specialize in architecture photography as well as pattern photography

G.E. Kidder Smith

Minor Project - Establishing Shot

The shot below will be my Establishing shot.

This image was chosen as it successfully sums up everything I am to be shooting for this project.  Firstly your eyes are drawn to the reflecting light on the right hand barrier which then draws your eyes towards the centre of the image where you see a faint blur of movement, a person. The bridge then cuts the image in half which leads your eyes away from the centre, and back down to the foreground where the strong shadows are cast by the fences.

This image contains the main elements I aim to shoot for my main project, the strong bold shadows, reflecting light, enticing shapes created by architecture and the pale yellowy colours cast by streetlights amplified by the dim night sky and finally the contrasting lighting of night, for example in the top right there is a strong white light yet the rest of the image is lit up by a yellowy cast caused by a streetlamp 

Research into photographers

As mentioned previously, for my main project I intend to explore Worcester by Night, making use of available light to create dynamic and enticing images. The photographers below show some examples that I can draw inspiration from.

Brassai - Paris By Night 

"While his images reflect the glitter and gaiety the city was famous for. He also chronicled the city’s nocturnal workers: night-beat policemen, their capes billowing over their bicycles; workmen polishing tram tracks; a milkman loading milk cans onto his horse-drawn cart."

A few examples of his work are in the video below

Bill Schwab - Bill Schwab is a clear follower in Brassai’s footsteps, using a similar interplay of artificial light and fog in much of his work. But Schwab’s work does not feature the light in the foreground, as Brassai’s did, but piercing through the subject of the photo from the background. This effect gives Schwab’s subjects a sort of hollow, lifeless quality that he manipulates to great effect, especially when focusing on symbols of his native Michigan’s suffering economy.

Robert Brook works with more Urban subjects which provides a more modernistic look for his images in comparison to the above (Brassai 1933, Schwab 1994+)

Minor Project - Shotscript

Working title

When the sun goes down…
City Nights

Worcester by Night

Treatment – Photography is an art form wholly built on the availability of light but what happens when we lose the main source of light that lights up the World after the sun goes down?

Well we gain thousands of individual points of artificial light of every different colour and tonal quality. Colours become muted, shadows become deeper, and that boring car parked on the side of the road during daytime is transformed into a gleaming chariot of reflected light amongst the darkness.

The outline of the story – To show images that demonstrate the unique light that comes about at night, muted colours, contrasting greys and deep/dark shadows and how these transform everyday objects at night into something different.

Options for an establishing shot

·         Cityscape at night, with numerous sources of light casting dark shadows

·         Any strong reflections of light

·         Architecture lit up at night (contrasting textures and unusual shadows) for example the various structures in Worcester, the Hive, Friar Street and the main bridges (Road Bridge, Train Bridge and Sabrina Bridge)

Pre-visualisation –

Architecture:

• Worcester Train Bridge: Focus on shape of bridge, taking into account the semi-circles and contrasting straight lines - Tripod Low ISO, slow shutter speed, wide angle (around 24mm), F5/0 (fastest setting for particular lens) 
• The Hive: Focus on lines and shapes created by the roofing/lights, also showing the gold plating - Tripod, Low ISO, very slow shutter speed, wide angle (around 24mm), F10 (slowest setting for particular lens , for depth of field)
• Worcester Cathedral: Shoot down one side of the cathedral rather than straight on, focusing on the contrasting architecture, lighting, and shadowy trees.  Tripod, Low ISO, very slow shutter speed, wide angle (around 24mm), F10 (slow for particular lens , for depth of field)

Street

• Shop windows: Capture reflections of light/street - High ISO, medium-slow shutter speed, F2/8
• Streetlights: Shadows cast, luminance and atmosphere created by lights -  High ISO, medium-slow shutter speed, F2/8
• Parked Cars: Reflection of surrounding area and light - High ISO, medium-slow shutter speed, F2/8

Cityscapes

• Over city centre: City lights, shadows, movement -  Tripod, Low ISO, slow shutter speed, F8 or slower

Equipment list – DSLR, sturdy tripod, weatherproof bag, remote shutter release, a fast lens (50mm f1/8+), kit lens (18mm-50mm f3/5-f5/6), lens hood, flashlight just in case

Legal matters – No legal matters should come to fruition but may need to permission to enter buildings in order to gain a unique perspective (I.e. top floor of buildings)

Special arrangements – Will be carried out over a 3 or 4 separate nights over the space of 2 weeks

Weather watch – Various environments indoor and out, rain although bad for the equipment would bring about even more unique photos

Specialised equipment/clothing needed – Waterproof coat

The Golden Age

The Great Depression in 1930 brought about a larger influx of Documentary Photography
Magazines such as Life, Picture Post and Paris Match brought about a large fan base through the use of photographs.
I decided to look into a single prominent photographer from this era instead of collecting images from a number, I decided to do this purely on the fact that it'd help me identify their particular style of photography and find out any pattens.

"Photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought." - W. Eugene Smith

I decided to pick W. Eugene Smith and some of his photos

I noticed on a lot of his photos (shown below) he uses the environment to frame the subject in it for example:

This technique draws you into the subject of the photo making them stand out more clearly

Task 2 Cropping the image

Task 2 required us to crop an image to change the perceived meaning of the photo
I used various online sources to find photos including Flickr and the photo.net galleries
 The first image shows a couple kissing at the edge of a mini pier(?) captured with a slow shutter speed which has left light trails of the fair ground in the background as well as motion blurring from the waves crashing as if for that one moment, time slowed down for this couple

 My first crop of that image took the couple right out of the image so now it is only the pier and fairground you can see

.

And my final crop focused on just the couple kissing so it is not apparent where they are

My second image taken from the photo.net galleries show a cat waiting for a fishing boat to return for an easy meal

 I first cropped it so now it is just an average view out towards the sea, this completely removes the original story behind this image and could easily of been taken by anybody standing on a beach or dock

The second image just shows the cat standing on the edge of a platform surrounded by water which conflicts with the general assumption that cats are scared of water.

Documentary Photography Week 1

Task 1 - Exploring the frame
Using my bridge camera I set out to capture areas of Worcester I hadn't explored yet. I followed the River down stream further the I had gone before to see what I could find.
I struggled getting to grips with the concept of this task as when I take a photo I generally only frame what I want to see and by re-framing it I cut what I originally wanted the image to show out of it. My first attempt was a picture of a empty bench with a scarf left behind.

I originally framed the image to draw the viewer in with the path leading them in and to the couple walking away in the extreme background creating a desolate abandoned feel

Once I'd re-framed the image though it lost that sense of isolation and emptiness but it allowed the viewer to focus on the empty bench and scarf

My second attempt focused on another image with an abandoned feel

The original image showed an abandoned shed along a empty fenced off road

For the framed image I decided to recreate a HDR feel within Photoshop to bring out the vivid colours and snow to further enhance the appeal of the image as it does not look as abandoned even though you can tell it is, the framing also focuses your attention more so on the shed