John Darwell

John Darwell is a photographer that my tutor introduced to me.  His work reflects his interest in social and industrial change, concern for the environment and issues relating to the depiction of mental health.  I find these very different areas to work on but at times it is possible for their paths to converge.  For example mental health problems can stem from unemployment as a result of industrial change.

His work Legacy: Inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is an interesting body of work.  He captures the sense of place well and I found that I felt very familiar with the place after viewing the images.  I think he works the narrative in an interesting way introducing us to the place and the few people that work there.  You feel the sense of loneliness and emptiness but also the sense of urgency of the people who evacuated the area.  They were given only 24 hours to leave and Darwell gives us an inside into the frenzy of departure that must have ensued.

It also very clear that this area was a place that people called home.  I can feel the dreadfulness in the images of having to leave your home and belongings never to return.

It is interesting in this series how informative the images without people are.  We learn so much about a person or people by their environment and their personal belongings.  I don't think I truly appreciated that until I started looking at Darwell's work.

In his work focusing on industrial Britain or should I say the end of certain aspects of industrial Britain we see that same hopelessness and despondency in his photographs.  The people like in Chernobyl are helpless to the fate that awaits them.

I would go to say that his pictures are not pretty but they inform, they tell us about the people that are in.  I have identified this as an area for me to focus on - making my pictures more informative - making them speak.

His images are often bleak and bordering on being dark this is especially true of his black and white images.  However even in his colour images the colours are slightly saturated.

I found Darwell's work interesting in relation to my preparation for assignment 4.  However, his work focuses on a small area or a specific area whereas mine was on a larger scale and therefore harder to maintain the kind of consistency that are in his images.  This is something I would like to work on in the future.  This would work well for a project on something like Ridley Road market.

His images can be viewed on his website.

V&A print room

The OCA has organised a study visit to the V&A print room for April.  Only nine people can attend so instead of the first come first served usual basis for allocating places they have decided to do a lottery.  I think that this is fairer as I have found that it is the same people that take up all the places on the few visits I have been on.

Rob Bloomfield is taking the study visit and it will focus on the history of photography from Daguerre to looking at how history can influence where we take our own work.

I will find out on 28th March if I have been lucky enough to secure a place.  Fingers crossed!

Shaped by War - Don McCullin

For my birthday last week I received Don McCullin's book Shaped by War.  I have to say that this book wasn't on my reading list but as it happens it tied in nicely with the reading I have been doing on documentary photography recently.  It was especially poignant in relation to peripateia and the decisive moment.  

I think everyone has heard of McCullin even those that are not very interested in photography.  I suppose he is a bit like David Bailey or Rankin in that respect.  However, his fame is based on his career as a war photographer who covered Vietnam, Biafra and the Congo wars to name a few.  What this book introduced me to is his work as a landscape and still life photographer a far cry from the battlefield he usually inhabits.  

Before reading this book I watched an interview he did with Michael Parkinson.  I found it interesting to hear him talk about his work and what motivated him to shoot wars.  I think we all have this image of war photographers being exceptionally brave, which indeed they are, but what we don't think about is their fears. McCullin was willing to talk about his fears and how scenes from the battlefield revisit him and have stayed with him over the years.  

He came across as frank and spoke candidly about how he got into photography.  It was interesting to read and hear him talk about the mistakes he made along the way and about his naivety.  He got his big break as a result of two deaths: one of a policeman stabbed to death at the bottom of his road and the other the hanging of the man convicted of the murder.  I would like to think that not every photographers entry into the world is as dramatic.  I wonder where McCullin would be if neither of those events happened.  

Unlike today McCullin seems to have been able to enter the world of photojournalism without much ado or that is the way it comes across.  I can't imagine that many of the remaining staff photographers at the nationals have much of a say in where they go and what they cover and an unlimited budget to do so.  How times change? 

The most disappointing thing about the book for me was that it was almost word for word the same as the Parkinson interview.  Had I not watched the interview I would have found it interesting and informative.  However, I had watched the interview and I wanted the book to give me more information which it failed to.  

The book didn't give too many insights into the way McCullin worked as a photographer from a technical point of view nor did it give any references to composition or what he would look for in a scene.  Perhaps like many photographers he likes to keep those secrets close to his chest or maybe its just not something he feels comfortable talking about.  Perhaps it's not really important.  

Overall I liked the images in the book even though some of them were quite disturbing.  I found his transition into colour interesting.  I think I have to agree with him when he says that black and white is a better medium for war images.  I prefer his black and white work to his colour work.  In many ways it is easier to view them in black and white because with the absence of colour you are shielded from the bloody scenes in front of you. 

The book is a fascinating insight into the mind of someone who has had a successful career spanning decades shooting some of the most horrifying scenes a person's eyes will ever witness.  It is about what made him continue working when the scenes unfolding in front of him brought him close to burnout.  

Shooting an event - St Patrick's Day Parade London

It has been a while since I last shot an event.  This may be because there has been a lack of outdoor events to photograph during the winter months.  it may also be down to the fact that my focus has changed somewhat to more street work and for the last couple of weeks the London Borough of Hackney.  Unfortunately, Hackney didn't have a parade for Paddy's day but the Mayor of London did.

In shooting this event I wanted to improve on my images from the last event I shot for assignment 2 - the Lord Mayor's Show.  I also wanted to move away from the stereotypical Irish scenes associated with Paddy's Day - the pint of Guinness, the green leprechauns etc.  I wanted to capture the essence of Irishness from my point of view - that of an Irish person abroad.

Here are a selection of my best images.

Overall I think this is a strong set of images.  I found that I was more confident shooting this event than I was the Lord Mayor's show.  I knew where to get myself positioned and I was prepared for the speed at which the parade would pass by.  I also used a prime lens which saved a lot of time and I was also able get a shallower depth of field.  

I think this image is my best image.  I'm not sure what it is about it.  Is it the fact that it's a man that is having a shamrock painted on his face or maybe its the fact he's smoking and holding a can.  Perhaps it is because to me he looks very Irish more in a Colin Farrell way than a Father Ted way.  I'm not sure.  

Photography: The Key Concepts by David Bate

                                                              

Lately I've been reading a lot more about the history of photography which has led me to explore photographic theory in more detail.  This is something I haven't dedicated enough time to in the past which may be down to the fact I found it difficult to understand.  However, this book makes it easier to get to grips with.

Bate's explores the the place photography has in our society examining the amazing number of genres in the medium.  He briefly outlines the history of photography although I found Badger's book a better read for historical perspective.

The explanations of the different bodies of theory on photography are introduced by Bate in a way I found easy to understand.  He guides you through documentary, still life, landscape and global photography.  Perhaps my knowledge in these areas had already improved hence it being easier to appreciate.  

In this post I will focus on the chapters of the book that are particularly relevant to this course - People and Place - and what I have learnt that will improve my work in this genre.

Photographic theory
I particularly enjoyed getting my head around the history of photographic theory.  I have tried on several occasions to make sense of it all but have until now failed miserably.  I feel that I had to have reached a certain point in my photography to be able to take this on board and learn from it.

What I have learnt about theory:

• Theory is essential to all apsects of photographic practice
• Photography has a visual language with its very own set of codes
• Reality is what we believe exists but realism is the mode of representation that supports that reality.  
• Semiotics makes a distinction between the photographic signifier (the photograph) and the signified or concept.  Photographs require a viewer to give a signified meaning to the image. 

I found it particularly interesting to learn more about realism.  Is it strange that even though I know there is more to a photograph that I still have the expectation that it is the same as reality?  I suppose it is hard to dispel a common myth that has been instilled in you since childhood.

Questions the book poses in relation to theory that has given me food for thought

• How do photograph achieve meaning?
• Are codes and conventions important?

Documentary
As it is with realism, people believe that documentary photography is real too.  It is mistakenly believed to document real events or occurrences.  As viewers we are very much at the mercy of the photographer as he or she decides what we see and what information we are allowed to have from the scene to view.

I found Bate's chapter on documentary informative. Although I have read a lot about narrative in the past I think I now have a stronger interpretation of it and how it can be applied to my work.  Or perhaps what I should be looking for when I view documentary photographers work.

I have long been familiar with the decisive moment but I never thought about it as peripateia - the moment where the future of the story will be determined the moment of anticipation when the story is in the process of being decided.  I suppose I can really see this in the work of war photography.  However, in the every day aspects of life peripateia does not have the same resonance.

Subjective and objective documentary work was a new concept the book introduced to me.  When you think about it makes sense that there is two different strands of documentary work and that both have a different effect on the way the narrative unfolds.

What I have learnt about documentary

• The motivation for documentary photography is to creatively inform its viewers about another part of the population whose life and experiences may be unfamiliar to them.  
• The aim of documentary work may to criticise, celebrate, support or attempt to reform or change a situation they depict. 
• Documentary photographers use different tactics from tripod based views to hand-held tableaux scenes.  These create distinct viewer positions usually perceived as either an objective or subjective position. 

Tripod photography very much focuses on the informational codes of the scene while shutter photography looks at the fleeting moments of everyday life.  Subjective photographs laid the way for reportage.  

Reportage derived from the snapshot.  It has a greater expressive quality as it is subjective in both its mode of production and its visual connotations.  

Questions the book poses in relation to documentary that has given me food for thought

• What is the difference between a photograph as document and social documentary?  Is there one?
• Can one picture tell a complex story?  Do you need several pictures to complete a narrative?
• Is the 'decisive moment' as coined by Cartier Bresson about freezing time or triggering an implied narrative?
• What kind of stories do documentary photographers tell?

Portraiture

Again I have read a lot on portraiture especially for this course.  However the book introduced new ways of looking at the genre for me.  For starters it refers to the elements of portraiture: face, pose, clothes and location or setting.  It is interesting to see what each of the elements adds to the photograph.  Each element tells us something different about the person the photograph depicts.  However, we still are left at times to fill in blanks often deliberately left by the camera operator.

When we talk about reading portraits I would have thought of reading the details in front of us that the photograph tells us.  This can be referred to as the surface or appearance.  However, we automatically look at the depth or reality which adds another level of meaning to the image.  This meaning is inferred by the viewer.

I particularly found the concept of recognition interesting.  Freud wrote of repetition as being important to us as we are already seeing something we know but are rediscovering it again.  This provides us with pleasure whether it is a conscious or sub-conscious pleasure.

As viewers we encounter

• Familiar - family, friends and people we know
• Unfamiliar - strangers 
• Known representations - discursive knowledge - people that are familiar but we do not actually know them eg famous people

The known and familiar are repetitive whereas the unfamiliar are not.  In portraying the unfamiliar photographers are faced with the problem of representing the unrepresented.  This had led to innovations in portraiture. 

As viewers we derive pleasure from looking at the familiar and known.  We identify with the camera as viewer, with the person depicted, or the person depicted and with the look of the person.  

Freud wrote about narcissism and voyeurism and how we obtain pleasure from looking.  Lacan focused on the fact that we look to our mirror image (parents) to gain recognition of who we are.  Which leads to the question am I like this person?  This is what we ask when we look at portraits.  Am I like this person?  Are they like me?  We look for what we can see of ourselves in the image.  

We often project our own feelings on to an image whether they are pleasurable or uncomfortable.  

With regard to images that have blank expressions, the Mona Lisa being the most famous we are left to fill in the blanks by ourselves.  Leonardo de Vinci used the sfumato technique and photographers have adopted their own soft focus blur on the face to allow viewers to project impressions onto the portraits.  This effect can be seen in the paintings of Rembrandt and the photographs of Julia Margaret Cameron and Edward Steichen.  

Questions the book poses in relation to the porttrait that has given me food for thought

• What can we learn from a portrait?
• Does portraiture idealise, describe or criticise a sitter? 
• Can the pose be a type of defence?
• Why is portraiture so popular?
• What does the human face reveal about character if anything?

Overall I found this book very informative and easy to digest.  It has enabled me to think more about my role as photographer in the images that I take. It has reinforced that I as the photographer tell the story of the person I am photographing and how he/she is seen by the spectators.

This book is an essential read for anyone wishing to learn more about photography in relation to society and its effects on our world.

Assignment 3 - feedback

Overall this assignment was successful but it wasn't as strong as the previous two assignments I submitted.  I'm not sure why that is really.  Perhaps it was down to this particular assignment and the fact that I struggled to shoot indoor spaces.  I felt the assignment was overall frustrating to carry out.  It was very difficult to avoid taking pictures of buildings that looked like tourist snaps.  It was also difficult to find locations where I could shoot indoors.  It was also difficult to focus on so many buildings.   I felt that I didn't have the time or the ability to do my chosen ones the justice an in depth treatment of an individual building would give. From looking at other students blogs I was not alone in finding this assignment challenging.  It seems that many other people struggled with it too.

However in saying that I believe that I would tackle the subject differently if I was to do the assignment again.  The benefit of hindsight always is a wonderful thing!

My tutor made comments about my use of an overly wide angle lens and the fact that the edges of the pictures lacked sharpness.  I think my major mistake with this assignment was trying to get as much as I could into the frame hence the reason why nearly all have been shot using an extreme focal length.  I think this probably arose from me trying to avoid cliched shots or touristy ones.

Feedback on specific pictures is detailed below.

The Geffrye Museum
These images suffered as a result of shooting with an extreme focal length.  It was suggested by my tutor that I look at the work of Peter Fraser to discover a different way to explore the relationship people have with places.  I have looked at Fraser's work and posted my thoughts here.

Tate Modern
Although I have used the wide angle better for these images some would have benefited from a closer angle like the image shot in the tanks.  My tutor also suggested that I looked more at landscape shots for some of the images as with the portrait style I chose there is a lot of empty/dead space as in the image below.

British Museum
My tutor found these to be the most interesting of my shots.  He suggested that I pay more attention to what people are doing in the frames.  Most cases the people are moving towards the camera and it would be interesting to hang around awhile and see what I could get of the people actually milling around.

Covent Garden
I felt these were my weakest shots and my tutor's comments reflected this. I agree with him when he said they looked a bit hurried.  Looking back I believe I did rush them and this can be seen in the final images.

London Underground
My tutor said that these pictures were very different to the others I submitted and that they provided an interesting dimension to my assignment.  I personally felt more comfortable in this environment to explore more hence the resulting tilting angles.  While I was doing this assignment I shied away from shooting passengers up close.  I think this is something I would like to try in the future but it is very difficult to do.  My tutor suggested I look at the work of Luc Delahaye and Bruce Davidson.  I have looked at this and I have found them interesting.  The images are very close up and at times the commuters look a little weird.  I think I would be interested in shooting people that are asleep etc commuting to work.

Overall I have learnt quite a bit from this assignment.  I am looking forward to moving on the next assignment and finding a new space to explore.

Assignment 3 - A sense of place

Here are my images that I submitted for assignment 3.  

The Geffrye Museum

Tate Modern

The British Museum

Covent Garden

The Tube

Richard Billingham - Ray's a laugh

As part of my research for assignment 4 I have been looking at photographer's who have used their parents for their work.  I recently came across Richard Billingham.

In his photobook Ray's a Laugh, we see a collection of images that document the life of his working class parents. His alcoholic dad is the main protagonist in the series and we are invited into his world in all its glory.   I like that Billingham has not produced a sentimental view of his parents and their world like many artists would be inclined to so.  Instead we are dragged into the harsh world of life in a council high rise and the devastating social effects of alcohol.

Hi captures the world of restricted horizons where the limitations of Ray's opportunities have a consuming affect on the lives of the family.  Their is no self-pity in the series it seems that they as a family have accepted their lot and will fight, swear, argue and drink their days away.

The images are of a snapshot style which makes them very accessible for the viewer even if the content isn't. Gerry Badger in his book The Genius of photography refers to them as a real-life equivalent of the Royle Family.  I think that is a very apt comparison.  However, unlike the Royle Family this is real life and it is a little disturbing to look at this portrait of modern Britain.

I think what impressed me most about this photobook is the fact that it is a very candid view of the family with little or no emotion of sentiment on behalf of the photographer.  This is something I would like to take into my work especially when looking at Hackney and where I come from in Ireland.  It is very difficult to leave the sentiment behind and portray what is in front of you when it is so close to you.  This is something that Billingham has done exceptionally well.

I also like the snapshot approach.  I feel that this is something I would like to explore more in my work perhaps on my forthcoming assignment but also in future projects.

Ray's a Laugh images are being exhibited in the West Midlands and I feel it would be interesting to go if I can.

http://www.thepublic.com/exhibitions/rays-laugh-richard-billingham

Exercise 23: Selective processing and prominance

For this exercise I had to look at producing two versions of the same image.  In one version the the person needs to be less prominent than the other.  I can achieve this by using the various software processing tools available.

I chose this image which I shot for an earlier exercise because I wanted to explore the presence of the people in the shot more.  In its original format this focus is more on the buildings in the shot rather than the people.  I felt this exercise would give me the opportunity to make the people more prominent.

I converted the image into black and white which I felt would be useful when looking at form in the shot.  I didn't want the colours to provide a distracting level.

In this image the high contrast allows the people to blend into the background.  When you look at the shot it is difficult to see exactly where the focus lies.  Is it the buildings or the couple?

To make the people stand out more I opted for a lower contrast image and a more faded background.  I also reduced the clarity to make the background more out of focus.  

By using post processing tools the focus of this image can be changed to the couple looking at the buildings.  We can also use processing techniques to blend the couple into the other elements in the shot.  

I think that these techniques can affect the way in which the people are seen to be interacting with the place they are in.  In the first image and the original image they are part of the scene.  In the last image they are isolated from it.  

It is interesting to work with the focus elements in the shot and to see the ways in which certain processing techniques alter the outcomes.  

Exercise 22: Balancing figure and space

This exercise focused on balancing the focus in any one picture situation.  I had to produce two images of the same scene where the balance varies from person to setting.

In the first image the people are smaller and the done of St Paul's bigger.  The scale is pretty much as we would expect it to be.

 In the second image the balance shifts with the importance and focus given to the people in the image rather than the dome.  The dome is still in the distance and is smaller.

It is interesting to look at the balance in the these shots and how it alters the meaning.  In the first image the building takes prominance.  The people are just there as an anonymous group walking over the bridge.

The second image looks at the people walking over the bridge on their way to St Paul's.  We can see more of the people who they are what they are wearing etc.

Zed Nelson - Hackney - A tale of two cities

While I was doing some research the other day on the Hackney area I came across this project by Zed Nelson - Hackney - A tale of two cities. He focuses on the area of Hackney which he describes as run down and dilapidated and its close proximity to the wealthy City of London.  It is an interesting concept but it is one I feel has been done a lot in relation to other cities.

His images focus a lot on wealth/affluence in one of the poorest boroughs in London.  I like his portraits of the colourful people that live there that make Hackney.  It is one of the most striking things I found about this place - the colours you see everywhere from the green open spaces to the shop fronts and the many markets in the neighbourhood.

However, he also touches on the levels of crime and gang culture in the borough.  His image of a scene of a shooting in Hoxton Street is very real for me.  For about a year I used to walk past the takeaway where a young girl was shot on my way to and from work.  The street was always pretty quiet bar the odd drunk so this was a huge shock to me.

Touching on gang culture his image of three menacing gang members in front of an expensive house shows both the worst and best sides of Hackney.  It is still hard to make sense of the affluence in such a run down and poverty stricken area of London.

I like the way in which he embraced the green areas in Hackney.  The river Lea runs through the borough and there you can see some of the ugliest sites but with it some of the most beautiful like in his image of the swan in her nest.

This set of images has given me some food for thought in relation to my next assignment.  I like the way in which he shows us Hackney through his eyes.  My view of the place will be very different from his but I will set out to explore similar themes like the diversity in the area and the beauty to be found in the ugliness around the place.  There is a beauty in the neon signs and bright colours and more importantly the people that live there.

Preparing for assignment 4

I have been thinking about my next assignment recently.  As I live in London I thought about focusing on a specific place or borough as suggested in the brief.  At first I considered choosing where I live in Enfield but this I though would be too easy an option.  I then considered the Lee Valley area but after some initial research I found that it was just too big an area and would be too big a project for this assignment.  However, I feel it may be something I could focus on in the future.

It was after a visit to home in Ireland and a conversation with my mum that my thoughts turned to Hackney.  Last week I attended a talk by Tom Hunter which increased my interest in the area.  The east end of London is a common stomping ground for street photographers but from what I have seen they usually tend to focus on Brick Lane and surrounding areas.  I thought what about Hackney - the real Hackney.  Or should I say what Hackney means to me.

My parents came over from Ireland in the 1950s and started married life in the east end.  I'm not sure why this area was chosen perhaps because of more affordable rents and less anti-Irish sentiment.  During that period it is reported that signs with the words 'No blacks, no dogs, no Irish' were found in B&B windows and Irish Need Not Apply was often on job advertisements.  My mother says she never came face to face with this and I wonder if this was because she lived in the east end where there is a tradition of immigration.

My dad worked in the construction industry and I wonder if he was more exposed to this sentiment.  If he was he never shared it with my mother.  Unfortunately he died when I was young so I have no way of ever finding out.

In the late 1970s the opportunity to return to Ireland came about and my father jumped at the chance.  I was the only one in my family to be raised there and have not experienced living in the east end like they did.

In 2005 I got my first job in the public sector at City and Hackney PCT.  I was based in Kingsland Road which is in Hackney and is close to boundary of the City of London.  My job brought me into contact with people that lived and worked in Hackney and one thing I got from them was a sense of pride in their community.

For my assignment I would like to explore London's east end in particular Hackney.  I would like to visit the places where my parents first lived, where they shopped and the places they socialised.  I would like to portray a sense of place from the information I have got from my mum.  This could also be part of a journey to getting to know more about my dad and the life he lived that I know little or nothing of.

Tom Hunter talk in Hackney

A last minute cancellation meant that last Saturday I was able to attend the Tom Hunter talk in Hackney organised by the OCA.  After initially been told that all places had been booked I was pretty disappointed as this was one of the more interesting events lined up by OCA this year.  I have enjoyed the study visits I have attended but there is something special about listening to a photographer talk about their life and work.  I feel that this gives you a more intimate connection with their work which in turn becomes more personal to you.  I found this when I went to the David Goldblatt talk last year at the Barbican.

The prospect of Tom's talk appealed to me for a number of reasons.  My parents emigrated from Ireland and ended up in Hackney in the 1950s.  I have grown up listening to my mother talk fondly about the place where they set up their first home, about the hardships they endured and about a time where you made do and were content with your lot even if it wasn't much.  The borough was run down (many parts still are) and it was far from the green hills and countryside they left behind.

A number of years ago I started working for the NHS with my first job based in Hackney.  Here I was able to see life in all its glory.  I found it fascinating, the diversity in the area, the people that lived there in poverty just a stone's throw from the City with all its wealth and architectural feats.  The people that worked there from the nurses to market traders and the streetwalkers to the street sweepers.

I like looking at pictures of places I do not know.  However I feel that photographs of places you are familiar  with have more of an impact on you as the viewer.  I suppose it is a little like photographing places.  If you shoot in somewhere you are familiar with your images will be very different to a place you do not know.

I think the first thing that struck me about Hunter was that he was a good storyteller.  He went through his life from when he took his first image aged 7 in his parents garden to having his work displayed in the National Gallery.  He has an interesting story to tell and this we can see in his work.  His life appears to be colourful which glosses over the fact that he lived in one of the most run down places in London.  Squatting as he pointed out was and still is frowned upon by many.  Usually those that feel hard done by about their tax being used to keep these 'squatters' in the life of luxury.  However, it seems that Hunter made the most of his life and the opportunities presented to him.

I think what I found particularly interesting was the insight he provided into his work and where he got his ideas and inspirations.  He was heavily influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and the work of Vermeer.  This can be seen in his image Woman reading a possession order from Persons Unknown which was based on and looks like a modern day A girl reading a letter by an open window by Vermeer.

Dorothea Lange and her representation of the poor was something that also played an important influence in the way Hunter set out to portray  the poor in Hackney.  Although they were poor there is a beauty in their surroundings and in themselves.

As a source of inspiration Hunter bought the Hackney Gazette on a regular basis which provided him with a detailed source of information about what was happening in the borough.  He explained that he got this idea from Thomas Hardy who used his local paper to source ideas for his novels.  His series of images Living in Hell is based on real events and headlines from the Hackney Gazette and they provide interesting if not disturbing images at times.  I particularly find the image of the boy fishing in the river Lee with a dead body floating beside him quite hard hitting.

I think from this talk the idea that images as a form of art and as something that is made became quite clear.  This is something that I have been reading a lot about lately in Gerry Badger's book on the history of photography.  I have started seeing my work as something that is made over a period of time and not just a day out shooting somewhere.  I have found that there is more the creative process than simply taking a picture.

I also found it interesting when Hunter spoke about how he takes images of people, how he goes about asking them and how a simple no is seen not as the end of the conversation but as a starting point for negotiation.  This is an area that I feel I need to work on a lot more.  I feel I have reached the point where my shyness is hindering my ability to take better shots and this in turn is leading to frustration.

For more information on Tom Hunter and to view his images go to his website.

Shooting from the hip - an experiment

The other day when I was out shooting I decided to try shooting from the hip.  I had been looking at the work of William Klein again and decided that I would try and give it a shot.

Here are some of the best images:

I found working like this very difficult.  A lot of my images including these ones are blurred and out of focus. i also found it extremely difficult to frame a shot as I couldn't work out my composition.  When you are used to see things from a certain perspective it's difficult to change that.  

However, I did find that people weren't as aware of the camera as it looked like you weren't actually taking a shot.  I think the next time I try this I will use Liveview to see if that improves my composition.  

I do find though that there is a lot of movement in the shots.  This may be down to the blurry effect of it may be down to the odd angles the images have been shot from.   

Looking at the work of Peter Fraser

I have recently been reflecting on the work I did for assignment 3 and the ways in which this could be improved.  My tutor mentioned that I might like to look at the work of Peter Fraser especially in relation to a different look at the relationships people have with places.

Fraser is a contemporary fine art photographer.  Colour plays a huge role in his work as it does in that of his peers Martin Parr and Paul Graham.  His still lifes are found not constructed.  His focus is on what he finds, the matter of the world and the status of 'things'.  His subjects range from the ordinary which he elevates to the extraordinary.  We see the Welsh countryside its sheds and animals.  We see everyday household objects like light bulbs and wires and cardboard boxes.  

Fraser comes from an engineering background which may go some way to explaining his obsessive focus on what we would term the unusual subjects that appear in his work.  In Material 2002 we see an array of metal types and shapes.  It is difficult to make out what some of them are at first, it looks like paint and mercury.  

After studying photography Fraser worked alongside William Eggleston in the US and it is clear to see the influence the great master of colour had on him.  In the 1980s Fraser was working exclusively in colour when many other photographers were still not convinced of its benefits. Of course the exception to this was Martin Parr and Paul Graham who were both strong advocates for the added qualities colour brings to an image.  

A City in the Mind is his most recent body of work which is currently being exhibited at the Tate St Ive's.  This is his take on London and it is like no other I have seen.  I found this especially interesting as I live and photograph in London a lot.  In this body of work we do not see any other usual landmarks or places we would expect to see.  Instead we are introduced to the London in Fraser's mind.  It is allusive and dark world - one we are not familiar with.

The project was inspired by Marco Polo with Fraser setting out to create an imagined 'city in the mind'.  What we get is his poetic vision of the city.  Its subjects ranges from antiquated models that resemble artefacts from a museum and we also see rather grand subjects like gold chairs and chandeliers which hint at the wonderful palaces the city is home to.

This use of the things that we often overlook to represent the city is intriguing and opens the door to numerous opportunities.  I'm not sure how far I will explore this idea of an imagined city or place but it is worth considering for my assignment 4 submission.  Unlike Fraser I am probably not 100% happy to work exclusively in this mode but I do believe that some of this type pf work could add more weight and power to a selection of images which aims to inform about a place.

We can see more of Peter Fraser's work on his website and also a video where he discusses the project in more detail.

Peter Fraser - http://www.peterfraser.net/

Video - http://www.peterfraser.net/?p=490