Assignment 4: feedback and reflections

To try and push myself for this assignment I decided to pick a subject that was of real personal interest to me.  I felt that this would enable me to communicate my ideas more successfully whilst adding a personal touch to my work.  When we look to other photographers we see that their personal projects centre round something that they have a vested interest in.  For example, William Klein’s work in New York, Lewis Hine’s series on child labour or Don McCullin’s war images. 

Adding this subjective element to my work presented a few problems.  As the message I was trying to communicate had an emotional element or sentiment to it I found it harder to pin down.   In hindsight I think that the theme may have been to complex and it would have been better for me to have chosen another subject that was personal to me – perhaps something I had recently experienced.

As a result I lost my way a little and the message I was communicating wasn’t as clear as I had originally planned.  My tutor was quick to point this out and suggested that I could have looked at focussing on one of the themes I introduced in the assignment.  I think my dilemma was that I felt if I had done this my work would have been too restrictive.  Again in hindsight I believe he was right and if I were to redo this assignment I would focus on one of the aspects I introduced. 

Despite all this, I am really happy that I was brave enough to challenge myself to break with my norms and work on a more personally inspired project.   I believe I made some strong statements about life in Hackney by including the place where Agnes Sina-Inakoju was shot dead.  I also believe that I captured some of the essence of life in the borough in Hackney People. 

I think one area where I need to improve in my images is thinking more about my audience and what they will see when they look at my work.  It is clear here in this assignment that what I think is interesting isn’t always the case as my tutor pointed out in my first image for Inner City Living.  Focusing more on narrative will help me move forward.  Avoiding the obvious will help too.  However, I think having a clear message to communicate will provide the best foundation for future assignments. 

Note on colour management:

My tutor mentioned that my colours were slightly off in some of the images and that I should  think about calibrating my monitor.  I’ve been calibrated my monitor for over a year so I was a little confused by this.  I have since spoken to my tutor about this and resolved the issue.  

Assignment 4: A sense of place

I chose the borough of Hackney in east London for this assignment.

Inner City

Hackney Life

Quirky Architecture

It's still life

Crime and punishment

For art's sake

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.

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.

Exercise 21: Making figures anonymous

This exercise asked me to take a number of photographs that include a person or people in a place and make them deliberately unrecognisable.

I could do this in a number of ways:

• By having the people small in and in numbers
• With the person facing away
• In silhouette
• Partly obscured
• By using motion blur

In the notes it states that a 'successful image will be one that is primarily about the place, but in which one of more figures play a subsidiary role to show scale and give life' or in other words to shoe that the place is in use.  

With this in mind I chose to shoot in London and keep my options open as I spent a day shooting the streets.  

Facing away

This image focuses on the London City skyline.  It was taken along the Thames riverside.  We can see the old and new high rise buildings.  However there is a couple of people facing away from the camera and looking at the buildings.  

When I look at this image I first see the high buildings and only when they have been taken in does the eye wander down to the couple.  They provide scale for the buildings and also a human presence.  

Small and many

Taken in the Tate which seems to be my favourite place to shoot at the moment.  Here was see people in the  Turbine Hall.  The figures are small, the building huge in comparison.  We can't identify the people they are too small and far away from us as viewers.  Our attention would be to the building first and the lighting and the we see the people.  They give a sense of the use of the building.  

Partly obscured

Again taken at the Tate, this image looks at the outside of the building and in particular the cafe.  Our attention is drawn to the words first.  However behind the glass we can see a number of people which are partly obscured by the glass but also by the lighting inside.  On the left hand side we can see a woman's head clearly but her body is the hidden by the frosted glass.  These people give meaning the building.  This is a place to eat.  

Obscured/silhouette

In this image of the basement of the Lloyds Building we can see the outlines of two people sitting at their desk.  Because these are faint outlines we only see them after we have scanned the building.  Looking back at this shot I believe I could have opted for a more interesting composition.  However, it does show that the building is in use.  

Exercise 20: Busy traffic

For this exercise I had to look at busy places where there is a constant flow of people.  It was noted in my course notes that railway stations and airports are obvious examples but with today's security it is not usually possible to shoot in these places.

I looked at several locations for this shot, both inside and out.

The first image I took was at the Millennium Bridge near the Tate Modern in London.  Every time I visit this area the bridge is always busy.  There is a constant flow of traffic on the bridge.

Here we can see the people coming over the bridge towards the camera.   I chose to stand to one side of the bridge as the earlier shots I took in the middle gave too much focus on the people.  They also looked out of proportion with the background buildings.

For an interior shot I looked at Leadenhall in London.  This was taken at lunchtime on a Friday and we can see that it is very busy with people buying food and drink.  It was difficult to get this shot as the people were moving so quickly into the frame they were interfering with the initial composition.  However, i feel that this shot capture the busyness of the place.  

Exercise 19: A single figure small

This exercise looks at small figures in an image.  I had to look at finding a place that was pretty much free of people but with an occasional figure present.

This exercise was not easy to plan for and it was by chance I stumbled across this scene.  The man is not obvious at first, you have to look for him.  The lower part of his body almost blends in to the dark part of the building.  The viewer's eye is preoccupied with the tall buildings.  I feel that this adds interest to the image.  The scale of the buildings are much larger than the man which further adds intrigue. 

The man is positioned slightly off centre and to the bottom right of the frame which makes for a more dynamic composition. 

I find that this composition allows size to become an important factor in the photograph.  In relation to action we can see the man is looking at his phone and smoking a cigarette. 

Quiet places, busy places

Figure as accent

Having people appear small in the frame does not necessarily make them insignigicant.  It shows them in a different context.  A tiny person in a large space may seem to be more of a landscape than portrait picture.  However, it is a way of establishing a connection between people and their wider surroundings. 

These figure in a landscape shots work well pitching a small being in a large, dominant location therefore making size key.  It is important that the figure has sufficient contrast to be noticed.  Ways in which this can be achieved are by having a dark figure on a light background or vice versa.  You may also consider tonal differences. 

One thing we lose in this type of extreme composition is the identity of the person.  With the person so small we can't tell who they are or indeed what they are.  Action comes into the fore in these circumstances as this is something we can see.  For example we don't have to see the person's face etc to see they are running.