Photography 1: P & P, Proj 15: Public Space, Public Activity

Project 15: Public space, public activity


For this exercise I moved from an organised occasion to an organised space.  I visited my local park to photograph people enjoying the space.  There were people doing a variety of activities from skate boarding to cycling.  This public space is a vital amenity for the town.  It allows the town's residents to enjoy the outdoors in an organised space.

A selection of the photographs taken  are shown below:

2176.jpg; Skate boarders at the skate park.

2179.jpg; An individual skater, skating through the park.

2182.jpg; Cycling is safe and popular in the park.

The activities enjoyed by people in the park can be both focussed and unfocussed.  The uses that people put the park to are varied and people tend to make their own enjoyment albeit within an organised space.

Photography 1: P & P, Proj 14: An Organised Event

Project 14: An organised event

The objective of this exercise was to research and prepare a shoot in advance.  I sought an organised event at which there would be plenty of people and in which I could confidently expect to be able to photograph freely and with some variety.

I chose this march to celebrate St David's Day in Wales.  It is always a colourful event.  The dragons are made each year by local school children.  I was able to photograph different participants doing a variety of activities.  Fortunately the parade marched down the main street and then returned.  This gave ample opportunity for taking photographs.  I positioned myself outside the city hall, which is about half way along the route of the march.  This position enabled me to see all of the parade pass and return.  I stood at the kerbside so that there would be no spectators between me and the marchers.  From this position I was able to get close-ups of the participants as well as longer shots showing more of the parade.  There were many helpers to keep the children marching along.  This provided a variety of photographs of different ages.

Ten of the resulting images are shown below:

7565

7566

7567

7569

7572

7575

7576

7580

7582

7585

Photography 1: P & P, Proj 13: A Standard View

Project 13: A Standard View

For this exercise I concentrated on shooting with one focal length.  I set the focal length on my camera to approximately 50mm as this represents what is thought to be a "standard view".

All the images were taken while I was out and about in London.  I experimented with taking photographs both inside and outside.  A few of the images produced are shown below:

2019; Customer in a Cafe.

2020; Street Scene.

2021; Street Scene.

2023; Woman Walking in an Alley.

2025; Window Shopper.

2028; Customers at a Cafe in Somerset House.

Shooting with a 50mm focal length requires the photographer to move more to position the subject in the frame.  Careful framing is required to eliminate extraneous detail.  It is difficult to get in-close to the isolate the subject.  Often when shooting a street scene, traffic will intrude into the shot unless the photograph is taken from a very close distance.

Using a fixed focal length is not necessarily more difficult than using a zoom lens, but it requires the photographer to think more carefully about his/her position relative to the subject.  More creative framing is required to ensure that the resulting image retains some simplicity and has impact.