Photography 1: People and Place Assignment 5 (Rev)

Assignment 5: People and place, on assignment (Revised)

Original version can be found at 15/01/2013

As a result of comments from received from my tutor I have revised the blog entry for assignment 5.  The revised version is given below:

For this assignment I was required to create an imaginary brief from a notional client and then to carry out the brief.  I chose to create a brief for a quality magazine such as the National Geographic.  The brief was to create a number of photographs to support an informational story of small town Britain.  The objective was to capture the character of small town Britain as a centre of commerce, services, culture and the values of a typical town.

I chose a city near to my home, Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire.  My reason for choosing the garden city of Welwyn was that it is a good example of a planned environment.  The city was founded in the 1920s by Sir Ebenezer Howard and was to combine the benefits of the city and the countryside and to avoid the disadvantages of both.

The brief that I created is given below:

Purpose:           To capture the character of small town/city Britain.  “High Street” as centre of commerce, services, culture and values of a typical town.

Subject:             Central business district of town or small city – include shops, bank, post office, church.

Variations:

a. street level/pedestrian crossing                           d. with school, library

b. with small office building                                      e. with town hall

c. pedestrians/traffic light                                         f. with cars/traffic jam

Frame Shots:    Horizontal; Vertical; Wide; Medium; Close-up; Exteriors

Colour/B+W:     Colour

Lighting:            Available light

Include:             Trees, flowers, colourful awnings, church spire, shops: barber, hairdresser, pet shop, shoe repair, café, restaurant, large shop.

Ethnic:               Varied

Locale:              City/town

No. Images:       Create 12 good images from which I will recommend 8.

Avoid:                National brand-name shops, petrol stations, fast food logos, wires, dated posters.

Note:                  Ideal locations: bird’s-eye angle good (try for first or second story view), crossroads with shops, park, possible view of residential streets behind.  Show activity.  Need bustling, cheerful look.  Clear bright day, crisp colour.  Can remove signs with brand names in post processing.

Submit both low-resolution and high-resolution images.  Low‑resolution to allow for quick viewing on screen and emailing with the magazine’s offices.

Assessment

In order to complete this assignment in accordance with the brief I needed a bright sunny day.  I waited until the forecast was favourable.  I was fortunate in that the forecast bright sunny day was a weekday and very cold.  This enabled me to photograph the shops and buildings without too many shoppers present.

I have found that there can be two images of a town or city, one that is filled with people shopping or meeting and the other that is predominately made up of the buildings of the city that are there to serve the people.  Graham Clarke in his book “The Photograph” writes, “the sheer density of the human presence threatens to overwhelm the camera as it seeks to image street-level experience”.  Alfred Stieglitz produced images of New York with no evidence of a human figure.  I wanted to concentrate on showing the buildings and shops of the city rather than the people living in it because I feel that it is a city's buildings that capture its character.  However I wanted to occasionally include some people in the images to add scale and life to the photographs.  I was successful in finding people who were busy going about their business and who did not take much notice of me.   It is often difficult to take photographs in public without drawing attention.  People are often very wary of being photographed in the street.  This is possibly a manifestation of a more generalised insecurity in society.

A difficulty that I was presented with when carrying out the assignment was the lack of traffic in the city.  Although I was taking the photographs on a busy weekday, the city’s road system works so well that traffic jams are a rarity during the week.

Images

The twelve images produced for this assignment are shown below.  I have placed the eight images that I would recommend to the client at the beginning.

(3214) A street café with young and old people.

Italian style coffee bars are now common in the once traditional streets of the city.  The clients of the coffee bars are young city workers in the main, whilst the older generation avoid this style of establishment.

(3217) A Pet shop.

Small shops like this owner operated pet shop can still be found next to larger multi outlet stores.

 

(3219) A pedestrian crossing.

This pedestrian crossing is situated in the centre of the city.  It shows the abundance of green space available within the central commercial district.

(3236) A shoe repair shop.

The original streetscapes have changed little since their original design.  New chain stores have been fitted into the existing buildings.

(3246) Town Hall.

The imposing structure of the town hall is unique to the city.  Its architecture gives a feeling of the roots of the city.  Roots that are conservative, establishment and old school.

 

(3253a) View from a first floor restaurant.  The elevated level adds an extra dimension to the image.

(3255) Small office building.

(3259a) Traffic in the city centre.

(3234) Hairdressers shop.

(3248) A large shop.

 

(3257a) City library.

(3260) Church in the city centre.

Few traditional churches are to be found in the city centre due to the founding father's Quaker beliefs.  The architecture of the churches that are in the city was designed to blend in with the modern feel of the other buildings of the city.

Photography 1: People and Place Assignment 5

Assignment 5: People and place, on assignment

For this assignment I was required to create an imaginary brief from a notional client and then to carry out the brief.  I chose to create a brief for a quality magazine such as the National Geographic.  The brief was to create a number of photographs to support an informational story of small town Britain.  The objective was to capture the character of small town Britain as a centre of commerce, services, culture and the values of a typical town.

I chose a city near to my home, Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire.  My reason for choosing the garden city of Welwyn was that it is a good example of a planned environment.  The city was founded in the 1920s by Sir Ebenezer Howard and was to combine the benefits of the city and the countryside and to avoid the disadvantages of both.

The brief that I created is given below:

Purpose:           To capture the character of small town/city Britain.  “High Street” as centre of commerce, services, culture and values of a typical town.

Subject:             Central business district of town or small city – include shops, bank, post office, church.

Variations:

a. street level/pedestrian crossing                           d. with school, library

b. with small office building                                      e. with town hall

c. pedestrians/traffic light                                         f. with cars/traffic jam

Frame Shots:    Horizontal; Vertical; Wide; Medium; Close-up; Exteriors

Colour/B+W:     Colour

Lighting:            Available light

Include:             Trees, flowers, colourful awnings, church spire, shops: barber, hairdresser, pet shop, shoe repair, café, restaurant, large shop.

Ethnic:               Varied

Locale:              City/town

No. Images:       Create 12 good images from which I will recommend 8.

Avoid:                National brand-name shops, petrol stations, fast food logos, wires, dated posters.

Note:                  Ideal locations: bird’s-eye angle good (try for first or second story view), crossroads with shops, park, possible view of residential streets behind.  Show activity.  Need bustling, cheerful look.  Clear bright day, crisp colour.  Can remove signs with brand names in post processing.

Submit both low-resolution and high-resolution images.  Low‑resolution to allow for quick viewing on screen and emailing with the magazine’s offices.

Assessment

In order to complete this assignment in accordance with the brief I needed a bright sunny day.  I waited until the forecast was favourable.  I was fortunate in that the forecast bright sunny day was a weekday and very cold.  This enabled me to photograph the shops and buildings without too many shoppers present.

I have found that there can be two images of a town or city, one that is filled with people shopping or meeting and the other that is predominately made up of the buildings of the city that are there to serve the people.  Graham Clarke in his book “The Photograph” writes, “the sheer density of the human presence threatens to overwhelm the camera as it seeks to image street-level experience”.  Alfred Stieglitz produced images of New York with no evidence of a human figure.  I wanted to concentrate on showing the buildings and shops of the city rather than the people living in it because I feel that it is a city's buildings that capture its character.  However I wanted to occasionally include some people in the images to add scale and life to the photographs.  I was successful in finding people who were busy going about their business and who did not take much notice of me.   It is often difficult to take photographs in public without drawing attention.  People are often very wary of being photographed in the street.  This is possibly a manifestation of a more generalised insecurity in society.

A difficulty that I was presented with when carrying out the assignment was the lack of traffic in the city.  Although I was taking the photographs on a busy weekday, the city’s road system works so well that traffic jams are a rarity during the week.

Images

The twelve images produced for this assignment are shown below.  I have placed the eight images that I would recommend to the client at the beginning.

(3214) A street café with young and old people.

(3217) A Pet shop.

 

(3219) A pedestrian crossing.

(3236) A shoe repair shop.

(3246) Town Hall.

 

(3253) View from a first floor restaurant.  The elevated level adds an extra dimension to the image.

(3255) Small office building.

 

(3259) Traffic in the city centre.

(3234) Hairdressers shop.

(3248) A large shop.

 

(3257) City library.

(3260) Church in the city centre.

Photography 1: People and Place Assignment 4 (Rev)

Assignment 4: A Sense of Place (Revised)

Original version can be found at 15/01/2013

As a result of comments from received from my tutor I have revised the blog entry for assignment 4.  The revised version is given below:

For this assignment I imagined that I was on an assignment for an intelligent, thoughtful travel publication that demanded a considered, in-depth treatment.

I chose a city near to my home, St Albans in Hertfordshire.  My reason for choosing the city of St Albans was my familiarity with it, having worked there for many years.  I felt that as I know the city well, I would have a good appreciation of what its spaces and buildings mean for the people who live in and among them.  In the photographs that I took during the assignment I aimed to create a selection of a dozen images that would show the character of the place.  From these twelve images I chose to recommend 6 images that would be suitable to fill six pages.

In addition, I wanted to show the parts of the city that mean the most to me.  Although it is hard to give the viewer an in-depth appreciation of a large city in six images, I tried to include a sense of how I enjoyed having the opportunity to show off my hometown.

I have concentrated on showing the architecture of the city rather than the people living in it because I feel that it is a city's buildings that capture its character.  They also provide a narrative of the historical development of the place.

St Albans is a fairly large city, situated on a hilltop approximately 30 miles from the centre of London.  Although home to many new residents, some from overseas who travel to work in London, St Albans has a long history dating back to the days of the Roman occupation of Britain and possibly before.  Its large street market, held on Wednesdays and Saturdays was given its royal charter in medieval times and is a direct link to the city’s history.  The types of stalls in the market reflect the demands of the current population.  Artisan produce, such as speciality bread and locally produced fine cheese as well as international products are now more popular than the traditional food stalls that would have made up the market in previous times.

The city centre’s layout has been dictated by the original positions of the wooden medieval warehouses.  These warehouses had small gaps or alleyways between them linking the main thoroughfares.  These “gaps” have been retained as the buildings were built and rebuilt over the original wooden structures.  I have tried to show this feature of the city photographically.

Although St Albans is in every respect a modern city, it still has many reminders of its long history.  The cathedral was originally the parish church for an important Abbey that once dominated the city.  The roman road, Watling Street runs through the city on its journey north from London.  Thus it was an important staging post and administrative centre.  The city, although largely urban, has many trees and green spaces that give a “country feel” to some parts.

Each period in history has left its mark on St Albans and I have attempted to show this in my choice of photographs.

The choice of six photographs was very difficult for such a varied and interesting city like St Albans.  I feel that I have succeeded in giving a flavour of the place through the chosen images.  I have chosen the 6 images that work best together as a set and also provide variety in both subject matter and scale.

Had I approached the assignment by simply taking photographs with no end-result in mind I would have concentrated on the central area of the city.  However I have tried to give a flavour of the history that is held within the side streets and surrounding areas of the city.

(Image 1 - 3067) A Tudor coaching inn now used as a restaurant with Thai cuisine rather than traditional English fare.

I have substituted image 3067 for image 3058 as the building shown has a more dynamic 3-dimensional aspect.  It also demonstrates how the usage of some of the old buildings in the city has changed along with the tastes of the inhabitants.  The image shows an old coaching inn now operating as a restaurant serving Thai food instead of standard English fare.

(Image 2 - 3060) Many grand houses, built by merchants line the roads into the city.

(Image 3 - 3113) Artisan bread is sold in the market.

I have changed my choice of image from 3072 to 3113.  This is because image 3113 shows the type of produce being sold in the market now for the current inhabitants of the city.  The image also includes part of the old cobbled street of the market place.

(Image 4 - 3127) The river Ver, one of the reasons why the Roman occupiers chose this location for their city, Verulamium.  The brick tower is part of the old water mill.  The building's use has changed to a restaurant serving waffles.

The image of the cathedral, (3086) has been replaced by image 3127 of the river Ver and an old water mill.  I feel that this image, which includes the waterway on which the city was founded in Roman times and the water mill shows the past industrial history of St Albans.  The building's use has changed from a mill grinding corn from local fields to a restaurant serving waffles.  Once again this change of use demonstrates the changing demands of the local population.

(Image 5 - 3093) This low-level window lintel has been ground out by generations of school children using coins as they waited for the bus near the old county school.

I have altered the saturation and contrast of this image slightly to further bring out the grinding by the school children on the bricks of the lintel.

(Image 6 - 3120) The layout of the city centre has been dictated by the original positions of the wooden medieval warehouses.  These warehouses had small gaps or alleyways between them linking the main thoroughfares.  These "gaps" have been retained as the buildings were built and rebuilt over the original wooden structures.

Additional images produced are shown below:

(3062) Ryder Seed Hall, originally used for sorting seeds, now a restaurant serving French cuisine.

(3066) Clock tower in the city centre.

(3086) St Albans Cathedral.  Once the parish church for the Abbey that dominated the city before the reformation.

I have edited this image to exclude the wall on the left side of the frame as it was distracting.  I have also straightened the verticals and lightened the shadows slightly.  These edits have improved the balance of the image and corrected the unintended converging verticals.

(3131) Jogger in the St Michaels area of the city.

(3058) A Tudor inn situated on a main route into the city centre.

In this image I have corrected the unintended sloping horizontals and verticals of the building to make it closer to the building that I observed.

(3072) The twice weekly market, although consisting of stalls selling the produce demanded by a modern, more sophisticated population dates back to medieval times and provides a direct link to the city's history.

Photography 1: People and Place, Assignment 4

Assignment 4: A Sense of Place

For this assignment I imagined that I was on an assignment for an intelligent, thoughtful travel publication that demanded a considered, in-depth treatment.

I chose a city near to my home, St Albans in Hertfordshire.  My reason for choosing the city of St Albans was my familiarity with it, having worked there for many years.  I felt that as I know the city well, I would have a good appreciation of what its spaces and buildings mean for the people who live in and among them.  In the photographs that I took during the assignment I aimed to create a selection of a dozen images that would show the character of the place and the people who live there.  From these twelve images I chose 6 final images that would be suitable to fill six pages.

In addition, I wanted to show the parts of the city that mean the most to me.  Although it is hard to give the viewer an in-depth appreciation of a large city in six images, I tried to include a sense of how I enjoyed having the opportunity to show off my hometown.

St Albans is a fairly large city, situated on a hilltop approximately 30 miles from the centre of London.  Although home to many new residents, some from overseas who travel to work in London, St Albans has a long history dating back to the days of the Roman occupation of Britain and possibly before.  Its large street market, held on Wednesdays and Saturdays was given its royal charter in medieval times and is a direct link to the city’s history.  The types of stalls in the market reflect the demands of the current population.  Artisan produce, such as speciality bread and locally produced fine cheese as well as international products are now more popular than the traditional food stalls that would have made up the market in previous times.

The city centre’s layout has been dictated by the original positions of the wooden medieval warehouses.  These warehouses had small gaps or alleyways between them linking the main thoroughfares.  These “gaps” have been retained as the buildings were built and rebuilt over the original wooden structures.  I have tried to show this feature of the city photographically.

Although St Albans is in every respect a modern city, it still has many reminders of its long history.  The cathedral was originally the parish church for an important Abbey that once dominated the city.  The roman road, Watling Street runs through the city on its journey north from London.  Thus it was an important staging post and administrative centre.  The city, although largely urban, has many trees and green spaces that give a “country feel” to some parts.

Each period in history has left its mark on St Albans and I have attempted to show this in my choice of photographs.

The choice of six photographs was very difficult for such a varied and interesting city like St Albans.  I feel that I have succeeded in giving a flavour of the place through the chosen images.  I have chosen the 6 images that work best together as a set and also provide variety in both subject matter and scale.

It was difficult to get clear uninterrupted photographs of the cathedral without cars, vans and buildings in the way.  It would have been easier on a quieter day but the life of the cathedral is very busy with many functions being held there during the week.

Had I approached the assignment by simply taking photographs with no end-result in mind I would have concentrated on the central area of the city.  However I have tried to give a flavour of the history that is held within the side streets and surrounding areas of the city.

(Image 1 - 3058) A Tudor Inn situated on a main route into the city centre.

(Image 2 - 3060) Many grand houses, built by merchants line the roads into the city.

(Image 3 - 3072) The twice weekly market, although consisting of stalls selling the produce demanded by a modern, more sophisticated population dates back to medieval times and provides a direct link to the city's history.

(Image 4 - 3086) St Albans Cathedral.  Once the parish church for the Abbey that dominated the city before the reformation.  The slightly obscured couple on the bench in the foreground are of Chinese origin and show the more diverse make up of the city's current population.

(Image 5 - 3093) This low level window lintel has been ground out by generations of school children using coins as they waited for the bus near the old county school.

(Image 6 - 3120) The layout of the city centre has been dictated by the original positions of the wooden medieval warehouses.  These warehouses had small gaps or alleyways between them linking the main thoroughfares.  These "gaps" have been retained as the buildings were built and rebuilt over the original wooden structures.

Not Selected Images

Other images produced but not chosen for the final 6 images are shown below:

(3062) Ryder Seed Hall, originally used for sorting seeds, now a restaurant.

(3066) Clock Tower in the city centre.

(3067) Tudor coaching inn, now used as a Thai restaurant.

(3113) Artisan bread stall in the twice weekly market.

(3127) The St Michaels area of the city.  Waffle restaurant in an old water mill.

(3131) Jogger in the St Michaels area of the city.

A revised version can be found at 15/01/2013

Personal Project: Rider on the beach

Rider on the beach

I saw this person riding their horse through the surf at Whitesands Bay in Pembrokeshire at the end of December.  I wanted to create an image that portrayed the feeling of freedom that riding a horse through the surf must give to the rider.  My first attempt is shown below:

213202A

I will attempt to create other images from the shots taken that day.

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012

I visited the National Portrait Gallery recently to see the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait prize.  The standard was excellent once again with some outstanding entries.

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012 offers a unique opportunity to see sixty portraits by some of the most exciting contemporary photographers from around the world.

The images are drawn from editorial, advertising and fine art.  They explore a range of themes, styles and approaches to the contemporary photographic portrait, from formal commissioned portraits of famous faces to more spontaneous and intimate moments capturing friends and family.

The competition is open to amateurs, students and established professionals.

A selection of the photographs are shown below:

"Mark Rylance" by Spencer Murphy

This portrait is of Mark Rylance, an actor.  Actors make good subjects for portraiture as there is no awkwardness or discomfort in front of the camera.  The purple background in this portrait contrasts well with the subject's green eyes.

"Margarita Teichroeb" by Jordi Ruiz Cirera

The subject of this portrait, Margarita is a Mennonite from a colony in Bolivia.  Photography is forbidden for Mennonites, which explains her awkward expression.  The light from the window provides excellent illumination of the subject.

"Lynne, Brighton" by Jennifer Pattison

The subject of this portrait is a friend of the photographer.  The green background contrasts well with the reddish colouring of the subject.  This is an excellent portrait that captures the subject in a straightforward pose, bare and undaunted, looking straight down the lens and beyond.  The fact that the subject is not wearing any clothes is almost incidental.  The thing that really stands out is the chipped mug.  It catches your eye like the punctum in a photograph described by Roland Barthes.

"The Nine Lives of Ai Weiwei" by Matthew Niederhauser

This portrait is in a way a contextual portrait as the artist is posing outside his studio with one of the many cats that live there.  The blue of Weiwei's shirt blends well with the doors of his studio, with the ginger cat's fur providing a good contrast from the opposite side of the colour wheel.  The portrait was taken while Ai Weiwei was held under virtual house arrest and forbidden to leave China.  The cat has a symbolic presence due to its reputed nine lives echoing Ai Weiwei's many scrapes with the state in China.