Project 3 - Buildings and space

Posted 30.6.2010

Just trying to get my head round the exercises in this new project. Thought I had a good understanding but looking at some other blogs need a rethink. I was thinking too complicated which I often find older people do, can't accept that something is that simple.



Posted 30.6.2010: Exercise 17 - The user's point of view

1. Outdoor cafe area:

For this exercise choose two or three buildings or spaces designed for a particular activity that is undertaken from a specific, distinction position. For each location, take one or more photographs that attempt to capture the user's point of view.
I'm using the space that I identified in the previous exercise, ie, an outdoor cafe but added an old farm truck instead of pursuing the telephone box theme.

Below I have added images taken in the cafe. I put my camera down on the table and on a lantern so it took ad hoc pictures of the people on the next tables.

The next pictures show how the space is used from a table top angle.

2.Red telephone box:
I thought I would carry on the theme of an old red telephone box, used in the previous exercise, as well. From the user's point of view these red boxes are easily recognised for what they do, ie, provide a telephone link when someone on the street requires to contact another person or organisation. 

Today, I was very disappointed at the condition of these boxes. Whilst they did have working phones available, they were dirty and smelly and in the most inconvenient places. I must admit I have walked passed the three boxes I finally found in Lyme Regis as they were tucked away in the most unaccessible places.

Here the function of the telephone box is obvious,

you go into it to contact a person or organisation using the telephone!

3. Woodmead Halls, Lyme Regis:

Woodmead Halls in Lyme Regis was originally built as a secondary just after the end of World War One. The secondary school, known as Lyme Grammar School, moved to another site in 1933. These buildings were used until 1983 when after extensive fund raising by the local community, the money was available to update and rebuilding was completed. The building consist of a large hall with stage, small hall, two large dressing rooms, ladies and gents toilets including disabled and an extensive kitchen. Parking is also accessible around the building. As this exercise is titled 'User's point of view' I took the last picture from an angle whilst I was sitting in the audience of a local club.

Posted 30.6.2010: Exercise 18 - How space changes with light

In this exercise I am asked to study the effects of light on a particular building or place and note how it differs at different times of the day.

I decided to use the red telephone box that I had featured in the last two exercises as it was placed in a very unaccessible place and only really caught the sun in the morning.

 






You can see quite a difference in the light as the sun moves across the sky. First thing in the morning the box is well illuminated and it would be easy to read the instructions to use. In the evening, when the sun is in the west, the box is in a dark corner and is very dark inside.

Project 4 People interacting with space

Posted 19.10.2010:  Exercise 19 - A single figure small

I was out looking for pictures around Lyme Regis to illustrate this exercise and, saw this backpack all alone on the shingle beach. I know it's not a figure but it looked good, and then along came a seagull and friend into the picture, even better.

 

Sans seagull

With seagull

I think the seagull adds a balance and interest that the first picture was lacking. I always think that an object placed on the left hand side looks better as it allows the eye to move around the picture and the seagull draws it back round again. Sans seagull your eye would move on out of the picture and on to the next one.

Single figure small

I took this picture of the fisherman further along the beach and liked the way his legs were almost a mirror image of the stand he was using to support his fishing rod. See what you think.

From Art of Photography - Natural Light assignment

I also remembered this picture that I took for the Art of Photography Natural Light assignment. This was at the college I taught IT at where there were long corridors with windows along one side. I think this picture is just right with the figure walking away along the side, not in the centre of the corridor. I tried several different placements for the figure facing and walking away and finally decided that where she was here was just right.



Posted 1.11.2010: Exercise 20 - Busy traffic

I had a problem with this exercise as I had just changed my camera from a Nikon D200 professional body to a Nikon D5000 consumer body and as such do not have the range of features with regard to speed and aperture that I had before. As it was I had to up the ISO from 100 to 800 to get any movement in the shots at all. When I tried to take some decent images on the seafront with the sun shining down on a small car park, there was almost complete burnout of the images.

In the end I took several pictures at our local Town Mill with the camera on a tripod. The shutter was as slow as I could get it with the smallest aperture (f22 at 1/8th second). I decided to import the main movements from each individual photo to one main image and combine.

Completed combined image

I had fun with this picture cutting, erasing and combining all the pictures. I thought that with the limitations of my equipment, I did quite a good job.

Posted 5.11.2010: Exercise 21 - Making figures anonymous

The purpose of this exercise is to discover ways of including a person or people in a photograph while deliberatly making them unrecognisable and, as a result, less prominent.

I took this picture recently when working on an earlier exercise and when I looked at it, thought that unless you knew the person, they remained perfectly anonymous in the shot as they were in silhouette. I think it works well and I was extremely lucky to have a friendly neighbourhood seagull flying by just as I took the shot.

It could be any person sitting there as he is in silhouette.

I know that I have used the image below in the previous exercise but there is nothing more guaranteed to make someone anonymous than to catch them moving in your picture. As I said before, I took several images of people in a small courtyard and combined them into one to show more movement that I had managed to achieve in each individual picture.

I like this, I deliberately chose people who were either caught in a blur or were colourful.

I'll continue with this exercise and see what else I can find as I think I can discover other ways of being anonymous.

Here's a panorama of my local church with 2 figures standing in the middle of the aisle. As they are such a small part of the whole, they are fairly inconspicuous to the viewer. The whole picture, when stitched together, was 24.5 inches by 3.6 inches which gives a very narrow view of the church inside. You would need a piece of specialist equipment such as a gigapan to get a much wider view.

 

Posted 20.12.2010: Exercise 22 - Adjusting the balance between person and space

 

In this exercise I have to vary the balance in any picture situation. I need to produce 2 images, using the same general viewpoint and composition varying the balance of attention between the person (or people) and the setting they are in. I have taken many views with people included and will search my archives to see what I can find.

These images show the same couple sitting on a groyne on Lyme Regis Town Beach. Both taken from the same point but with no zoom and zoom extended.

First image

Image one is showing the couple sitting at a distance with a large area of beach and harbour surrounding them. They are lost in the picture but do add a focal point to the picture, not the first thing you notice but at least the eye has something to settle on as it travels round the picture. The people are on one of the 1/3rds but almost halfway down the image which is not the best position.

Second Image

The second image shows the couple in a much better position whereby they are on the cross between upright and horizontal thirds. The whole image is compacted with your eye going straight to the couple, a strong focal point.

The water forms a strong lead to the harbour in the middle distance and the sky has enough detail to have an interest. Plain grey skies have no real pulling power and the image usually ends up with a diffused muddy grey look.



Posted 19.10.2010: Exercise 23 - Selective processing and prominence

This exercise asks me to take one image that I have already taken for an earlier exercise, an image in which the issue is the visual prominence of a figure in a setting. The ain of this exercise is to use the digital processing methods I have available on my computer to make two new versions of this image. In one make the figure less prominent and in the second do the opposite, by making it stand out more. The actual technique will depend on the processing software available, eg, Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, etc.

Original Image

I've been taking pictures for Assignment 4, an upmarket travel brochure of a place I know, and have produced this image. It's fine for the cottages but the lady walking up the hill is rather dark. I need to lighten her but not the surrounding area.

 

Using the Levels feature (screen shot)

Here you can see how I have used the quick mask to carefully select just her so I can use Levels to lighten her and not the background.

 



Completed picture

This last image shows how I have made the woman lighter but not adjusted her surrounding area. This shows her in more detail but doesn't lose the background details. I tried to be subtle and not overdo the lightening as she could look rather strange as she is in shadow. I find, when using Levels, you need to be careful to not overdo the adjustments.

Project 5 - The Assignment

Posted 20.12.2010

There are no previous exercises for this assignment, it's straight on to the assignment, which is a bit scary in itself. There has always been some sort of lead up to help you decide where to aim. This assignment is left to you to decide. WOW, what a responsibility.



Posted 20.12.2010:  Starting Assignment 5

Where do you start? What do you consider? I will have to check out the OCA forum for other photographers' blogs to see what subjects they have considered and give it some thought. I'll have to think hard as I really would like to get this module finished for the May assessment so I can't hang about. CliveW, my tutor, is excellent at giving feedback quickly, sometimes too quickly, as I've only just 'put it to bed' my latest assignment and the report is back within a week to 10 days at the most, even when he tells me he is ultra busy.

Still, here I go!

Posted 4.2.2011:  Ideas for Assignment 5

I've been conducting an extensive email conversation ranging far and wide with my tutor, CliveW, about the difficulty of finding a suitable subject for assignment 5. This is where you have to choose your own topic within the confines of the whole people and place theme. Whilst you will have seen from my earlier posts, I thought it would give me extra points to change the location of 'place' in the eyes of my tutor, not so. CliveW suggests that I stay with what I know, ie, Lyme Regis. My only problem with this is that I and what seems like the whole world has photographed the town to death. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find new and original pictures.

As part of one email I pointed out that my true love is portraiture, and how there is a dearth of opportunities, both formal and informal, in this whole area to continue this genre. I live in a very small cottage which we managed to squeeze into only by dint of shedding 40 years of accumlated detrius to local charity shops, eb** and the local tip. No room for a studio there. Not to be out done, and I admire CliveW for his wide-ranging ideas, we have come up with the suggestion of photographing local people in their own environment. This means, of course, having the bottle to go up and ask if I can take pictures of those subjects that I feel are interesting enough to include in my portfolio.

Once I sat down to think through who I could approach, the ideas started flowing as there are a goodly number of characters in the town. I include the local harbour master, town mayoress (with or without her consort husband) who works in the local Boots part time, local fishermen, the museum curator, gig rowers, shop owners/assistants, local artists, the list is endless. Now will come the problem of sorting through and finding the best. I'm quite excited now, better get on with it as the ideas have started flowing!

Posted 6.2.2011:  Fired with enthusiasm

Having appealed for help with regard to a subject for assignment 5, emails have been flying thick and fast between my tutor and me as to how to proceed. CliveW seems to have the bit between his teeth as to subject when I commented on my preferred genre. Next thing I know is that CliveW suggested I take portraits of local people in their own environments. Then he developed it further, see below an extract from his last email:

"I think your project is going to be an excellent summation of the course for you and when I woke up this morning, thinking about it, I was reminded of a book a friend of mine did. In it he asked the people to write their own manifestos and it occurred to me that you could ask your people to write something. Perhaps a paragraph about Lyme; how they came to be there or how they feel about living there. I think that’s something you could expand into an interesting book project, a picture per page with a small block of subject authored text underneath."

Talk about firing me with enthusiasm, I can't wait to get started now and have already fired off 2 emails to 'friends' to get started. I only hope I can live up to Clive's expectations!

 

 

Posted 8.2.2011: Trawling for new ideas

 

I was trawling through OCA student blogs this morning for inspiration and read a student's reading list which included photo mags. I've always liked looking through magazines for new ideas for pictures so followed the link to Photo Pro magazine. Whilst I can't afford to take out subscriptions or buy all the latest offerings, it's always interesting to look at what 'new' photographers are doing. It often seems that young photographers are out to shock and thrill so I was keen to see what Patrick Fraser, a 'new kid on the block' could offer. He's not so new as he a wide portfolio of images on his website. It was fascinating to see his different styles with different age groups and how he managed to extract the idiosyncrasies of individual personalities. As my next assignment (People & Place assignment 5, on assignment) will feature a variety of local characters in the town where I now live, I was very keen to see how he portrayed a wide age range of people showing their individual strengths.



Posted 8.2.2011:  Characters in Lyme

Here's a list of the people of Lyme that I have decided to ask if they would allow me to photograph them in their natural environment:

1. Michaela Ellis, Town Mayor
2. Moya Paul, Artist (completed)
3. Mary Godwin,Museum Curator (completed)
4. Valerie Handley, shop assistant (completed)
5. Grahame Forshaw, harbour master (started)
6. Name (?) Best fish and chip shop owner
7. Colin Dawes, Fossil hunter
8. Adrian Grey, Stone Balancer
9. John Marriage, Photographer
10. Name (?) Potter, Town Mill
11. Barbara Austin, local town councillor
12. Michael Wood, Student (started)

Good old iphone!

Where's the phone, better start ringing round?





Posted 28.2.2011: Made a start with my subjects

Well, I've made a start and got two sets of pictures under my belt; an artist friend - Moya, a friend who let me practice on her,

 

At work in her studio

But I prefer this one of her full face. My tutor, CliveW, told me when I did the first assignment People Aware, that it was important to show people in their own environment as it gave you an impression of them and their lives. But I prefer this one of Moya,

 

And the curator of the local museum, Mary, came in early last Sunday so that I could take her picture. Again, I like this one of her,

Giving me 'the look'

but, bearing in mind my tutor's comments from a previous assignment, will probably use this one in my final portfolio:

1.4.2011: Changed my mind about the Curator picture and have decided to use the one below:

Is it straight?

I'll need to manipulate it as it's heavily influenced by the fluorescenting in the stairwell. Never mind, easily corrected using Photoshop.

Two down, eight to go as I assume you aim for about 8 - 10 subjects and choose the best!

 

Posted 2.3.2011:  Valerie from Boots



Starting the morning

Took pictures of one of Lyme's real characters yesterday. Valerie, shop assistant in Boots the Chemist, couldn't have been more helpful and wanted to play act several scenarios for me. Valerie is well known in the town for her very helpful nature and how she takes the trouble to ask seaching questions when needing help when choosing products available to buy over the counter.

After creating havoc in the window by dislodging the poster in the main window, Valerie and Matt, the manager, had to organise it back into position before any customers came into the shop.

What's happened here then?

 

 

Posted 11.3.2011:  Moving on

 

Well, I've completed three more character photo shoots over the past week; the photographic historian John, Colin the fossil hunter and my IT student MIchael. I'd like to try for a few more pictures with Michael as he plays the drums, but it was very difficult to get the address of the garage where his drums are stored, so I gave up on it last week. Hope to get more info when I see him again next week. All my subjects couldn't be more helpful and posed as requested after they overcame their slight self-consciousness at being photographed.

John had his own studio with an attic room, not small and cramped as you might imagine an attic room, but a large, well lit room 3 floors up. He has the most amazing collection of everything to do with photographic history and over 300 cameras. Here's a couple of possible shots to include in my portfolio. The close up image, taken with a Nikon D700 and an 18mm fish eye lens turned out okay, but I don't think it will be the defining image of John.

Colin, the fossil hunter, is a well know character around Lyme and has such a collection of memorabelia from his seaching in and around Lyme that he has devoted a whole floor in his flat to store it all. His collection ranges from fossils (of course) through bullets, belt and shoe buckles, bullets, coins, maps, old books and whatever else you can think of. He knows precisely where everything is and can go straight to the cupboard/cabinet and find what he is looking for. He was a great subject to photograph:

My IT student, Michael, is a 20-year old lad who tries very hard. He left school with no qualifications not helped by the fact that he is dyslexic, and wants desperately to get a permanent job. With no qualifications and being dyslexic as well the outcome is poor but he keeps trying. He spends his spare time in the local internet centre working on his literacy, numeracy and IT skills and I thought he deserved a mention here. His main interests are cars and music.

Posted 23.3.2011: Nearly finished all the pictures

I've been working hard to get the photography done for this assignment. I've photographed the mayor putting on her official robes, the harbour master looking out of his window and John, a retired shepherd, in his shed drinking his home made wine.

Here's a couple of the shots of the mayor in her robes:

John, the winemaker, enjoying a tipple:

And the Harbour Master, surveying his domain:

Grahame is a bit small in this picture because the original was 21 inches wide. I used the panorma view to take three images and the camera then stitched it all together making each image a bit quirky which I really liked.

I have given up on several subjects as either I have been unable to contact them or, as in a small town like Lyme Regis with people wearing so many different hats, it's been too difficult to visualise them in one particular role. The other suggestions I have abandoned were the best fish and chip shop owner, Adrian Grey the beach stone balancer and the Potter at the Town Mill.

So far I have photographed - in no particular order - an artist, a photographer, a fossil collector, the mayor, the harbour master, a well-known shop assistant, the curator of the local museum, my dyslexic IT student and a local home made wine maker. Now comes the hard bit - writing up about all of them and, what is even harder, getting them to write a few words about themselves.

My timetable to complete this module is to get the photography done by the end of March, complete the write ups and support stuff and post it to my tutor by Easter (Good Friday is April 22nd) then send in the whole People & Place module for the window of May 15th - June 15th for the July assessment at Bucks University.

Wow, can it be done? Yes, it can, fingers crossed and a following wind!



Posted 24.3.2011:  Final list of characters

Here's a list of the people of Lyme that I have asked and the results:

1. Artist (completed)
2. Museum curator (completed)
3. Fossil hunter (completed)
4. Harbour master (completed)
5. Town Mayor (completed)
6. Photographer (completed)
7. Boots shop assistant (completed)
8. Local winemaker (completed)

-- ooOoo --

1. Student (abandoned)
2. Local town councillor (abandoned as unwell)
3. Name (?) Potter, Town Mill (abandoned)
4. Name (?) Best fish and chip shop owner (abandoned as never available in his shop)
5. Adrian Grey, stone balancer (abandoned as hasn't been seen on the beach yet this year)

A good day's work, I think. I have eight strong portraits and think my tutor, will be pleased with them. Now just to write up about them and how I took the pictures and any processing I did using Photoshop.

Posted 24.3.2011:  Completed assignment

Well, I'm more than pleased with myself as I managed to complete assignment 5 and posted it off to my tutor just before my family came to visit for Easter. It was a question of pushing myself hard to write up all about the character photos I had taken, assemble them into a coherent order, wrap up securely and post.

Initial feedback from Clive was very pleasing. His emailed said:

'I won't be writing the report till after Easter but I think it's a triumphant conclusion to the course. You've fulfilled your potential and produced the quality of work that you probably envisioned achieving when you signed up for P&P. Well done!'

Brilliant, now to get all five assignments organised for the May submission to Bucks Uni and the July assessment.

 

Assignment 5 - The Assignment

Updated Curator Image

I finally managed to speak to and meet with Mary Godwin, museum curator at Lyme Regis museum. Mary had been away and only got my email requesting a resit on her return. When I explained that I wanted to retake the picture of her on the stairs with an ammonite she was quite happy to co-operate, it was just a question of co-ordinating our diaries and today was the day.

What I hadn't realised was that, although I had included part of a portrait in my original picture, there were in fact four portraits on the stairs behind Mary. I went back to the museum whilst Mary was away and took some pictures without her thinking that I could 'Photoshop' her in, but this proved too difficult to get a good result.

In the meantime the date for submission of the full module came round and I had to send it all off minus a retake of Mary otherwise I would miss the deadline.

Here is my final missing picture, hope it was worth it!

Here's the details of the shot:- f11 @ 1/125 with a focal length of 24mm, I used the oncamera flash reduced by one stop so that it didn't create a harsh light and heavy shadows behind.

-- oOo --

I received my tutor's feedback on my assignment and here are the comments, in total.

Overall Comments

I am so pleased with this assignment. In itself it represents a splendid achievement of a personal goal; in tackling something that you had as an ambition but didn’t think you could realise on the course, but it also demonstrates the excellent progress that you have made since the first assignment.

Feedback on assignment

Well you’ve made my job difficult here; there’s not a lot to criticise.

I can easily follow your thought processes, methods and decisions; decisions which overall demonstrate informed analysis, both technically, and aesthetically, and with which I agree. The prep for the assignment and your presentation of your work flow is excellent.

Also the prints themselves are good, and well presented; with the generous borders, weighted to the bottom.

Artist

You absolutely chose the right image here. The composition works well; on the right its all inclined planes, in the easel and the art work.

The concentrated pose conveys something of the character and there’s even a little movement on the tip of the palette knife while the rest of her has a cool, crisp, clarity. Her head is perfectly positioned relative to the background, a couple of inches either way and she would have had something growing out of her head. The left hand side conveys the clutter of tools and materials that an artist needs and the lamps are almost like two pets watching her work.

A strong image to start and one I would have been happy to come away with if it had been my shoot.

Museum Curator

My final print

When I saw it posted on the OCA website I thought this was one I’d be able to pick you up on from a technical point of view. I had already made some adjustments to the file posted on the website, this was my edit...

Tutor's suggested manipulation

But I see in the print you’ve tackled the things that I’ve adjusted.

I think you’ve made an interesting composition but I would have pulled back slightly so that the head in the portrait didn’t crop down the edge of the frame.

He adds an extra dynamic to the composition and the meaning, looking over her shoulder like that, but having the edge crop through him irritatingly draws the eye too much. Otherwise it’s well handled in a technically difficult location.

Fossil Hunter
Although the one you chose wasn’t your initial preference in some ways I think it portrays character more effectively; the tilting forward and to the side pose with the laughing smile. The overall technical quality is very good; well balanced light contrast and nice and sharp.

Colin, the fossil hunter

I think you’ve learned a lot technically during this exercise. Doing a reccy really helps with visualisation and lighting; it makes you more relaxed on the shoot and so the subject is more relaxed and giving. You’ve also learned about controlling fill-in with the on-camera flash; about the only thing it’s good for once you’ve learned to use it judiciously.

The narrow bright strip down the left is slightly unfortunate, but in this case it doesn’t distract too much, it feels in keeping with the lighting but it might be interesting to try darkening it down quite a bit more to the brightness around the little wooden mannequin.

Harbour Master

This is an interesting experimental response to a problem; which has been well executed.

As part of a series it probably sticks out like a bit of a sore thumb, as it would having one or two in B&W for no particular reason, but in the context of the assignment I think it does no harm and demonstrates the flexibility of your response to problems.

However, I would say that since you’ve gone for the ‘joiner’ effect, rather than seamless panorama, I would prefer to see that on all the edges, not just at the top.

Town Mayor

An excellent result; given the time and technical pressures I think this has to be the shot of the assignment. Are you sure you’re not going to be the next Jane Bown? If I was paying you to make this photograph I would think I’d got my money’s worth.

The Mayor

You thought about all the factors, controlled them and executed perfectly with impeccable quality for a daylight session.

Photographic Historian

I think this image picks up on something quite fundamental to photographers and that’s their relationship to their cameras. There aren’t many things in life that you press to your face, with the exception of perhaps loved ones. It’s a close, and closed, relationship you have with your camera when you look through the viewfinder. This image makes a nod to that, it’s quite intimate.

My submission

For me it’s cropped just a touch too tight at the bottom and although I agree with your Photoshop adjustments in general I would have also used the mid tone contrast control, under ‘Show more options in the Shadows/Highlights control, to lighten and increase the contrast a touch in the lower part of the face. Something like this...

Tutor's suggestion

Notice how there is less emphasis on the knuckles now.

Shop Assistant

My submission

I thought your shelf stacking idea was actually a good one, avoiding it looking trite is a question of how you visualise it and there was interest in the way you composed the one that you worked on, but it does have its draw backs, as you say.

This is the best I could do with it in the time...

Tutor's suggestion

...so I think you made the right choice in the end.

It’s not the obvious thing to go for but I think it is the one that conveys most of her character, I can imagine her speaking to me and the sort of things that she might say. Having her at the door way gets over the mixed colour temperature light problem and the final result has a very good quality.

 

Winemaker

My cropped image

What a character, he reminds me a bit of Jack Hargreaves from early evening TV of the 60s and 70s. You coped very well with the technical challenges.  I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more on the left, it’s cropped a bit too tight to the headshot of the man. I don’t think it would do any harm to see the whole of your original composition. It adds more quirky interest.

Tutor's manipulated image

He is portrayed as an impish man with his naughty nudes and love of drink.

Conclusion

This assignment is a triumphal summation of everything that you’ve learned and developed on the course; overcoming the shyness that everybody has at first about asking people to collaborate and then the planning, problem solving, execution, editing and presenting, putting the knowledge you’ve gained into practice.

I think you can feel very satisfied with the outcome. You’ve created a very solid base to progress your photography practice from in the direction you desire.

Well done!