Rubbish collected in Lock
This image, is of rubbish that has accumulated in one of the several locks the boat has to use in order to make its journey. Rubbish often becomes enclosed by the locks and is often pulled in due to the movement of water through one lock to the next section of canal.
Rubbish is a serious problem, which i have addressed in my research through primarily interviewing the workers on the boat, but also through my research of the CRT and funding.
The Canals simply are not cleaned often enough due to lack of funding, this causes serious issue for boatmen.
My image is there to represent the abundance of rubbish you find in canals and locks. I have chosen this close up shot and busy composition to help the show the mass amounts of rubbish you will find. The image is saying that wherever you look in the canal, you will find this problem.
I create a range of images to show the rubbish in the canals but found this more effective due to the reasons said above.
Here are a few examples of images I did not select. I found these image had a lot of unnecessary content which could cause the viewers attention t stray from the point, by using the image i chose, they do not have this option, it forces them to look.
For my third shoot I decided I needed some internal boat images. From my initial shoot - as a passenger - which I had taken on my iPhone, I had found lots of interesting imagery, often of content you wouldn't expect to find on a canal boat. I wanted to show the similarities between the boat and what you may find in similar industries; for example a gastro pub. As my project is to show how this business has adapted the canals for the purpose of their business i felt it was important.
The areas in which the workers have to make food and serve drinks is very limited for obvious reasons and I wanted my composition to represent the, to show the adaptability. The image does look quite cramped, mostly due to the nature of the small space.
Because of the genre of photography I am employing, I felt i had to reproduce the colours in this image as accurately as possible.
I have used Metz Flash but made sure to expose correctly as to not get too much reflection from the metal surfaces.
The extinguisher and exit sign are regulation and often put in place by law and is for health and safety reasons. This image is showing how the boat has been adapted to work as a business serving customers.
I wanted the colours to be vivid to emphasise the features. The fire signs are luminescent and the flash shows this but I have exposed correctly to not blow out an detailing, I think this is important for a documentary image - such as in Gossage’s work, he employs clarity and vividness in colour to help show a reality within his images.
Pulled from The propshaft
On my second shoot I spent the duration of the journey in the boathouse with the skipper whilst he guided the boat along the canal. At our first lock of the journey the engine lost power due to something becoming clogged in the propshaft. The skipper spent a fair few minutes removing this and this was the culprit.
Again this is representative of the lack of care to the canals due to lack of funding from the government, the crew have to struggle on most journeys because of incidents like this.
Centrally composed to draw your eye to the canal litter, the flash makes it look tar-like, which is another reason for me to chose this.
I wanted to make sure i and plenty of the boat in the shot too, just to show the rubbish in relation to the boat, to create a link between the two.
The flooring is also quite industrial and helps create my link between the canals having a serious impact on our previously powerful industrial nation. The rubbish laying on this flooring acts as a metaphor to our failing nation.
Pulling rubbish from the propshaft
This image was taken prior to the rubbish sing puller from the propshaft and I have chosen this to go alongside the above image, i intend it to give a visual link to show that it has been pulled out by a crew member. By keeping the engine in the shot will hopefully ad a layer of visual language so the viewer an make a link between the rubbish and the boat. The engine again adds in industrial-esque element to it.
The composition was effected by the small space in which we we’re cramped in, I feel the composition displays that.
The image of the registration of the boat acts to be purely informative, it gives a direct link to the north which is important due to the brief being focussed on the north.
Composed with the dated scruffy painting of the boat to show the wear and tear of working.
You can also make out the CRT logo which links with a lot of my referencing.
This image was taken through a window so i had to get really close to avoid my flash reflecting back and over exposing the image.
Dougie Wallace did a talk at LCA during my first year at LCA, he showed us some of the images from his series, Harrodsburg.
The particular image (above) I'm talking about was one where he photographed a woman through a window, he informed us that he had to get the lens of his camera right up to the window in order to avoid the flash reflecting. I remembered this technique and applied it whilst taking this image.
The file of paper work for the boat, I found this interesting as most people associate boating with freedom and “a source of idyllic tranquility” (Sir Neal Cossins, Chairma, CRT). But for Hugh and the crew, there is a certain level of bureaucracy that is needed, for example tax returns, bookings, services to the boat and regulation which all counters this idea of tranquility.
By have a shallow depth of field i put the binder/paperwork into focus to guide the viewers eye.
An image of the skipper accelerating, is fairly self explanatory and simple, but i felt it was needed. This shows just another aspect of the job. I found the colours in this interesting, the way the flash reflects off the hi-vis and the colour of the hi-vis itself juxtaposition against the darker colours.
A Hi-vis jacket like this would be often worn by builders and I'm mainly making a comment on the hard graft these men have to give. Again a metaphorical reference to the hard work of people during the industrial revolution. The reason I have chosen to crop the body to this small point is to avoid the viewer becoming distracted from any other content.
I feel this image is something typical in boating, when the boat is docked it has to be tied up. It is a typical documentary shot, applying the formal elements in the composition; the rope follows the rule of thirds.
This was taken at the end of my final trip and when taking this shot, I intended it for the final image in my layout for the guardian as a signifier of the end. This will hopefully bring all my images together in one cohesive series. By having a small part of the boat in stands to remind the viewer of what the series was on.
Another image of inside the boat, again showing another element of the business. I used a formal composition making sure the flash illuminated the till. The image is slightly cropped just so the till is in full view, but i made sure to keep the beer tap in and other bar elements to make a link between them and the till. Even though I wanted to avoid branding it think this helps affirm my use of the documentary genre. The composition also allowed me to keep the Tetley beer tap in, which is a very typical northern drink, creating a link to the brief title. its also a beer that was produced in yorkshire up until the brewery had to close due to loss of capital.
These kegs were stored on a disused boat that Hugh (tripboat owner) also owns. He uses the boat to store stock for the party boat, due to limited space, this is a must and shows adaptability.
I would like to pair this and the till in my layout for the weekend magazine, I think they would be a strong pairing a with content that links.
Using composition that keeps the kegs in the foreground to draw the viewers eye, but using a long depth of field so the viewer is draw to explore the image further. This will hopefully help the viewer create a link between the boat and the kegs.
As I have said in my research, often the locks become blocked due to rubbish. The crew the have to spend time clearing them in order to use the lock.
I captured a moment when they were clearing on e particular lock, one crew member has some rubbish in his hand which looks filthy, the other is trying to clear the lock with a large scaffold pole, unable to see what he is doing due to the murky water, he is blindly prodding away in a last ditch attempt to remove whatever is causing the blockage.
In my composition I wanted to show all these elements and by not photographing the water itself I’m leaving the viewer to ponder what is going o, hoping they will question what the crew are trying to remove; I'm hoping this will create an empathic link as the crew also are ponder and don't know what they're trying to remove.
The two crew members help frame the image nicely so that the void of lock is central, the intersecting wood reminds the viewer subtly what they're looking at.
Whilst waiting for the locks to fill, crew members had time for a short break. This image is of Steve - one of the crew - having a few minutes just sat on one of the lock arms. I liked the physical relation between him and the lock, but when editing i cropped it down to make the image less about him and more about the relation between the lock and the person interacting with it.
I used the Metz flash which has caused the white paint on the lock to over expose, this perhaps will be an image I shortlist in my final selection. Like Gossage I want the colours in my images to be reproduced how I saw them, this is important in my documentary piece.
An image of the boat in a lock as the water level is dropped to the lower canal section. This I made as a visual recording of the event to help solidify in the mind of the viewer what the series is about. There is a decisive moment in this image, as you can see in the background a crew member crosses the bridge, the hi-vis illuminated adds to remind the viewer that this series is not about the idyllic boating experience, but about the appropriation of a historical industrial waterway.
Table and chair, with flower
An image of the inside shows a table set up for another trip, I have purposefully taken this image with no human presence, however I feel the human presence in this image without it.
This works along side my other images that are internal, particularly the image of the fire exit sign and the extinguisher, aesthetically their colour palettes are the same and would work well together in my layout for the magazine.
This image intended as a cliché; the brew is something you would find on building sites, factories and most places of work. Tea is related to industrailness, its a cup of warmth, it takes you away from the grind for just that second and is typically linked with northern industry. I feel this cliche works well to inform the viewer.
Due to the negative space around the tea, i feel this would work brilliantly as my front cover, allowing space for the headline and other copy. the black background contrast to violently with the mug, you couldn't miss it.
I alos think this image works with the title ‘Its Grim up North’ this link will help inform the viewer.
This image from my first shoot was down to Hugh (owner informing me of the regulations put on him by the CRT. What you can see in the image is a white box which contains a raft and safety supplies for any emergencies. It cost Hugh £1000 each year to have it checked and make sure it is all still safe. From what i gathered when interviewing him, its an unnecessary cost on top of all his other costs.
My image was made to show the safety box and I have chosen initially a really strong, straight composition which clearly shows what the viewer is suppose to be looking at. i feel this image is informative and therefore fits into the documentary genre.
Later in the second shoot when I was on the boat I managed to get the raft from a few angles, even with clear text so you could actually make out what you were looking at, this helps solidify that factual documentary style!
As you can see from my other images.
I also like the portrait version, it has a perspective that seems almost explorative, like someone is there to check to make sure it is up to regulation standard.
