Research Summary - Street Photography and Urban Landscape
Before approaching the street photography brief I researched artists work so I could ground my theme and style. Previous to this unit I had already experimented with street photography and researched, allowing me to use this information to begin. Henri Cartier-Bresson was the first photographer whose work I reviewed, looking specifically at his street photography. After focussing on his images and photographs, as well as background information, I decided that I didn’t want to shoot images of a similar context but was eager to expose the images similarly to create an effective tonal range. I then looked at a collection of street photography shots, from artists work (Garry Winogrand and Robert Doisneau) and single images, and then decided on a theme. I chose to target Markets in London and aimed to capture shots of the public interacting and viewing with the workers and the stall itself.
I began the landscape brief likewise and researched others works before finding my theme and shooting. I ended up changing my idea’s several times before deciding on a definite theme. I decided I wanted to base my theme around viewpoints and vanishing points after studying the work produced by photographer David Plowden, and images like the typical cliché of a descending row of trees along a footpath. I wanted to create work similar with increased imagination and quality. Plowden’s work, although black and white, was similar to my initial idea of photographing landscapes in relation to vanishing points, inspiring and influencing my work. Ben Heine was another artist I researched whose work on vanishing points inspired me, as well of his use of multi-media.
After deciding on the theme I then confirmed the locations for the street photography shoots (Wembley market, Camden market, Camden stalls). I considered the composition of the people with respect to the stall and the framing of the image, and decided on shooting at a viewpoint where the stall was behind the person, allowing them to be in focus and not dismissed into the background. Another choice I made specifically for this brief was to shoot when it was sunny and light so that the exposures were effective and contained coherent contrast, providing me with further ability to print the images to a high quality. Both of these decisions were massively influenced from research.
I approached the landscape project for this module differently, in respect to the black and white project. My landscape project acquired the use of critical and carefully structured compositions. Regarding all shoots, I had to imagine and visualise how the images would appear together before shooting, to ensure that it would be suited to the theme and set. The shoot I performed in Wembley on night lights, and the shoot for my final theme on vanishing points, required stillness and optimum camera positioning to enable the images to be effective and of a high quality. Especially when photographing lights, as it’s essential they are not blurred and majorly out of focus. When shooting images for the mirroring idea, I had to ensure that I considered the framing of the shot so that when it was flipped it would flow with the adjacent shot effectively.
My initial intention behind the film street photography unit was to capture people in certain places. I re-evaluated my ideas as this was too vague and decided on capturing members of the public recognising the markets and stalls on the streets of London. I chose this theme as I wanted to approach the project in an interesting way so that my work wasn’t deemed as copied or clichéd. One strength I can identify in my work for this brief is my processing in the darkroom and quality of the images. The similarity/connection between my finals are strong, adding to my works effect. This was the second time I had used film and I was nervous to shoot, resulting in the number of images that I took being minimal and this being a weakness.
For the landscape brief I had several ideas and experimented with these before deciding on a finishing theme. Buildings were my main interest, and so the first shoot I performed focussed on buildings in the background. Although impressed with the shots, I did not favour this idea greatly and moved on to take images of night lights, viewpoints and vanishing points, tampering with the idea of new themes. The workflow was repetitive and timely, but finally I ended up with 6 images representing my final theme on vanishing points. I would say that my photography skills in terms of composition and digital manipulation were the strengths of this brief, with persistence and repetition being the weaknesses.
