Narrative and Mixed Lighting

Joseph Thompson

[nmlbossjt]

Conclusion

I feel that my boss project had a positive outcome. I am very pleased with the two final images as well as the way they fit into the layout. I found my subject of female farming very interesting and would like to carry on photographing female farmers in the future. I felt that some of the preparation could of gone better. For example Alice, my female farmer, didn't email back for a while so it left me trying to find more female farmers for my project; which I didn't want to do. The actual photoshoot on the day was very good, luckily I had great weather as well. Both the female farmers worked well in front of the camera once they felt comfortable. Overall I am glad the way this project has gone, if I could go back then I would contact Alice earlier so that I could allow her more time to respond.

[nmlbossjt]

I have inserted the final 2 images into the InDesign layout provided for the brief. The first image of course would simply fit into the design as the layout provided for this page was a standard portrait. The second image however would be challenging if I had a different image; it however fits into the layout well. The page divide falls just over the water and doesn't obstruct any of the watering can. This means that you can see all the important areas of the image, if the page divide fell over Alice or the can then the image may appear differently when the pages come together.

[nmlbossjt]

I have selected my final two images for the magazine layout. I have drawn up a lighting diagram for each image. The first image I had the flash placed to the side of Alice' face so that the side the camera faced was exposed right. This also helps the camera catch the water as it falls. The light coming through the plastic walls filled in the rest of the image with light so there weren't too many shadows. The second image had a lot of natural sunlight. However I still used the flash just on the left side of their faces so that the light was evenly spread across the image. It also filled in some of the unwanted shadows.

[nmlbossjt]

I have chosen the top image to be my first image in the magazine layout. It shows Alice (left) and Hannah (right) leaning against the door which says 'Born In Dagenham'. The pose that they are doing looks forced but it is completely natural. I asked if I could photograph them against the door just after they cleaned some cabbage in front of it. They started by looking at the camera, whilst me and Vinny talked to them. One of us said something amusing so they smiled at each other and I captured this shot. I knew this shot would make it into my highest rated images since I took it. They are framed around the door arch with the writing in the middle. The next 2 images I have made square and I have to choose 1. I am leaning towards the images on the right of Alice watering some plants on the table. Again this is a completely natural shot just whilst we were all talking. The image would also fit into the magazine layout nicely, the page divide won't obstruct any of her body. The image on the right includes both of them again so I think I should stick with just one person so I'm not repeating. Although the images is framed nicely with the surrounding polly tunnel in the background and the parallel lines leading away from the camera.

[nmlbossjt]

I have flagged all of the images that I preferred on the photoshoot. The next step was to edit them all, I used a QP card to generate the correct white balance. I edited the photos to my personal preference and then starred them out of 5. This is to help narrow them down even more to pick my final two. I then made the 5 starred photos black and white to meet the brief. This only happened to be 3 images. I knew that I definitely wanted one as my portrait image so made the other 2 images square to fit into the magazine layout.

[nmlbossjt]

I have had my photoshoot with Alice and Hannah, another female worker on the farm. The photoshoot went very well, we started with a tour around the farm to scout for locations. The weather outside was very sunny as well so that would provide more light for me. I asked them to get on with the work they would normally be doing on the day. They started with trimming some cabbage inside one of the polly tunnels. Vinny (my assistant) wanted them to feel comfortable so we engaged them in general conversation so that they could feel relaxed and I could get some natural shots. They then needed to water some plants so I asked if we could first go to one of the polly tunnels that had some great light that could assist with the flash. While shooting I asked Vinny to move to different locations with the flash so that I could show mixed lighting techniques. We shot around the farm, inside and out, generating some great images. We were invited back to the farm for when the tomatoes are gown to help them pick them and also for more photos.

[nmlbossjt]

I have been emailing Alice and we have decided to shoot on Monday 2nd March. I have booked out equipment from CLR for the photoshoot. I have chosen two extra lenses, 50mm and 20mm as well as my own 24-105mm lens. The 20mm is very wide angle for if I want a wide shot and the 50mm has a very low aperture which may benefit in some photos. I have also booked out the Elinchrom Ranger RX Quadra which is a portable flash with battery pack. This light will be very useful for my inside shot as well as outside if there is low natural light. I have booked a flash meter just in case I need to accurately just the flash settings.

[nmlbossjt]

Alice has responded to my email with good news! She said that photographing her will be fine. I will now email her a few times to arrange a date for me to shoot her. 

[nmlbossjt]

In Nigel's email from Indie Farmer he mentioned that Audra, when coming over to the UK, photographed a female farmer called Alice Holden; who works on a starter farm in Dagenham. As I am following in Audra's footsteps it would be great to photograph Alice as well. I contacted the farm she works on who then gave me her email. I have sent her an email stating my project and what I intend to achieve with my project. I will await her response.

[nmlbossjt]

As my next test shoot I wanted to photograph a female in the countryside; this meant I was closer to photographing a female farmer. I went to Chislehurst with Ivane G from Profile Models where there is plenty of woodland to use. We walked through the woodland whilst I photographed her when seeing a good spot or opportunity. I captured some great portraits that I would love to try on my female farmer when arranged.

[nmlbossjt]

On 27th January I sent an email to Audra Mulkern, creator of Female Face Of Farming. It was just a general email asking her for advice on how she photographs her farmers, how to find them etc... She finally replied to me on the 10th February with her response. She states 'I only capture what I see, staying out of their way while they work.' This is the approach I would like to take with my project. I don't want tell the farmer how to pose and where to go, I would like to capture them as they work naturally.

[nmlbossjt]

I wanted to take some more photos in the countryside with someone I knew, I decided to use my father at his house in East Sussex. I photographed him in our woods making sure I captured the surroundings as well. I think these portraits are closer to what I would do in the final shoot at a farm. I would like to do a similar shoot like this however using a female instead.

[nmlbossjt]

My Farther and Step Mother live in the countryside, so I messaged my step mum and told her about my ongoing Female Farmer project. I asked her if she knew any local female farmers in the area. She replied with the text you can see above. She knows a local female farmer and she also knows some farmer's wives. She also said in the text that she is friends with a farmer/photographer called Nigel Akehurst who is the owner of Indie Farmer; A farming website and magazine. This is perfect for me so I emailed him straight away as you can see above. He mentioned to have a look at Audra Mulkern (which I had done already). He has been in contact with her when she came over to the UK, he advised her where to go in the UK to photograph female farmers. Unfortunately I tried to contact her a week ago but haven't had a reply. I took in his advice and am going to research and contact the farmers he suggested.

[nmlbossjt]

I visited the countryside in East Sussex to take some photos in preparation for my farmer photoshoot. Most farms being in the countryside I thought this would allow me to practice photographing the same sort of location. I went there intending to photograph a lot of wildlife, especially birds, which is why i used a 400mm lens for most of the shots. Unfortunately, although being in the countryside, there wasn't a great deal of birds around. However I did manage to photograph other farm animals like the dogs, horses and alpacas you can see. I would like to photograph some more countryside however with a person in the photos. Maybe try some countryside portraits with a model or someone I know?

[nmlbossjt]

I wanted to try Manu Pombroi's style of self portraits. In my room I took a series of self portraits. For the first image it took 3 images to create this one. I used photoshop to Cut out both head and hands and then used a number of tools to make the heads look like they are really there. For the other two images I had to take 2 photos. I then cut out the hands and added a mask layer. I then refined the mask so that the mouth was shown in both images. I changed the phone image to colour so that you can see the difference. I enjoyed doing this style of self portraits and are going to experiment with different effects.

[nmlbossjt]

Manu Pombrol is a spanish artist who only started using a camera few years ago and this is some of his earlier work. He has always been very artistic throughout his life as well as enjoying computer games. Three years after gaming he dipped into photography around 2011-12. According to him, he’s trying to create his own art language by mixing reality and surrealism.

[nmlbossjt]

I have found a photographer called Audra Mulkern. She calls herself a 'Farm-to-table Documentarian' which basically means she documents the journey of farming produce from the farm to the consumer's table. Her main projects which she is still working on is called 'Female Face Of Farming'. She Says: "The Female Farmer Project is about documenting the rise of women in farming.  We share the stories of women farmers who are tasked with family, farm, and often an outside job and are creating change in our food systems." I find this project interesting as well as think the images look amazing. People always think of a farmer as being male but this project shows how female farmers are making an impact on us. I would love to find a female farmer in Britain and try and base my project on her and her farm!!!