Practice Shoot
Camera:
Fim: Ilford - HP5 - 400 ISO
Lens:
This shoot/roll was primarily just getting used to shooting film again and getting used to the film cameras that we have available as I don't own one of my own at the moment. Despite this I begun exploring ideas from the get go.
My very first idea was to look at the contrast between the huge tower blocks scattered around bristol and the nature that surrounded them. I was really pleased with the results of these shots especially the images taken in fishponds (exp 9,10,12 & 13). Exposure 13 demonstrates the juxtaposition of the solid austere buildings and the soft natural greenery perfectly as these are the only to objects so you can really notice the contrast. But also on a deeper level this image could work as a metaphor, to me it looks as if the trees are being pushed apart by the tower block almost as if it is erupting from them. This could be used as a metaphor for the destruction of green space in cities. I also really like exposure 12 although this image dosen't share the same deep meaning it does have a very strong composition, the is lead threw the whole image, their eyes being drawn from the bottom all the way to the top centre of the image. Starting with the path, leading you to the tunnel, up the wall and then straight up the tower block into the sky. A brilliant example of leading lines.
I continued to experiment with architectural/urban landscapes later in the shoot but these images aren't as considered and I feel were just taken for takings sake (exp. 25,16,17,28 & 30).
I also had the idea of looking at fashion photograph for my zine, more specifically street fashion photography. I thought about magazines such as i-D and their 'straight ups' and various other fashion blogger who just stop people in the street who they think have an interesting outfit on and shoot them then and there.
When these are done well they can look really look good, I especially enjoy the ones where the photographer has focused on specific portions of the persons clothing after they have taken a full body shot. I made an attempt at doing this in exp's 22, 23 & 24. I especially like exp. 24, the composition of this works really well as the texture of the coat compliments the backdrop and the image shares quite a small colour pallet but nothing gets drowned out. Exp's 22 & 23 are two wide and uninteresting. The model becomes drowned by the backdrop due to the plainness of the clothing. This makes me think this style of shooting would be much better shot on colour film.
I also briefly experimented with double exposure (although at the time I thought I had messed it up) and I was really pleased with the way it turned out. I love the fact the image is off centre and even the paving stones aren't straight. Although this was a little bit of a fluke I really like the results and I will consider it it later work.
All together I think this was a successful shoot, it let me explore ideas and get to grips with the camera. All went well.
Click on the image to read annotations up close.
Tokyo World/Misc shoot
Camera: Disposable
Fim: Ilford - HP5 - 400 ISO
Lens: N/A
This roll was just a personal project, I bought a disposable camera that I could develop myself to take to Tokyo World music festival and on a few nights out. After seeing the images I decide to include it in this project as I realised a lot of them tied into many of my ideas with portraits of skaters/friends, images of student/Bristol life, basically an inside look at all of the subcultures I was part of at the time.
Although a large amount of the images were either blank or damaged I think it adds to the charm. They look real, they look messy, they reflect the scenes and events that they were taken at. I particularly like exp 10, usually I am totally against light bleeds and any form of distortion cause in camera but theres just something about it that I really like, it just seems raw and the light bleed is so perfect it that it works. I also really like exp 11, its got a really nice composition with the light of the flash totally illuminating the white hat and the man wearing it but the rest of the image is almost completely blank. Unfortunately there is too much grain for it to be realistically used in any serious work (e.g. this zine). Exp 6 is also quite an interesting image and would work along side the skate idea or something involving students and their lives. The image is so stereotypical of what you imagine student life to be, the piles of washing up, food detritus, mess and a collection of stubbed out cigarettes. Its almost a bit too cliché. But yet again it is very low image quality. Exp 9 is probably the highest quality image and along side exp 10 probably the best image on this roll. Much like exp 11 the flames are the only focus point and the huge contrast between the immensely bright flames and the full darkness are quite a spectacle. This is the most well considered images and although it dosen't really follow any theme it is still interesting.
This roll was rather disappointing there were a lot of images that were lost due to underexposure or faults in the camera. I will not be using disposable cameras again as although they are easy and convenient, what you get is not worth it. There were lots of memories lost from Tokyo World and I was most disappointed upon looking at the negatives. I will be investing in a better quality point and shoot camera future.
Clifton/Bedminster shoot
Camera:
Fim: Ilford - HP5 - 400 ISO
Lens:
The first half of this roll is rather irrelevant as far as idea expansion is concerned it was more of a continuation of the previous shoot in which I was getting to grips with the camera but I left it in as it shows me experimenting with the camera its self most prominently double exposures (exp's 6, 7, 13, 14, 16 & 21).
Although I do like these images I don't think I will be taking double exposures any further in this assignment but I may revisit them at a more appropriate time, I just don't think they are appropriate for the idea I am working with at the moment.
The second half of the shoot is much more focused, as you can see from the annotations. I began to really think about the ideas I had and the ways in which I could convay them. In exp's 22, 25, 27, 28 & 35 I way looking at the idea for abandoned rubbish and places it has been left predominantly looking at rubbish that had been left outside of peoples homes. I really like this idea and think it has real potential to be a poignant and satirical collection of images. It has been something that I have noticed a lot in my small time in Bristol and it always makes me think 'who left that there' (possible zine title). I will continue to photograph these sightings even if I don't choose this as my zine idea as I feel like it may work better as an on going project. I especially like exp 25 and 27
I love the composition of exp 25, the way the image rises from left to right, the fact the viewers eye is pulled straight in by the path and straight up by the building with the pointed roof, which in turn draws the viewers eyes directly to the focus of the image which it the elderly man and the discarded TV.
As soon as I saw exp 27 I knew it would make a brilliant image, everything was placed so perfectly and all the proportions were spot on. It employs the rule of third perfectly starting with the bins and high chair, then the portion of the wall and finally the building behind. The stale, stagnant loneliness of the scene has a strange humour to it that I just love and flows really well with the other images I have taken in this style.
I also started looking at the idea of urban landscape in exp's 28, 29, 30, 31 & 32
(Although I suppose alot of the previously talked about images could be considered urban landscapes).
It took me a while to get to grips with the idea of something urban constituting as a landscape but after coming to the realisation I had been doing it for years I really started to enjoy the idea and I think it would work really well within a zine or at least to support some of the ideas I already have. For example it would work really well along side the skate idea as it would give other images context and more of a feel for the surrounding area. (e.g. exp's 28 & 29 are landscapes of bedminster skate park.
I really see inspiration and beauty in urban areas, more so than in rural ones. I don't know if this is due to the fact I'm from a rural area and the thought of cities is new and exciting to me but I just see something in urban landscapes that I think is amazing.
Just look at exp 30, the sheer power and mass the building holds, surrounded by the dark moody sky, all contrasted by the calm placid water. Its just beautiful. What ever idea I decide to go with I will be incorporating urban landscape some how.
Overall this was a productive roll. Although the first half wasn't the best it was still useful and the second half defiantly made up for it with lots of well considered images and idea development.
Camera:
Fim: Ilford - HP5 - 400 ISO
Lens:
The start of this roll
carries on from the end of the previous one. I was still at this point toying
with various ideas as you can see. In exp’s 1, 2, 7 & 8 I continued to look
at the theme of abandoned rubbish and the areas in which I had found it. I
began to notice that a big amount of the larger rubbish was baby accessories and
apparatus e.g. cots and high chairs as you can see in exp’s 2 & 8 (I had
also photographed a high chair on a previous shoot). I found this strange and it made me ask the question again 'who left that there'. I will keep shooting to see if this was just coincidence or if there is a pattern.
I also continued with the tower block idea in exp 3. I love this image and really think it works. It has a really interesting composition. The tower almost fills the whole image, taking up most of the background, giving it a huge booming presence. Then the slender tree creeps in front of the building. This almost counteracts the other images as the nature is covering up the tower block instead of the buildings destroying the nature.
I then by chance I stumbled upon a skate park and began shooting as you can see in exp 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13. While shooting at the skate park I got talking to one of the skaters who I had been photographing. I explained the ideas I had so far and we discussed them. He explained that he had seen many of these ideas before in his time spent at university, especially the tower block theme. So I decide to run with a new idea and that idea was skate photography.
I had shot skate photography in the past and as soon as the idea came into my head I knew it would work perfectly in a zine.
On the first shoot I was still in the mind set of looking at the skate park as an urban landscape so many of the images taken here are less action but more atmospheric much like the images taken at bedminster skate park. The other images taken here were not the best as it was very dark due to the fact that the park was underneath an overpass. This meant the images had to be quite long exposures around 1/30 of a second which made the fast moving skaters quite blurred. This worked in exp 9 but not in exp 10.
I then revisited the park in Bedminster and luckily there was alot of people skating. I really like the composition of exp's 21 & 22. The ramp fills the frame perfectly, with the viewers eye being drawn from the bottom right to the top left. Also the dark tones of the graffiti that fills the background works really well with the industrial architecture but also the theme.
I then visited a skate spot I had noticed a few days before (The lloyds building). So in the skate photography mood I cycled there after shooting in bedminster and luckily there was another group of skaters willing to have their photos taken. I liked this spot as it was so different to the first spot, its so much cleaner and calmer. Also the tricks and skaters were different with much lower key flat land tricks compared to the huge airs at the bedminster park. I especially like exp's 23, 29 & 30. The collection of leading lines in exp 23 makes a beautiful image pulling the viewers eye from right to left in the direction the skater is moving and then from the bottom to the top following the windows. 29 will work perfectly as a double page spread with an almost perfect split down the middle and the leading lines working in the same way as the previous images. I love the close up hectic felling exp 30 holds, it really draws the viewer in. Could work well as a front cover.
This has been a really great shoot. Its brought a lot of ideas together and helped me decide on a definite theme for my the zine.
Camera: Canon 500D
Fim: N/A
Lens: 18-55mm
This was quite an inpromptued shoot. While I was home a friend asked my if I wanted to come out skating with him and I couldn't pass up the opportunity, so I grabbed my camera and headed out.
As I knew the people I was photographing on a personal level I took the opportunity to get a lot of more personal images. Looking at the way the skaters acted, the things they did other than skate and the ways in which they interacted with each other. For example exp 1, 2 & 3 where two guys are tying too attach some new grip tape. It may not be the worlds most interesting image to some but to someone interested in the skate scene its a well know moment and something the viewer can relate too, rather than just seeing trick after trick. I continued to capture images like this through out the shoot like exp 15 which I think is a really natural portrait. I really like the composition and could see it being used for a double page spread. Although I wanted the images to seem personal I didn't want them to seem like they were just a few pictures I had taken of my mates which is why I don't like exp 22.
As it was dark in the car park and the street lights weren't the brightest I was forced to use the flash on my camera, at first I was a bit reticent to do this but upon reviewing the images I real liked the effect it gave. The flash gives the shots that gritty, stark street aesthetic that I am looking for. I love the way it illuminates parts of the image and send other parts into darkness e.g. exp 19.
Through out the shoot I experimented with various different composition. I was trying to capture different images to the ones I had made in Bristol, I wanted to capture more sense of comunity with in the skate world and I think I did this in images such as exp's 11,12, 17 & 18. These shots show a camaraderie and all most team like atmosphere that I don't think I had captured in previous shoots.
Overall I think this was a very successful shoot. I managed to capture a selection of different images that I hadn't captured in previous shoots and quite a few shots that I think will resinate well within my zine.
As it was dark in the car park and the street lights weren't the brightest I was forced to use the flash on my camera, at first I was a bit reticent to do this but upon reviewing the images I real liked the effect it gave. The flash gives the shots that gritty, stark street aesthetic that I am looking for. I love the way it illuminates parts of the image and send other parts into darkness e.g. exp 19.
Through out the shoot I experimented with various different composition. I was trying to capture different images to the ones I had made in Bristol, I wanted to capture more sense of comunity with in the skate world and I think I did this in images such as exp's 11,12, 17 & 18. These shots show a camaraderie and all most team like atmosphere that I don't think I had captured in previous shoots.
Overall I think this was a very successful shoot. I managed to capture a selection of different images that I hadn't captured in previous shoots and quite a few shots that I think will resinate well within my zine.
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