Notes

Have just written a list of what i need to get done this week and i have shocked myself at how long it is.  Safe to say that all plans for this week are out the window. Blogger is going to be my only thing i will be socialising with this week, Happy halloween to me!

The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony

This video is perfect for Street Photography! Its got everything you could ask for people on skates, messy littered streets, workers, people moving cookers... what ever you could think of going on on a street seems to be happening. wish i was there wouldn't need to bother looking anywhere else all my ideas seem to be in this one place. Great song too.

On the Sneak

After i waited for a full day and a half for clear weather it wasn't till a couple of hours before i was due to catch my train home that the weather started to clear up and get an almost nice day. As i sat in a bar under a heater i decided that this would be a great time to get my phone out and slyly take pictures of passers by. 

Straight after these images i dashed back to the tube station and headed to Camden town to take rolls of film for my project. Ive actually never been more relived to see the rain and fog disappear as i thought it was going to be a totally waisted journey. Im just sad that i could carry on shooting at Brick Lane or Oxford Street.

London

Well i couldn't have picked a worse time to go to London and shoot some film for this street Photography project. The weather was not on my side at all. If it wasn't for the thick fog that was rolling through the city it was the fine sleet like rain! I went with 8 rolls of film ready on my mission to capture as many images as i could from all around London. Unfortunately i only came back with 3 rolls of film shot and this was a miracle to even get them. Im hoping that what i have got are good as i was constantly on the look out of what i thought would be a great street shot, just hoping that this is reflected in the few films i managed to complete. Just wish weather reports came a bit further in advance.

Contact Sheet - 5

This was the film outcome from around Middlesborough town centre. i also finished the end of the film off around hartlepool. I think there is some really nice images from this shoot that i like the composition and the range of tones show in the image and want to enlarge in the darkroom.

Enlargements: 

I find it really hard taking pictures close up like this of people and i challenged myself to just get close and do it! Safe to say i wasn't discrete about it at all. I slowly snook up to the lady and got my image framed and ready. As soon as i clicked the button and captured my images i ran like hell! God only knows what people must have been thinking of me. I really like this image though and I'm glad i decided to just do it (even if i did run away like captain jack sparrow looking guilty while Rachel just stood and laughed). 

People don't like pigeons but as someone who has grew up with a dad who owns a loft full i am obsessed i don't think you can have a street photography shoot without a few images of pigeons in there. I do feel however that in this image there is a lot of detail lost in the group of birds and i would have preferred it if it wasn't so dark. I have slightly dodged the really dark area of the birds in to try and get a bit more detail back into the image however i don't think i have done it for long enough, this is something i will have to try again in the dark room. 

Head phones in, camera ready, press play!!! puts a spring in my step every time....

Gus Powell

I thought i would have a look at some colour street photography as so far all i have looked at its black and white. I'm not really a fan of the Martin Parr kind of work and that's automatically what i think of when i think colour street photography and it is something i have tried to avoid looking at however i really like this image. I'm not sure if its because although it is a colour image i don't feel like its too in your face and bright, maybe because there is a lot of black and white aspects too it, i don't know. Or maybe its because of the way it has been shot, i really like that you can only see the heads of the people at the bottom of the image then there is this man stood on a phone box, not really something you would expect to see walking down the street.

Contact Sheet - 4

I decided that i wanted to go back to Middlesbrough and re-do the last film as i really liked the location and found that there was a lot of interesting people but i don't think i captured enough images and i also don't think that i was confident enough. So i decided to walk to the town and take pictures along the way to try and get confident and use to people kind of looking and staring at me. Below is the contact sheet taken from on the way to town.

Again there isn't many people in the images taken in this film however there is still a few i like and think that could look really nice when i enlarge them.

Enlargements:

This is one of the pictures that i really like from the above contact sheet. I think its nice the way that you  can see the lady walking somewhere but your not too sure were yet the sign kind of tells you what is happening in the images. I think that if i was to choose this as a final image ill have to re-visit the dark room and burn in the sky a bit so that it doesn't bleed into the border of the image. 

 This image has really nice tones and it isn't too contrasty, has a soft feel to it. I think that this, as well as the fact that there is no people in the image gives it a peaceful, calm feel to it. Also the sign get me excited for Christmas. Even though i really like this image i don't think its appropriate for one of my final 5, as i want to incorporate people into the image. 

Contact Sheet - 3

i took this film around Middlesbrough town centre. In this shoot i tried to get more involvement with people, trying to capture crowds and individual people up close as in my past shoots i haven't really got this. 

A few of the images at the bottom right of the contact sheet haven't worked out and also quite a few are really dark and over exposed this is because i was shooting from the hip the majority of the time as i still didn't really have the confidence to go out and shoot normally. Next time need to make sure all the settings are right especially if i move into a different area with different light source.

Enlargements:

This is one of the close up images that i managed to get out of this shoot. i really like the detail in the image and how you can see the smoke coming off the fag. i also like the depth of field on the image. that he is in focus and you can see all the people behind him yet they are blurred and out of focus. I could do with re-printing and burning in the sky of the image. i also like the reflections in the windows behind the man i think this adds more detail and i really like this aspect of the image. 

Ernst Haas

Nice use of reflection in the image. It looks as though the area around the man is really busy and because you can only see it through the mirrors it doesn't draw your attention away from him as much. He is the main focus. I also really like that he is aware of the camera yet the people we can see in the mirrors are not as aware as he is. also good that the photographer hasn't been captured in the mirrors. I also think that they give the image more light and a brighter feel to it.

Marc Riboud

I like that this is taken from inside looking out onto the street and how the windows/doors in front of the photographer are cutting the image into sections. each window is framing a different area of the images and i like that it helps you to notice the people in the image. if it was taking the other side of the doors you wouldn't be as draw or interested in them i personally don't think.

Notes

Decided to stay back and develop 2 films after today's lecture and lets just say it wasn't the smoothest of experiences. After loosing the 2p coin i was using to try and open the film canister i had to get on all 4's in the dark to try and find it. Then after getting over this mini drama i then pulled the lid off my tank to pour out the stop bath and add the fixer when the whole top of my tank decided to come off, after a second of panic i got it back on and carried on constantly telling myself that everything will be fine. 30 Min's later after i had rinsed my film, i opened my tank to realise that my film was fine! i have never been more relived in my life! Then i put it into the dryer and put the fan on. I went to check on my film after about 5mins to see that my film started kinking and had weird black hot dots all over it! just my luck to over come everything that happened before to then accidental melt my film! Nice one Rose! Lesson well and truly learned.

Contact Sheet - 2

Shoot 2 was around Hartlepool. Some of the images were taking at waist high so is the reason they are not framed right but haven't built up enough courage to be in peoples faces yet. However i still like some of the out comes. 

Enlargements:

 

This is my first enlargement. Like the way that the lady is almost in the centre of the image and that she is really the only person that you can see in the image. Also like the way that the car is coming into the frame shows that there is other things going on around her.

 

 

 I like the fact that this image has a rather geometrical feel to it. This is created by the lines on the floor and also the structures in the image, such as the bus stop, the buildings, fences adn lights. I also like how you can see the man sitting in the bus stop. I think that this is helped by the fact that he is in all black as it makes him pop out of the image and really visable. Maybe this image is slightly too dark and will be something i might have to work on if this becomes one of my final images.

 

Contact Sheet - 1

The contact sheet from my first shoot is below. As this was the first shoot and i wasn't too sure what the idea really was i just went out and took some snaps of what i passed on my journey to college.

Contact - 1

Enlargement:

this is the only enlargement from this contact sheet. I think its quite a nice image considering it was taken out of a car window (as i wasn't confident enough to walk up to the poor lady i resorted to drive-by photography! how creepy). i think if i was to use this as a final image i would work on it more in the dark room as i think a lot of the detail has been lost in the tree area of the image. Also some areas look a bit bleached out (what have since been highlighted more by this scan)

This is simply a low angle street shot of my road. One of the first images i shot and i didn't really have a clue what i was meant to be doing and also didn't have the confidence to actually take images of people. Again really bleached out sky. However i like the low angle. Theres actually nothing really at all in this images its rather boring. 

Notes

Feel like I'm taking research to the extremes but i just cant seem to stop! Loads of unpublished posts to go along side the ones i have. So not used to blogging, give me a sketchbook any day.... HELP!

I. Russell Sorgi

I chose this picture because i just find it interesting the way that the man inside the coffee shop and also the man on the left (not really clear in this copy of the image) are totally unaware of what is going on around them and they don't realise that this woman has jumped from the 8th floor of the building. This is again a great example of being at the right place with your camera at the right time. This wasn't expected and was probably meant to be just a normal shot as it is framed and composed really well then out of know were the woman has popped into the frame! Almost looks like she is a mannequin or something. Find it weird yet interesting.

Ricky Siegers

This was also an image that i found funny. Just think the timing is perfect to be able to capture the image in the background at just the right time to make it appear to look like she is licking his face. Would be better if the brolly wasn't blocking his face as much so you could see it a bit clearer.

Cheryl Dunn

i really like Cheryl Dunn's work however i think that this image is just too busy. I don't like how the man in the image is so small compared to the wall, however i guess that shows the scale of the graffiti behind him. The background is bleached out what i feel looses detail. I think maybe this would be better in colour, especially if the writing was all different colours however it appears to be all dark colours/black. Also don't like the shadows that have been created on the man in the image makes him look a weird shape.



I like this image simply because it made me laugh! just a weird statement to have on the back of a jacket..

Danny Santos

What I find interesting about this image is the grainy effect that has been produced. It isn’t as sharp as the rest of his work because this was captured with a lomography camera. It looks like he has used flash too because of the way the rain has captured the flash and left the bright white spots on the image, you can also tell because of the lighting on the posts in front of the photographer. It’s a really natural images and its interesting that she is the only clear person in the photo the rest of the people are dark and not important, you don’t really notice them. I like the fun aspect of the image.

 

In this image he has used a shallow depth of field to pick out one person from the street and just focus on them. This concept is interesting because it’s not about the street its more about the person and there interests and kind of makes you think more about them.

Fulvia Menghi

  

The timing on this image is perfect; to have captured the moving wheel and have placed the man on the opposite side of the road exactly in the centre of the wheel is great. I like that the bikes are blurred as it does show the movement, it gives the feel that everyone’s in a rush but him as he’s in focus. The wheel being around him highlights him; I don’t think he would stand out as much if it didn’t.

I like the feel of a low angle shot. It makes the woman in the image look important or above the photographer. It also makes everything seem much bigger what I think is important because it indicated just have big and vast cities are and how we are just a small part of it. I would prefer this image more however if the sky wasn’t as bleached out as it is.

 

Anna Delany

I think that the shadows created in this image are amazing. It is really nice the way that the man playing basket ball has been framed by the branches in the lighter area of the court what makes him really pop out of the image. He is one of the darkest areas of the image and because its in such a light area it really draws your eye to him. I think that the tree branches on the right of the image also lead your eye up to notice the men that are sat watching hi, play on the bench at the top of the image. I also like the patterns and effects created by the trees and the fence.

Markus Hartel

I like this image because of the way that the water has captured the light and lit the image and gives it a softer look. It also helps to highlight the boy that is playing, he seems to be the main focus of the image.      I think that the image would look better if it was not cropped into or if the photographer took a step back so that the fire hydrant wasn't as far onto the right hand side as it is, it kind of gets lost.

However i don't like the lighting in this image. Again it feels like its quite natural and i like the way that the person in white really stands out of the background, however i really don't like how much detail has been lost from what is going on around the subject. I also don't really like how other people in the image are fading away into the background, makes them look like there not important, maybe if there was an explanation of why they are not as prominent as he is it would be better.

Matt Stuart

This image is one that i really like, i really like the timing of the image it gives it a kind of comical feel to it the way that the man looks like he is inside of the wheel barrow. I also like the way that the barrier around were the work is going on frames the man in the centre, He is the focus. Also because the person holding the wheel barrow has been cut out the frame it makes him less important its not so much about him, more what he is doing.

Richard Sandler

What i find interesting about this image is how the adult in the image is turing around to try and ignore the man on the floor yet the children in the image are looking directly at him. It shows the interest that the children have and they don't find it a problem to look at the man whereas the male adult looks as though he is clearly finding it uncomfortable to walk past him and is trying to avoid the situation.

Michael Lavine

I like this image because it has a rather punk street feel to it. It does not look as though the image has been set up, i think that this is shown by the fact that not all the people in the image are facing towards the camera, this gives the image a more natural feel. I also like that you don't really see what is going on around the subjects its all about them, however this means its not really clear where or when this is. However i don't really like the right hand side of the image were the photographer has captured another person walking into the frame and also the side of the pay meeter, i think that it would look better if this was cropped out.




This image is one i really like because i like the fact that it is blurry but i think that this helps show the movement of the subject, it also has a shallow depth of field what makes you concentrate on the man in the image more. Its good that he isn't looking at the camera because it does look natural and i also like the fact that you cant see the front of him, its not a typical image of a skater, it has a more raw/real feel to it.