People with the power to change...

Sometimes in life you meet people of all ages, cultures and you instantly get on with them. You like to hear what they have to say and learn about them and there way of life. This lady is one of those people for me. Her name is Sue and she has become someone who I could call a friend. For the whole two weeks I spent every day with her, learning about traditional Indian dress, she wanted to show me how to make traditional foods (however it didn't really work out to well for her as I’m hopeless) but she also taught me a lot about her life. I know that this picture isn't the best I have shot but I feel like it’s the most important to me. I think what’s important about going on a journey is not what you see, it’s about the people you encounter and how they change your life and help you grow as a person. It’s not just a physical journey is a journey of self-discovery and learning too. 

Artist Research - Steve McCurry

http://stevemccurry.com/

The more that I research travel photographers and look at their work the more I feel like I’m getting a sense of direction, a forward plan to take my work. Looking at the work of Steve McCurry has given me more motivation and pushed me further into a direction that I want to take. He doesn't look at creating a simple shot, he explores his surroundings, takes establishing shots to get a feel of the area then works into the image exploring aspects, playing with colour and using composition to create aesthetically pleasing images.

Leading lines, range of tones, bright colour and amazing composition! I don’t think I need to say any more. I just think that this image is amazing, just beautiful. I don’t think there is anything I don’t like about it or anything I could critique.   

What I like about this image is that you are stood behind the subjects, watching what they are doing. You can’t see what they are looking at so this provokes you to imagine and try and guess what is happening. Images like these are the ones I find most interesting, the reason being is that they are the photographers image but the idea and concept of the image becomes your own. Everyone will have a different view/approach to it.  The subject’s saris bring colour to an otherwise dull landscape. It really brightens the image and gives some vibrancy to it.  

What draws me to these images impartially is the bright and vivid colours that the photographer has captured. Something that I don’t really work with much is colour. This is something that I haven’t really explores, however I am really trying to at the moment with this project and also the last one. So images like this were exactly what I wanted to keep in mind and produce when I was in India shooting for my book project.

There was so many images to choose from so please go look at the website if you have time J    

Playing With Layouts

Elaborating on the book ‘A Year of Mornings’ I have begun to explore layouts in the style that have been used throughout the book. The reason begin for this is that I have a lot of images that I have gained from my journey and some I think that although maybe not photographically strong, they help to express my journey and also to make significant images stronger.

As these images were the beginning of my journey I wanted to use all the images that I had gathered to document this time. To create a flow of events that lead you through the journey, till ultimately express my time in the airport. They aren't really important shots photographically but they are important parts of the journey. They are initially were it began, and how I came to find what I will present throughout the book. For that reason I think that this page is important and needed.  

This layout is the simplest of the 3. I just wanted to display the portrait orientated images as I think that his worked better and it also held a really nice flow of events that leads you to the location of my main journey really well. Its clean and clear and leads you across the page really well.    

  

Expanding more on the layout and adding more images helps the story and the flow of events as it backs up the images, adds more detail and helps to create a better communication of events that occurred in the airport. This also gives me a chance to display some of the landscape shots that I had taken. I also think that this helps to fill the vast amount of negative space. Although this is what I want the size I based these layouts on were the 30cm x 30cm book sizing that I now feel might be a bit big. So maybe they wouldn't be this amount of negative space. 

This one has more of a flow to it I feel. The time line is clear and the steps are shown in a long line rather than two separate ones. I like that the little less important images aren’t a part of the main time line, but are still there to add more detail to the main strip of images. I think this layout is my favourite one. However I will change the last image to the image of me looking out the plane window as this finishes it off nicely and will help link the images in the airport to the images that I have taken in India.

Indian Market Day!

Arriving in India was such a culture shock. What I was expecting is not what I seen at all. It was beautiful in not an ascetic way, the smell, heat, vibe was more than I was anticipating and I was rather over whelmed for a couple of days and needed time to explore and experience without my camera. So the first real day of shooting came when I went to my first market. The colours, scenes and people were not a let-down at all! It was what I was hoping to see all in one place. Really a great place to start my photography explorations. 

I think I gathered up all the skills and experiences that I have gained through my time at CCAD to really get up close and personal to people and get right in for detail (something that I really worked hard to gain in first year street photography) and also depth of field, fill flash that I have recently worked on and expanded my skills with in second year.  

As initially I was focusing on colour and getting patterns and themes I think that most of the images from the first market show this. They have a repetitive theme and are really bright and busy. I am glad I captured this because the rest of my images aren't as vibrant as some of the ones I captured at this market so it helps to bring the colour and vibe to the book that India provides.   

Enlargements: 

Tea and spices are on every row of shops in India. You can literally get them anywhere. Although rather typical I think that they make interesting shots. From the vibrant colours to the range in textures I think that they show the colour and also give a sense of flavor and smell to the place. Makes you think and associate with all the amazing foods that the country has to offer. So although it may be typical, think it’s important to have these. In the tea image especially I have used a shallow depth of field to really focus in on the tea in the front, the texture and also the colour. I did this as the texture of all the tea is the same so you can see what the rest will look like without actually seeing (if that makes sense). I also think it gives the image a softer less over powering feel. 

This may be my favorite image from my whole holiday. It shows something that I witnesses a lot of on my journey. Children working to help there family’s. But what I like about this image is most of the young workers I witnessed really looked sad and really desperate. Now I’m not saying that this young man isn't any of those things (I don’t know the true fact I can just comment on what I see) I think he has an air of cheekiness to him, a lot of the sellers at the market hound you to buy something, he didn't, he just looked and laughed at me when he realized I had taken his picture. He didn't seem bothered and I imagined him thinking of what he would really like to be doing kind of like ‘mam hurry up and get back so I can go play football’. I just like the way he’s sat and his little face. 

A use of a shallow depth of field to really make the subject stand out from the background. What I like about this technique is it gives the image a soft aspect. I think that this is enhanced by the pale colours of the subjects clothing and also the expression on her face. The way that she is looking into the distance almost as if she is in deep though or looking at something.  

Colour, Repetition, Pattern: 

These three things were really important when thinking about my initial ideas for my book in regards to my research that I gained particular influence from – Colourful world – but as my idea began to grow and change throughout my journey I began to capture less images like this. However that being said these images and inarticulacy these two I really like. I think that they show what India is about, the colours that they use and the products that they produce. I personally like these as I don’t feel they are ‘typical’ or ‘tourist’ type images. They almost create a pattern, this is a quality that I really like. If I had of thought about it at the time I would have pursued this theme and maybe could of created a book on repetition or consumerism in India and documented this through photography. 

NEW INSPO!!!! Layout Research - A Year of Mornings - Maria Alexandra Vettese & Stephanie Congdon Barnes

When carrying out book layout research in the library I picked this book up and rather stupidly dismissed it and didn’t have a good look through. I seemed to be focusing on finding books that appealed to my style and the direction that I wanted to take the project. As this book ticked none of them boxes I just put it back on the shelf and moved on. But when I have come back and came to realize that the layout I had planned and the way I wanted my book to look no longer was achievable, this book was the first thing I thought about. It has made such an impression without me even realizing so.     

I really want some of my images to be large, and really fill up the majority of the page. This is a good example of a way to do this but still carrying the theme that the book has. I also like the detail of placing smaller images under the larger ones. It almost gives like a contact sheet feel to the layout. This is something that I really like because the smaller images might not be as important, however they work to make the larger image on the page stronger and back it up.

Smaller images may not always necessary. Sometimes the images work better on a simple background with negative space around them. If this is the style that I choose to emulate I want to keep this in mind. Its not about getting as many images on the page as possible but more about images that work together.

Small details: 

Sometimes it’s the smaller details that really finishes a book off. Something I noticed, and really rather like about this book is that it has a time flow. ‘A Year of Mornings’ is presented through seasons and then even into more detail, months. Each picture sequence or even individual image has a date above it also.  

This detail gives the image a time and a feel of when it was taken. You could think about weather, timing and other aspects to reflect on the image and see if this is portrayed in the image. It’s a really nice touch that I am really going to consider for my own book layout.  

Beginning My Journey

I decided to begin shooting as soon as I arrived at Manchester airport. The reason being was my Dad. Whenever we would go on holiday (this time included) as soon as he would get the cases out the car and lock the door that was it, his holidays had officially started. He would chill, not stress and just go with the flow (if you knew my dad you would realize that he is a complete whinge bag, so his holiday mode is something special ha, I love him though) so I figured well this is also where my Indian journey begins. So I shot with just my iPhone as my camera was too big and people become on edge when you whip a massive camera out and start taking pictures around an airport, so my phone was a little less ‘in there face’. I did want to take pictures throughout and also in the airport in Goa, however their airport is on a military base and its extremely against the law to take pictures there, and I really didn’t want to find out what would happen if I did! So this is what i managed to shoot...

 

These are just quick snaps that I managed to get but I think that they would look really good maybe in sequence in the front page of my book. Just to highlight the beginning of my journey and how I got to where I was going. 

My thoughts after India...

Running up to my journey to India I began my research and really had a set idea of what I wanted to do. My idea was to create a book that documented my journey, however I didn't want to focus on what I seen but more on colour and the colour of the country. I had seen books that showed India as a bright and vibrant country, so this is what I wanted to portray. The book that held particular interest to me was ‘Colourful World’ by Amandine Guisez Gallienne, I even took this book away with me for reference while I was there. 

The reason behind me been drawn to this book in particular is that I wanted to portray colour, pattern and style rather than typical pictures of India. This seemed like a perfect reference point as it did just that. What I found interesting is the way that the book had dividers running through out that colour blocked the images. The images included full shots that were mainly of the colour chosen but also close shots of fabric, lights, patterns and other bright and vibrant areas. This was my main point of reference and I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do when I arrived in Goa.  

The Problem:

HOWEVER, this wasn't as easy or really as realistic as I would have hoped. See Goa is a small state in India and doesn't really have the vast culture that other states in India hold. You can drive the full length of Goa in 2 hours and the majority of it is beaches. The buildings and surroundings didn’t seem to have the colour and vibrancy that I was expecting to be overrun with, in fact it was rather bland. There was no roads or paths, this made everything dusty, the buildings were run down, and at first appearance I was really concerned about my project. A couple of days in though I found my feet and started to follow little paths were I came across the colourful buildings that I was expecting (however not nearly enough). To be honest I feel like the goals that I set myself before arriving in India and the expectations that I had built up were ambitious, and rather naive considering I had never been to the country before and I was basing my idea on preconceived ideas. I think that this may be the biggest lesson I have learned. Don’t expect things to be as you imagine them, you have to work with what you have.