The subject I chose to shoot was ‘People’, and I chose to photograph them in a shopping precinct. My rationale was that the opportunities would be many and varied, giving me a good chance to showcase the depth variety of skill and photographic knowledge I have acquired.
Before going to the precinct, I wrote a list of the types of shots I was looking for. These included; shots with blurred foregrounds (MB009), shots with blurred backgrounds (MB011), shots with a wide angle lens and shots with a long focal length.
MB001.PH4EYV-2 was taken to illustrate a good depth of field (DoF) with a wide angle of view (top to bottom). The strong converging lines coming from the top and bottom of the image augment the DoF very well. 1/45sec, f11, 24mm, OSO 1600.
I have been reading about semiotics in photography and have employed the use of linguistic code in the next three images to bring humour to the images.
MB002.PH4EYV-2 I have kept the foreground (the boy) sharp, but blurred the background (by keeping a shallow DoF, but also a bit of distance from the subject to control the blur) so that the ‘H&M’ sign looks more like ‘HIM’ (the subject). Settings- 1/180sec, f4, 105mm, ISO 1600.
MB003.PH4EYV-2 has a couple of ‘signs’ in it. The colour of the Monsoon shop front would be classed as the denotation, when ‘reading’ this image, and the secondary link or the connotation, would be the link between the name ‘Monsoon’ and the waterproof coat that he lady is wearing. This image was shot at 1/30, f13, 75mm, ISO 1600. It was shot using a 75-300mm zoom, because I wanted to maintain sharpness from front to back of image, but compress the DoF so that the connection was easier to see.
MB004.PH4EYV-2 I saw the shop sign of the suggestive lady in her underwear, and waited for something to happen. Presently a man appeared and just started texting. This juxtaposition changed the meaning of the poster immediately. It now shows a frustrated woman wanting attention, but her partner is oblivious to her desires. It was shot at 1/90sec, f5.6, 93mm ISO 1600. My intention was to keep the DoF shallow to concentrate on the dichotomy between the two characters.
MB005.PH4EYV-2 was taken to show depth of field, and was shot at 1/125, f8, 105mm ISO 1600. The composition is what gives this image its strength. The position of the principle person is the initial focal point, but the balls naturally force the eye through the picture.
MB006.PH4EYV-2 has strong compositional qualities, making use of the plastic sculptures. I wanted the nearer of the two arches to be out of focus, and the other to be in focus and so shot; 1/250sec, f5.6, 75mm, ISO 1600. A long zoom was used to compress the perceived depth, to accentuate the framing.
MB007.PH4EYV-2 needed the subject to be pin sharp to get the intimacy of smoking, but the background to be soft, but defined enough to convey the proximity of the potentially passive smokers. I want the image to say ‘How remote do I have to be before I can smoke a cigarette in a public place without it causing harm or annoyance to others?’ 1/750sec, f4.5, 130mm, ISO 1600.
MB008.PH4EYV-2 needed a very shallow Dof to convey a sense of the subject being lost in his own thoughts. This was shot from 3.4m to accentuate the out of focus background that puts him in isolation. . 1/45sec, f4, 82mm, ISO1600
MB009.PH4EYV-2 shows that the ‘secret’ of good street photography is to sight your subject and wait until they look at you, then take the shot. 1/250sec, f5.6,30mm, ISO 1600.
MB010.PH4EYV-2 was shot, when I was thinking about ‘Crowds’. I positioned myself off to one side of a pedestrian crossing and waited. 1/250sec, f4, 105mm ISO 1600. Distance to subject 2.5m.
MB011.PH4EYV-2 I used a long focal length in conjunction with a wide aperture at close range to get a sharp portrait with a very soft background. 1/250sec, f4, 130mm, ISO 1600. Distance to subject not recorded.
What worked well?
Over all I am very pleased with what I have achieved. I quickly learnt a lot about observing, positioning and pre-empting to get good shots. I also coerced myself into doing things that I did not want to do. The reward for pushing myself out of my comfort zone is reflected in the intimacy of some of my shots. I felt that I ‘got my eye in’ very quickly and was able to spot opportunities. On one occasion I was aware of a man fairly close by but still far enough away for my 75-300mm zoom to be able to focus on his face.I acted quickly and turned straight to him and asked, “Would you mind if I take your picture?” I knew from previous experience that reading the body language and the timing are crucial. If he’d said ‘No!’ I would have apologised, smiled and make light of it. Very few people say “Yes” immediately. The natural response is to smile and give it some consideration. It is at this point that you need to get the camera working. If you leave it until the point at which they say “Yes ok”, you have lost the spontenaity, then the images look posed. If you are quick, you can get 3-4 shots before they start to feel uncomfortable.My subject chose the latter and I was away. I got four shots, dropped the camera and we then talked for a while before I moved on. Even though he is not looking directly at the camera there is a feeling of intimacy about the image.
What didn’t work well?
Early in the day, the light was the limiting factor, so I set the ISO to 1600. By the end of the day I was still using the same ISO. SO I do need to be mindful of all aspects of an assignment, including all camera settings. I also lost a lot of potentially good shots by not being ready, and being too self conscious to ‘go for it’.
Martin Parr once said that ‘amateur’ street photography is full of ‘backs of heads, and tiny people in the distance’. Looking at my project, there is evidence of that, but I think I have shown that I have challenged that concept, and the images that do fall into that catagory do have other strong elements to them.
Improvements for the future.
I purposely wore plain clothes to blend in, but towards the end of the second day I was ‘apprehended’ by a very pleasant security guard. She told me that photography wasn’t permitted without prior consent, which had to be obtained in advance (she gave me the contact details). Needless to say, I obliged, put my camera away, smiled and wished her a happy new year. I must have been more invisible than I felt, as I’d been around the precinct for two consecutive days without having been challenged! Having thought about this, next time I would use the opposite technique, wearing a high vis’ jacket with ‘Photographer’ on the back, along with my official permit on a lanyard.
Explaining the contact sheet and my selections. PH4EYV-2
My first few shots were all taken in a portrait format, which initially felt right. However, I very quickly realised that my tendency was to shoot in Portrait and so made the decision early on, based on the fact that I would be shooting people, that I would stick to Portrait.
My first close up people shots were taken at the bottom of an escalator, and were quite rushed, hence the distracting motion blur in most of them. It was still quite early in the morning, and I was struggling to get any depth of field as I was forced to use a very wide aperture and even then having to increase the ISO to 1600. The best of these images were the last ones with the two girls in pink, but the composition combined with the shooting position made for a poor image. It was a steep learning curve.
Just a few steps to the right, and I was able to get a very good position looking down on a set of steps. The best of these shots was 4062. Here I achieved the composition that I was after, but was unable to blur the background enough to show the isolation of the sitters, this was given to a later image. It wasn’t until I’d taken twenty nine shots that I was happy enough to put one up for the assignment. Shot 4063 has some very strong converging lines in it, augmenting my attempt to convey a depth to the image by use of a relatively small aperture (f11) and short focal length (24mm).
The series of four shots of the man at the lectern are my attempt and display of determination/resolve to wait until the person is looking at the camera before taking the shot. I got a couple of shots in the bag whilst waiting, but am pleased to say that I held my nerve and got one early on. It wasn’t a particularly good shot, but did give me some much needed confidence.
The following thirty shots were all quite tame and uninspiring. In hindsight, had I been more dynamic, I could have made some very interesting compositions out of some of them.
When I found the plastic loop sculptures, I knew instinctively that there were some good shots to be had here, and I just needed to have a walk around them, find the ‘sweet spots’, and wait. I took about eighteen shots here, with some amount of success, and all the time, the confidence growing little by little.
After this I moved out onto the streets, with more daylight, I was able to shoot faster speeds and/or smaller apertures. I was also getting a little more brazen, but still nothing worthy of an assignment! It wasn’t long before I had the (slightly terrifying) idea of standing at a pedestrian crossing. By doing this, I thought that I might be able to shoot a picture of a person in a crowd, isolated and picked out by being in sharp focus whilst all around are slightly out of focus. Sadly, I wasn’t able to achieve this, as I wasn’t comfortable enough to put on my long zoom (75-300mm) and get really up close and personal. On a positive note, feel that I still got some very good candid shots. One of my best shots was taken here (4139), although I did think that I was going to get into a confrontation, as I could hear the man with ginger hair protesting very loudly to his (very big) friend behind him about having his picture taken. Having ridden my luck for long enough, I moved on shortly after.
Still outside, I took a selection of shots at different camera settings until challenged by the man in the cap. I diffused the situation by politely asking if he minded me taking a photo of him! This seemed to throw him a little, and I got off a few. As a subject matter, he was particularly un-photogenic, but I achieved the desired effect of having a blurred background to put the subject matter in isolation.
I went back into the precinct, feeling a lot more confident, and this is when I got images 4156 and 4157 back to back. Both of which made my assignment finals.
I finished the first day (New year’s Eve) on a high, getting the now all too familiar photo of somebody taking a selfie. I had expected better results from these three images, as I had been very close (1.9mtrs away) to them, with an aperture of f4. These results though forced me to consider getting the 75-300mmm zoom out.
The following day I expected to continue with the same amount of confidence that I’d finished the previous day with. It wasn’t the case! I dithered for quite some time, before deciding to go to where I had been comfortable the day before. I also knew that there was still a good shot to be had. As I waited, my confidence grew, and I was able to get two shots worthy of the assignment (4184 & 4189).
With confidence returning, I went outside, and waited close to a bus stop, where I was able to get some more good shots. There was a man stood next to me smoking a cigarette. He was close enough that I could blur the background out completely, but there was something that set me thinking, and it was whether he felt uncomfortable smoking and possibly offending others with his smoke (as I used to constantly feel before I gave up). So the challenge was to get the blur just right. I could see from the first three shots that I had judged this well, but that I needed more human presence to create what I was seeing as a dichotomy. I think I was very lucky to get exactly what I wanted in four shots (It makes up for the many that I didn’t get!).
I had literally just lowered my camera when the man in the next four images came and stood even closer. His proximity made me feel a little uneasy, I thought he was going to either challenge me or try to steal something form me! After about two minutes he was still there, showing no sign of moving on. I set the camera to what I wanted, fought down the voice in my head that was telling me why I shouldn’t ask ………… and asked! The instant I saw that he wasn’t going to object, I got off three shots with my big zoom at 130mm and as close as I could get ( I actually had to take a half step backwards) with the aperture at 4.6, I got my best shots of all. Afterwards we chatted for about five minutes, then I made my excuses and went back inside (feeling pretty chuffed with myself!)
Buoyed by this experience I managed to get a number of other challenging shots most of which had slight technical defects or were compositionally weak. That said, there was still one more that I used for the assignment (4226). Sadly, the first two of the lady in the cerise coat which had very good compositional qualities, lacked depth of field. So I had to use the last one which was technically better but lacked composition.
My last strong contender for the assignment was image 4237. Unfortunately, my auto focus had settled on her reflection rather than her, and so it just didn’t work.
I see! 