Evaluation.

For this project we where asked to pick a location, take a series of images and create a book. For the project I was hoping to achieve 10 or more images to create a small a5 book and print it. I managed to achieve this and more by doing multiple locations and taking a huge amount of images and having a large pool of images to choose from. I decided to choose these images because of the control I had, originally I chose to take street images at Preston Market but due to the difficulties I had and the small frames of time that I could shoot effectively I decided to change to urban decay and graffiti art. The reason I chose this is because of the control I had over the environment, I could use on camera flash, off camera flash and even tripods, whereas with street you couldn't use any of those extra equipment. 

Technical

The technical aspects to street photography in comparison to the urban exploring was totally different. 
With street photography I was limited to fast shutter speeds, high iso's and wide open apertures to let as much light in while keeping the shutter speeds high. An example of why I found this subject difficult shown here:

Although this is a well composed image it is a little underexposed and there's a tiny amount of motion blur (even at 1/80th of a second) because everything is so fast moving. If you where to zoom in you would probably see a certain amount of grain in the image.




Whereas if you have a look at this image from one of my urbex shoots you can see the image is well exposed (in the area's highlighted by the flash) and because I could really take my time composing the image and selecting where I could put the flash to highlight what I wanted. Due to my flash being at 1/64 I could choose my shutter speed to be at something like 1/60 with 100 iso and I could close my aperture a little to get a bit more crisp images. This was an effective decision because 
I decided to shoot all my images in raw and post processing them in Photoshop. I did this because it meant i could bring out any details that may have been blown out by the flash or bring out a certain amount of detail in the shadows. 

The research I did involving Marchand Meffre's work really helped with the final images because it showed that a lot of people use natural lighting while urban exploring and I wanted something different, by using the flash guns i think this was effective in creating a different image style. 

The strengths of my final images is that they generally fit into one section or category of images. The images I took work really well with the flash I believe because some of the shots with the flash really highlights the graffiti (which is one of the main subjects of the book) the detail in my images are quite highly detailed and with slight boosting of the clarity I get a slight HDR look without overdoing it. 

Location Book

contact sheet from the shoot.
i have decided on these images because they best show the building.

location 3

This shoot was in an abandoned warehouse called Sheppard Security. I was mainly focussing on the graffiti in the building and capturing what people have done in the building since it's abandonment. How we got in took quite a bit of effort, we had to climb up onto a roof and then climb through a window on the first floor. Once inside we found a way downstairs into the main room straight away because that's where the biggest room was and could get some wide angle shots. once inside though, navigating the building was totally fine. There was a lot of graffiti in the rooms which I focused on mainly.  There was a lot of interesting things in there too, like ties left behind and old security jackets. There where a couple old computers that where stripped apart and broken. There where certain limitations to the shoot like how dark certain area's where but I did bring an off camera flash for the shoot because I knew that it wouldn't be light.

Location 2

This location was quite challenging as was very in the decisive moment, as with all street photography. the environment was very busy and also quite dark, this meant high shutter speeds, wide open lenses and a high iso as to not capture any movement blur. I really like some of the images but the poor lighting tends to ruin the images a little too. I did shoot all the images in raw too but even with raw processing some of the images either where too dark either from lighting change (clouds changing the ambient light) or movement blur from the people.

Dancers studio

I really enjoyed photographing the dancers. There where some certain limitations to the shoot due to the poor lighting and the backlighting making the subject of the image hard to correctly expose without blowing out the background.

With theses images there was only capturing images in the decisive moments, which was quite difficult as there was a lot of movement across the whole studio so capturing with the correct focal length and not being too wide or cutting out an arm or a leg etc.

Contact sheet

I have chosen theses images because of the colours that where created because the images where taken at sunset time all the images looked very warm and not as harsh, with all the images I have edited them differently, some desaturating the images and some over saturated (because of hair colour) I decided to do this because I thought it was very contrasting to the black coat.)

Location 1

My first location was in the music studio.
The constraints of working in a music studio is that the lighting is very poor, quite dark and often yellow lighting. This can make shooting difficult without a flash. I like the depth of field in some of theses images and the detail in the parts in the correct focus. Using the 50mm f1.8 allowed me to get these types of depth of field in the images and allowed me to let more light into the camera. However it made it quite difficult to get the correct focus in the decisive moment. I had to use selective autofocus to stop the camera trying to focus on the background instead of the main subject. This aperture also made it quite difficult because the subjects would move back and forward and out of focus.

"if your photographs aren't good you're not close enough" - Robert Capa

"Photography is about finding what can happen in the frame. When you put 4 edges around some facts, you change those facts" - Garry Winogrand

"You become technically proficient whether you want to or not, the more you take pictures" - William Eggleston

Use location and college ground to find things we normally miss and take images
Imagine photographing Preston college making it interesting enough that people wonder where it is

Plan

My idea for the location photography is to go to Preston market and see if I can find a cheap old camera and shoot all the project images on that. That way it adds to the whole project by including myself into the whole atmosphere of the area. The reason I am doing this is because I really like the atmosphere of the whole car boot sale similarities, the bartering and the deal making etc, it's old fashioned and I like that. The equipment I plan on using is a camera bought at the car boot/market place and using that to produce the images. The film i may be using is expired film to create these under saturated images and just trying to use dysfunctional equipment like damaged lenses etc.

History

The outdoor market or "Covered Market" has been around since the early to mid 1800's as a trading place for people. "It was in 1837 that Preston Corporation first turned its thoughts to the provision of a covered market and "appointed a committee to procure plans, estimates, etc." Certainly Council minutes and local press comment show Preston was experiencing some problems with its market provision (In 1841-2 the fish market was moved to a covered area adjacent to the corn exchange and ‘moveable stalls’ were restricted on Preston’s streets)."  -  Wikipedia.

Equipment

The equipment I will be using will most likely be a Sony a6000 with the kit 16-50mm lens. I will be using this because it is a similar size to one of the Leica Range finders and is small and inconspicuous allowing me to capture the more candid photo's I am looking for. 

as you can see the camera is very small. I won't be using a flash as this will be very obvious while shooting street. I will have to compromise by using higher iso's and wider apertures. 

I am either going to use this camera or use one I can buy at the Market. This will more involve myself into the market place.

****EDIT****

After initially shooting in Preston Market I have decided to change my subject to more of urban decay location, I decided this because in street photography there are too many external variables to incorporate into the final image, this led to many problems while shooting.
lighting was the main issue with shooting under the market because it is already under cover and the weather in winter is generally dull it made having correct exposure difficult while keeping a fast shutter speed. Trying to fix this lead to other issues like noisy images, blurry images and just underexposed images. I would like to do this project another time but maybe during another time of the year. 
The subjects where another issue because no one is really aware that you're photographing them they tend to walk away really quickly so there's no double takes. 
Overall i chose to change my subject to urban decay because I would be in a much more controlled environment, where I could change my composition and lighting very easily. What i will be doing is more still life/observational photography.


Planning my urbex shoot

MARCHAND MEFFRE (link to the website)

Marchand Meffre is the title of the website for the photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre who are urban explorers who visit ruins of buildings and photograph them. I really enjoy looking at their work because of the area's they go to these area's you would never be able to see normally. The level of detail in the images looks and works really well with the area's. They tend to use natural lighting even if they're in dark area's. I think they do this to complement the natural feel to these environments where the urban buildings have started to decay and natural life is coming in (moss, weeds etc)

For my first urban decay location I am choosing Preston Mill in Penwortham. I am choosing this location as it is relatively easy to get to and there's a lot of graffiti inside which can lead to interesting images. 
   There are certain subjects I need to think about before I go, like clothing, what I need to take with me, how I'm going to get there etc. 

Equipment
What I am taking with me is my Sony a6000 with two transceivers and a speedlight. I am taking these because it will be good for off camera flash shots and really highlighting certain subjects and works very well for creating dramatic and dynamic spot lighting. I am also taking a spare battery for my camera and two sets of spare batteries, one set for the speedlight and the other set for the transceivers. I am taking the 16-55mm lens on the sony because of how wide it is and will work well to get the full room shots. 

Clothing
what I am going to wear is an old jacket that I don't mind ruining or ripping, some old jeans and some trainers that I don't mind ruining either. I decided to wear trainers and not boots because I will probably have to climb over some obstacles. I'm taking a relatively small and light bag so I'm not to encumbered while moving around. 

Weather
On the day I am going to check weather reports and how long the day is to get an idea of what times would be best to shoot at and what time I need to be leaving before it gets dark. Hopefully the best scenario would be a slightly overcast day, no wind and not too cold. If it rains then the day will have to be postponed due to hazardous environment while wet.

Image Plans
The type of images I want are very high contrast and dramatic lighting. I will be doing a lot more experimenting on location with where the light placement is, shooting with natural lighting, shooting with flash or long exposures and maybe even multiple exposures. 

Task 1

Different Types of locations

There are many different types of locations, for example there is street photography (Joel Meyerowitz and Robert Frank) this type of specialist location can be very challenging and difficult to plan. This makes it very difficult to do on a set day, generally street photography should be done on a busy day like a weekend during peak times (morning, lunch break and rush hour) the weather can heavily influence street photography. When the weather is nice, there is better lighting and generally more people out, whereas if the weather is miserable it affects the lighting and can effect the amount of people that are out and about.

Comparison with landscape

Shooting street differed hugely from shooting, for example, landscape. They are different because with landscape photography you can really slow down and take your time with the shot and really take your time composing the shot and you can be a lot more flexible with your camera settings, using slower shutter speeds, smaller apertures, lower iso's to generally get a cleaner, sharper image. With street photography you're constantly on your feet, moving around and adjusting camera settings and finding people or objects to photograph.
     With street photography you're limited to what shutter speed you need to be at, you need to be at around 1/125 to really freeze and capture what's going on, the rest of the settings are flexible, but there are limitations. You generally don't want a wide open because that can lead to out of focus shots due to the subjects moving after you've focused.
     The lighting in landscape is whatever you desire really, you can shoot during the day, dawn, dusk, twilight or even night time because you're really flexible with what your camera settings are, on the other side street photography you're limited by your surroundings. If it's dark or even overcast could totally effect your images. In landscape photography one of the biggest things you have to worry about is where you decide to shoot, is it safe? Is it legal? How are you going to get there? These are just a few questions when considering shooting landscapes.
     Shooting street on the other hand also has it's health and safety limitations, you don't know how someone is going to react to having their picture taken, it's completely random. Also you often have issues with security or shooting certain things. You also have to know your rights as a photographer so you don't get in trouble with the police. Photographing people can be difficult again as most people aren't really comfortable with someone just taking pictures of them in the street and I personally have had quite odd looks after taking an image of them. Luckily I haven't had much when it comes to confrontations and personally would like to keep it that way.

Health and Safety, what's public and what's private?

With shooting on public land you have rights to take images of whatever is there. You can stand on public ground and shoot onto private land (with some limitations) whereas you cannot shoot on private land without permission of the land owner.


The Street- 
Joel Meyerowitz and Robert Frank

Joel Meyerowitz is a New York based street photographer, his work has appeared in over 350 exhibitions and has sold over 150,000 prints.

Here is a link to one of his video's on framing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xumo7_JUeMo

I really like his work, as a street photographer you have to capture very "in the moment" images and i think he does this very well especially when it comes to framing. Linked to his video above he talks about how he doesn't shoot objective subjects. He shoots with both his eyes, one eye through the viewfinder and one eye looking outwards onto the street. He likes his subjects to coexist with each other unknowingly and to show that "we are all connected" (again referring to his video)

This image of the girl I think is great, the use of the windows as a form of dual framing to individualise the two in the image is fantastic. It shows that even though the two know each other (the man in black appearing to be some form of driver offering a hand) but the little girl not wanting to go anywhere so she's putting herself away from him and Joel frames her using the window.





Robert Frank

A Swedish born photographer Frank migrated to America and pursued his photography, he did this for some years before abandoning photography to start his film career for a few years before returning to photography.


Here is a brief video of the curator of his Americans exhibition talking about a few of his images. I think this is very insightful of his book and his photography:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHtRZBDOgag

 I think this image is fantastic, it's a contrasting image in what the subjects in the image are. The image is a very foggy, misty day with low visibility and it's night time or evening too. The fact he chose to shoot the street with the 'look' written on the floor is the decisive moment, he most likely didn't plan on doing that before he saw the sign on the floor and that's what makes the image what it is.

This image is one of his more iconic images. This is infact probably one of his most well known image, it depicts a young girl (10 or 11) with a cigarette in her hand, she's not even smoking the cigarette nor is it lit, it's just a hugely controversial image and that's why it's well known. I really like this image again for the huge contrasts in subjects. the children in the image resembles pure innocence to everything and the cigarette almost corrupts the whole meaning of the image and that makes is great to me.

 This image is amazing in my opinion, in what looks like New York or another busy city Frank manages to capture a woman in the back of a cab with motion blur in the background and the subject is crisp and in focus and generally well shot. I believe this is a great image and shows that he has a lot of talent along with an eye for great images.

This is another image with large amounts of contrast. The image is of someone who is dressed in a very western American manner with a typical cowboy/rodeo outfit in the middle of a city, you'd expect to see this style of clothing in a small town with a ranch and a saloon but looks out of place in the middle of a city and again shows he has an eye for capturing these odd moments.















Public Transport

Preston Bus Station

Craig Atkinson is a UK based street photographer who has done a lot of work in Preston and at the Preston Bus station. His work consists mainly of interesting looking people and architecture.

 I like this shot because I think it represents the place best, during busy hours it is constantly filled with people of all different ages, ethnicity's and gender. It's a very diverse place with people coming in from all over Lancashire and even England. For this reason I like this picture, the composition of the image is good too as you have all these lines that take you to the back of the image and then you look at each face coming back to the front. This is a very well done shot.

Although it is the same place it's a totally different image. The picture is very quiet and simple but the shadows from outside shining onto the wall looks really nice, again with the lines in the image drawing your attention to certain subjects in the image.










The Seaside

Simon Roberts is another UK based photographer who travelled England and Wales to photograph the Piers of England and Wales for The Times. He visited the likes of Blackpool to Brighton and even Aberystwyth.

 I really like this image, a lot of it is because of how empty the image is and how it's shot while it's foggy/misty. It's good that the image isn't shot while it's sunny as it shows another perspective to the pier and that it's not always sunny at the seaside. The composition in this image is also another strong aspect of the image with the guide lines that you follow to the building in the distance.

  Similarly with the image above this one is shot while it isn't so sunny, I think I prefer the gloomy images of the pier as they almost look abandoned and desolate. Especially this shot, it's of an amusement ground in Blackpool and it looks totally empty. I really like his work as it gives a view into the piers around the UK that not everybody can go visit or even see.