Contextualising Statement
This task required me to take six different photos all connected by a common theme and displaying different photography techniques. These techniques were frame within a frame, silhouette, reflection, long exposure, forced perspective and shallow depth of field. This was a difficult task to complete as I found it difficult to understand how to properly use the camera to achieve the required techniques. However, I was able to display the six techniques in my photographs in the end.
The majority of this task involved individual work, from planning to editing the photos. Before I could even begin production however, I had to decide on a theme to link my artefacts. This involved thinking of a range ideas that could potentially work and deciding whether I could actually achieve all of the required techniques with each theme. After much individual thought, I decided upon the theme of books. This is because, while I did have solid ideas on how to achieve the techniques with this theme, I thought that it would be a challenge for myself that I wanted to attempt.
One major way in which I had to work collaboratively during this task was with my shooting partner, who was also the subject of my photos. I had to ensure that I gave clear instructions so as to achieve the final effect that I envisioned in my planning. Although a lot of this fell to me getting the framing and the placement of the camera (Musburger and Kindem, 2009) correct, I also had to make sure that my subject knew how I wanted them positioned in the shot, which is where communication was crucial. Despite the fact that I was able to collaborate well with my subject, the difficulty that I faced in actually being able to achieve the six key techniques through framing and camera placement with my theme of books made this task much harder. Although my initial photographs didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned, the editing process (which I had to undertake individually) did help me to elevate them.
The most evident health and safety issue with this task was the fact that a lot of the shooting took place around York, a busy city. As a result, there were many potential hazards, such as roads, the public and even water as shooting did take place around the river. The hazard of water was even more evident due to flooding on the days of shooting. All of these were fairly easy to overcome. I stayed away from roads while actually taking my shots, avoided areas that were too busy as this was the best way to avoid bumping into members of the public or getting in the way and I remained behind a fence when near the flooded river. While it was unlikely that any of these hazards would actually cause harm, it was still very important that they were accounted for in the risk assessment.
Reference List
Musburger, R.B. and Kindem, G. (2009) Introduction to Media Production: The Path to Digital Media Production. Burlington, Focal Press.
