Reflection. Photography. Old observatory. York. Spring 2018.
Silhouette. Photography. Multangular tower. Tree. York 2018.
Forced perspective. Photography. Museum gardens York. Dinosaur. Spring 2018.
Long exposure. Squirrel under yew tree. York. Spring 2018.
Shallow depth of field. Photography. Flowers. York. City walls. Spring 2018.
Frame within a frame. Photography. Bootham Bar. York.
Contextualising Statement:
For the photography task we were asked to produce six photographs linked by an overall theme. Each photograph needed to demonstrate a specific technique: long exposure/light painting, silhouette, reflection, frame within a frame, forced perspective, shallow depth of field. We were to work in groups of two or three, sharing a camera and tripod, to produce the pictures during five allotted hours of class time. The final six pictures had to be edited using PremierPro.
Submitting a detailed risk assessment, complete with postcodes for all the locations we intended to use, was essential. Although there were no serious health and safety issues with our plans, it is always important to consider all possibilities.
I was concerned about my ability to complete the task using the camera on a fully manual setting. Therefore, I made notes of possible optimum settings for each type of photograph, which I took with me, and practiced with a friend’s camera beforehand.
Unfortunately, there were some problems. It rained heavily and was very overcast, making photography soggy, muddy and difficult, although my task partner and I cooperated well and helped each other to complete what we needed. But the SD card was lost before we could upload the pictures. This experience convinced me of the importance of saving pictures or footage in a safe location as soon as possible.
I had to redo the task alone.
This time the sun shone, which caused a different set of problems and often left me shooting almost blind. I decided to forgo carrying the heavy tripod as it had not proved useful the first time. I also changed my theme to ‘York in Spring’ to fit the good weather and focussed my time in the Museum Gardens.
The famous photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson said, “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” (2015) In light of my experience with this task, I’m choosing to take comfort in that.
The frame within a frame, reflection, shallow depth of field and silhouette were challenging but I got usable pictures. My understanding of basic composition – the rule of thirds, leading lines etc. (2016) is reasonable enough to produce pleasing results. However, I found the long exposure and forced perspective extremely difficult. Outside on a sunny day with no ND filter the long exposure overexposed into whiteness. In desperation I sheltered in the gloom under a yew tree waiting for squirrels to pass. My light painting came out incredibly abstract but interesting, although not fulfilling the parameters of the task it was all I got. I also struggled to get forced perspective without a partner and improvised with a model dinosaur bought from the museum gift shop. After an hour of trial and error I took one usable picture, more by accident than design.
I find photography and communicating through image fascinating and almost magical at times but require a great deal more experience and technical skill in order to achieve the desired results. The skill of creating good still images clearly translates to creating good moving images; and forms an important foundation for someone wishing to make films and TV. I look forward to learning a great deal more.
Bibliography:
O’Carrol, B. (2016) 20 Composition Techniques That Will Improve Your Photos [Internet]. Available from https://petapixel.com/2016/09/14/20-composition-techniques-will-improve-photos/ [Accessed 23rd May 2018]
Row, J. (2015) What Henri Cartier-Bresson Meant by This Quote [Internet] Available from https://www.lightstalking.com/henri-cartier-bresson/ [Accessed 23rd May 2018]