Assignment 2 : Photostory

Assignment 2 : Photo story

I am really pleased with all the assignments that my tutor has set us so far. I have found them challenging and interesting at the same time.

My first idea for the photo story brief was to try to cover the changing face of the ambulance service. In the last 30 years the ambulance service like many other jobs has changed significantly. It used to be a male dominated working class job. Where as in the last ten to fifteen years. The staff that are now carrying out the work are of different sexes, differing backgrounds both culturally and socially. I had an idea of representing members if staff in their uniforms at work and possibly at home or socially. Another idea I considered was to photograph each colleague with an item from their own personal life. One colleague suggested photographing her with the Gay pride flag as it symbolised her sexual orientation. Another colleague suggested taking his picture with his prayer hat on.


Either to show colleagues in a photo in uniform then contrast this photo with an image of the. either at home or socialising.

I also had an idea of photographing a series of Bradford pubs that have now shut down. As I started my research I Realised fairly quickly that there are lots of pubs in and around Bradford that have shut down over the last few years. I sarted to compile a comprehensive list of closed pubs in Bradford over the last ten years. This was followed by an e.mail to the local paper (Telegraph and Argus). I also kept a close eye on the paper for further articles relating to pub closures of which there were a few.

During my research I discovered a lecturer at the University of Bradford had written a book regarding the demise of the great British pub and in particular Bradford pubs, I found his contact details here :

http://www.brad.ac.uk/sled/research/staff-research/Paul-Jennings/ 

So decided I would call / e.mail him.
Quote from a university lecturer Paul Jennings :

  

Mindful of the boarded-up public houses we see as we travel around West Yorkshire we ask Paul if he thinks the local pub might have had its day. He says: "The society that underpinned local pubs has moved on. If you look at Bradford, and certainly parts of Leeds or Halifax, the population has changed. The white English-born population which supported pubs has largely moved out and a new population, largely from the Commonwealth, has moved in for whom pubs, generally speaking, are not part of their cultural landscape. Not totally, some groups - Sikhs perhaps - were using some of the pubs in Bradford when I was around."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2007/10/03/pubs_history_bradford_feature.shtml 

My thought was to show each pub as they are now be that closed, converted, knocked down, in limbo or whatever state the pub was in.One of the biggest problems that I felt I would have was to try to give each image a certain uniformity or how I could link  each image together.

Book cover

After lots of research I finally decided on an idea for my book cover,the trouble is the item I want to use is very hard to find.

Not sure if I should persit in trying to locate it or give it up as a bad job !

I'm basically trying to find an antique. I suspect it will make my cover look very original and it definately ties in with the book. As the author is alleged to have written the book on an old underwood typewriter.

Will have to see if I can locate said item, if not I had an idea of using origarmi birds.

Managed to locate a typewriter turns out my wife who is a teacher had the exact machine I was after lurking in a corner at her school. I could not velievd my luck.

I spent the whole evening experimenting taking shots under differing light settings and at different angles. I really enjoyed it and was very pleased with the end results.

One frustration that Dix arrise was not having the confide cd or the time to recreate the same shot on a film camera. I borrowed a camera, but never got round to actually taking the shots on film. I would have loved to have entered the competition.

Assignment 1 : Night photography shoot

Research and reflection into assignment 1 : Night shoot

For my night phoitographic shoot I had 2 locations in mind. 

1) Ferrybridge power station 

2) A Scrap yard on Canal road in Bradford.

After looking at the work of Michael Kenna for inspiration and in particular his powerstation series. It was clear that he was inspired to some extent by Bill Brandt.

 

I was particulary inspired by the above image as it gave a good wide angle view of this powerstation, something that I wanted to achieve also. Although Kenna works in black and White. The composition was inspiring. I intended to use a long exsposure.

Photos from the Kenna website : http://www.michaelkenna.net/gallery.php?id=7

I decided to take a photo of Ferrybridge power station as I'd attempted to shoot it many years before, but never at night. I looked at several images on flickr firstly :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34083794@N06/4210056602/

I had considered taking pictures of a scrap yard in Bradford. For inspiration I looked on the Internet and found the following images -  http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastian-photography/3809741899/ 

I liked this image as the photographer had obviously used s long exsposure and fill in flash with different coloured gels to create the green effect in the cab.

 

Whether or not I would be able to recreate this I was unsure, partially due to access issues onto the scrap yard. I had in mind a far wider shot that would gives greater sense of scale

to my image.

The following link was more like the type of image I had in mind :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastian-photography/4249838496/in/pool-deadmetal/

I decided to contact the photographer, to ask the following  :

7 Feb 10, 1.18AM PST

Hello there I am photographer studying at degree level.

I am undertaking an assignment in location based night photography and was interested in using sites like scrap yards and powerstations. after researching on the internet I found your series 7 shots. Some of which are very inspiring indeed.

I was nhoping to ask you one or two questions about your series of photos ?

Firstly I wondered how you had achieved some of the effects in your photos, did you use any fill in flash and gels for any of the images in this series or was it all natural lighitng \ residual lighting ?

Secondly have you altered any of your images in photoshop or are they as shot ?

I hope you don't mind me asking you these questions and thanks again for the inspiration, keep up the great work.

Kind Regards

Michael Good

Hi Michael,

thanks alot for your comments and feedbacks, I'm glad you enjoy my work and find it inspiring.

My night shots use different kind of lighting techniques depending on the situation, lot of them have manual strobe flashes combined with colored gels. Sometimes, its only the ambient lighting if the light is nice and fill enough the whole composition.

As for Photoshop, I don't really use it that much, I prefer developing my work through Lightroom, with basic contrast, exposure, etc.

Hope that helps, and thanks again! :)

Sebastian

I also looked at some more fill in flash work at the following site, this photographer also does not use photoshop :

http://troypaiva.com/

Another idea that I had was to photograph a scarp yard on Canal road in Bradford. The owners are called Crossely Evans

I went early one morning at a weekend when the sight was shut and had a look through the gates.

The sight had lots of tall lights  and large structures like cranes. I had already previously looked at the site from the main road to gauge what it looked like at night.

One concern was if the images from Ferrybridge and the potential scrap yard shoot would tie together. Would they juxtapose or compliment each other ?

Upon visiting the scrap yard I could not find a good angle to shoot from without actually entering the yard.In the end I was disappointed as I did not manage to shoot at either site, due to poor weather and time constraints. Although this was frustrating at first it does not mean I have ruled out going back and completing the project at a later date. Instead I will put the idea on the back burner or file it for a later date.

These are some of the final images that I printed for my assignment.

Image 1

Image 2

 

Image 3

 

Image 4