People and Place
Project 2: People unaware
Exercise 9: A comfortable situation
I wasn't satisfied with my first attempt of this exercise. I took photos of my friends playing a game outside, and I didn't think the images turned out in an interesting way. It was a comfortable situation because I was with friends, but I was maybe not sharp enough. So I'm planning to redo this exercise at the Culture Night. I want to capture an outdoor event with lots of spectators, and it wouldn't be unusual for someone to take pictures there. I imagine it would be a comfortable situation.
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So I went to the Culture night and captured these dancers and drummers from Burundi. They were performing in a square and lots of people gathered around and there were a couple of photographers too. I didn't feel out of place taking pictures. I apologised and made my way to the front, and sat down in front of the crowd. I felt quite comfortable. The performance was very lively, and very enjoyable to watch. I feel that I almost miss the enjoyment when I take pictures though. The difficulty at this occasion was that it was getting darker so I tried to use flash. I think I'm right in saying that the shutter speed stays the same, ie 1/125th of a second, when using flash, and the exposure is controlled by the aperture instead. So with my longer lens the shutter speed was too long for some of the activity, which clearly can be seen in some of the pictures below. One example in the man jumping: the picture is blurred but I still kept it because it's capturing a great moment. I'm not sure how to control the techical part with the shutterspeed and flash combined with a longer lens.
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So I went to the Culture night and captured these dancers and drummers from Burundi. They were performing in a square and lots of people gathered around and there were a couple of photographers too. I didn't feel out of place taking pictures. I apologised and made my way to the front, and sat down in front of the crowd. I felt quite comfortable. The performance was very lively, and very enjoyable to watch. I feel that I almost miss the enjoyment when I take pictures though. The difficulty at this occasion was that it was getting darker so I tried to use flash. I think I'm right in saying that the shutter speed stays the same, ie 1/125th of a second, when using flash, and the exposure is controlled by the aperture instead. So with my longer lens the shutter speed was too long for some of the activity, which clearly can be seen in some of the pictures below. One example in the man jumping: the picture is blurred but I still kept it because it's capturing a great moment. I'm not sure how to control the techical part with the shutterspeed and flash combined with a longer lens.
Exercise 10: Moment and gesture
In the book "Train your gaze" by Roswell Angier we can read on page 33 "The photographer's choice of moment, in which the key elements of the photograph are positioned in relation to each other, just so, is also crucial". Cartier-Bresson is mentioned again in this context. It almost feels like every book and text has a obsessive compulsion to mention him. Roswell continues "The photographer arranges the information found in the camera's viewfinder, often intuively and extremely quickly, in a way that seems appropriate to his sense of quality of the instant". So it's not only the moment which is the important factor for an interesting image, but also the framing.
The images below are the result of my hunt for the famous decisive moment in Venice. The people are certainly unaware of me. It's a certain feeling to be taking pictures of people who are unaware of you. It almost feels like I was spying on them. But it was also quite exiting to be on the hunt for good shots. After a while I started to feel more comfortable and intrigued by the situation. It's good to have a digital camera for these unplanned situations. I took a lot of dud images and would have wasted a lot of film. Most of these were taken with a focal length of 200mm.
The images below are the result of my hunt for the famous decisive moment in Venice. The people are certainly unaware of me. It's a certain feeling to be taking pictures of people who are unaware of you. It almost feels like I was spying on them. But it was also quite exiting to be on the hunt for good shots. After a while I started to feel more comfortable and intrigued by the situation. It's good to have a digital camera for these unplanned situations. I took a lot of dud images and would have wasted a lot of film. Most of these were taken with a focal length of 200mm.
Here is the moment when the pizza is put on the table. The woman is scrutinising it. This was taken a little from above, as I stood on a bridge. I like that both faces and pizza are lit up by the sun, so that they don't disappear in the shade. There was an other person's shoulder in the bottom right corner, which I erased with the clone stamp tool. It now looks like an extension of the black apron.
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The girl's expression says a lot. She looks happy and exhilirated. Her face isn't in complete focus, but I still think the photo has a value. There were a lot of people in the background, so in postprocessing, I made a selection and added gaussian blur to the background, to make the girl stand out more. It is also a little bit cropped.
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Exercise 11: Standing back
200 mm focal length was used for all these images. It creates a comfortable distance to the subjects, and I could shoot pretty much unnoticed. I started off with shutter speed priority and I then normally set it to 1/60s. I realised that with the lens full extended the shutter speed had to be much faster than that. I then changed to auto setting. When trying to capture people I can't be standing fiddling with settings. The auto setting would work best in bright settings, so that the flash don't pop up. A fireing flash would draw attention to the photographer.
An example of the too long shutter speed is the first photo of the embracing couple. It's out of focus, but I thought it was a lovely moment to capture, so I chose to include it here.
Another difficulty with using a long lens is that someone or something could easily get in between the photographer and the subject. I experience this when trying to capture the two guards below. It would have been a nice image, if it wasn't for the person in between. I wanted to include these two images though not being great, to show what the pitfalls are of a long focal length.
The last image with the girl with the umbrella, I find quite striking. She was modelling for someone else, so I stole a capture of her.
Previously I have not done any street photography, so "people unaware" is a new field for me. I think starting off in Venice was a good start for me. Somehow I feel more secure when taking pictures of others, when I'm away. It feels more accepted when you are a tourist. It is also easier to do in a busy area, where the photographer doesn't stick out too much. It can also be a challenge to get the front of someone's face, as I might feel safer when they look away than when they are looking straight at me - and then they wouldn't be unaware!
An example of the too long shutter speed is the first photo of the embracing couple. It's out of focus, but I thought it was a lovely moment to capture, so I chose to include it here.
Another difficulty with using a long lens is that someone or something could easily get in between the photographer and the subject. I experience this when trying to capture the two guards below. It would have been a nice image, if it wasn't for the person in between. I wanted to include these two images though not being great, to show what the pitfalls are of a long focal length.
The last image with the girl with the umbrella, I find quite striking. She was modelling for someone else, so I stole a capture of her.
Previously I have not done any street photography, so "people unaware" is a new field for me. I think starting off in Venice was a good start for me. Somehow I feel more secure when taking pictures of others, when I'm away. It feels more accepted when you are a tourist. It is also easier to do in a busy area, where the photographer doesn't stick out too much. It can also be a challenge to get the front of someone's face, as I might feel safer when they look away than when they are looking straight at me - and then they wouldn't be unaware!
Exercise 12: Close and involved
Gary Winograd mostly worked with a 28mm wide angle lens. Subsequently he worked closely and more agressively in terms of invading the subjects space. "Winograd's rule of thumb seems to be that if his subject can't reach out and actually touch him, he's not close enough" Roswell writes in "Train your gaze" on page 36. As a result a lot of surrounding can be seen in Winograd's photos. He also puts his subjects firmly within the frame, and does not let the subject disappear out from it, or be close to the edge.
Following the previous exercises I became a little bit braver and felt ready to tackle the wide-angle focal length. All the photos below were taken using 18 mm focal length. My lens can lock at the shortest focal length, which guaranteed the focal length would remain 18 mm.
I chose the Rialto market in Venice as my location for this exercise. I reckoned there would be lots of activity and people would stay put behind their stalls. They would also be busy with their work and not noticing me too much.
The wide angle focal length really makes feel like you are in the market and standing in front of the stalls. The surroundings, in this case the fruit, vegetable and fish, dominates the frame. The subject fills a smaller part. Since the photographer is closer to the subject, you run a greater risk of being noticed, but luckily the merchants of Venice were too busy to notice me - or maybe rather they weren't bothered about me.
Following the previous exercises I became a little bit braver and felt ready to tackle the wide-angle focal length. All the photos below were taken using 18 mm focal length. My lens can lock at the shortest focal length, which guaranteed the focal length would remain 18 mm.
I chose the Rialto market in Venice as my location for this exercise. I reckoned there would be lots of activity and people would stay put behind their stalls. They would also be busy with their work and not noticing me too much.
The wide angle focal length really makes feel like you are in the market and standing in front of the stalls. The surroundings, in this case the fruit, vegetable and fish, dominates the frame. The subject fills a smaller part. Since the photographer is closer to the subject, you run a greater risk of being noticed, but luckily the merchants of Venice were too busy to notice me - or maybe rather they weren't bothered about me.
Exercise 13: A standard view, standard focal length
The idea:
For this exercise I had to investigate what a standard view actually means. The idea is that the lens captures a view with the same size as you would with the naked eye. If you look into the viewfinder with one eye, and look at the scene in front of you with the other, they should look the same (provided you have the same eye sight in both eyes). So far so good. But I became confused about different cameras having different standard focal length.
The figures:
After reading up on this, I realise that the original standard focal length of 50 mm apply to 35mm film cameras and DSLRs with full frame sensors. Most DSLRs have cropped sensors, so my Nikon would have a focal length multiplied by 1.5 times. So for the standard focal length of 50 mm, it actually corresponds to 33 mm focal length on a cropped sensor (like mine).
The reality:
But they are the figures. Looking through the lens and actually comparing, I think 55 mm focal length is more similar with both eyes. I'm not sure how important this is for this exercise, as the course material states it should mean a view with no special graphic distortion. Therefore, I assume my prime lens with 35 mm focal length could be used.
The images:
So I made me way out to the streets of Dublin to try out the "standard view". No other close up was possible than my legs and my guts. You see the people at the same distance as I saw them. Normally I would have been tempted to crop some of these images, but that would defeat the point of this exercise.
I would prefer a longer lens but I felt pretty OK doing this since I was moving around in a area where lots of other people also move around. I feel calmer taking photos of people where there is something between us, like for instance the man looking out through a window, and the people waiting on the other side of the street. I also think that I don't stick out too much and people probably don't feel intimidated by me.
All the images were taken quickly and I couldn't predict how people would move. In some of the images the main subject is straight in the middle which is something I would try to avoid if I could control the situation more.
For this exercise I had to investigate what a standard view actually means. The idea is that the lens captures a view with the same size as you would with the naked eye. If you look into the viewfinder with one eye, and look at the scene in front of you with the other, they should look the same (provided you have the same eye sight in both eyes). So far so good. But I became confused about different cameras having different standard focal length.
The figures:
After reading up on this, I realise that the original standard focal length of 50 mm apply to 35mm film cameras and DSLRs with full frame sensors. Most DSLRs have cropped sensors, so my Nikon would have a focal length multiplied by 1.5 times. So for the standard focal length of 50 mm, it actually corresponds to 33 mm focal length on a cropped sensor (like mine).
The reality:
But they are the figures. Looking through the lens and actually comparing, I think 55 mm focal length is more similar with both eyes. I'm not sure how important this is for this exercise, as the course material states it should mean a view with no special graphic distortion. Therefore, I assume my prime lens with 35 mm focal length could be used.
The images:
So I made me way out to the streets of Dublin to try out the "standard view". No other close up was possible than my legs and my guts. You see the people at the same distance as I saw them. Normally I would have been tempted to crop some of these images, but that would defeat the point of this exercise.
I would prefer a longer lens but I felt pretty OK doing this since I was moving around in a area where lots of other people also move around. I feel calmer taking photos of people where there is something between us, like for instance the man looking out through a window, and the people waiting on the other side of the street. I also think that I don't stick out too much and people probably don't feel intimidated by me.
All the images were taken quickly and I couldn't predict how people would move. In some of the images the main subject is straight in the middle which is something I would try to avoid if I could control the situation more.
Exercise 14: An organised event
I saw an ad for the Dublin Street Performance World Championship and thought it would suit this exercise. I went there for a couple of hours on a Sunday and the weather was warm and sunny. However, sunny weather isn't great for a photographer, but nevertheless the show must go on.
I used one lens throughout the whole session - a 18-200mm. I used the autosetting to quickly be able to get shots. The downside to this is that some of the images had blown highlight - some of it I could rescue in the Raw converter - and sometimes the autosettings didn't focus where I wanted it to focus. It focuses in the middle of the image, and I know you can recompose, but there wasn't always time for this.
My goal was to capture both the performers and the audience, and to capture various happenings around the place. I notice afterwards that I probably haven't captured a great sense of location, mostly people.
To summarise, it's easy to get people's backs (apart from the performers). As the photographer it feels safer and easier. This is something I would need to practice more on, in order to capture the front of people.
With this kind of photography, you have to be quick and have patience to wait for the moment. I pointed my camera at the performers and followed them for a long time, trying to get a good shot. If you wait with the camera down, the moment is gone by the time you have it up.
I don't consider the images to be great photos. To me they feel more like snapshots. In my previous photography I have been able to take my time to get the right exposure and framing, which is something you simply can't do in street photography and people unaware.
The fifth image - A sea of people - remind me the style of Andreas Gursky. Obviously not because of his critical look at capitalism and globalisation of contemporary life - but for the abstract look of people filling up the whole frame. It's only when you look closer you see them as individuals.
I used one lens throughout the whole session - a 18-200mm. I used the autosetting to quickly be able to get shots. The downside to this is that some of the images had blown highlight - some of it I could rescue in the Raw converter - and sometimes the autosettings didn't focus where I wanted it to focus. It focuses in the middle of the image, and I know you can recompose, but there wasn't always time for this.
My goal was to capture both the performers and the audience, and to capture various happenings around the place. I notice afterwards that I probably haven't captured a great sense of location, mostly people.
To summarise, it's easy to get people's backs (apart from the performers). As the photographer it feels safer and easier. This is something I would need to practice more on, in order to capture the front of people.
With this kind of photography, you have to be quick and have patience to wait for the moment. I pointed my camera at the performers and followed them for a long time, trying to get a good shot. If you wait with the camera down, the moment is gone by the time you have it up.
I don't consider the images to be great photos. To me they feel more like snapshots. In my previous photography I have been able to take my time to get the right exposure and framing, which is something you simply can't do in street photography and people unaware.
The fifth image - A sea of people - remind me the style of Andreas Gursky. Obviously not because of his critical look at capitalism and globalisation of contemporary life - but for the abstract look of people filling up the whole frame. It's only when you look closer you see them as individuals.
Exercise 15: Public space, public activity
I thought I would try to capture activity in St Stephen's Green for this exercise. I went there during a lunch hour, when many people go there to get out of the office. It also meant I would manage to fit some photography into my working day. Having the park as the assigned place to shoot in, created a defined boundary for me. I couldn't be sloppy and wander elsewhere.
I found it rather difficult to photograph people in this space. I felt like a Peeping Tom (which also happens to be film which is on my "To see" list). People go to the park to relax. Many people sit down and look at people passing by, so I felt watched in this situation. After the first 10 minutes I almost gave up, thinking this is no good. But I continued to walk around and look. Again I found it easier to get the back of people, than to catch their faces. I managed to capture a few groups and two people together. Ideally it would have been nice to have captured a person on their own. But it still shows that different activities can take place within the same area - being St Stephen's Green at lunch time.
I found it rather difficult to photograph people in this space. I felt like a Peeping Tom (which also happens to be film which is on my "To see" list). People go to the park to relax. Many people sit down and look at people passing by, so I felt watched in this situation. After the first 10 minutes I almost gave up, thinking this is no good. But I continued to walk around and look. Again I found it easier to get the back of people, than to catch their faces. I managed to capture a few groups and two people together. Ideally it would have been nice to have captured a person on their own. But it still shows that different activities can take place within the same area - being St Stephen's Green at lunch time.
Assignment 2: People and activity
Hay making in Stenlia
Assignment 2 asks for images of people in some form of meaningful activity. I produced a set of 10 images with different people at the same activity/event.
The images capture the activity of traditional haymaking in Stenlia, Sweden. It was organised by the local association of cultural history. Different generations gather to take part in cutting the high grass in the fields with the traditional tool - the scythe. The purpose is to keep the landscape open, to help plants to spread their seeds and to transfer the knowledge of traditional hay making from generation to generation. It is also a nice social event with food, drink and music.
I had heard about this event a couple of weeks before and asked the people in charge if it was OK to take some photos. So on the day I was hoping for acceptable weather and it turned out perfectly. It was cloudy but still warm. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I followed the activity and tried to capture different aspect of the activity.
The assignment guidelines ask for telling moments and explaining the activity. In order to do so I have tried to mix the focal length, from close ups on individuals and wide angle to show more of the environment around the person. I chose the 18-200 mm lens to be able to change quickly. A lot of the images were taken at the far end of the focal length though, and looking back I should probably have taken more close ups using the wide angle. I could also have varied the viewpoint more, for example lying down, or standing on a chair to get more of an overview.
The idea behind documentary photography is to be unobserved and a long focal length helps you remain inconspicuous. But the type of photos presented here are hardly street photography, where people are captured in a candid way. It is rather what Michael Freeman describes as the Apparently Unobserved. The subjects know I’m there, but don’t object to me photographing them. They seemingly carry on with their activity as if I wasn’t there. If I present these images as documentary, I think it’s my responsibility to make sure that my presence changed the situation as little as possible.
Naturally I can’t be a 100% sure that my presence didn’t change the look of people. But I tried to fit in, wore work clothes and worked with the scythe too under the guidance of the “veterans”. I think they enjoyed the fact that I wanted to try it out. Some were interested in my photography too. One man said that he was very interested in photography when he was younger. He wished he had photographed more around the farm and things that have disappeared now. Back then he was mostly interested in photographing flowers and girls, and whereas other things have disappeared, flowers and girls are still as pretty!
I took a total of 292 photos so it took a while to select the final 10. I discarded those images that were over exposed, out of focus and blurred.
I didn’t do much post processing as I wanted to keep them quite natural. The majority were treated in the same way: in Raw interface I recovered highlights, increased blacks, clarity and vibrance, in order to create a little bit more “pop”. Documentary/street photography is often presented in black and white, but I wanted to keep the colour in this assignment, to keep the natural feel of the countryside.
My concerns with the images for this assignment are if they are interesting enough or if they are too repetitive in subjects, tone and colour. Are they merely considered snapshots?
Assignment 2 asks for images of people in some form of meaningful activity. I produced a set of 10 images with different people at the same activity/event.
The images capture the activity of traditional haymaking in Stenlia, Sweden. It was organised by the local association of cultural history. Different generations gather to take part in cutting the high grass in the fields with the traditional tool - the scythe. The purpose is to keep the landscape open, to help plants to spread their seeds and to transfer the knowledge of traditional hay making from generation to generation. It is also a nice social event with food, drink and music.
I had heard about this event a couple of weeks before and asked the people in charge if it was OK to take some photos. So on the day I was hoping for acceptable weather and it turned out perfectly. It was cloudy but still warm. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I followed the activity and tried to capture different aspect of the activity.
The assignment guidelines ask for telling moments and explaining the activity. In order to do so I have tried to mix the focal length, from close ups on individuals and wide angle to show more of the environment around the person. I chose the 18-200 mm lens to be able to change quickly. A lot of the images were taken at the far end of the focal length though, and looking back I should probably have taken more close ups using the wide angle. I could also have varied the viewpoint more, for example lying down, or standing on a chair to get more of an overview.
The idea behind documentary photography is to be unobserved and a long focal length helps you remain inconspicuous. But the type of photos presented here are hardly street photography, where people are captured in a candid way. It is rather what Michael Freeman describes as the Apparently Unobserved. The subjects know I’m there, but don’t object to me photographing them. They seemingly carry on with their activity as if I wasn’t there. If I present these images as documentary, I think it’s my responsibility to make sure that my presence changed the situation as little as possible.
Naturally I can’t be a 100% sure that my presence didn’t change the look of people. But I tried to fit in, wore work clothes and worked with the scythe too under the guidance of the “veterans”. I think they enjoyed the fact that I wanted to try it out. Some were interested in my photography too. One man said that he was very interested in photography when he was younger. He wished he had photographed more around the farm and things that have disappeared now. Back then he was mostly interested in photographing flowers and girls, and whereas other things have disappeared, flowers and girls are still as pretty!
I took a total of 292 photos so it took a while to select the final 10. I discarded those images that were over exposed, out of focus and blurred.
I didn’t do much post processing as I wanted to keep them quite natural. The majority were treated in the same way: in Raw interface I recovered highlights, increased blacks, clarity and vibrance, in order to create a little bit more “pop”. Documentary/street photography is often presented in black and white, but I wanted to keep the colour in this assignment, to keep the natural feel of the countryside.
My concerns with the images for this assignment are if they are interesting enough or if they are too repetitive in subjects, tone and colour. Are they merely considered snapshots?
Feedback from tutor
I promptly received the feedback from my tutor, which again contained some constructive comments. The primary advice was to rearrange the order of the photos. I had put the images in a chronological order, but my tutor suggested an order according to type of activity, i.e. first work, then socialising. That makes sense, because if you didn't attend the event you wouldn't know the strict chronological order. I have put the images in the suggested order below. I have also substituted the last image (no 10 - Coffee and Bun). The tutor didn't think the image quite worked because the white plate and white table merge, and I can agree on that. He also though the blurred person and the angle didn't work, but I quite like the blurred background as it makes it more interesting in my opinion.
Other suggestions for improvement was using a smaller aperture to make the background clearer and faster ISO when using the full focal lenght of 200mm to decrease the risk of blurring. This makes perfect technical sense to me. It's something I need to take on board and remember. The issue is that when I'm out looking for good shots trying to capture and activity, it's easy to get stuck on a setting when looking for the telling moment.
Finally he suggests putting my assignments on the blog, which I already have.
Below is the order of images the tutors suggested, and looking at it now, I think it does look better. I have substituted the original image 10, with the image called "Elsa and Anders" which is the new number 7.
Conclusion: the order of the images does not necessarily have to be in the original chronological order.
I promptly received the feedback from my tutor, which again contained some constructive comments. The primary advice was to rearrange the order of the photos. I had put the images in a chronological order, but my tutor suggested an order according to type of activity, i.e. first work, then socialising. That makes sense, because if you didn't attend the event you wouldn't know the strict chronological order. I have put the images in the suggested order below. I have also substituted the last image (no 10 - Coffee and Bun). The tutor didn't think the image quite worked because the white plate and white table merge, and I can agree on that. He also though the blurred person and the angle didn't work, but I quite like the blurred background as it makes it more interesting in my opinion.
Other suggestions for improvement was using a smaller aperture to make the background clearer and faster ISO when using the full focal lenght of 200mm to decrease the risk of blurring. This makes perfect technical sense to me. It's something I need to take on board and remember. The issue is that when I'm out looking for good shots trying to capture and activity, it's easy to get stuck on a setting when looking for the telling moment.
Finally he suggests putting my assignments on the blog, which I already have.
Below is the order of images the tutors suggested, and looking at it now, I think it does look better. I have substituted the original image 10, with the image called "Elsa and Anders" which is the new number 7.
Conclusion: the order of the images does not necessarily have to be in the original chronological order.