Assignment One - Reflection

Reflection against Assessment Criteria Points

Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills:

In the photos I submitted for the final assignment, I made conscious decisions about composition in all of them; in addition in several shots, aperture was used to blur backgrounds where appropriate.  All the final photos were shot with a 55-200mm zoom (my 18-55mm is broken and I am waiting for a replacement), but in the preparation, other lenses were also used, although these images were eventually disregarded (but not because of the lenses).  The final assignment also demonstrated use of shutter speed in the panning shot, which worked extremely well on that occasion.

Composition decisions included placing the subject in the middle of the frame ("rounded"), dividing the frame into thirds ("smooth"), placing the main subject in the majority of the frame ("curved"), placing the main subject in a corner to convey space in the rest of the frame ("few"), using square, vertical or horizontal formats, where to position the horizon (or exclude it), and using frameless images ("many") to convey extension beyond the frame.

Design is still a learning process for me; I think I am still relying on instinct rather than making deliberate decisions, although I am very pleased with the shapes present in the "still" and "curved" images. I will consciously think more about the design of the image as I progress through the course.

Quality of Outcome

The presentation of work is largely limited by the ability of the blog application to be edited.  Sometimes the presentation does not publish in the way it looks in draft, but this is impossible to rectify.  For formal assignments, I may consider submitting in a different format.  I think the work submitted shows an application of knowledge learnt thus far.  My biggest shortcoming at the moment is being able to take successful photographs on cloudy or overcast days, so on these days I tend to take shots with the sky excluded.  

I think my ideas were successfully communicated for this assignment and that I was able to conceptualise the topics given in the course instructions.  I think the only technique I omitted to display was photographing movement with water at different shutter speeds.  I had too many pairs already to chose from and had already removed more than half of my original choices, so I did not really feel the need to keep adding to them.  I did demonstrate use of shutter speed in the "moving" shot which was taken at 1/30s.

Demonstration of Creativity

I think the final images submitted do demonstrate creativity.  Some were processed to either convert to black and white or enhance existing colours.  Other photographs were cropped to provide better composition or exclude unwanted information.  The "continous" image was an experiment, and had to be shot quickly; this image was not processed and was loaded as taken.  In addition the angle of "straight and curved" is not a conventional aspect of this statue.  I think the image "still" is very creative; lucky that the lady was wearing such an interesting top, and what an amazing backdrop.  After taking this shot I was reminded not to take photographs by the museum guard.....

Context

My learning log shows some research into the topic with the reference to Bauhaus found in "The Photographer's Eye" by Michael Freeman.  In addition, the exercise of selecting a large number of images and then going through the process of finalising the choice down to a few pictures forces reflection.  I excluded images where, that although they conveyed the point required, either the quality or composition was not good enough to include. 

Preparation for Assignment One - Contrasts

In preparation for Assignment One, I had a look through some of the photographs I had taken mostly during the earlier stages of the course work for possible pairs:

Light and Heavy

Light

Very light indeed: a parachute coming in to land.  This was taken in Keswick against the backdrop of Latrigg and Lonscale fells.  The light at the time was amazing for late March; it could have been midsummer!

In the end, I decided against using this pair, as I had already used the parachute for the sequence of composition exercise earlier in the course.

Heavy

Also amazing light for the time of year, early March, this shot was taken at Avebury Stone Circle.  This stone must be incredibly heavy!

High and Low

High

This image of the abseiling window cleaners was shot with an ipad from my office window.  Although it conveys well the concept of high, I decided against using it becasue the composition is not very good and there is too much light on the horizon.

Low

Deliberately shot as a "low" photograph, I felt that there was nothing really of interest in this photograph.  I was able to easily disregard this pair from the final selection.

Light and Dark

Light

This was a difficult shot to take as it is directly facing into the light.  In the end, I processed the photo to compensate for the difficult background, firstly by converting to Sepia, and then by softening as a portrait.  I like the position of the subject in the frame but I don't like the window frame in the background.

Dark

Beautiful early evening light behind this silhoutted church in Feltham.  I really like the changes in the tones towards the top left-hand corner.  This was a difficult image to exclude from the final selection, but in the end I did because I felt the image wasn't sharp enough.  It was taken hand-held but would have been better with a slower shutter speed and a tripod!

Transparent and Opaque

Transparent

Although this image of a rubbish bag illustrates the point in question perfectly, I just didn't feel that this was an attractive enough photo to include!

Opaque

Had I used the above image in the final submission, I would have used this image of a stream taken in Cumbria to portray the opacity of the water shot at a slow shutter speed.  It didn't matter not showcasing this image, as it had already been used for a previous assignment earlier on in the course.

Contrast "in one picture"

Difficult decisions to make here.  The final picture of the fat lady against the office block used, was chosen because I love that statue.  These images below are close second choices; some represent abstract concepts beyond the instructions of the assignment.

Many and Few

A comical picture of a pair of people in costumes along the South Bank, against a backdrop of many people dressed normally.

Rich and Poor

This image of the Big Issue building at Vauxhall, which is symbolic of poverty in the UK juxtaposed against a swanky new block of flats presents a contrast of Rich and Poor and the divide between the two. HaD the assignment asked us to make our own criteria, I would have used this image.

Black and White

I stumbled across a statue of an elephant in somebody's front garden in South Kensington.  Armed with only a zoom lens, I had to take a frameless shot in order to exclude the garden fence.  You can make out the eye and the shape of the ear, and so deduce the statue is an elephant.  The designs on the subject also give it away.

Straight and Curved

A difficult image to exclude from the final selection; the straight edges of the wheel and the curved pods make an excellent contrast.  In the end I excluded it because I had already used to photos of the London Eye in my contrasting pairs.

Pointed and Blunt

Shot with a macro lens, this image of some cacti shows the contrast between the sharp prickles and the fleshy body stems.  The overall rounded shapes are blunt.  I like the composition of the photo with three cacti included in different proportions.  This was a difficult choice to make and would have been included had the instructions required more than one image.

Old and New

Another concept not in the course criteria: an old building Tower Bridge juxtaposed against a new building City Hall.  Shot with a fish eye the perspective of this shot is distorted.  There is a second contrast in this image of straight and curved.

Light and Dark

The contrast between light and dark in this image of a fire escape shot in Keswick is clear, but there is an additional contrast between curved and straight present with the staircase against the drainpipes, window frames and edges of the building.  Again, had the instructions required more than one contrast within a picture, this would have been included.

Assignment One - Contrasts

A fantastic and satisfying exercise; finding subject matter for this was not hard, but making the final selection was extremely difficult indeed (particularly when it came to choosing one photo demonstrating contrast within the image)!  I had read ahead and so had sufficient time to prepare images that I might be able to use later, however, I found that in the end the majority of the images I chose came from one fruitful day spent wandering around London specifically looking for subjects that might be used to represent the values prescribed.  The challenge I set myself was not only to capture the point in question, but also to try to incorporate what I had learnt on the course so far, including balance, position, shutter speeds, and whether to use vertical or horizontal frames.

Black and White

Black

For my black photo, I stumbled across an ugly metal fish that formed the base of the lampposts along the south bank near the London Eye and London Aquarium.  I wanted to take an image that had no boundaries so that there was no sense of proportion: the only thing that mattered was the blackness.  The challenge lay therefore in where to proportion the facial features and how to reduce the reflection.  Fortunately, the light was not too bright, so there was not much reflection (and I was able to reduce it further in processing) and I opted to balance the mouth against the eye.  I didn't quite achieve a perfect "Golden Section", but I think it's close enough to convey some tension in the image. 

White

My white image was a lucky sighting: a vintage car with wedding ribbons.  I like the subtle shade in this image.  The whiteness is further emphasised by the chauffer's white hair, the white wheel, the white street name sign, and the white building behind the car.  I shot the image with the edges of the car excluded so as to convey the impression of the white continuing beyond the frame of the photo.

Continuous and Intermittent

Continous

An unusally empty escalator on the Tube provided  the perfect opportunity to capture an image of something continuous.  Although the image has frozen the action, the viewer will know that the escalator will continue to move continuously.  I like the tones in this image with the hint of colour in the signs (which are also continuous!).

Intermittent

I simply took this image because I liked the colour of the floats against the murkiness of the Thames with their very subtle reflections in the water.  Once I had decided to use this image to represent "intermittent" I had to decided where to place the horizon (which included Tower Bridge).  I decided in the end that the horzion interferred with the floats and so cropped it out.  The boats in the top left-hand corner add some simple context to the image.

Diagonal and Rounded

Diagonal

This is one of the few images taken in preparation, that made it through to the final cut.  This was originally taken because I liked the pattern of the slate falling down the fell-side (along the Honister Pass in Cumbria), which I orignially shot with the intention of creating an abstract image.  The diagonal stripes add a sense of drama to the image and give the slope a sense of perspective.  This was shot on a cloudy day with little colour definition, so I altered the hue and saturation slightly to give the colours more depth. 

Rounded

An obvious choice here: a perfectly rounded metal sculpture, and the square format being the ideal frame to position it in and emphasise the roundness further.  I converted this into black and white as I wanted the focus to be entirely on the shape of the sculpture and not to be distracted by the bright green foliage behind it.  There is an additional round subject in this image: the sculpture reflects City Hall, which itself is also a round sculpture.  Plus, the image is also anchored by its round shadow on the pavement.

Many and Few

Many

I shot numerous photos of people in crowded places for my "many" concept, however in the end this image of an acer tree won because of its striking colour.  Again I chose the square format because I wanted symmetry in the image and I also wanted a frameless shot to give the idea that the "many" had no boundaries.  This image was shot in Cumbria and the red is a welcome change to the usual grey and green!

Few

Another image from Cumbria, which is generally well populated with sheep, but there are only a few in this image (four in total).  When I shot this image, I thought about the position of the lamb in the frame, remembering the exercise on the object in different places completed earlier.  I also used a wide aperture to blur the background to make more of the lamb in the foreground.  There is contrast within this photo between young and old animals.

Pointed and Blunt

Pointed

In looking for pointed objects, I noticed that London certainly has its fair share of "torture instruments", particularly around historical buildings!  Resisting the temptation to use an image of The Shard, which would have been too obvious, I liked these pale blue spikes located along the Thames.  I shot these as I was looking for blue subjects for a Camera Club project, but they are so pointed that they make an ideal choice to use here.  This also provided a great opportunity to use a wide aperture to focus on the foreground and blur the background.  A horizontal frame might have been a more obvious choice for this subject, but by using a vertical frame, I was able to capture the higher spikes as well.

Blunt

Had I used an image of the The Shard as my pointed choice, I would have used the Gherkin as my blunt choice; but instead I have shot a brightly painted post, one of many in the walk past Sugar Quay to the Tower of London.  The vertical frame with central positioning was really the only option for this image, as the background was boring concrete and not worth including as part of the image.  Unfortunately there was no shade at the time; a strong shadow would have made the image more vibrant and dynamic.

Smooth and Rough

Smooth

I found these metal pillars round the back of Liverpool Street Station on my way to work one day; they are beautifully smooth and shiny.  With even texture, tone, colour and shape throughout the image, I balanced it by using the rule of thirds to frame the pillars.

Rough

In direct contrast to the smooth shiny metal, this image is a close-up of a boulder (granite?) stranded along the Honister Pass in Cumbria.  In processing, I increased the contrast and also enhanced the colour intensity to make the image more striking.  The end result clearly shows the roughness of the stone.

Still and Moving

Still

There are several still features in this image shot at the Scott of Antarctica exhibition currently showing at the Natural History Museum.  Firstly the lady is standing completely still while she studies the exhibition, secondly her bag is (obviously) also still, and thirdly the image she is looking at resembles an old black and white movie still.  I like the composition in this image, with her standing to one side providing some space to also show the exhibit.

Moving

I am surprised by this photo, having previously been unsuccessful with panning.  Not only is the bike in focus, but amazingly the rider is looking at the camera.  I like the position of the bike in the centre of the image, as it gives the impression of him travelling through it.  I cropped some of the foreground out to add length to the overall horizontal effect.

Straight and Curved

Straight

There are an infinite number of straight objects to photograph in London, but I liked the spokes of the London Eye as they are completely dead straight.  From this view they seem unlikely to be able to support the weight of it the huge Eye!

Curved

And in direct contrast to the straight spokes, are the curved capsules and the curved wheel itself.  I converted both these images to black and white as I wanted to focus entirely on the shapes and exclude the distraction of colour.  I also like the composition of both these images; the "straight" one is an obvious choice to represent the radial symmetry, and the "curved" image has tension in the use of the space within the frame.

Contrast in "one picture"

Straight and Curved

Still on the theme of "straight and curved" I shot this image on the way to work one morning in the Broadgate development around the back of Liverpool Street Station. The main subject of the image is the fat lady statue, beautifully curved and shiny, juxtaposed against the straight, square, dull, uniform office buildings behind.  Again I converted this image to black and white, in order to emphasis shape and outline.  As in the "curved" photo above, this composition follows the same principal of placing the more important object beyond the centre of the image.