The Art of Photography: Preparation for Assignment Two

29th June

Assignment two brings together the work relating to lines and shapes in the second chapter of the course manual. Feedback from the first assignment was to think about what inspires me, so I have started early on to think about where I am going to do the work. I also know that I have a tendency to think only about composing the particular task of the exercise and not about the composition of the image as a whole. So for this assignment I wanted to produce a complete piece of work: something that tells a story rather than a batch of random photographs and present them in a way that delivers a final product, rather than just a random collection of images.

Creative Research

For location, I want to find somewhere with subject matter that clearly delivers strong lines and shapes, as this is what the assignment requires, but also strong colours. Although the course materials imply that black and white images produce stronger lines, my coursework has shown that this is not always the case. I like black and white for street photography, portraits, and dynamic landscapes, but I found with the coursework that colour is sometimes necessary for enhancing shapes or producing lines. An example of this is the image of the flowers arranged in vertical columns at Victoria Station. So for location, I wanted 3 elements:

1. Strong lines and shapes

2. Potential for bold colours

3. Ability to tell a story

The opportunities coming up between now and the assignment deadline are:

1. Weekend in Norfolk: Blakeney Harbour will produce great lines and shapes, seals will produce points and hopefully lavender fields will deliver amazing perspectives (with a wide-angled zoom).

2. Forthcoming balloon flight in Cumbria: not sure that this will deliver all the requirements of the assignment plus the weather could be dreadful and the pictures are likely to be blurred due to nerves! Option disregarded - better to enjoy the occasion and not attempt to multi-task. Might be worth visiting the site though on another occasion and photograph someone else's balloon taking off!

3. Day trip to Whitstable: as with Norfolk likely to deliver lines and shapes from the boats etc plus an opportunity to focus on documenting what happens in a harbour.

4. Visit to Workington Port: this could be very interesting with strong shapes and colours present in the containers and machinery.

5. A location in Cumbria that presented clear geological features: opportunity to document a geology walk. Question is will it be possible to fulfil all the elements of the assignment? This would mean doing some detailed research beforehand.

6. A historical and/or building with interesting architecture e.g The Royal Courts of Justice - this is something I could do anytime - winter or summer so this option is reserved as a back up plan if none of the other opportunities are productive.

7. Olympic structures at Stratford - although opportune am not really inspired by this option
8 Photographing elements captured along the M6 (I spend a lot of time on the M6); this would work - I know I would complete the assignment....but what an uninspiring topic!

Technical Research

To get some additional ideas and inspiration, the next step was to re-read The Photographer's Eye by Michael Freeman as this really explains well the elements of the exercise and expands on the coursework. In addition I will look at other students' blogs to see how they treated the assignment.

Tasks and wishlist

Assuming the Norfolk trip is successful, this is what I'm hoping to achieve (without wishing to plan too much ahead):

Single point dominating the composition: a seal or boat in the sea - Freeman demonstrated that slightly off centre is moderately dynamic and the image (image 5 page 69) he showed was improved by the captured action
Two points: a couple of seals or boats in the sea - I might not have a choice about placement as these objects could be moving, but I liked the composition in Freeman's horizontal frame of Raking Rice on page 70 of the workers walking through the shot from left to right with each person slightly off centre
Several points in a deliberate shape: a group of objects e.g. seals, people, boats, pebbles - Freeman's examples were still life shots arranged in a deliberate shape so I will have to see what I find
A combination of vertical and horizontal lines: boat masts against the landscape, a sunset or people queueing will be a bonus - the coursework showed how horizontal lines work in a landscape and boat masts are an obvious choice of verticals; likely to be a horizontal frame in order to capture more verticals and longer horizontals.
Diagonals: perspectives taken in the lavender fields - the coursework showed how linear perspectives can be a achieved with a wide-angled lens. Have previously seen many beautiful images of converging lines of lavender in a field so desperately hoping this will deliver!
Curves: hayrolls in a field and even better if several are found in a concentric curve, although could be the wrong time of year - if not a group of seals in a curved shape will be a bonus, although lucky...Freeman makes many suggestions for curves on pages 80 and 81 - I might be lucky enough to see seagulls in flight in an implied curve or some curved or circular objects around the boats
Distinct, even if irregular shapes: a windmill or the village signpost - a combination of rounded a straight-lined shapes would be good
At least two kinds of implied triange: ? The coursework, and on pages 84 and 85, Freeman demonstrates that implied trianges are achieved by the placement of three objects. I will have to see what I can find! Maybe I'll find something in the lavender gardens for one of the images.
Rythmn: something by the harbour? On page 48, Freeman states that several elements in a scene may present a rhythmic visual structure as the eye moves from left to right.
Pattern: poppies in a field would be a great find. On page 50, Freeman explainst that pattern is associated with area rather than direction and covers the area so that the eye roams across the surface of the picture and will usually extend beyond the frame. He also shows how a pattern can be successfully broken by the placement of an similar but different object.

10th July

The trip to Norfolk was successful - I got a lot of good shots that I can use for the assignment and including some that were on my wishlist :) The weather was largely pleasant so I benefitted from good lighting and was only really let down with the with the lavender shots, when the weather had changed (and the lavender patch was significantly smaller than I had imagined and was definitely not a field!) and also the fact that I forgot my N-grad filters and missed out on a really good opportunity to use them in the hay fields and at the windmill. As I had achieved a number of shots that I had already planned, the final selection was not that difficult. However, I still made myself go through the process of looking at all the images that qualified in the individual categories to be certain of selecting the best ones and being careful not to chose photos just on the basis of stunning Norfolk skies! The final results will be submitted for the assignement.

In the meantime, the balloon trip taking off from Carlisle racetrack also produced some interesting shots. I decided against using these for my assignment as they are mostly snapshots (using Auto because of the lighting and desire for speed and not wanting to risk making any mistakes) and not really composed with course work in mind. Also, I cheated a little bit using a fish eye lens to get the curved horizon....This also would have been a good opportunity to present a sequence of composition exercise; I took a total of 266 photographs from preparing the balloon, take off, flight, descent, landing and putting the balloon away, which together would make a good sequence. I would like to repeat this experience, at least twice more! Once in a safari-type situation and just enjoy the experience, and another time somewhere else to think really hard about the photography and achieve some creative shots.