ONE SQUARE MILE Assignment : Paparazzi Photography

In this lesson we were told to photograph our teacher in the style of paparazzi photography. I found this very difficult and a lot harder than I thought it would be. It's difficult to keep up with the person you are trying to photograph as well as get the right settings on your camera to take the photograph. Doing this task made me realise you'd have to be a pretty fit person to be a paparazzi photographer 

CONCEPTUAL PORTRAITS : Research :

Robert Cornelius 1809 - 1893 :
Robert Cornelius was an American pioneer of photography. At school his main interest was in chemistry. After school in 1831 he started working for his father specialising in silver plating and metal polishing. Just as he was beginning to get famous for his work in his fathers silver plating industry, he was approached by Joseph Saxton to help him silver plate his daguerrotype. Working with Saxton is what started Cornelius' interest in photography. In 1839 he took a portrait of himself. This was one of the first ever photographs with a human in it. It was one of the starting points of portraiture in photography.






















John William Draper 1811 - 1882 :
John William Draper was an American (English born) scientist, philosopher, historian, chemist, physician and photographer. He did lots of work in photochemistry, and made advancements that made portraiture more possible. In 1840 he took the first clear photograph of a woman - his sister Dorothy Catherine Draper.









This photograph was taken on a 65 second exposure by sunlight.










Also in 1840, Draper created the first clear photograph of the Moon.

Richard Beard 1801 - 1885 :

Richard Beard was an English entrepreneur and photographer who helped establish professional photography in the UK.





60's Fashion : Sixties fashion photography changed a lot when people could use compact cameras. The invention of roll film meant that people could shoot quickly and photography didn't have to be the long, slow process that it was before. This meant that photographers could be more spontanious with their shots and not think about them too much. Before, they would have to plan out a shot exactly, and position their subject to sit very still for a long time. Now they could use faster shutter speeds and move their model around. They could interract with their model more since the model wasn't having to sit completely still for ages, this would create better shots because there was a more intermate relationship between photographer and subject. A Smaller kit meant that photographers could move out of the studio because it was easier for them to carry it around.  This was the huge turning point of the 'Swinging Sixties' photography because photographers were able to take their models on location and create some interesting and abstract shots with their models infront of something other than a plain studio background. Because the photographers were now able to move around, they could create different compositions and move right up to their model for more close up shots - these shots showed more personality in the models. Before then, models were just used as 'coathangers' or 'manakins' to display clothing, but now they were able to develop their own personality, which would then make them more famous and they would be seen as a celebrity/iconic figure rather than just something that displays clothes.


David Bailey :
David Bailey is considered to be one of the best and greatest British Photographers. He was one of the iconic photographers during the 'Swinging Sixties' era.

ONE SQUARE MILE Assignment : Analysing the characteristics of Location Photography

Location photography is where you take your camera and any equipment to a subject rather than bringing the subject to you inside a studio. In a studio you can control everything down to lighting, background, etc. On location it is more difficult because you haven't set up the surroundings e.g. if you are shooting landscape images you can't control your backdrop, you can only compose what you want to. Location photography can be anywhere, in a house, in a city centre, on a mountain, the list goes on.

Things to consider when shooting on location :

1. Location -
When you look at stunning landscape and architecture shots there is a reason that they are so aesthetically pleasing. 90% of the beautiful landscape and architecture shots will have been carefully planned out and composed, they wouldn't have just been snapped. You need to consider your location carefully to get that perfect shot. Only choose a location that is interesting to you, because it will show within your images if you have done it because you want to do it rather than doing it for the sake of it. Visit the location at various times of the day to work out when the light looks best and when it is busiest - this will help in creating your desired shot.

2. Position -
When shooting on location you need to be able to move about and position yourself to get the best possible composition. Landscapes, buildings, mountains etc cannot move so if you want to position them in a different place in your photograph you need to move yourself as the photographer to get the shot you want. Taking things from a high vantage point will be great for landscapes but taking things from a low view can make things look a lot larger/taller if that is your desired effect. When composing an image always think about lines, rule of thirds etc. Your position could make or break an image.

3. Available Lighting -
You need to take advantage of the light that is available to you. You need to plan what you want to take a photograph of and choose the time of day that will work best for you - if you want a night shot you will need to go when it gets dark. If you want a shot during the day but don't want the light to be so bright you will need to go just as the sun has risen or before it is about to set to get less harsh light than at the midpoint during the day. If you can only do it at a particular time and there isn't enough available light you can create more by using reflectors and external flash.

4. Equipment -
Equipment isn't always needed but sometimes just using a tripod could make or break an image (especially if you're shooting at night). You could also use off camera flash to light up a subject or have different filters to put onto your camera lens to create different effects depending on what you want to capture.

ONE SQUARE MILE Assignment : Review

Final shots and order :

Overall I am very pleased with my photographs. At first I was scared about asking people to pose for me to photograph them, but as I started doing it I realised that most people were fine with it because they all work in tourism and probably have their photograph taken by tourists every single day. Sometimes I struggled with my project because I had planned to go out photographing on a particular day and it was raining and the weather was awful, yet days when I had other commitments like work and college the weather was fine and I couldn't go out photographing, this was very frustrating. I had originally planned to take photographs of lots of people who are street performers but this didn't go to plan because a lot of the famous ones weren't out. Purple Man wasn't there, the Ghost Walk man wasn't there, there was no one stood outside the York Dungeons because they were flooded and weren't open. This was disappointing for me because I had to change my project from what I had originally planned on photographing. I think if it was summer I would have a better chance of photographing these people because they are most likely going to be working. Since their jobs involve standing outside all day everyday they probably don't work in the winter months. Although York is a tourist city all year round, there would probably be more tourists out in the summer months as well. This might have been better for my project if there were more tourists to take photographs of. The weather altered my project because York was very flooded at one point which meant that the Dungeons was closed when I wanted to photograph the people that worked there. I was then worried that not many people would be visiting York because of the flooding. The weather also affected my project because I went out to take photographs on different days which meant that the weather was different every time I went out. This makes the sky look different in my images as well as the lighting. When I see my photographs laid out as a set, although I like the set, I think it may have been better if they had all been taken on the same day so the lighting and weather was the same as some are darker than others. I think I had an adequate amount of time to take my photographs because I felt like I got done what I needed to do in the time I was given. This is because York is quite a small City and I felt like you can only photograph it so many times. I stuck to the brief of One Square Mile because I took my photographs within one square mile of York City Centre. I think if I was to do this project again I would do it in the summer so there was more tourists and more street performers. 

ONE SQUARE MILE Assignment : First shoot : Crit and Mid Project Review

From my first photoshoot once I had thought of my theme 'Tourism In York' I chose these images to show to my class and get feedback from them in a Crit. This is where I show people who don't know about my project a few of my first images and see if they get the concept of my project and if they like my images. This is good because even though you may get positive or negative feedback, it is always good to get feedback from a new set of eyes because everyone will look at your project in a different way and can see things that you wont see yourself and tell you how to improve or move the project on. I asked one of my peers to fill out a form to give me some feedback on my work :

"Q : What are the photographs about? What is the concept?

A : Tourists in York.

Q : Is there a common Aesthetic? How could they be edited to make into a more coherent series?

A : Main focus is the people, the signs help the content. It's clear the people are tourists or work for tourist entertainment.

Q : Does the order of the images make sense? Does ordering enhance the concept?

A : Yes the order makes sense, it builds up information about where it is and the concept behind the project.

Q : What is working well with the series?

A : The mix of tourists and people who work in tourism - the humorous shots of the lost and trigger-happy tourist with the overly happy tourist entertainers. 

Q : Which images are working well? Consider both in terms of communication and aesthetic.

A : All the images work well - communication of the narrative is crystal clear - there's a mixed style of interactive and step-back documentary images which work really well together.

Q : Are there any images that need to be worked on? How? Cropping etc.

A : No. Cropping and composition are spot on.

Q : Are there any images that should be removed? Soft/Overexposed/Doesn't fit the series etc.

A : No. There aren't any images that have issues with softness or overexposure.

Q : What images are missing? i.e should there be a landscape image to give context? Would dead pan/street images be more suitable?

A : It would be good to have a landscape wide angle street shot of a busy town centre to show how many people are visiting York."

Overall I am really happy with this feedback because it is very positive towards my work. I am going to take on board the fact that they said I need more wide angle shots of a busy town centre. I also was told by someone else that it would be good if I could take more pictures of people - especially people in costume because it shows that there is lots of life in York rather than seeing a sign for a tourist attraction, actually seeing a person who works at the tourist attraction. I will take all this information on board for when I do my next photoshoot. I will keep shooting in the same style as well and review my images at a later date. 

ONE SQUARE MILE Assignment : My Photos