Final Major Project

Brief: Knowle West Style Icons– big & small // brick & flesh // subtle & bold

(2) The Photography Brief: 

Knowle West Style Icons – big & small // brick & flesh // subtle & bold

(a) Your mission is to:

·     Immerse yourself in the everyday routines and fabric of Knowle West, and

·     Discover and document your take on Knowle West’s Style Icons. 

You will be helped with immersion through an introductory walk around the neighbourhood guided by someone from Knowle West. 

Your selected Style Icons could range from large-scale buildings (such as the old cinema) to intricate brick-work patterns. The Style Icons can also be human – from a portrait of a fashion diva to a close-up of an on-point set of nails. 

You should also think about the 3 layers of inquiry, as outlined above:

·     Landscape and architecture

·     Domestic interiors (could be homes, shops, public buildings)

·     Everyday lived culture

Also, very important to think about how you take the image – let the story & inquiry lead not the tech. You might be better working with a camera phone, rather than a large, complicated camera. 

In documenting your Style Icons, think about documenting not just the image, but also:

·     The location, and  

·     The story behind it – either in your own words or in words of someone you talk to. The story could be documented in text, and/or audio. 

Remember you are representing Knowle West Media Centre and the project when you are out and about. People are very friendly and often happy to stop for a chat. 

·     Make sure you are confident to tell people what you are doing and why. 

·     Ask permission before you take a photograph of anyone. If someone is happy for you to take a photograph, please complete the release form (which will be given to you on the day). Make sure they understand how the image might be used. 

·     Take contact details of anyone who is interested in the project if they would like to find out more. 

This is The Novers Club next to K.W.M.C, Melissa was telling us that in the Knowle West area of Bristol there are no pubs, instead, there are clubs where people can go for a drink and socalise. 

In this image, it shows how somebody has a freight container in their front garden because they didn't really have space for a garage.

I thought that this was quite an interesting shot as the painting on the house hasn't been finished and there are still some areas of red brick that need to be painted. 

When you look down the road you are able to see the sunlight through the dark clouds, it is quite interesting how the line of the darkness is the same height as the houses.

My final images 

After spending some time walking around different areas in Knowle West taking street shots, and trying to find what I thought would be a Knowle West Style Icon, I decided to see if it would be possible to take photographs in a local shop. I chose The Flower Stall which in fact was not too far from KWMC.

I went into the shop and spoke with the two ladies who ran the store, explained the brief and asked if it would be ok to take some pictures.  

Not only was it a flower shop but it was also a greengrocer and they told me they had been running the shop for four years. 

I wanted to take a good shot outside looking towards the shop. 

This image shows different flower arrangements. The two on the floor could have possibly been used at a funeral. I wanted to take a shot in which you could see out of the window. You are able to see a Spar sign from the shop across the road and in some ways, this helps to show some character.

This image shows one half of the shop, in which you could buy different fresh fruit and vegetables. 

This was taken looking towards the back of the store and it works really well with how all the different colours of the flowers stand out so well.

I would like to spend some more time at the shop during the day. I am planning to speak with the lady that owns the store to see if this will be ok. When I first spoke to them on my first visit they didn't want to be in any of the shots. 

But if I spend some time with them they could become a bit more involved. I think it will be good to take shots during the day, when customers come in and out, even when flowers are being moved and whilst they are working. This is a good way of documenting a style icon for sure.  


Unfortunatly I was unable to make a second visit to the Flower stall store in Know West because when I spoke to the Lady who ran the shop she was not sure if customers would have liked it if I was taking photographs whilst they were in the store, which I totally respect. It was good of her to talk tome about it and it definitely helped with my people skills if I was ever in this situation again. 

Visional and creative practitioners 

Here are some pictures I took whilst looking through the RPS Journal and also the British Journal of Photography. I have chosen to show pictures of photographers who shoot in the same area as I am focused on at the moment.

Ali Taptik is a Turkish photographer this is a selection of his pictures that show people in a nightclub,  you can clearly see expressions which are highlighted by the neon lights within the club.

Weegee (Arthur Fellig) 

Their First Murder, October 9, 1941.

Arthur Fellig was a photojournalist and he worked around Manhatten during the 1930s.

here is how he has described the way he works:  

"In my particular case I didn't wait 'til somebody gave me a job or something, I went and created a job for myself—freelance photographer. And what I did, anybody else can do. What I did simply was this: I went down to Manhattan Police Headquarters and for two years I worked without a police card or any kind of credentials. When a story came over a police teletype, I would go to it. The idea was I sold the pictures to the newspapers. And naturally, I picked a story that meant something"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weegee

Dario Mitideri 

Holi, The Festival of Colours

This is a great image and it shows all of the energy that Mitideri has captured in this picture during the festival of colours. This is the technique I really need to use in my own work, which is to almost get involved with what is going on.  

This image shows some neon lights which actually say, MAGIC PARTY PLACE, surrounded by total darkness.

The man expression on his face as he dances with the lady is brilliant, it can make you wonder if it's because he is aware of the shot being taken or because he doesn't really want to be dancing with the lady at all.

CJ Clarke is a photographer, director, and producer who actually has his own book called, The Magic Party Place, which documented contemporary England over the last ten years. 

I Think this is my favorite image out of all them, a double exposure shows the lady's movement as she is dancing. It is a great effect where she is looking directly at the camera but also to her right as she turns her head.

Malick Sidibé

Nuit de Noël ( Happy Club) 1963

These shots would have been taken using film and they are really nice images which could have been taken with Sidibé positioned quite close while they were dancing.

Music Event Photography Research

Taking shots at a music event throughout the night, going to different events and venues around Bristol capturing the atmosphere and showing peoples expressions and reactions as the night goes on.

These are some examples of shots I'm planning to take myself, the three images below are taken right in front of the DJ whilst they are playing music during the night. 

I like how the motion blur which is shown in this shot caught by using slow shutter speed, it allows you to see the energy and movement during the night.

Although this was not taken whilst either of them was playing, this is such a good portrait of the DJ's who have played or will be playing during the night.

The composition is great in this shot as the DJ is right in the middle and the white lighting behind him draws your eye right into the centre.

The motion blur and combination of different coloured lights help you to imagine what the atmosphere is like during the night.  

This is a good image that shows how you are able to take a shot of somebody while they are DJing. 

Although he is quite a distance away you are able to see how has zoomed right in, it looks like he could also be using a tripod, which would also be needed if you are shooting in slow shutter speed. 

It will be helpful to talk to people involved in putting the night on and DJing so I am able to take a shot similar to this, especially when I am going to be taking a portrait.

These next three images are shots that seem to have been taken without speaking to the DJ's which is also a good thing, as it shows their focus and reactions whilst the night goes on as they are playing music at a dance event.

The blue light on the side of his face brings it right to the foreground behind the dark background.

This image shows all of the equipment that is used for playing music so it makes you wonder how big the venue actually is. 

This image shows you how many people are dancing and it's a nice effect on how the lighting highlights different areas. It seems like a really good position to take a shot as you are looking down from a high position 

This is a brilliant image that displays the energy of these people while they are dancing, the shot must have been taken directly in front of them up close which is the best way to capture this.

In this image, it's great that he has been shot with his t-shirt over his head whilst he is talking into the microphone which is almost right in the middle, it makes you wonder is it because he is too hot in the venue or because he does not want his face shown in the photograph. 

I don't think this was taken using a flash as you can see how he lit up by the white lighting on the right-hand side, I like how the shot is taken on an angle and he is almost right in the centre.

This was some helpful information about different settings to use to catch and freeze moments while bands are playing and whatever it is you are focusing on will be sharp and in focus. 

This shot above was taken at such a good position and it is taken from behind the band who are playing looking out towards the crowd of people who are watching.

   

I really do like the close-up shots of people while they are playing, dancing or DJing, the composition has worked so well with the singer who is knelt down on the floor looking towards the camera.   

Contact Sheets 

This is a contact sheet from an event I went to last year and it was one of the first music events I had shot at.

The venue was quite big which was a good thing considering that I was at the early stages of shooting at musuical events. My confidence of taking shots during the night was not very good and it took me quite a long time to feel a bit more relaxed.

I took a Canon 6, 24-105mm lens and a Canon Speedlite 430EXII but I was not really that familliar with ho to use the flash and I spent quite a long time trying to work it out.

As you can see from the sheet below many of my shot were taken without the speedlite. But becuse of this some of my shots were taken in quite a low shutter speed and high ISO  

This contact sheet show shots that were taken at an event at the Fleece an Firkin in Bristol.

I used the same equipment as I did when I went to the event I was shooting at above.

Canon 6D 24-105mm lens and a Canon speedlite 430EXII.

At this event I wanted to shoot while the bands were playing and try and shot whilst people were dancing. It was a really good event and there must have been a few hundered poeple watching the bands.

When I first arrived I decided to move around and try to work out where would be good spots to shoot and this helped me to become familliar with the venue and know where i should be at certain times while the bands where playing. 

At this point I was a bit more familiar with using the flash but I still had problems with getting the right distance from where I was shooting and using the right shutter speed. 

The shots in this contact sheet were taken at an event at the Love Inn, Bristol.

Again I used a Canon 6D 24-105mm lens and a Canon speedlite 430EXII

This was a really good night and I knew the people who were putting the event on, so i was able to get right next to where the DJ's were playing looking directly out towards everybody whilst they were dancing. 

I know the venue very well so I was aware of places where i could take exactly the type shots that I wanted, although it was really busy and it was quite hard to move around so unfortunately a lot of my shots were taken in the same area. 

The next three contact sheets show some of the shots that i took at a two day event in Bristol, Love Saves the Day. During the festival I took almost 500 shots and I am really glad I took the oppertunity of spending the weekend there.

This was definitely the best music event that I shot at. It was a small festival held at Eastvile Park in Bristol and it went on for two days, but all of the music would finish at 11:00 at night because it was situated in a residential area.

It was such a good experience and before the festival started I got in contact with the people who run the festival and I was given a press pass, that would give access to all of the different stages around the site and also the press pit. This was an area between the stages and the crowd watching whoever was preforming.

I was so lucky to have been given a press pass as it would enable me to get in such good  places to take shots, even on the main stage for example.

It was so much different than shooting in a bar or nightclub as I had so much more space and there were oppertunities for great shots all over the place, through out the day and night.

I was walking around the site both Saturday and Sunday always carrying my camera, somtimes when I was taking shots people would come over and ask if I would take their picture and that was a great oppertunity to show how peope were enjoying themselves so much.    

I took a Canon 6D, 24-105mm lens, 70-300mm lens, 17-40mm lens and also a Canon Speedlite 430EXII to the Love Saves the Day festival which would allow me to select different lens for differnt styles of shoys that I wanted.

I just thought it would better to take all of this equipment with as it would have really frustrating if i wanted to get a shot with a certain type of lense that I didn't have, it was really good as well because we had somewhere safe to keep our equipment when it wasn't being used.   

This image below shows a Canon Zoom lens EF 17-40mm

During the festival i used this lens a lot because it was just what you needed if you were up close to a crowd and when people were dancing, i also used it when i was on stage taking shots of people preforming and also DJing.

This image shows how i was able to get right next to a DJ and focus on him whilst he was playing, it also has a good depth of field with the crowd int he bacground, it is nice how you can also see somebody on the microphone on stage in front him, but not totaly out of focus.

This image was takne when i was in the press pit and it is great how you can see everybody's recations and expressions on thier faces as they are dancing, I quite like the fact the they're not all looking directly at me and it gives a natural feel.

This was one of my favorite shots form behind the DJ as you can see the person on the microphone looking at him, he did actually look at me before and he did let me know that it was all good which helped with my confidence of taking shots on stage. 

As I mentioned before this group of people came and stratred taking with me and asked If I could take their picture and it came out really well espiecially with how the bright light is right in the middle as the girl holds up her hand.

This image shows a Tamron AF 70-300mm Tele-macro lens 

This lense was brilliant to take shot from quite a distance but you were able to get sharp focus, for example I was stood quite away back from the main stage yet i was able to focus really well on the lady who was preforming at the time, I had never really used this technique before in other venues as they were always quite small.

I like how in this shot the lady on stage is in focus like i mentioned before but also you are able to see somebody in the crowd reaching up right by the side of her, which definitely show the atmosphere and energy at the time.

This was taken when i was actually stood on the main stage looking out towards people watch the act prefoming, although i was still at quite a distance as i had stood right at the back.

These next two images show two people looking directly at me and to be honest I didn't notice this until I had got back after the day and was looking through all the shots I had taken. It is quite funny how everybody else is not even aware that I am taking a photograph, it is slighty different with second image but the girl in the forefground is not in full focus and she looks a bit more relaxed as opposed to the chap with his sunglasses on.

It is good how everyone seems quite active and its's also the main stage in the background, the girls face on the right his held back as she is laughing so it is a good mixture of everbodys reactions in this one shot.

Below is a picture of the Canon Speedlite 430EXII

In all honesty I did not actually use the speedlite anywhere near as much as I thought I would purely because the light was quite good and the festiavl finished at 11:00 anyway, i was able to use a low app on the lenses aswell. 

These are contact sheets from the portrait shots I took of artists who played at the festival and other music events I had been to taking shots.

These shots were taken at night at a loctation near the Motion venue in Bristol. I used a Canon 6D, 50mm lens and a Canon speedlite 430EXII.

I was not very confident about this shoot but because I knew these two people it made it a lot easier, in terms of how they were stood during the shoot. using the 50mm lens allows you to get such good focus and I was quite pleased with the location I had chosen as the

brick work gave good texture in the background.

When we were at the location I had chosen these two subjects asked if I would like to take shots of them together and I thoght this work well and it really did help me progress in my portrait shooting for sure 

I thought this was a nice shot, altough in some ways I think it might have been better if i had stood slighty closer and shot just below his shoulder, the wall behind really makes him stand out quite well against the lighter tone of his blsck hooded jumper.

The position of how is stood is great and I think the composition is great as I have almost got him right in the centre, I could crop a small amout of the image on the right hand side in photoshop, just to make alighty more centeral.

These portrait shots were taken during the day on this shoot I used a Canon 6D and a 50mm lens, this time i chose not to use a speedlite 430EX II as there was enugh light and also I was able to use a fast shutter speed with a low app.

I was quite pleased with this shoot and it was also shot outside which personal I prefer as you are able to move around a lot more and change the background quit easily as opposed to the studio.

These are the final Nine images I will be using for the final degree show.

These nine will be displayed next to each other with the potrataitin the middle, the fist three in a line then the next three below and then the next three below agian.

Next three

Next three

Evaluation 

The final major project has such a good module to end the final year of the course, I am really glad that I chose to shoot at music events for my final project proposal and it has helped so much to develop my skills as a photographer. after choosing this area to focus on it has helped me to use the camera and different types of equipment in so many different places. dealing with all kinds of different types of light.

Especially when you are shooting on location I have become so much more aware of things around me, especially like I have said many a time before the best spots shoot from to to capture exactly the kind of shot I’m after.

 As time has gone on during this module I have become a lot more confident when taking shots on location as my skill level has increased so much whilst using a camera and certain types of equipment.

Now I have finished the course I am hoping to start a career as a professional photographer, which will obviously begin with work experience which I am Looking forward to very much. In fact I am actually planning to talk with my mentor to see if it would possible to be an assistant on some different shoots that he has in the future, if this is possible.