Photo Journalism recce's and risk assessments

Photo Journalism Evaluation

Final Product – Photo Journalism

To start of the assignment we were asked to explore and take pictures and get used to using an SLR, we then had lessons on how to use the cameras and set them up correctly for different environments we was also taught how to frame a picture with the use of lines, this helped a great deal for our final project. When the time came to start our final project we had to research 3 different photographers both contemporary and classic to get a real understanding of every style of photography. Doing the research meant you could use inspiration from a photographer and also gain further knowledge on the techniques used to take the best possible picture.

Photojournalism was the hardest style I had chosen although its simply taking photos to tell a story. The photographers I had researched were a lot more explicit and crossed the line. They make issues aware that people don’t know about. In my opinion the photos are disturbing but I think they’re a great way to open peoples eyes to problems within the world. Whilst researching this style of photography I knew I couldn’t cross the lines that photographers like Eddie Adams had done, he documented photos to make a difference I decided I wanted to take pictures and let the viewer decide the story.

Like any other photography style I was capturing the moment. I headed to Manchester to find things that interested me and things that would interest other people. When taking the photos I had to consider things like lighting, I was using natural lighting so making sure the aperture, ISO and shutter speed are at matched with the lighting to create a natural photo. I intended to get a natural lit photo as I wanted everything natural, I wanted the actions of people to be natural and not set up so I felt having natural lighting would have been appropriate and if I wasn’t happy with the lighting I could later edit it in Adobe Photoshop. When taking the photos I had to consider being in people’s faces and invading privacy so I used a zoom lens so I didn’t bother anyone.  I didn’t like using the zoom I would of much preferred the original lens but because it was colleges property I could only take one lens. I felt the zoom was much harder to focus and the camera was heavier so keeping the camera steady was an issue.

Once I was happy with the photos I had taken I began to edit them in Adobe Photoshop CS6, I didn’t edit them because I wasn’t happy with the lighting, I edited them because I felt they needed a filter to help tell a story. I added a black and white filter and then put certain objects in colour on the image, I wanted people to create their own interpretation of the images. I found using Photoshop was easy and I have been using it for 3 years now but there’s always new things to learn on the software so doing these types of edits helps me gain more knowledge on Photoshop as well as photography.

To mount these photos I used 6 photos and put them in twos in a stairs kind of layout, this was a basic design for the layout.

I feel I didn’t put much time and effort into this style of photography because it wasn’t my preferred style. This style was a downfall to this assignment but I still managed to hand it in on time with paperwork up to the required standard and more.

Photo Journalism photos

Photo Journalism 

These photos show the weird and wonderful things in Manchester, these aren't my favourite set of photos i have taken but there is still a sense of pride with these photos.

The viewer gets to choose how they see the photos, what, where and when.

" The good photograph is not then object,the consequences of the photograph are the objects"
     Dorothea Lange

Here you have a photo of a preacher and someone who was against what he was preaching. You can see the difference of opinion in the picture from the body language but some people may view this as just a conversation. The black and white effect allows the viewer to read more into it, was it a nice day was it dull and it just adds the emotion of the photo.

This is my favourite photo of this genre. I like the background being desaturated whilst the traffic light is in full colour, it makes that particular object the focal point of the photo. 

The colours in this image work well, the background is unfocused and the pigeon isn't but the pigeon has dark colours. 

This photo is interesting. The faces of the crowd are different. The focus of this photo is the floating man.

The photo journalism photos i researched are more explicit and push boundary's with the photos. The idea is to make it aware that murder is happening for no reason in some country's. In one of the pictures Eddie Adams had took there was a male with a gun to his head, this is a hard photo to look at but its to make people aware. My photo journalism images are nothing like that i just wanted to tell a story of Manchester.

Photo Journalism proposal

 Bethany Ford

Unit 57 Photography and Photographic Practice

Working title: Photo journalism

Purpose: To teach and document

Audience: My intended audience will be aimed at any age, as there is no violence or disturbing images within the photos.

Concept: For this project I want to take pictures of the life in Manchester and different people and the interesting work they do, I want people to see it and understand what Manchester is about and how it accepts anything and what to expect when going to Manchester I want to explore all the different things its has to offer, I want most of my images to be black and white with the main focal point in colour. For this piece I wasn’t really inspired by anyone but Manchester itself, I just want to travel there and find the interesting things. Capturing the life in the moment is my main priority, no poses!

Location: Manchester

Quantity: I’m hoping to be using the one board with not too many photos so it isn’t confusing.

Usage rights: The photos will be used in an exhibition in Hyde Clarendon and for my own use with University interviews.

Fees:  Travel: £4

Portrait evaluation

Finished Product – Portrait

To start of the assignment we were asked to explore and take pictures and get used to using an SLR, we then had lessons on how to use the cameras and set them up correctly for different environments we was also taught how to frame a picture with the use of lines, this helped a great deal for our final project. When the time came to start our final project we had to research 3 different photographers both contemporary and classic to get a real understanding of every style of photography. Doing the research meant you could use inspiration from a photographer and also gain further knowledge on the techniques used to take the best possible picture.

Originally my idea for this style of photography was collect a range of about 40 different people and take a headshot of them on a white background expressing the emotion they were feeling at the time, I was going to put separate filters on the individual pictures, some black and white some sepia and some full colour and once that was done use the individual pictures to create an image within an image. I wanted it to be powerful and draw people in and really look at each photo and analyse their emotions, by the time I had gotten around to doing this style I didn’t have much time left to plan this out and add filters to pictures so I came up with a different idea.

For my second idea I took pictures 5 different people on a white background, for this I used a home studio kit to light the subject, I didn’t really need to change any settings on the camera for this a just used an aperture reading to test the camera with the lights and then put that setting into the camera and changed the ISO from there. I told the subject to express an emotion they were feeling at the time, this helped me get practice setting up lighting studios and how to set up a camera for a lighting studio.

Once I was happy with the pictures I used Photoshop to edit them, I asked each individual for lyrics of a song or a poem that meant something to them and I integrated them into the picture.

This worked really well, it also helped me learn that there is so much to learn on Photoshop and that I will keep learning.

Some people suggested that my edits were more graphics than photography but because they have such a powerful meaning I thought they were a mixture of photography and graphics and personally I think it made the photos even more beautiful.

My layout ideas involved a sort of spiral design, so once you had seen one you look around the board for the others, the printed images were quite large so people could see the words within the image.

Overall I am pleased with the outcome, my skills of Photoshop and with the camera and setting up lighting studios have increased greatly. This style is my second favourite of the three and I know I put a lot of time and effort into this style and overall assignment and was able to hand the assignment in on time.

Portrait layout ideas for exhibition

These are my layout ideas for portrait, i intend for all my images and layouts to differ than everybody else's.

This layout is quite boring and used quite a lot with in layouts as its simple and easy to do.

I like this layout the most as its different and works the eye around the board, its different to everybody else's
 layout

I also like this layout but i think this would work more for my photo journalism layout

Final portrait photos

Portrait

These are my final portrait images, each picture has different lyrics or poems that are personal and mean something to the person in the picture. This is personal and i think it makes the pictures powerful and meaningful and that is what i was aiming for within this project. 

These images do not follow my proposal as i found it difficult to take pictures of people who i didn't know, so i had to come up with a different idea and this idea stood out to me.

"When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that i'd like to know them"
     Annie Liebovitz

This is my favourite of the three, you can see in the picture that the subject looks happy, but the lyrics in his face may say different. This is a different way to understand what someone is feeling through a picture. 

These photos may appear more graphics style than photography but there is meaning behind these photos. These photos are personal to each individual and its up to the view to decide how they see these photos.

In this picture the subject can be seen as angry but the lyrics within him could say different, it makes the viewer look more closely and take the time to analyse the photo.

My images don't relate to the research i did into portrait, i had a totally different idea for this section but encountered many problems in pre production so i came up with a fresh new idea which reflected emotion and feelings within different individuals.