Street Photography

Mission Statement & HE Research

I am currently studying on a National BTEC Photography course at Riverside College the type of work I do is very broad and covers most areas of photography. My main focus of photography is fashion, advertising and editorial that I would like to focus on for future courses as well as a career.

At 17 I arranged with a newly opened organisation Access All Areas, which is based at the refurbished Queens Hall that is now known as The Studio, I volunteer to be their official photographer. This involves me photographing any gigs or productions that may happen at the venue and any advertising the venue or bands would need for poster, flyers ect. My work has also been used by a musician for his album art work and cover, for him to then sell.  With gaining more experience from shooting gigs, my name became known around my hometown and I began doing baby photo shoots for newly proud parents. Since then now age 18, I have done a Wedding, Location and Modelling Shoots.

I plan on going to university once i have finished my BTEC Photography course and have chosen my 5 top universities i would love to go to to...

1. Newport Wales - Fashion and Advertising Photography
2. Sussex - Fashion, Advertising and Editorial Photography
3. Bolton - Photography
4. Bournemouth- Photography
5. London - Fashion Photography

I hope to be able to get the grades to be accepted to at least one of these universities, my main one is the one in Newport Wales that i would like to go to more that the others, as i really like the course from what i have read about it so far.

Photography is a profession I have looked upon with a high interest even from a young age. I have known throughout my life that a career, were I can express my creative imagination is what I seek and I believe that becoming a photographer will allow me to satisfy this desire.

HE Course Links:

Newport University - Fashion and Advertising Photography

Bolton University - Photography

Macro with Digital Camera

Alice in Wonderland (My Way)

Alien Brief Final Images

Functions of a Studio

There are all types of photography that can happen inside a studio such as fashion, portrait, advertisement, model, musicians, still life ect. A studio shoot consists of shooting a photo shoot in one room/studio that contains all types of lighting but for each different type of studio photography the lighting and equipment differs. This is due to the style of photography used in each type of photography.

Fashion Photography

 This type of studio photography usually consists of using a well known lighting system, which is called “three point lighting”. The system allows the eye to be purposely made to focus on the subject or model. As well as the three point lighting system that is used in fashion photography, sometimes certain amount of natural lighting is along with a high key light.

The three point lighting system is important to a fashion shoot as the three lights work together to bring out the subject. The three lights used are a key light, a fill light and a back light which are all positioned around the subject.

The key light is always the main light that is used as it has the most powerful light in the scene. It creates a defined highlight and shadow in areas around the shot. The key light is placed directly to the side and above the model. This means that the other side of the model’s face will be in shadow, so the second light is used which is a fill light. The fill light is placed on the other side of the room so it is opposite to the key light. It is also placed at a further distance away from the model than the key light is, as it does not have the job of using strong light. The back light provides light from behind the model, which allows the model to stand out from the background as it helps give a pop-out look. As well as making the model stand out it also helps show of and highlight the clothing on the model.

 Sometimes skylights provide a source of natural light that helps give the fashion light set up a warmer feel. An indoor shoot can not always have natural light as there would be a lack of sunlight openings such as windows. Fashion photographers make a personal decision on whether it is best to shoot in a natural environment or not.

Still Life Photography

 This type of studio photography is very similar to fashion studio photography as it involves pretty much the same set up just a little bit different. This is due to fashion involving moment of the model, were as with still life the subject is still which allows correct and precise lighting on the subject.

 The equipment used for this piece of still life was 2 tungsten light and three different types of reflectors that were white to help bounce the light around from both lights. This was shot by a student in a make shift studio.

To get a flat lighting effect it is best to place the key light very close to the camera. If the light is moved upwards and to the side, then the model/subject will take a 2D look. For a stronger effect so the shadows become longer and the 2D effect to be increased, if the light is moved further up or to the side. With the shadows increasing the need of a fill light may be needed. To play it safe it is always good to place the key light to one side of the camera and above as this will produce a safe image. A light can be placed behind the subject to give it a silhouette effect, by only lighting the background.

It is best to experiment with the lighting because with each subject, the light will react different with how it hits the subject. So it is best to see other lighting set ups or even this set up shown and work around it till the style of light needed is achieved. 

Subcultures - Elderly People

Subcultures Evaluation

The aim of this assignment is to visually document a subculture and in the end produce a set of 9-12 photographs that really captures the chosen subculture. I could not think of one specific subculture that I wanted to document so I chose to create a mind map to help me break cultures into all types of subcultures. I started of with categories such as Hobbies, Jobs, Lifestyle, Fans, Style, Age and from these starting points I went on to discover Giggers, Football Fans and Elderly People. These are just a few that caught my eye out of a list of subcultures, so I chose to look more in depth into these three subcultures.

After creating a mind map and looking more in depth into certain subcultures I chose to study other photographers work and look into what they document and what style they document in. I chose Jane Bown, Bruce Davidson and Phil Borges to research so I could gain some influence and ideas from. From all of them I like the matter and meaning behind the documentary as I think they portrayed their own projects in unique ways. Mainly I enjoyed Jane Bown’s work as her style was black and white but with a high contrast, which made her subject’s skin very eye catching. This was due to the contrast making the person look stronger and bolder because of the light on sections of their face.

Once I had researched into other photographers and had now gained a better understanding in subcultures, I wrote a proposal for my assignment as I had chosen to base my documentary on Elderly People. I chose to capture how they live their daily lives and decided to portray their life in two different ways, depending on whether or not they live a busy life or a relaxed life. If their life was busy I would show it in a fun colourful way but if their life was relaxed I would show it in a sad and dull way by using black and white imagery.

Now I had better structure and control over the assignment I decided to do a photo shoot so then I could gain feedback on how I am capturing the Elderly People Subculture. My plan is to try and create a similar style to Jane Bown with a black and white theme as the photo shoot shows the Elderly People in a relaxed way. I shot my first photo shoot in black and white hoping to capture the style but they didn’t turn out how I wanted them to. I gathered feedback to help capture them how I wanted them to come out like, I got told that if I take the images in colour instead of black and white I would be able to colour select the image.

From my photo shoots I collected key images that stood out and wrote about why they stood out to me as I was going to develop them into final pieces for my project. I then chose 12 images that I wanted to develop which were images from both photo shoots and use them as my final pieces. I showed a visual diary of my images as I also documented how I create the final image.

I finally presented my work in a symbolic way by attaching my images to tags and hanging them on up and down shaped wire to help show that life is not just one straight course as you have good times and bad times. To me my final pieces show a journey and contrast of life between the view and the photographs, which are the meaning I want to come through, through my work.

I enjoyed this project and found it very interesting, as I like documenting another age in life that I have yet to come up to and discover my self. It was an easy in my personal opinion as I found that my ideas came quick to how I wanted to do my assignment. I think I have completed it to the best of my abilities and done as much as I could do for the assignment.

My project was about the capturing a subculture and I decided to document elderly people, as they are a group of their own in their age range. I chose to capture the sad and lonely side of being elderly in life but also show how she is content with it.