Evaluation

This assignment was called Empirical Evidence and for this it was all based around location photography which I something I feel I am good at, compared to studio photography. After looking over all the different topics we can do I was going to photograph the everyday life, but after a little bit of thought I decided against this and decided to photograph the unconventional, the "boring". My plan for this project was to go out to a wide range of locations, those that wouldn't normally be used to take photos in. I went to a range of different unconventional areas and made sure that the images were not just unique but also unconventional which is exactly what they were. The sorts of things that I photographed during this assignment are bike locks, different angles on street signs and just random items that I see when out walking on a shoot.

The idea of photographing the everyday life changing to the unconventional after I researched William Eggleston and truly became inspired by his work and felt that this was the type of photography that I wanted to do during this assignment. I would also say that Shin Noguchi's work inspired me as well as a fair bit of his street photography is quite unconventional. Throughout most of the project I used my flash on the images to give them the bright effect, I also used a narrow depth of field on the images to allow you to focus more on the actual thing that I am photographing instead of the background

Throughout the project I constantly was happy with each and every photo shoot I did. I did think that my first photo shoot that I did was actually one of the best photo shoots probably the second best after one at St. George's Park. I don't really think I had any major problems when I first went out there were a few minor tweaks that had to be altered a little bit, this did prevent me early on from taking just one shot of each item I shoot, most of the project I did just take one shot of each item.

When I look back at my final piece I am quite happy with how it came out, I do think though that if I had done another photo shoot I could have maybe got a couple of better images. The images I have are decent images and strong though I do think that extra shoots would have given me 4-6 I could have used in the final piece that would have been really strong images, a lot stronger than any other that I had produced in the project or any other.

Overall I would say that everything came out quite well there would be a couple of minor things that I would have tweaked but truly that isn't a major problem so that is a bonus really. Some of my images that I took during this project are really strong and powerful and some of my best images. I could easily see some of these images that had been taken during this assignment going into my portfolio which to me does say that I have managed to get great photos during this assignment. This has definitely been a strong assignment for me in terms of my actual photograph.

Final Image

When it came to choosing my final images I wasn't too sure which images I wanted to use. At first I decided how many images I was going to use, I already knew that I was likely to put them all on one sheet. After deliberation I decided to use four images. I straight away knew one image that I was going to use the bike lock, that was a simple choice I had known for a while that I was going to use as one of my final images. Choosing the other three images was probably the hardest part I made sure that I took my time choosing these images and looked over all of my images to ensure that I chose the best three images. After looking over all of my images taken on this project a couple of times I found the other three images, all of which I am quite proud of as I do feel that they are strong images.

Originally they were going to be half black and white and half colour though after the critique I decided to have them all in colour mainly due to the fact that I don't really think the bike lock image looks very good in black and white.

My location communication

What I am really trying to communicate with my locations and images is that you can never run out of places to photograph and that you can go to some of the strangest places and still be able to get some really strong images. This is exactly what I have tried to do throughout this project, I tried to go to some of the most unusual places to try and get some really strong and different images, which is what I believe I had managed to do throughout the last couple of weeks.

I have managed to communicate this by making sure that I went to a wide range of different locations and trying to get as many different images as possible. I was also trying to make sure that the images were really different and in no way similar which with these final images I believe I have managed to achieve this in these images. Not just in my final images, but in all images I have managed to shoot in many different locations and ensure that all the images look completely different and show a wide range of locations.

Overall looking at all the different locations that I have used have in my opinion been a really good choice and there is definitely a wide range of locations chosen which is something that I am really happy with and how the shots came out.

Critique Feedback

In the critical feedback main things that were raised were that the focus and exposure on the images which I am really pleased that it was considered some of the strengths as these were two parts that I had focused on making sure that they worked really well when I was taking the images. An improvement that was raised was choosing between having all my images in colour or all in black and white, I admit putting two in colour and two in black and white was a bit of a gamble which clearly hasn't paid off. So because of this I will have all of my final images in colour and not in black and white as all of the my final four images don't really look very good in black and white whereas they all look good in colour. One other point the group raised was not sure of the concept, yet at the top of the feedback they mention what the concept is which is strange to try and pull it up as a improvement so really that wasn't needed. It was clear when it came to the final improvement they were looking for anything to put when it says shoot more when all that was required in the critique was final images which I presented. If the group had wanted to sell all of my other photographs that I had taken during the project to try and find improvements that way they should have asked. They have also said that my images are photographing the banal and boring which is what my images are which yet again is the concept of the images, I feel they were just looking for something to add as they were clearly struggling.

Comparisons in research work and mine

The main difference between the locations of my research artists and my own is that they incorporate the street into their photography. I have been actually taking them out on the streets but haven't incorporated the streets into my images. The only person in my research that my images are quite similar to and that it is clear that I have drawn a lot of inspiration from is William Eggleston. I have tried to incorporate bits from each research artist that I have looked at into my work, but I am not that sure whether much of the work has come from each research artist.

The research artist have used people in practically every shot, except William Eggleston contains a lot of people. The work of the research artists varies between colour and black and white, so because of this two of my final images will be in colour and two will be in black and white. The location in the research doesn't really change much most of the work is set around the same town or city, which is what I have done all of my images have been taken in Burton despite opportunities to go to other locations such as Derby I wanted this to be the same as the research artists.

Almost every research artist has black and white images, but for me some of my best images they didn't look that good in black and white. I tried to mix it up but I don't think it went down to well so that won't be something I will be doing again.

Choosing the final images

When it came to choosing my final images I felt that I had a fair few images that I could choose from. Even before I decided to choose my images, I knew of one that was definitely going to be one my final images.

 When it came to choosing my first image I knew straight away which image I was going to choose, the image of the bike lock in the leaves. This was chosen straight away because this is one of my favourite images that I had taken during this project so I knew instantly that it was going to be chosen, there were a few people who I had spoken to as well who liked it which meant, that without a shadow of a doubt this was going to be used as one of my final images.

 When it came to choosing the second image to use as a final piece I did have a couple in mind, but the one I chose was the more basic street sign this was chosen because it shows the top of the sign with the swan on and the part of the sign indicating where a certain place is, is clearly visible and readable despite being at the angle it has been taken at. This was a clear indicator to me, to choose this one. I also liked how the image didn't just have the white background of the sky but of the trees as well.

The third image I chose was the one of the metal book on the bench covered in rain water. This image was chosen because I liked the effect it gave when covered in the rain, there is one part of it that isn't that readable, but one section of it is readable. I still think that this is a  strong image though had the second part of the book been completely readable it would have been a really strong image as quite possibly one of the best images that I had taken over the project. Had the image not been taken from over the top, it may have come out perfect, but despite this I still like the image which I do believe is a strong image.

The fourth final image I chose was the one of the goggles in the twigs and grass, this was chosen because I felt that the image look quite good as the goggles had just been moved out of shot in a completely different image unrelated to my project, but I felt where it had been accidentally positioned looked really good. I do think it is quite a strong image and easily beat the one of the leaf that I was originally going to choose as a final image.

Location Choice

When it came to the locations, I wanted to go somewhere where I knew there was likely to be a fair few images. This wasn't a specific location, but all over the area, there were plenty of opportunities in every single shoot.

 When I set out on my shoot I didn't have a specific location in mind I just went out to shoot unconventional items. I had a rough idea of the location but not a specific location I kind of wanted to go to places where there is likely to be a fair few unconventional items and really around Burton there are quite a few of these locations.
The location for the first image was chosen as it was normally a quiet area and it was quite unlikely that around this time that there would be anybody sat on this bench and thankfully there wasn't.

The location for this image was chosen because this was almost always going to be there as it is so rusty that it is very unlikely that it is ever going to be removed. Also where it was with the background it gave it something different in the background and doesn't just give you the lock to look at, but it isn't in focus and has used a narrow depth of field to allow it to focus more on the lock then the actual ground and surrounding location.

This location was chosen because I knew I was likely to have a lot of objects that were easily considered unconventional and I could take image of such as this image. This image is simply bird poo on a leaf and I decided to take a photo of this as it is completely unconventional and it was likely to be something that no one would really take a serious photo of, some people may just take a photo of it for a laugh, but not how i've done it. This location did contain a lot of items that were considered unconventional.

This image was also taken in the same location and it showed that even just moving something accidentally can produce some really good unconventional images like this has done. It also shows that it was a really good location to use for unconventional photos, if someone was trying to get photos that wouldn't be considered unconventional then it wouldn't be a location that would really be used for that sort of shoot.

Review of Photo shoots

Throughout this project to date I have gone on three different photo shoots, taking over 30 photos each time. I would say that the first shoot I did was probably the one I was most pleased with as nearly every single image came out the way I wanted to and like I had set out to do, they were taken in one shot. The second shoot did produce the most images that I could use as a final piece or even in my portfolio, but this shoot wasn't the best as there were a fair few images that weren't very good and had to be taken a couple of times before I got it right.

 The first shoot I took over 50 images, this shoot was the best as it produced a wide range of images, that I really liked. This shoot I feel went well mainly because practically every image came out right, but the second shoot I thought had more photos that I felt were strong and could be used as final images. The shoot produced the Pespi can image which is one I like as it isn't really something other people would even consider taking a photo of. I like how the can was just there on the ledge which I also found interesting. There was also a can of Dr. Pepper sat on the ledge on the other side.

The second shoot did provide me with another 12 images, this was just a short shoot later on in the day, after the first this was just to get a couple more images. I think that even though I took just 12 images, I think easily 8-10 of them could be used as a final pieces and three or four of them could even be added to my portfolio. This shoot produced the top two images on this page, which I do feel are quite strong images. The bike lock is as there is other things to focus on besides the bike lock, and the leaves have a really good texture to them, which is kind of slimy. The water droplets I also feel is a really good image as it focus on the drops and the pole there are coming off, and not on any of the background and it has a brilliant narrow depth of field

My third photo shoot was easily the weakest of the three, but even though it did produce several good, strong images, the level of the previous two shoots meant that they just weren't good enough. This shoot produced a further 32 images, all of which I probably would have used had it not been for the previous two shoots. The third shoot produced the bottom image, which I do like quite a bit but because of what I had produced in the previous two shoots, I am not really sure that it is on par with the other images that I had already produced for this project.

Overall of the 100 or so images that I took I feel really pleased that I managed to produce in my opinion 60-70 strong images that I could use in this project and because of this it will make choosing my final images quite difficult, I do have in mind a couple that I could use. One I feel I may use as a final, is the top image from this page. I will also look for at least 2 or 3 more for finals I intend to go out on one or two more shoots to reach around 150 to 200 images and then I should be able to pick some final images, hopefully I may end up with four or five final images.

Photo Shoot 3

For this I continued documenting the unconventional around Burton, but this time I went to different locations so try and find a wide range of images that I could use and this shoot probably wasn't my best, but I still managed to get some pretty good images that could be used as one of my finals.

With this image I tried to get the entire lock and get some of the detail of the rust and get some of the pole it was on as well, which I feel I did. I did give this a few more attempts, to try and get plenty of rust, but I do feel that of the others I took of this lock, this is probably the best of the three or four I took of the lock. I am quite happy with how this image came out as it has the narrow depth of field, and it focuses perfectly on the lock and pole which is exactly what I was looking for.

 This image I took when I was helping Sammy with one of her shoots, I just this cloth hanging off a branch and instantly thought that it could make a really good photo as it is very unconventional and I feel that this image came out really well. I feel that the main thing that helped this image be a strong image is the colouring of the leaves of the branch that the cloth is hanging off.

This photo was a little bit of luck really, I was again helping Sammy with her shoot and she threw her goggles and they landed like this which I feel looks really random and out of place which I really liked. This continued a pattern of images where I just had one attempt to get the right image, which I feel I did here with the one photo and I am really glad it worked.

Contact Sheet 3

Laurent Roch

Laurent Roch is a multi-award winning French street photographer. Like Julien Legrand he shoots and reacts to what he sees and doesn't stage images. Again similar to Legrand he photographs the everyday but quite similar to William Eggleston, Roch looks for the unconventional in his photography.

 This first image looks like a police barricade and one random kid has  decided to have a look at it. I find this image interesting because the police seem to have a barricade up for some reason, but it seems that this one kid is the only person there which I find quite strange. This is one of those images that I couldn't see in colour. When you look at the image the main things that stand out are the boy and the word police. The word stands out because it is quite big on the screen and is quite central, the boy stand out as he is quite a large figure on the screen.

 In this image it shows a man cycling past a building which has a painting of Marilyn Monroe on the side. The interesting thing I noticed about this image when you enlarge it does look like the painting is actually looking at the person cycling. This photo I do feel would look good in colour, but if the painting of Marilyn Monroe hasn't been done in colour then it is best to keep it in black and white. The main thing that stands out in this image is the painting of Marilyn Monroe because it is so prominent and covers most the page.

This image seems quite unconventional as it looks like Roch has decided to take a picture of people using a crossing but put the camera upside down to get this sort of image. I feel that this is probably the strongest image of the three mainly because of the unconventional way the image has been taken. It is easily one that should be in black and white and not colour. The location he has chosen is really good as you are more likely to get a fair few people to cross here. I think this is not only the best of the three, but one of Roch's best images.

Julien Legrand

Julien Legrand is a French street photography who is known for a wide range of both colour and black and white images. Legrand is one of those photographers who's images are just spontaneous. He just takes his camera with him everywhere not looking for a specific image but waits for a suitable moment to shoot and regularly comes out with really strong and excellent images like those below.

 This image seems to be either the opening of automatic doors or the opening or an underground. I think that this is a really good location to use as it has the doors and you can choose whether to use them or not and with Legrand using them it doesn't focus on the people and more on the door which makes it a really strong image. This is another image which I feel looks better in black and white. You can clearly tell that there are a few people in the shot but the best thing about this image is that yes you know they are there but there is more focus on the door than anything else.

 With this image it looks a little bit like something has just exploded and the person at the front is running away from it. This gives it a more documentary look, but if the person wasn't in shot it would look like a more staged shot and not documenting the every day life. I feel that unlike the first and last image, this would probably work quite well in colour as well. It does also look like mist and the person is just casually walking past. Personally I do think that when I look close at an enlarged version of the photo, that it is just mist and the lady in shot is just walking past Legrand as he is taking the photo.

At first look this image does look like the man in the photo is asleep but when I looked at an enlarged version of the photo, it does actually look like he is laughing, but he does look like he has his eyes closed whilst waiting for the bus. I would have at one point wondered why he would take an image like this, but know I understand fully why he would take an image like this as clearly he is documenting the every day life of what I believe is Paris. I believe that all of the images here are showing the everyday life of Paris and to me these images show a wide range of things that go on during a normal day in Paris. These images and all of his others are quite strong and show that in Paris and all the other places he has shot in have a diverse range of subjects and activities going on during a typical day.

Shin Noguchi

Shin Noguchi is a Japanese street photographer. Noguchi is based in Tokyo and Kamakura, this is where he takes a majority of his photos. Noguchi himself has said his tries to photograph the extraordinary. Noguchi is also part of the international photography group "Street Photographers"

 In this image is shows a woman crossing the road, though it just shows her legs and feet. I feel that with it clear she is in a walking motion it kind of reminds me of the Abbey Road album cover by The Beatles with the crossing on the road. I feel that this is a very strong image as it just has a focus on one part of the woman.

In this photo it shows a chef walking across what seems to be a golf course which makes me think that this is probably a country club. It has a very green look to it as the path is also a greeny blue colour, all the trees and bushes are also quite green and stand out and the machine in the background is a big green as well. I feel that with the mist at the back of this photo it makes it makes it a really strong image. I think that if the chef was in green as well it would be a great photo but I know that most chefs where white, but this wasn't something major that I would change.

In this image it shows a person, which I believe is a woman walking across a path with an umbrella covering their face and most of the top  half of their body. It also has a couple of shadows which are in quite interesting places as it leaves a gap between the two and then the person is in probably the best place away from the shadows. This is why I feel this is another strong image.