Research
When I was first told the brief for the independent project, I looked into the definitions of the words we were given, and how I could possibly develop them into a set of images.
Migration- Movement of people or animals
Entropy- Gradual decline into disorder
Globalisation- International movement or influence
Synchronicity- Simultaneous events
Division- Separation or disagreement
For my final project, I chose to look at globalisation, and after brainstorming my original ideas, I decided to take photos of my friend outside of international businesses in town. I wanted to include various different newspapers with headlines relating to globalisation, or race, such as Brexit, or attitudes towards immigration, unfortunately I could only find one paper that had a similar headline.
During my research, I found Brijesh Patel, who has taken multiple images of shop front in London. He focusses on the symmetry in a scene, and the cinematic style of the images, which is something I wanted to try and re-create in my own. At first I wanted to try and capture the whole front window, and have the figure stood within the frame. However, when I went out, I realised that the headline wouldn’t be visible, and the images seemed too busy, so I decided to take them from closer up. I attempted to capture different parts of the front windows, such as the name, or the adverts, which make it clear that it isn’t a ‘traditionally British’ establishment.
I also looked at Vivian Maier, and some of the photos she has taken on the street in Chicago in the 70s. One of the first colour photographs Maier took was of a newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, with a headline featuring Nixon. I found this quite fitting as I had planned to use the headlines about political figures and ideology within my photography. There is another shot of a man and child buying what appears to be either a badge or image of the pope. The man selling these prints is holding them up to his face, which brightens the mood of the otherwise quite serious composition. In my images, I wanted to make sure my friends face wasn’t visible, as I want to give the impression that it could be anyone. The red of the post box in the second image contrasts against the plain pavement, which is also similar in my own images, with the bright colours of the windows against the brick work.
Matt Coch, I found, has taken some very interesting street photography, and the simplicity of having just one person, isolated against the colourful background of the buildings makes for an interesting composition.
Many of the other street photographers I looked at before starting this project produce their images in black and white. I thought about doing this with my own photos, however I didn’t want to loose the impact of the bright colours in the background.
Final Project
I was unsure what to do for my final project, my first idea was to take photos of ‘international’ food products, alongside classic British brands, to show the difference in packaging and advertising across the globe. However I realised that this may be too expensive to complete, and I didn’t have access to the studio in time to complete it. I then decided to just take photos of the businesses in town, but that seemed to be too simple, therefore I asked my friend to be involved. I thought that adding the newspaper could add a more serious political tone to the image, linking back to globalisation.
I have tried to portray the idea that ‘Brexit’ and similar political ideology, such as Trump’s approach to migration, is linked to globalisation, and that lots of people are effected by these policies, not just one demographic.
In each photograph, I tried to vary the angle, to find what was best to capture both the character and a lot of the background. My original idea was for all of the photos to be taken from straight on, at eye level, however the fact that we were on a busy street in town on the weekend made it difficult to do so.
The equipment I used for this project was the Canon 700d, with a 18-55mm lens. I think that this lens worked for this project, as it enabled me to have everything in frame, and at the same time, focus on the subject. On the other hand, a wider lens may have been more interesting, as it would’ve enabled me to have the whole shop front in the image.
As they were taken outside, I had little control over the lighting, especially as there were only two of us, so I had to make sure that the scenes were evenly lit, with no glare in on the camera. Another problem was the reflections in the glass windows. I wanted to ensure that I couldn’t be seen actually taking the photos, and positioned myself either to the side of, or in line with my friend. I think that if I had more time, I would try and take the photos so little to no reflection of the city was visible, as it distracts from the main subject.
I used Photoshop to enhance the images, slightly changing the brightness and contrast of each one. As I didn’t have much space at some of the locations, and there were people passing by, I didn’t have a lot of time to set up the framing of the scene perfectly, therefore I have also had to straighten and crop some of the photos.
To improve this project I would use a different person, with a different, relevant, newspaper headline, outside each building. I think this would make it look more interesting, as it would represent a wider group of people, and, the idea that these headlines and globalisation, positive or negative, effect a lot of people.
I chose the following images as my final ones as I feel like they have the best composition, and you can clearly see all the aspects I wanted to be involved. Looking back at these images I realise that there is a slight curvature, possibly due to the lens, and I could possibly have fixed this in post, or used a different lens at the time.
I have included the images I took, but haven’t used in my final selection. These didn’t meet my expectations, either because of the angle, or the position of the figure and newspaper.
References
Brijesh Patel Photography London – Portrait, Design & Lifestyle | Design
Brijesh-patel.com. (2017). Brijesh Patel Photography London – Portrait, Design & Lifestyle | Design. [online] Available at: http://www.brijesh-patel.com/gallery/design/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2017].
Vivian Maier Photographer
vivianmaier.com (2017). Vivian Maier Photographer – Color Gallery. [online] Available at: http://www.vivianmaier.com/gallery/color-1/ [Accessed 22 Nov. 2017].
Matt Coch Instagram & Web Page
Instagram.com. (2017). Matt Coch (@brooklyntheory) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/brooklyntheory/?hl=en [Accessed 15 Nov. 2017].
Matt Coch. (2017). Commissioned. [online] Available at: http://www.mattcoch.com/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2017].
The Sunday Times
Thetimes.co.uk. (2017). The Times & The Sunday Times. [online] Available at: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/?sunday [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].
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