Developing my idea

NATURAL LANDSCAPE IMAGES

OR.................

LANDSCAPE IMAGES WITH A DIFFERENCE?

Whilst I'm very excited about the work of Martin Parr, it is very important for me to think about how I can take inspiration from his work.  Circumstances that can effect this is the fact that i don't live near the sea.  I am planning to visit Blackpool sometime in the next few weeks and I'm hoping to create some Martin Parr style images from this. 

I am now seriously thinking of the final 12 images which I have to present.  Whilst I like alot of the images that i've taken already on this course, I think that presenting a mixture of naturally beautiful landscape images along side my own take of Martin Parr style images may not mix well as I want there to be a similar theme throughout.

I will see what comes from my Blackpool trip and then decide soon on which route my final portfolio will go down.  

Alot of the type of images I want to take are based on wether a certain person/object is in the right place at the right time as i don't want it to be too staged!  This idea may fail and I could always go down the natural landscape route.  Time will tell.

Martin Parr Images

I have spent lots of time over the past few weeks looking at Martin Parr's work.  Below is some of his work which was of particular interest to me.  Whilst i don't believe in copying people's work, I look forward to producing my own versions as his work has given me great aspiration.

Whilst some of these images are not merely landscape, alot of them provide a main focus image with the landscape featured in the background.  I am very excited by the though of doing landscape images - almost with a twist, just like Martin Parr

Martin Parr

My tutor Steve introduced me to the work of Martin Parr a few weeks ago.  Since then, I have been looking into his work and thoroughly enjoy his concept of showing images "as they are".  He seems to capture England in a very clever way, highlighting the things we take for granted everyday.  He captures most images with hilarity, sometimes seperating the working classes from the middle classes.  Some of his work I have come across is quite dark, as though he's trying to send a message to those that look at his work.  

What I particularly like about him is that, all of his pictures tell a story.  They aren't simply images of a seaside.  Instead he adds his imagination, humour and "hidden" black comedy to the image.  This excites me greatly as I wish to create a portfolio of images projecting a similar message!  Not just by clicking away at a simple landscape.  I need to use my imagination and creativity more.

Whilst he is not officially a landscape photographer, I feel that I will beable to tell his story in my own words for some of my final work.  I have a vision of taking images of normal people and everyday objects against typical English landscapes - wether it be by the sea, countryside or in the city.  I aim to try and capture the irony as Martin Parr does so well and introduce his both vibrant colours and darker visualisations.

I came across a newspaper article at Guardian.co.uk where he was interviewed about his work.  To me it reads as a very simple explanation of his interpritations and I find I have alot in common with his mindset and aspire to create such images.

Taken from Guardian.co.uk - dated 4th April 2009

Out of the ordinary

Martin Parr reveals beauty in the banal through his photography, and says even mundane objects have charm - you only have to notice them.

As we travel around Britain, I am convinced most of us cannot really appreciate what we are seeing. We take too much for granted, because it is all so familiar.

We float through our cities and countryside with our eyes half closed. However if we go abroad, especially to countries which are very different to our own, our sensibilities are awakened; everything is fresh and exciting. I am proposing that same approach should be rekindled when we look at our own environment.

I have made a career as a Iphotographer and my main subject matter has been the normal; I try to show how extraordinary it really is. I have taken supposedly boring subjects such as supermarkets and the English seaside and shown them as new and appealing.

Most of us, when we go out with a camera in our own country, try to find exotic subject matter to photograph.

I am sure you know what I mean: a glorious sunset, a beautiful old building, the picture postcard view. We are also influenced by expectations of what interesting views or photographs should show: the unusual, the unfamiliar as well as the pretty, cute or beautiful. In fact, everyday objects are unusual, but we are not able to see this clearly.

I want to put forward a case for taking more seriously the everyday object, we should appreciate those objects that are so familiar we usually don't notice them. Take the scarecrow, a wonderful example of outsider art, and made with a real purpose. If you were to say to their farmer creators that they were sculptures, they would look at you as if you were mad. However if you take photos of them in splendid isolation, the results are both compelling and surreal.

There are two categories of everyday objects: those that are constantly changing in terms of design, and those that are reassuringly constant. In the former category, take something as simple as the petrol pump. I photographed one in use in Salford in 1986, and now it looks like it is from another era. What at the time may have been rejected as a photo of great tedium has become a fascinating image.

The benefit of photographing such objects now is that time is on your side. These images will improve with age. The older examples of the everyday become more fascinating in comparison to the modern.

Think also about "timeless" objects. Personally, I love the humble postbox. The simple design, the distinctive colour add up to make this a national icon. For many years now, I have been trying to locate the postboxes with the most stunning backdrops, particularly in the Scottish islands. Here you can find postboxes literally on the beach and at remote and beautiful crossroads. I have also looked for remote phoneboxes, but I believe the postbox has the edge, as it is smaller and visually stronger.

Sadly, the classic red phonebox is in decline and any remaining public phoneboxes are more likely to be the glass and metal variety.

I would urge everyone to start looking at the world in a different way. Spend some time looking at everyday objects, at their design, their shape, their individual characteristics. Think ahead and imagine their significance. Many are interesting and aesthetically pleasing in their own right, if you just give them some attention. And of course, the discipline of taking out a camera and documenting the things around you on film is a great way to start to open your eyes wider.

Reminder!!

Checklist of other blogs to put on here:

Test images showing high to low ISO

Test images in motion

Research on landscape photographers

Test images of high and low aperture values (F Stops)

& anything else that i'm sure will crop up :-)

Following the Health & Safety Act 1974

I have already mentioned health and safety in a number of my blogs featured and feel that it is important to understand the Act as a whole and then attempt to relate it to the area of photography.  

The below link will enable you to view the whole of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974:

http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/legResults.aspx?LegType=All+Legislation&title=health+and+safety+at+work+etc+act+&Year=1974&searchEnacted=0&extentMatchOnly=0&confersPower=0&blanketAmendment=0&TYPE=QS&NavFrom=0&activeTextDocId=1316700&PageNumber=1&SortAlpha=0

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA 1974) (or Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 (HSWO 1978) applies to every type and place of employment. Should an employer breach any of the principal sections of the act, their employee will have the right to take action.

However, where employees work at a workplace not under their employer's control, their employer has no duty under these regulations, but should (as part of his or her general duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 or Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978) take any steps necessary to ensure that sanitary conveniences and washing facilities will be available. It may be necessary to make arrangements for the use of facilities already provided on site, or to provide temporary facilities. This applies, for example, to those who employ seasonal agricultural workers to work on someone else's land.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (or Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978) creates a duty upon every employer to ensure so far as is reasonably practical, the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees. It also requires any employer who employs five or more people, to prepare a written statement of their health and safety policy.

A health and safety policy should state the general policy of the organisation and the arrangements for carrying it out. Such a statement must be brought to the employees' attention. A copy of the statement should be put up in an obvious place, such as a notice board. This would be regarded as satisfactory compliance with the regulations. Revisions must be made to the statement wherever necessary and be brought to the attention of all employees.

An employer should also consult their employees on health and safety matters. Recognised trade unions provide regulations for appointing safety representatives among employees. It is the duty of every employer to consult with those appointed in order to make and maintain arrangements to enable effective cooperation. This will promote and help to develop measures to ensure the health and safety of all employees.

It is also important that there is a clear policy in place to deal with persons other than employees, including members of the public. The standard of protection will in most cases be similar to that given to employees but sometimes the standard may be higher. This applies to a person visiting the workplace who has less knowledge than the employees working there of the potential hazards and how to avoid them.

Those who design, manufacture, import or supply any article or substance for use at work, must ensure, so far as is reasonably practical, that it is safe and without risks to health. They must also ensure that the article is suitably tested and examined and that adequate information is given about its use. Those who erect or install articles for use at work must also do safety checks.

Changing my mind - FINAL IDEA!!

Whilst its quite late in the day I've decided to change my mind on choice on area of photography in which I will specialize in.

I originally went from portrait to social documentary and now FINALLY to.......Landscapes!

Reasons why?.......

I spoke to Steve on Thursday about research into Social documentary and I found that I wasn't overly excited by the the idea of covering this concept. Steve reviewed the images I had already blogged and basically he got me to change my mind and changed to landscape photography. He lent me a few books on the subject and I must admit that I got alot more excited by this subject and immidately found a new burts of energy and motivation.

He explained that I had a good eye for this subject and that it would be a shame not to explore it further. He helped me get a list together of famous landscape photographers and I will feature some of my favourite images shortly in my blog.

He also suggested that I should start thinking of a theme for my final 12 landscape images to neatly tie it all together and come up with an interesting portfolio.

At the moment im thinking of either UK seaside resorts or just seas in general. I will explore this topic later as I come up with more ideas.

Meeting the criteria

I had a meeting with my tutor, Steve on Thursday and we decided to make make my blog more reader friendly when it came to signing of the desired criteria elements. We decided to label each of my blog enteries so we both could see where I was at. Since doing this, things have become much more clearer and I'm striving to meet all the criteria.

Magic Lights

After purchasing a tripod (the cheapest one on earth ;-) ) I got sadly very excited by the term Shutter speed and how a simple thing such as my tripod has helped me discover this element of photography. Like my last blog, I simply set my tripod up with the camera and made my bedroom pitch black. I found that a Shutter speed setting of 20 seconds was best to create the following images. I had great fun with this and was very suprised with the results and how clever it was (Particularly how it stores info from lighting during the timed period.)

I am very keen to demonstrate Shutter speeds based on nightime landscapes in my future blogs and maybe include them in my final portfolio.

I used my phone on illuminate to create the following visuals.

Demonstrating shutter speed

I bought a tripod a couple of days ago and had never used one before and decided it was time to play around with my camera's shutter speed in order to fully understand its function instead of continuously reading up on the subject. I simply waited for the night to draw in then I set my tripod up (making sure this was done in a safe environment with no leads or other obstacles in the way). Using a tripod allowed the focus area to be completely still as I have tried to experiment in the past with shutter speeds with the camera in my hands and the image always ended up a visual mess. I positioned my tripod so it was facing my open window and angled my camera so it was focused on the trees in pitch black. I set my ISO onto 100 (I wanted to have the best quality image possible) and set the camera's shutter speed to various different speeds. I really found this exercise helpful and it fully made me understand how extending the shutter speed will inturn allow more time for light to enter the image. Below shows 5 seperate images of exactly the same image (I didn't move the tripod)...The images speak for themselves.....

I firmly believe that I could only do this experiment by using a tripod and my correct selection of kit here allowed me to demonstrate the below images

Image 1 - SHUTTER SPEED = 4 seconds (Image represents minimal light entering the lens hence a very dark image)

Image 2 - SHUTTER SPEED = 8 seconds (Image starts to get a bit lig

hter)

Image 3 - SHUTTER SPEED = 13 seconds (and lighter......)

Image 4 - SHUTTER SPEED = 20 seconds (and lighter......)

Image 5 - SHUTTER SPEED = 30 seconds (You get the idea!!)

Depth of field examples

Whilst in North Wales, I visited a Zoo and wanted to take images in order for me to demonstrate my understanding of depth of field.

The below images show 2 pics of the same penguins.

I stayed away from the temptation of using auto focus as I believe that my confidence and skills have developed so much that I nearly always use manual now to get the image I crave for.

Depth of field is the amount of distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. A preferred selection Depth of field in a focused subject in an image can be quite subjective. Remember this, adequate selection of DOF for one situation, application may be unacceptable for another photographer. It is all a matter of personal preference when trying to determine the appropriate use of DOF to enhance an effect in a photograph.

For health and safety reasons, I was very careful of what and who was around me whilst at the zoo.

The depth of field is demonstrated in both images mainly using the focus ring (pictured above) and the correctly balanced funtions.

IMAGE 1
I used a very shallow depth of field for this image and this clearly shows in my image as the penguin nearest to my lense is clearly in focus whilst the penguin behind is out of focus. Images taken with a shallow depth will place more emphasis on objects closest to the camera lens. As follows........

IMAGE 2

I used a DEEPER depth of field on the focus ring hence the subject further away from the lens is in clear focus whilst objects nearer the lens are out of focus as my image clearly shows......