The Photojournalist
Research for stories
Research for stories
For the stories, the plan was to photograph Andy 'Dice' Davies painting a mural of Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman. To do this I looked at different photographers for some inspiration so that I could know what to expect when I went to do the shoot. One of the photographers I looked at was Martha Cooper who had done some shoots focusing on graffiti. The main thing that I learned when looking at these shots was that I needed to focus on being able to get the whole of the mural in my shots and include all the context within the frame.
When I went to the shoot I noticed that sadly because of the place that the mural was being done it was very hard for me to try and capture the whole of the mural in my shot since I physically was unable to walk far enough away from the shots so I decided to work my way around this issue by looking at other photographs and coming up with alternative ideas. While trying to find other photographs I came across one from Andrea Boscardin who had taken a photograph of someone creating a graffiti piece but from an alternative view. This gave me the idea that I can get close to the artist (Andy) and try to photograph him and his work from alternative angles (behind, in front, on the side, low angle, and high angle).
While doing the shoot on multiple days I came across another problem which was the lighting, since the photographs were taken during the day the subject and the sky required different lightings which would not match, and to work around this issue I looked at some more photographs from other photographers and came across Michelle Groskopf whose uses flash in the day which gave me a way to better the lighting in my images.
Michelle Groskopf also uses flash when taking close-ups which helped with the focus on the subject and made the subject pop which made me want to try and do the same in my photoshoot.
Stories
Photographing Andy 'Dice' Davies painting a mural of Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman
Evaluation
Photographing Andy 'Dice' Davies painting a mural of Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman
When starting to look for ideas to photograph for my stories I managed to contact an artist called Andy 'Dice' Davies who was going to be painting a mural of Killing Jokes Jaz Coleman, for 6 days I went to the mural while Andy was painting it and took a series of photographs until the mural was done. We also learned that Jaz Coleman himself was going to come to the mural to see it when it was finished so with the help of Andy I managed to ask Jaz's manager to get permission to come and meet Jaz so that I can photograph him with the mural.
During this shoot, I came across a series of problems like the lack of space for me to move back from the subject in order to get a context shot, bad lighting because of the weather on different days than I did the shoot, the angles and an unexpectedly drunk subject (Jaz Coleman). However, I was luckily able to capture some shots that I was proud of by moving around a lot and experimenting with alternative shots. One of the photos that I was happy with was taken with my phone in the frame and having Andy's face reflected on the screen while his hand was already in the frame working on the mural.
I learnt a lot during this shoot like using flash to help with the lighting and using a fast shutter speed to keep the image sharp. I also gained some experience doing a project throughout multiple days shooting the same subject and photographing a process which was the first for me and also photographing a celebrity.
If I could do the shoot again I would look for some alternative ways to capture the whole of the mural as I was lacking context shots in my final selections and will also try and talk to the subject/celebrity more so that I could get some more poses.
Research for Events
Events photographed (Gloucester Rugby match and people in Gloucester)
For the Events, the goal was to shoot people in Gloucester during a Rugby game. My goal was to try and capture people's excitement of the game so to help me do so I looked for some photographs for inspiration. While doing so I came across some photos by Richard Swingler that let me know that in order to capture the expressions I want I will need to interact with people and cannot only stay on the side and observe. Looking through these images also got me thinking about the fact that people will be moving a lot and inorder to capture and not miss the moment I will need to use a high shutter speed.
Events shots
Events photographed (Gloucester Rugby match and people in Gloucester)
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F-stop: f/4.0
Exposure: 1/250
ISO: 200
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F-stop: f/4.0
Exposure: 1/250
ISO: 200
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F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure: 1/400
ISO: 400
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F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure: 1/500
ISO: 400
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F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure: 1/500
ISO: 400
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F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure: 1/500
ISO: 400
F-stop: f/4
Exposure: 1/200
ISO: 200
F-stop: f/4
Exposure: 1/200
ISO: 200
Evaluation
Events photographed (Gloucester Rugby match and people in Gloucester)
During this assignment, I was tasked to take photos of people in the town of Gloucester. Once on a normal day and the other during a Rugby match. Throughout this assignment, I managed to talk to multiple people and ask them to take their photographs. During this assignment my main focus was on the lighting and the sharpness of the image; this allowed me to learn that the aperture does not have to be too narrow as long as I pay attention to where the focus is and that using flash will allow me to capture the moment with more ease and better lighting. I also tried to pay attention to the angles and the framing to create a better frame. The main issue I had with this assignment was that finding people that agreed with having their photo taken was more challenging than I expected but I managed to overcome this by standing in the middle of the road and allowing the people to approach me themselves which worked perfectly especially the times that people would pose for the camera.
If I were to do this assignment again I would try and be more open and approach more people and also try and experiment with more angles that allow a better framing.
Research for Events
Events photographed (Tewkesbury Mop Fair)
In order to prepare for the Mop Fair photoshoot, I first looked at some images of the Mop Fair that have been taken in previous years and came across some photos from Ryan Rogers. I found out that the best thing to focus on in this shoot would be people and their reactions. With that in mind, I set out to focus on the people. Sadly throughout the day, I was not able to capture a lot of people and their reactions. I had managed to capture people in my shots but in none of the shots, I had people looking at the camera or having their faces visible. When looking back at Ryan Rogers's images I noticed that my favorite one was where the subject's facial expression was captured so I went back on the second day to try and capture people's faces.
F-stop: f/2.2
Exposure : 1/250
ISO: 400
Events shots
Events photographed (Tewkesbury Mop Fair)
F-stop: f/2.8
Exposure : 1/250
ISO: 400
F-stop: f/2.5
Exposure : 1/250
ISO: 400
F-stop: f/2.2
Exposure : 1/250
ISO: 320
F-stop: f/8
Exposure : 1/500
ISO: 400
F-stop: f/8
Exposure : 1/1000
ISO: 400
F-stop: f/2.8
Exposure : 1/250
ISO: 400
F-stop: f/2.8
Exposure : 1/250
ISO: 400
F-stop: f/8
Exposure : 1/125
ISO: 400
F-stop: f/2.8
Exposure : 1/125
ISO: 400
F-stop: f/8
Exposure : 1/250
ISO: 400
F-stop: f/16
Exposure : 1/4
ISO: 320
F-stop: f/2.8
Exposure : 1/250
ISO: 400
Evaluation
Events photographed (Tewkesbury Mop Fair)
During this shoot, I was able to capture many images that show the people in the Mop Fair. My main issue was that during the night I did not have enough light and at times I did not want to use flash since it would create a white light that would overpower the different colored lights in the background but I overcame this by using a wide aperture and slow shutter speed. During this shoot, I learned that even though I am photographing a specific event it is a very good idea to capture people since their reactions make a much better image than only a general wide shot of the event.
If I were to do this shoot again I would try and interact with people more and ask them to let me take their portraits, even though by not doing this I managed to capture the pure reaction without posing the image I feel like I could use more photos of people looking at the camera.