Places Brief- Evaluation

Unit 6-Places

Evaluation

Significant Place

For my significant place images I have decided to photograph my old work place ‘The Old School House’. I worked here for a period of over 5 years and had lots of happy memories of the place. Unfortunately it shut down in November last year and has been left a mess and looks a shadow of its former self. I have only showed half of the pub and this is to show the angle that everyone saw when they entered the car park. I just shot the image from eye level, I didn’t aim high I framed the image I wanted and then captured It.

The second place I have photographed is a car park outside my house. This is significant to me because what I photographed wasn’t just a car park it was my old football pitch when I was a child. It means a lot to me because this is where I learned how to kick a ball and play football. Nobody plays here anymore, neighbours complained over the years and ruined everyone’s fun. I suppose then that me and my friends were the minority that ruined everyone else’s fun.

City/Urban

From learning to play football we move on to the home of the mighty Manchester United, Old Trafford. I come to Old Trafford regularly and in a way it links to my significant places images. I learned to play football and came to watch the professionals, then went to the pub to celebrate or drown my sorrows, but in the main it was to celebrate. I have decided to show the ground both close-up and from afar. This is to show how big the ground actually is. Old Trafford believe it or not is actually one of Manchester’s biggest tourist attractions and recently celebrated it’s centenary year. The image from afar was taken from the viewing platform at the Imperial War Museum and Old Trafford is their most photographed building. The shot from outside the ground was taken on match day late in the afternoon

Wilderness/Countryside

For these images I have photographed in the woods and I also photographed a lodge near my house. The image of the tree with the rope on interested me as it looks like a failed attempt at a rope swing. I was a fan of rope swings in my youth and wanted to show this failed attempt. The rope is nowhere near strong enough to swing on.

The photograph of the lodge was taken in the sun for a reason, I wanted the trees to be green and have good colour in the image. I took the image a few months ago from the same position and it was really dark but in the sunshine I got my desired effect. I think the lodge symbolises peace and quiet, I love sitting near water and find it very relaxing and therapeutic

Alien Environment

For my ‘Alien’ environment photographs I have photographed a back street and Manchester Cathedral. These are two places that I am unfamiliar with so I photographed them and I feel that they fit in the category perfectly. I am not a religious person so Cathedrals are ‘Alien’ to me and aren’t places that I ever visit. The backstreet is ‘Alien’ to me in ways because it is a typical backstreet that you would expect to see in a big city with the industrial bins down the alley way. As I am from a village within a town I am more used to seeing wider backstreets and houses back to back with enough room to fit a car down. The Manchester backstreet therefore is something that I am definitely ‘Alien’ to.

People Brief- Candid Portraits

Whilst I was out photographing Stuart the council worker for my Environmental images, I only got to photograph him because I was questioned by both Stuart and his co-worker John why I was photographing them working. I was capturing them working on the estate and used them for my Candid Portraits.

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People Brief- Corporate Image

For my Corporate Portrait I photographed Steph who works for Pets At Home. Usually Corporate images are done of Managerial type figures and high people in a company. But sometimes Corporate Portraits can be done of staff members. I photographed Steph in the Atrium of the University Building as the studio's were busy. Steph was a replacement for another girl who had let me down several times.

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It isn't what you would call your 'average' Corporate Portrait but it is an image of somebody in working attire not in a working environment.

People Brief- Final 8 Environmental Portraits

I have finished my final 8 portrait's for this brief and I have focused on Photographing people in a working environment. I have been out on the street's and in to shops and bars photographing people in work. I have got a variety of different locations and together I think that they have answered the Brief.

Image One

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This is Stuart, a Bolton Council Worker who I photographed working on a housing estate in Bolton. His working Environment is the estate and his van which I have tried to show in this image.

Image Two

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This is my image of Vinnie who works in a outdoor cafe in Bury. I wanted to capture the environment around him such as the sauces and some of the food that he has on offer.

Image Three

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This is Lynne who works for Sky Retail in Bury Shopping Centre. I have tried to capture her in her working environment using the background of two Sky billboards whilst also capturing some of the detail of the shopping centre to establish the setting.

Image Four

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This is Zoe who works in Wallis. As I am not a Wallis shopper I used my friend to go in shopping and followed her and politely asked this young lady if I could photograph her. I wanted her behind the counter as this is her working environment.

Image Five

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This is my Portrait of Paul who is a Butcher. As Paul was very busy I had to take the image very quickly whilst he kindly agreed to be photographed. Although I would have liked meat in the shot I had to take in to consideration it was a busy Saturday morning and Paul was very busy.

Image Six

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This is my image of Ellisa a bar-maid in my local pub. The image is in her working environment of behind the bar. The lighting was terrible and needed a really low shutter speed.

Image Seven

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This is Paul Natraj a Audio Tutor on The B-TEC & Post A-Level Courses at Blackburn College. I photographed Paul in the Radio Studio as it is part of the course that he teaches in and forms part of his working environment.

Image Eight

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This is Matt a waiter at a Toby Carvery Restaurant. Matt is part management and is in charge of escorting people to tables from the reception area.

People Brief- The Human Condition

What is meant by 'the human condition'?
'The human condition' is a phrase typically used with respect the generality of situations that humans face in 'getting along with each other and the world', situations that are difficult to encompass in some way because of hang-ups or predispositions of one kind or another or just simple ignorance -"What did I do to wrong her?", "Why can't we get along with each other?" and "The beauty of a flower, isn't that proof of God"? -illnesses of a sort, mental and real, our own or society's, mental or real, and how they weigh upon us and society about us. The human condition is, for example, the material of poetry in general and the lyrics of most music ('rap' included) and various other 'secular' or even religious situations -lovers in warring religions, for example, and the irony in the contemporaneity of both most abject and most excessive 'lifestyle and quality of life' as in some parts of Africa and anywhere in the US. Perhaps the most obvious examples come right off any daily newspaper -the 'irresolvability' of the Israeli-Palestinian problem, letters to Dear Abby and Ann Landers (and their answers) -or the dog next door, run over and killed because your neighbor had a fight with his wife and forgot to close the gate. And there are more general examples too -the individual saddling his friends and relatives with his aches and pains or complaints on government: "They (whoever) ought'a do (whatever)" and "You can't change human nature". Various expressions of frustration, 'unrequited love', 'the seven deadly sins' -'the human condition' is some one aspect or another of these items.

2 - Why does it always seems to have a sorrowful or 'negative' cast to it? -examples otherwise?
'Discomfiture', in general -mental or physical, is antithetical to our evolutionary nature which is, more correctly (and genetically), 'the pursuit of best well-being and viability', so when we come up against anything that is 'troublesome' to that pursuit in some way, we tend to linger on its 'resolution' -or at least wonder "Why can't we -" and "If only -". When there is no such problem, on the other hand, we automatically get on with the routine of life.

Examples otherwise? -the typically superficial and essentially momentary 'happiness in another's good fortune' and 'glee at your team winning!', for example -not generally bagged as 'human condition', but schadenfreud in particular and extreme: 'happiness in another's misfortune', which, by its very substance, reflects completely consistent 'negativity'.

Places Brief- Final 8 Images

I have chosen my final 8 images for the places brief. Lots of thought has gone in to trying to capture images that fit both the categories of the brief and also relate to me in some way.

Significant Places Images

For the significant places images I have decided to show my old workplace 'The Old School House' which was a pub where I worked for over a period of 5 years. I also spent most of my wage putting it back over the bar and spent a lot of my time there and to show the pub as it is now upsets me in a way because I remember all the good times that I had there and recently the pub has been trashed.

Significant Place Image

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The second Significant place I have chosen is of a car park in front of my house. I used to play football here as a young child with all my friends. We used to put jumpers down against the wall as goalposts and play football against the wall. Cars used to get hit and bumped and many times we were told to stop playing, but being young and rebellious we carried on playing all the time. Nobody plays anymore and a lot of my friends have moved away and there was only my generation that has played in the last 10 years. When I see this car park and house I see me as a child belting a ball around, but in reality I now just see a car park.

Significant Place

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Wilderness Images

My Wilderness images have some meaning behind them and I have tried to show the meaning in my work. The first image is a rope on a tree branch in the woods. The rope used to be a rope swing which I used to attempt to make myself when I was younger, usually over a river and I was a bit of a thrill seeker when I was younger.

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The second Wilderness Image that I have chosen is a Lodge that is near my house. I love water and find the sound of a running river quite refreshing and relaxing. Sitting by the lodge is so peaceful and seems miles away from society.

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Urban Images

For my two Urban images I have photographed Old Trafford Football Stadium from close-up and from afar. Old Trafford fits perfectly in to the Urban category as the stadium itself is in a Urban location. All around the ground shopping complexes and office blocks are being built and it is also built around a very industrial area. I have tried to show this in my work.

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Alien Environment

My Alien Environment images were taken in Manchester City Centre. I am 'Alien' to Manchester and only really visit several times a year. I took Manchester Cathedral and a backstreet of Manchester. I am not really a religious person so Cathedrals are indeed 'alien' to me.

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Backstreets in Manchester don't really mean a lot to me but being from a little village within a Town backstreets are different in my eyes. My backstreet view is of houses back to back with a single street with just enough room for a car. In Manchester a bustling City the backstreet is usually a small alleyway with a company dustbin outside. So this image is definitely 'alien' to me.

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People Brief- Fine Art Set Three

Fine Art Set Three

This is my third and final set up. I wanted to try to achieve a blue background in this setting. I struggled and found it tough to achieve but I think that I achieved it in the end.

This was a shot to establish the set and was very much a test shot. Yet again I used a Snoot light, and a Spill Kill on the other side. To achieve the blue I had a blue gel in front of a light on the floor facing the curve wall. It was triggered to flash when I shot the image. This shot was taken using 1/250 and f 5.6

Again this is a test shot to experiment. The blue background in this shot is what I wanted to achieve, however the face is badly lit and is very dark. The settings used were 1/60 and f 5.6

This again is a test shot and the background is a lot lighter, the face is lit better though. This was taken using 1/100 and f 5.6

This image went completely wrong, the image is too dark and there isn't even a hint of blue anywhere. The settings were 1/200 and f 5.6 and these settings are clearly incorrect.

The settings in this shot were 1/250 and f 5.6. I decided to shoot really close up to the model but this image doesn't work. The background color isn't too bad but my model looks like a character from Avatar.

Yet again this was shot using 1/250 and f 5.6. I shot this close up and the lighting on the face is lit quite good. The background light is lit a blue/green color too which I am happy about.