Photography Matters Symposium

The Photography Matters symposium in Doncaster was my first official OCA visit, featuring five speakers from within the OCA. Content was extremely varied, covering technical, physical and social aspects of photography and how it has been used over time. The two speakers that resonated with me the most were Les Monaghan and Dawn Woolley; both speakers spoke of issues I felt connected to and have made me think differently about the power photography can have on both the conscious and subconscious mind.

Les Monaghan - Is it fair?

The question asked from Les, using Don McCullin’s shell shocked soldier as an example. Les has experienced at least one circumstance in which he chose not to press the shutter mainly due to a feeling that his creation of the image didn’t feel fair on the people in question.

Les spoke of his latest work, The Desire Project; a piece in which he asked customers of a local shopping centre, ‘What do you want?’ Although the question was asked to individual shoppers, as they hang on the wall side by side, collective themes of health, happiness, acceptance and community shine through.

Les thought deeply about fairness in the creation of this series; while viewing the work on the walls of the shopping centre, he discussed his methods and ,motivations. All shoppers who took part in the project chose to take part, knowing exactly how and where their images would be displayed. A lot of time was given to actually think about the question and how they would like to answer it. Les made sure that whatever answer the shopper gave, they fully understood that this statement would be on the wall directly under their feet.

The final selection of over seventy images was chosen by Les, which could have lead to a biased leaning towards his chosen sentiments. We were told, however that most of the portraits that didn’t make it to the wall were very similar to those that did, if anything, there was a larger sway to those wanting world peace; a sentiment which filled a large proportion of the series anyway.

To hear Les discuss his work in the Frenchgate Shopping Centre, while viewing his work and shoppers who could have potentially been part of the work walked past was the highlight of the day for me. I came away with a good insight into who Les Monaghan is, what he feels passionate about and how he uses that passion in his photography.

Dawn Woolley

As Dawn began discussing her work, I got the feeling that it was going to be a fairly uninspiring piece, wrapped up in very flowery language. The language remained flowery but I was very wrong about the content; in fact the only reason I couldn’t wait until the end was to get outside and discuss it further with other students.

Having teenaged children as well as working in a secondary school, my world is filled with stories of the micro-celebrity, although none of that generation see them this way. Having recently created a video using YouTube clips for a school assembly, it was clear from the reactions of three hundred fifteen year olds that these people are known to EVERYONE; well, as long as you’re under twenty.

As Dawn suggested, using Rachel Wong as an example, the filter we have all developed to enable us to ignore adverts is being bypassed as advertising gets sneaky. Micro-celebs chat as if they are your best friend, telling you about the latest lipstick they just bought. This tactic echoes in my family life as my daughter’s favourite micro-celebs, The Sidemen chat in their gaming videos about going for a cheeky Nando’s, vlogging their visits to such places, wearing particular brands which their fans love to follow; and it’s possible too because they just dropped into the conversation the shop they bought it from.

Dawn also used the advertising of Dolce and Gabbana to highlight how they use the selfie in their advertising. Models, both male and female are captured in a slightly parodic street scene, performing very cliched activities which younger generations connect with such as taking selfies. Dawn’s analysis of the situation is that the act of the models taking the selfie connects the scene to the viewer’s world. The viewer imagines their own self in the phone screen, wearing the model’s outfits and accessories, living their life. The act of taking selfies is so prevalent now that everyone can connect with this scene, no matter what their lifestyle or hobbies and interests.

Assignment 2: People & Activity (reflection)

One of the main points of concern for my tutor was my technical understanding in shooting the London Marathon. As I knew I would need to vary the shutter speed quite frequently and sometimes at a moment’s notice, I set the camera to shutter priority, leaving the camera to work on the correct aperture and iso to expose correctly. In hindsight, setting the iso myself would have given me back a little more control. I always shoot in RAW to allow for more scope in correction.

As I switched between slower shutter speeds for panning and faster for freezing the action, I did make a few errors, resulting in some shots not being as sharp as I would have liked. This lead to difficulties in selecting images for this assignment as my main aim for this set was to create a set of images which give a real sense of how it feels to be a runner or a spectator in such a challenging, yet celebrated event.

One particular image pointed out by my tutor was my final image, the one which for me, sums up what the marathon is about. The centre runner with a shaved head which we all know to be associated with cancer runs, wearing a t-shirt with the slogan ‘Cancer, we’re coming to get you!’. At either side of her, two other runners also wear pink t-shirts, symbolising a solidarity and togetherness that is brought about by such an event; the image however, is not technically perfect. Knowing this fact, I still felt that the image should complete my set as it was essentially the backbone of everything I wanted to get across in this assignment. I have since worked on this image in Photoshop  to work towards making it appear sharper. This has been time consuming but not as difficult as I would have anticipated.

At the time of writing this assignment, I had struggled to find sports photographers that really fit with what I was aiming to create. My preparatory research led to sports photographers such as Bill Frakes, Neil Leifer and SteveBonini. I was struck by Frakes’ ability to show depth and character in his images. Leifer has also captured some inspirational moments in sporting history, however I was uninspired in this instance by the ‘set up’ nature of Bonini’s images. I have since broadened my search to lesser known sportingevents, bringing forward some of the grit, brutality and emotion I was looking for. I will include some of this research in the rework of my assignment.

Assignment 1: A Portrait (reflection)

I was pleased with my feedback for this unit. I had chosen Helena for this piece for her busy and varied life and felt that I had shown the many sides of her character in the assignment. Two of the best images picked out by my tutor were Helena preparing for a run and reading to her daughter. I was pleased that my tutor thought that I had managed to “work within a fine art documentary style without the shots looking too contrived”. This is something I hope to continue to develop throughout the course.

For all of the shots in this assignment, I had put Helena in position and then asked her to act out the role; this method was more successful in some shots than others. My tutor agreed with my sentiment that the nursing image was not so successful, although for different reasons; “possibly because it is ‘set-up’ rather than being taken in an actual working environment. Although in saying that it doesn’t seem too contrived and I realise the difficulties of taking a similar image within the workplace.”

I was confused by this response, as Helena is a community nurse, therefore her workplace is the patient’s home. This was the reason I used a kitchen for the setup, being a room that Helena may use in a patient’s home to perform such a task. I do agree, however that I could have chosen a better angle which included a more clear view of the instrument used.

In the baking image, the speed of movement and lighting available proved more difficult to manage than anticipated; on reflection, I should have chosen a higher iso in order to utilise a faster shutter speed.  I am unsure as to whether the poor quality gives the image the snapshot feel described by my tutor or if it is just the general setup of the image. Having looked through other options, I feel that this replacement image is more successful. A purely candid moment, Helena’s baking photo-shoot is interrupted by a phone call, her face and body language showing a desire to get off the phone and on with the shoot. Helena’s husband, softly focused in the background, texting while cooking their tea shows another aspect of their busy family life.

My tutor also gave advice on lighting the shot of the party shoes. I am much more confident photographing in natural light and understand that off camera flash is something I need to work hard on in the future. I am, however unsure of the advice given to use a square crop for this image. Although I think this could work as a separate image, I understand that other students have been penalised for using a variety of crop factors in a set. I will need to look further into this for future projects. 

My tutor also gave advice on lighting the shot of the party shoes. I am much more confident photographing in natural light and understand that off camera flash is something I need to work hard on in the future. I am, however unsure of the advice given to use a square crop for this image. Although I think this could work as a separate image, I understand that other students have been penalised for using a variety of crop factors in a set. I will need to look further into this for future projects.

I have now added research on Thomas Ruff to my blog in line with advice from my tutor.