Assignment 2: People & Activity

For the purpose of this assignment, I have aimed to show my images as a linear picture essay, mainly chronological but with some artistic license on order to take the viewer through the story of the Marathon as I saw it. In my research of sporting photography, I came across many images used in sports advertising, which appeared too polished for this particular purpose. I was pleased to find some examples of sporting documentary photography in the Guardian, much more fitting to the gritty story telling I was hoping to portray. In the process of choosing which images to use, I attached words to each file name to help me to decide which images held the most meaning for my essay. Photographers such as Briony Campbell with “The Dad Project’ often use text to reinforce the meaning in their images and as I started to connect my images with the text, I felt it appropriate to use these words in my essay.

The essay starts with a lone spectator, reading his book to while away the time between runners as our view of the event slowly builds up. As always, the event starts with racers in wheelchairs and the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) leaders, followed by the elite runners. As the event picks up, we see television crew filming from the road and a return to our lone spectator sees him now cheering on the runners with friends.

Amateur runners, tired and bleeding enter the scene as an athletically dressed amputee watches on, seemingly remembering better days. A young female runner becomes emotional as she spots loved ones in the crowd while a man adorns poppies and the names of loved ones lost.

The mood picks up again as a family cheer a runner on, the young boy beside himself with excitement. Encouragement from loved ones and a smell of the final furlong brings on a burst of energy as we move towards the final image. The runner’s shaven head represents the loss of hair universally connected with chemotherapy; her friend behind bearing the message, ‘Cancer, we’re coming to get you’. I have used this as my final image as for me, it sums up what the London Marathon is all about; striving against adversity to achieve goals and raise much needed funds for those in less fortunate.

We wait

We run

We record

We cheer

We walk on

We remember

We dig deep

We cry

We respect

We celebrate

We love

We strive

We rejoice

WE FIGHT BACK!

Evaluation:

Demonstration of technical and visual skills

I had some difficulty throughout the day figuring out the right shutter speeds for panning as this differed depending on focal length. Apart from some motion blur on hands and feet, most of the images are fairly sharp. I am not too worried about motion blur on extremities as this shows movement. For the purpose of this assignment, I felt it important to choose images that reflect the story I aimed to tell, rather than a selection of my sharpest images with no story. I would to have had both, however an event such as the London marathon leaves no option to reshoot.

I am pleased with the use of colour in images, Guide, Hope and Cry and my final image, Fight back.

I feel that I have used a good variety of images showing close up and full length shots of both runners and spectators given my limited vantage point.

Quality of outcome

I am pleased that I managed to capture many of the emotions present in such an iconic event. The images I have selected show exhaustion, determination and the sheer joy of seeing loved ones restoring a strength almost dissipated. I feel that the order of the images aids to guide the viewer through the feeling of the day.

Alongside the subjects in my images, in some their placement in the frame adds to the mood. Wait shows a lone figure with a grey, neutral backdrop, slightly boring as the man waits for the race to begin. The next image, in sharp contrast is a mass of vibrant colour. As we return to the same man in Cheer, we see a flash of colour, the red, yellow and blue working together to bring life to the image. The mood of this image has clearly changed from the first when the man was alone and a little bored.

In Remember, the vibrant colours and balloons contrast with the apparent sadness in the spectator’s face.

Demonstration of creativity

In order to be true to my developing personal voice, I have chosen images that show active emotion and tell a story over those that are technically more perfect. My aim was to show character in the runners and to reveal a small piece of their story and I feel that I have gone some way to achieve that.

Context

My learning log shows awareness the different styles of sports photographers, my favourite being Bill Frakes as his images show depth of character in his subjects, revealing emotional motion in the passing moments he captures around the world. I was also pleased to discover some interesting documentary style photography on the Calcio Storico and the Battle of the Oranges.

Bibliography

Bill, F. (n.d.) Moments BILL FRAKES. Available from: <http://www.billfrakes.com/moments> [Accessed 10 July 2015].

Campbell, B. (1986) The dad project Available from: <http://www.brionycampbell.com/projects/the-dad-project/> [Accessed 10 July 2015].

Mondy, D. (2015) Ali-Liston 50 years later: The real story behind the greatest sports photo of all time Slate Magazine. Available from: <http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2015/05/ali_liston_50th_anniversary_the_true_story_behind_neil_leifer_s_perfect.html> [Accessed 10 July 2015].

Muhammad Ali (n.d.) Available from: <http://neilleifer.com/gallery/muhammad-ali/> [Accessed 10 July 2015].

Powell, J. (2016) The Calcio Storico, the most brutal sport on earth – in pictures. The Guardian, 13 May. Available from: <https://www.theguardian.com/football/gallery/2015/jun/27/the-calcio-storico-the-most-brutal-sport-on-earth-in-pictures> [Accessed 20 February 2016].

The Guardian (2016) Italy’s ‘battle of the oranges’ carnival – in pictures. The Guardian, 8 February. Available from: <https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2016/feb/08/italys-battle-of-the-oranges-carnival-in-pictures> [Accessed 20 February 2016].