Inspiration
The idea for my 'Important Places' was inspired by the work of Barbara Peacock and Lizzie Coombes. Peacocks series 'American Bedroom', showed a variety of people in their bedrooms which were captioned using quotes from the people in the photographs about their lives. I liked the concept of photographing people in an intimate, personal environment. I wanted to create something similar where I could use the environment to tell a story as well as the subject themselves. I also liked how the people in the photographs could express themselves further by telling the photographer something about them that you can't see from the photo. Peacocks photographs are well framed and the busy background gives the photograph a more in depth meaning. 'Important Places' was inspired by this as I wanted to create a set of photographs that told their own stories through the location of the photograph alongside the captions of the photographs that explain the photographs meaning. I was also inspired by the style of Commbes' photography. The style of the portraits are well framed and add something extra to the photographs. The use of lighting in the photographs was something I tried to incorporate into my own work. To try and incorporate the style of these two photographers I used a 50mm lens so my final images would show off as much background as possible. Whilst I want the focus of my photograph to be my subjects it is also important for me to show off the location.
Important Places
Task 1: A reflection on having my photograph taken.
Although I love photography, I hate having my photograph taken. When a camera is pointed at me and I am told to smile, I stiffen up and become uncomfortable; often leading to some very awkward looking portraits. Even in group photographs I hide myself at the back of the group to avoid being the focus of the photograph as I always criticize and find faults in myself when looking at photographs of myself. Candid photos of myself however, I do not mind as much. If the photographer acts as ‘a fly on the wall’ and I am unaware my photograph is being taken I am often more relaxed and the photograph turns out better as it depicts the real me rather than a frigid, anxious version of myself.
I often struggle knowing what expression to pull, what to do with my hands and where to look when having my photograph taken so when given the task to have my photograph taken in the workshop I was smoking and drinking coffee; this distracted myself from the photographer and allowed me to feel more relaxed, resulting in a more natural, candid photo. I realised that when taking my photographs of Nichole, that she also found it very difficult to place her hands. It took a lot longer to get a photograph that we were both happy with because she had no prop, unlike me, and so a number of the photographs had an awkwardness about them.
I feel that as a someone who dislikes having their photograph taken, when working as a photographer I have to be aware that it can make people feel uncomfortable and to be conscience to help your subject feel more relaxed. In doing this the outcome of the photograph will be something not only I am happy with but that shows the subject as who they really are and is something they are happy to look at. In the words of portraiture photographer Sean Tucker, “it’s a good idea for any photographer to put yourself in the position of the subject regularly.” (Tucker, 2016) I feel that this will also help me to become more comfortable having my own photograph taken if I am to regularly exercise my role in being a subject in a photograph.
References:
Tucker, S. (2016, July 1). Photographing People: The War in every Portrait. You Tube .
Task 2: Autobiography Cover
When in the studio taking photographs, I am more confident behind the camera than in front of it. When I am in front of the camera I feel very self conscience and uneasy. I never know where to look or how to stand. I find it especially strange not being able to see what I look like in the photographs because I can’t then change my face or my pose if I’m unhappy with it; leaving it all up to the photographer is quite scary because everybody wants to look nice in photographs taken of them. I found that looking away from the camera helped a lot and just laughing or talking to others in the studio made me feel more comfortable. I believe that everybody will experience this on some level so once behind the camera, I was conscience of how I felt when being photographed and spoke to my subject and photographed them in a way I thought would make them feel comfortable. When I am behind the camera it can be quite awkward at first when telling somebody you don’t know how to pose or where to stand. I found that the best way to overcome this is to talk to your subject before taking photographs and whilst taking photographs to make them more comfortable and so you both get to know each other better. This way it feels more comfortable telling them how you want them to appear or allowing them to tell you their thoughts.
I chose this specific photograph out of the two photo shoots because It was the one I thought represented me the best. I found that I didn’t like many of the photographs and the ones I did, I was looking away from the camera. When somebody takes my photograph I’ve noticed I often smile with one side of my face, making me dislike photographs where I am looking directly into the camera. This photo however, I am looking away from the camera and my smile was natural, not forced, so it looks a lot better. I prefer candid photographs of myself because they show the real me, this was the photograph I felt embodied both of these qualities.
I chose this text because I feel like it sums up how I feel about being 20. I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of the year doing things that either haven’t amounted to much or that I have regretted. I feel like this photograph represents this quite well as I’m laughing, showing that I have not taken being 20 seriously and that I have spent my year joking around.
Task 3: Family and Friends
These photographs were taken at my friends headline gig in Sunderland. A lot of my close friends are in bands, every time my friends play a gig I'll travel back down to my hometown to watch them, the atmosphere is usually great because all my friends go to support it's somewhere we all go to hang out together. This gig in particular was special because it sold out we were all really proud of how well they performed. Lewis, the lead singer, ended up playing the whole set shirtless.
Task 4: Photographing a Stranger
Task 5: Photographing Somebody I Consider To Be Different From Myself
Task 6: Self Portraiture
The Necklace
This is a portrait of me putting on a necklace that is very precious to me. The necklace was given to me by my nan when my family was going through a difficult time. Her buying me the necklace was her way of saying everything will be ok and she loves me no matter what. It became quite symbolic of my nans strength and love and I always wear it when I'm around her to show how grateful I am for everything she does.
Evaluation
I found the process of completing this portfolio challenging. A lot of the photo shoots I had planned I was unable to do due to people cancelling, or the location becoming unavailable. Prior to starting my portfolio, I planned out photo shoots in advance. I had spoken with people about their location choice and scheduled time slots in which I would spend half a day with one person working on the photographs. However, halfway through completing my photographs I had difficulty sticking to the schedule. A lot of people cancelled on me and so I had to then try to find alternative subjects. This resulted in me having to carry out last minute photo shoots meaning I did not have the amount of time I would have liked to spend on each photograph. Some of the photographs in my portfolio I did not want to do as the location was not the best but with my planned photo-shoots being cancelled I had to replace these quickly. I also struggled to carry out last minute photo shoots as I had problems with my camera equipment which lowered the quality of some of my photographs slightly. Under the circumstances though I believe I handled the workload well and was able to execute my photo shoots regardless.
Many of the people I was photographing chose locations that were impractical to photograph due to weather, time of day and them being generally boring backgrounds to photograph. I feel that some of my photographs are very strong and fulfilled what I set out to achieve however, in some photographs the location is quite boring and I found it very difficult to capture it in a way that made it look more interesting. I ideally wanted locations where I could move around objects to fill the frame the way I wanted. In most locations I was unable to do this and so my photographs are not framed as well as I would have liked. However, I feel that together the outcome of my portfolio as a whole is good, the captions are direct quotes from my subjects and really add to the photographs – giving them more depth and meaning. I spent time with my subjects discussing why the location was important to them before meeting them and whilst photographing them. In some cases, my subjects had written out their caption for me to use prior to the photo shoot and in other cases we worked together to write down what they wanted to say.
Although I enjoyed capturing my portfolio photographs and my weekly tasks I found the autobiography cover and the self portrait tasks very challenging. As mentioned in my first weekly task, I dislike having my photograph taken and so I struggled to get a self portrait of myself that I didn’t hate. It was also challenging to photograph to a specific brief whilst still thinking about creativity and how to make the photographs interesting. I found that I re did some of my weekly tasks a few times because I felt I could be more creative in my subjects and my outcome.
Overall I am relatively happy with my portfolio. I would have liked to have improved upon some photographs but I feel I worked well to overcome the various issues I was faced with during the process. I believe my idea ‘Important Places’ was good as I enjoy capturing photographs with meaning and a story behind them. I also prefer to photograph people out in everyday places rather than a studio as I feel there is more creative flexibility. There is a wide range of photographs in my portfolio and they are all quite diverse which strengthens my portfolio. If I could make any improvements to my work it would be to be more prepared for obstacles I might face in the process and perhaps be more selective with who I photograph and where. Although the locations were chosen by the subjects I feel some of the photographs were let down by their location and I was restricted in what I could do. If I were given the chance to improve I would only photograph locations that are more ‘cluttered’ and interesting so I could fill the frame more creatively.