September 2014
Overall Comments
I was pleased with the feedback received from my tutor for this assignment especially as I had chosen a different event because had not been confident that my first set of images were of an acceptable quality to become assignment images.
" Your choice of
theme works well as it offers the photographer a good range of subject matter
to try and capture. Obviously there will be an emphasis on the action shots but
also images from behind the scenes and those quiet contemplative moments from
competitors and spectators are also what draw the viewer in."
"Your submission and background
work reflect this with a varied range of images that keep the viewer
interested. The strongest images are the action / race shots and these combine
well with the more snapshot styled photographs."
Assignment Feedback
I used a couple of Cartier Bresson quotes to back up my reasons for not using flash at this event. I take my tutor's point about flash bringing out the colours and being helpful to balance the lighting when shooting in strong sunlight. I felt uncomfortable using flash as I did not want to put the competitors off.
I had experimented using looking up at the competitors as they rode a technical section, but these were edited out of my final selection. It is something to consider in future when selecting images for assignments.
One of my favourite images was the chap rebuilding the wheel. I would have liked to include more of this, but there was not much activity happening whilst the racing was on. The race was only an hour's duration, and all the races started within minutes of each other. More racing was timetabled to happen on the Sunday.
It was helpful to receive feedback on how I could improve my final image (water bottle). I think it was a case of knowing what I wanted to do but not how to achieve it.
Learning blog
Helpful hints included:
- making sure the navigation is clear and easy to use
- Continue adding to my reading list
Further reading
Look at the work of:
- Ricky Adam (http://www.rickyadamphoto.com/digbmxcom/)
- Vivian Maier (https://www.lensculture.com/articles/vivian-maier-vivian-maier-street-photographer-revelation#slide-1)
Having looked at Ricky Adam's website on the BMX culture, I can see what my tutor means about dynamic imagery. His photos work well as a whole - location, colour, action and parts of bikes. It showed me that it was acceptable to take risks, be more creative and include just parts of rider and bike , the latter being something I had debated over. I will be practicing taking some images at a night mountain bike race so will have to use flash.
Having looked at Ricky Adam's website on the BMX culture, I can see what my tutor means about dynamic imagery. His photos work well as a whole - location, colour, action and parts of bikes. It showed me that it was acceptable to take risks, be more creative and include just parts of rider and bike , the latter being something I had debated over. Looking back over my images, this is one that I had rejected at the time as it only showed a part of the bike. It does however, show the rider's muscles working and is more dynamic because of the shooting position and action that is being shown. I think it would be more acceptable to me if it was in landscape format. I will be practicing taking some images at a night mountain bike race in October so will have to use flash.
Ricky Adams
Ricky Adams is a BMX bike photographer who works for a BMX magazine taking and editing images as well as having other projects on the go. He goes out on his BMX with kit as light as possible but it does include flash and lights as well as different lenses. His images have a grittiness / grunge /urban look to them which I would associate with this culture having been to the cycle show in Birmingham observing stunts and culture on display to the public. Watching lads on BMX's at a newly opened pump track allowed me to appreciate some of the culture of BMX riding. Adams's work is different from mountain bike magazine images although I can see similarities and I think his style of images would work (not so sure about the injuries - I have not seen injuries published in a mountain bike magazine!) I do love the quote used regularly by Guy Martin in his TV series that if you don't fall off you aren't trying hard enough which most mountain bikers sustaining injury joke about.
Having looked at Ricky Adam's website on the BMX culture, I can see what my tutor means about dynamic imagery. His photos work well as a whole - location, colour, action and parts of bikes. It showed me that it was acceptable to take risks, be more creative and include just parts of rider and bike , the latter being something I had debated over. Looking back over my images, this is one that I had rejected at the time as it only showed a part of the bike. It does however, show the rider's muscles working and is more dynamic because of the shooting position and action that is being shown. I think it would be more acceptable to me if it was in landscape format. I will be practicing taking some images at a night mountain bike race in October so will have to use flash.
http://blog.defgrip.net/2010/02/interview-ricky-adam/ accessed December 2014
Ricky Adam (http://www.rickyadamphoto.com/digbmxcom/) accessed August 2014
I was interested in the work of Vivien Maier and the documentary of her life. What came out of it for me was the quote about her being a like a spy. I think that is how I have to view street photography.
Vivien Maier
I looked into her work at the start of part 3 which helped me look at how people use public spaces. Her work resonated with me especially through part 4 and 5 of the course. I had to think of doing the exercises as spying on people, like Maier used to do. I came back to her after visiting an exhibition at Nottingham University on Lee Miller's work after an in depth discussion about how a curator chooses someones work to be displayed and whether the deceased photographer would accept the portrayal of their work.
The story of how the work was found initially in storage, then sold at flea markets and reconnected once auctioned off, then pieced back together by people and studied by a lecturer fascinated me, when clearly Maier is portrayed as such a private person who kept heself to herself. I noted that from her work, her influences could be analysed, such as after Jean Bertrand had stayed with them and then after visiting an exhibition by Henri Cartier Bresson and other photographers. A style could be seen emerging - her own voice - from the analysis of her images, and I wondered if the change in her images to show negative images and destruction later in her life was influenced by the Chicago riots or whether her personality was more like her mother's and she needed to express the change in her life.
I aspire to take images like Maier's and know it will take time for self improvement. I am also different from her because I am not prepared to endanger myself by wandering the streets of the rougher inner city areas alone.
Vivien Maier
Vivien Maier is described as a Mary Poppins like character who photographed the world around her through a square format camera which she held at waist height. To enable her to take close up portraits of her subjects she had to be about 3 feet away from them. To learn more about her work I watched the BBC programme on her called "Who took Nanny's pictures". What I like about her work is the way in which she captured the portrait of the person, and usually in the only picture she took of them. I believe her daily walks enabled her to practice her art.
I looked into her work at the start of part 3 which helped me look at how people use public spaces. Her work resonated with me especially through part 4 and 5 of the course. I had to think of doing the exercises as spying on people, like Maier used to do. I came back to her after visiting an exhibition at Nottingham University on Lee Miller's work after an in depth discussion about how a curator chooses someones work to be displayed and whether the deceased photographer would accept the portrayal of their work.
The story of how the work was found initially in storage, then sold at flea markets and reconnected once auctioned off, then pieced back together by people and studied by a lecturer fascinated me, when clearly Maier is portrayed as such a private person who kept heself to herself. I noted that from her work, her influences could be analysed, such as after Jean Bertrand had stayed with them and then after visiting an exhibition by Henri Cartier Bresson and other photographers. A style could be seen emerging - her own voice - from the analysis of her images, and I wondered if the change in her images to show negative images and destruction later in her life was influenced by the Chicago riots or whether her personality was more like her mother's and she needed to express the change in her life.
I aspire to take images like Maier's and know it will take time for self improvement. I am also different from her because I am not prepared to endanger myself by wandering the streets of the rougher inner city areas alone.
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v70590131KFPFjY7N?h1=BBC+Imagine+%282013%29+Vivian+Maier+-+Who+Took+Nannys+Pictures accessed dec 2014http://www.vivianmaier.com/about-vivian-maier/ accessed dec 2014
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