N Hampshire Photography 1 People and Place: public spaces

Thursday, 17 July 2014

A public space

7th July 2014

In preparation for this exercise, I searched Google looking at how public spaces are used by town councils. This clarified in my mind what a public space was and also gave me an idea of the type of conversation I could have if challenged by anyone.

I found a research paper developed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2007) which studied social interaction in urban places.I pulled out pieces which interested me and felt it complemented some of the images I had studied taken in the early days of street photography.

I visited Mansfield as it has a number of parks although was a little apprehensive as I felt last time I took photos in Mansfield that some of the residents were suspicious.

I chose a warm and sunny weekday so I expected people to be sitting in or strolling through parks and gardeners to be working. There was no-one in the first park, despite its proximity to the town centre and local small businesses. In the second park, I found ladies having picnics with pre-school children and workers on lunch breaks. There were a couple of teenagers and a group of very suspicious young men who challenged me. This may have been due to the "no alcohol" policy in the park or because they thought I was taking photographic evidence. (This image is not included on my blog.) My research paid off as I was able to give them a reason for what I was doing which they were happy enough with - and shared a joke. I was not about to cause trouble for them.

At the end of this activity, I was not really that happy with my images. I felt I could have done better and maybe I am not comfortable with a small place where everyone watches everything that is happening. When I compared these with the images to the ones I took in Newark at the beginning of this set of exercises, I felt I had almost taken a step back. I will be redoing exercise for my own personal satisfaction and development.

Lunchtime Tichfield Park, Mansfield, Notts

These two ladies were waiting for a friend to join them and eating their lunch at the same time. I like the space as it shows the emptiness of the park. Room for others and as I walked around the park, another lady joined the wall. Taking from the other direction would not have captured the lunch bag

This lady looked engrossed in her book. I liked the glass at the side of her. I thought she probably worked very close to the park.

These teenagers displayed typical behaviour - both lost in their own world and not communicating to each other. As time went on, they became playful and interacted with each other.

Schools out for students taking GCSE and A levels. These 2 girls were entertaining a younger child. I liked the inclusion of the potty.

This image is not in focus but I liked the pose of the boy - slouched shoulders, headphones and on his phone.

Bibliography

http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/2017-interactions-public-places.pdf accessed 7/7/14

Angier, R (2007) Train your gaze – a practical and theoretical introduction to portrait photography, AVA publishing, SA

Badger, G (2007) The genius of photography – How photography has changed our lives, Quadrille Publishing Ltd, UK

Cartier Bresson, H (1999) The mind’s eye, Aperture Foundation, New York

Dyer, G (2012) The ongoing moment, Canongate Books ltd, Edinburgh

Saturday, 12 July 2014

An organised event

L'Eroica Brittania, Bakewell, Derbyshire, UK

20-22nd June 2014

This exercise called for research and preparation into an event where there would be plenty of people moving around and I could photograph them freely. The aim was to think about explaining through my photographs. A series of photographs (each unique and self contained) should tell a story of an event.

I first thought of using the 100 years of Women's Institutes as events had been organised in Nottinghamshire to celebrate the baton passing through the county (as in the Commonwealth Games). After considering and talking through plans for my mother's WI, I thought there were probably only about 5 or 6 shots possible without repetition, and I ruled it out as most of the event would be inside a dark building and flash may distract the participants.

My next idea was a village show - few and far between in my area. My event also had to fit into my timescale. Whilst in tourist information, I came across a leaflet for L' Eroica Britannia which interested me as it was based around cycling and the first of its kind in Britain.

The ethos of this festival of cycling lay in re-use and re-discovery including promoting wellbeing of people and encouraging people to dust off their old bikes and take up cycling again, promoting local produce, and looking at how preserving the local unclassified roads and trails will benefit the locals and the environment and help tourism in the area. There was an emphasis on helping to educating people within the community. The organisers hoped that if the event was successful, it could become a national event and attract overseas visitors.

Learning points from this exercise

Lots of cameras and people taking photographs so it was easy to blend in
However, people were aware that visitors were walking around with cameras
Need to balance different focal lengths and use a variety of telephoto and wide angled images to get a good mix.
Very busy so use lenses for their particular qualities and avoid too much happening in one frame.
Possibly use 2 cameras - 1 set up with a wide angle and one telephoto as 105mm is not long enough
Need to show more faces - viewpoint
Perhaps need more close-ups of people to tell more about what they are doing
Like the stage images with words behind the men and the "smoothie miles" as they add additional information for the viewer.
Had to crop a few images due to additional people detracting from the scene I was trying to depict