Balance

This is a totally new concept to me. I have never heard the term being used in the context of photography despite having attended lectures, workshops and a vast number of exhibitions and competitions.

Even reading the material provided and viewing the images did not provide much enlightenment. The sketches whilst a useful statement of basic physics did not, for me, provide much insight. The symmetrical is easy to understand but the image of 'two unequal objects' did not seem balanced to me. It is interesting that in the example on page 36 uses monochrome and red lines to isolate parts supposedly in balance but the full colour image on the next page is quite different and the eye is taken by the large blue rectangle on the right.

As required I looked at a number of my own images. Where the main subject of the picture was located near to the centre or was symmetrical in itself then balance was perceived.  Other images were much more difficult to assess in these terms and I found myself trying to create a balance that probably was not there in the first place.

An exercise that left me more confused.

Positioning the Horizon

Visited Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk for these shots as it provided the right settings for the exercise.

In the first shot I placed the horizon close to the centre of the image. The sky is bland and offers very little to the overall image. The foreground does provide some interest and the central placing of the horizon is aided by the tree line on the right that stops the image being of two halves.

In this second image the horizon is placed roughly one-third above the base. This placing makes the sky dominant and, as already stated, as the sky offers very little of interest the overall impact is bland and uninteresting.

In this image the horizon has been placed in the upper third of the picture. This has the advantage of taking the sky out of the equation that reduces its impact. At the same time the foreshore now dominates adding more interest.

Other placings of the horizon demonstrated that in this image the greater proportion devoted to the sky the less interesting the picture became. However placing the horizon so that there was very little if any of the sky created an image that was difficult to interpret.

RPS Assessment Day

Spent most of the day on Sunday 23rd May at the assessment day for candidates for the Licentiateship of the Royal Photographic Society (LRPS). There were 26 candidates so there was a very wide range of submissions. Each candidate has to submit a panel of 10 images that are not only cohesive as a panel but each individual image should demonstrate  a level of competence in all aspects of basic photography.

There are four assessors and a a chairperson. Each assessor marks the panel independently although there is some conversation between assessors as they discuss various points. One of the assessors gives a general response to each panel that allows the audience some insight into the their view of the quality of the panel. If the panel is judged to be of the standard then it is announced as a successful panel and usually nothing further is said. For unsuccessful panels the chairperson gives a resume of where it has failed and it is this that provides for the audience a very good insight into the common problems that occur. It is a very good learning experience not only for those who have submitted panels but also others who have attended as observers.

I had submitted a panel and happily was successful so I can, subject to ratification, add the letters LRPS after my name. Whilst this may be useful the true value lies in the process of getting a sufficient number of images of the right standard ( many more than 10 because of the need for the images to form a coherent whole). You have to think about what you are doing both at the time of taking the image and during the process of producing the final print.

I used every opportunity to garner other peoples opinions of my work through my own contacts and at assessment workshops run by the RPS.  As I went through the process of refining my work, re-assessing its quality and constructing the panel there was a distinct improvement in my competency and the quality of the images I produced.

It is of note that I finalised my panel some four months before submission and put it away ( everyone is warned about the dangers of constantly returning to your panel to 'tweak' it). During this time I upgraded both my camera and printer and strived to improve my ability. When I looked at my panel immediately prior to assessment day my immediate response was 'I have done better work than this recently'. This was both satisfying (I am making progress) but also added more tension to the day that was nerve racking enough anyway.

Lecture by Dawn Osborn FRPS AFIAP

Yesterday evening I attended a lecture by Dawn Osborn at my camera club. Dawn is an exceptional photographer with her main interest being natural history. As she is a member of the camera club I have had a number of opportunities to see her work close up and have always been impressed.

Unfortunately I have little or no empathy with the subject matter but it did mean that I was able to view the images shown in a more dispassionate way. I approached each image to see how use had been made of the techniques described in the Course, 'The Art of Photography'  Part 1. It was an enlightening experience because I found clear evidence of them being used. No doubt, given the photographers vast experience they are now so much part of her technique that she never thinks about them.

Seeing the techniques in use re-inforced the message within the Course and were strong evidence of the impact that they can have on the final image.

A Sequence of Composition

I took 32 images in total around the area of Norwich Market. This was my first real experience of street photography and approached it with some apprehension, concerned about other's reaction to my intrusion into their private space.  I remembered seeing a programme on BBC2 that included an interview with a photographer who spent a large part of his professional life photographing 5th Avenue in New York. His advice was to point the camera at the subject, focus and then move the camera slightly still holding the original focus and then take the photograph. The subject of the photograph, seeing the camera move assumes that it is not pointed at them, relax and continue unaware of what is happening. The technique appeared to work and on only one occasion did the subject continue to look at the camera. (He had a exaggerated mohican style haircut and knew that he was going to be the centre of attention.)

I began by taking general shots of the street scene using a wide angle lens (24mm) and trying to convey the sense of a crowd. 

 I then decided to concentrate on smaller groups in an attempt to show elements of a crowd that were distinctive groups. As I viewed the images taken, on the LCD screen on my camera, I realised that although there were distinctive groups the reality was that the majority of those with the 'group' were isolated individuals who happened to occupy an area of space adjacent to other but separate people. The image above demonstrates this aspect with only the group of four at the bottom left of the image being together. Even here closer examination shows that there is very little interaction.

On first sight this appears to be a group of people  listening to a heated discussion between the female in the white jacket to the left of the two men in high-visibility jackets and someone who is not visible in the picture. On closer examination this interpretation is illusory and the photograph has caught a moment in time where the spatial relationship between all those in the image suggest to the viewer that they are interacting with each other whereas they are simply  'passing through'.

I thought about cropping the image to take out the bicycles in the foreground but felt that they were symbolic of the barriers we, as humans, place between ourselves and others.

Whilst in the photograph of the group above the presence of the bicycles was accidental this image is a deliberate attempt to emphasise the unseen barriers that exist between people . (It occurred to me as I was writing this that it could also be argued that I, as the photographer, had used the barriers to isolate myself from the subject thus avoiding any unwanted response.)

Following on from the unseen barriers hypothesis referred to above if we look closely at this image of a mother and two children it is easy to see that at this moment in time each of the characters is in their own space with mother trying to cope with everything, the standing child looking elsewhere (possibly in the hope that she does not become the object of her mother's ire) and the child in the pushchair happily unaware of the tensions.

Having worked from the general to the specific (I have to confess that having studied the work of Emil Durkheim, Sociologist, I have a predisposition to see 'anomie' Durkheim's term for the isolation of the individual from the society) I then sought out examples of two general types that perhaps experience greater isolation - the elderly and those who appear 'different'.

The elderly lady pushing the trolley has space all around her and no-one pays her any interest.

Here the man in the red shirt and unusual style of dress is again isolated from those around him by the space given by others. 

When I started on this project I had no conscious intention to create the final result as shown above. I am not sure that I had a definite intention other than to see what came up as I  moved around the area taking photographs. However my pre-disposition towards the theories of Durkheim probably means that the final result was predictable.

Movement

Set up the camera in my drive to take images of passing cars. Initially camera on a tripod but then hand held for pan shots. Having viewed the images I am not sure that my choice of venue was the wisest one. Most cars at travelling at 30 m.p.h. as they pass the drive so that even a shot taken with a shutter speed of 1/500sec there is still some blurring. At 1 sec the car almost fails to register on the screen.

The pan shots - hand held - suffer to a certain extent from camera shake. Further the nearness of the camera to the object and the restricted view (roughly 40 feet end to end) limited the time to centre the object, keep it there and take the shot.

Lessons learned - Think carefully about what you are planning to achieve and if the object is moving 'fast' relative to your position think about the range of shutter speeds that are appropriate.  For me personally plan on using the tripod, practice panning and think about how long it will take the object to pass through.

This first set of photographs are the tripod shots at various shutter speeds. All the cars were moving at roughly the same speed.

1/15sec

1/60sec

1/250 sec

1/500sec

The next set are the hand-held pan shots

1/50sec

1/40sec

There is a need to practice the techniques used particularly panning shots. 

Focal Lengths

Lens used to take these images was a 70-300mm.

70mm

108mm

168mm

300mm

These images were all taken from the same spot with the camera on a tripod. Although the yacht is moving across the frame its relative position and distance from camera changed very little in the time taken to change the focal length.

Object in different positions in the Frame

Image - Bottom left

Image - Bottom Right

Image - Centre

Image - Left Edge

Image - off Centre

Image - Right Edge

Of these images my preference is the one marked 'off-centre'. Gives the sense of the boat moving through the image. With the boat placed on the right edge there is nowhere for the boat to go and when sited on the left edge the subject is overwhelmed by its surrounding.

Fitting the Frame to the Subject

The first image was taken with very little consideration for the overall composition.

The purpose of the second image was to make the subject fit the frame as tightly as possible. Not sure if I fully achieved this as including the mast meant that there was a great deal of sky left around the mast.

The purpose of the third photograph was  to create an image that was a part of the subject.  I aimed at the prow of the boat selecting the block and tackle elements. 

The purpose of the final image was to effectively place the subject within its surroundings. Here the difficulty of the exercise was choosing from a large number of alternatives.  The choice shown here is to emphasise the fact that the boat is awaiting repair amongst the chaos and jumble of bits of other boats both large and small.

Internal Competition at NPG

NPG had an internal competition in which Club Members were asked to submit two sets of images - still life and any subject. There was an external judge who was very good and I had the opportunity of seeing all the prints close-up after the judge's comments so I could see immediately the points that he had raised.

There were 24 entries in the first category and there was a wide range of approaches from the record shots of buildings to the composed setting of three or four objects. Quality of the prints was high throughout (judge's comment) and the winner was an outstanding print where the four objects were very well composed and the lighting right for the subject matter.

There were 38 entries in the second category and as to be expected the subject range was extremely wide giving the opportunity to view a range of approaches. The most successful were those where there had been good use of the lighting available. A frequent comment was that the photographer had been let down by the lighting available often producing a flat print with low contrast.

I had not submitted any entries so was able to take a much more objective view.

I have attended a large number of competitions over the past few years and whilst there is always something to be gained I find that the quality of the judge and his/her willingness to explain offers the best chance of learning from the experience. It is also true, in my case, that having no direct input to a competition makes it easier to be more receptive to what is being said.

Day 2 and on my way.

Yesterday evening (12.05.10)I spent about 3 hours with members of the Norfolk Photography Group seeing and commenting on possible submissions for RPS distinctions. This was an opportunity to see other peoples work and equally importantly to listen to why and how they had produced the work shown. The photographs ranged from those that were most likely to be submitted to those that were the start of a long project. There was one panel of 15 photographs ready for submission for an Associateship assessment. I have had the privilege of seeing this panel grow from a tentative start, through a workshop assessment by experts in the genre of photography being used to the finished product. A journey that has taught me a great deal both about photography but also the human input both from the photographer and the 'audience'. The outstanding lesson learnt is the photographer has very little or no control over how the viewer sees his work which can lead to some interesting and at times heated discussion.

Started my day (13.05.10) dipping into the book The Photograph by Graham Clarke (1997). Heavy reading!! Not too sure that the underlying philosophy is sound but this may become clearer as I read more. I'll let you know'

Sent off my profile to my Tutor.

I then opened the Folder and actually began the Course. At the time of writing I have completed the task 'Focal Length and Angle of View'. Not too sure what it was supposed to achieve as it seemed a statement of the obvious. Whether this is because I have some experience of photography and the effects of different focal lengths or I missed the point completely is a matter for discussion. On a more positive note I did use my camera in a thoughtful, controlled and directed way with a specific purpose that is in a stark contrast to my usual method of pointing and using the camera like a machine gun.

First Day at School

Received all the materials from OCA for 'Art of Photography ' and had the first read. Information overload was my initial reaction but took a deep breath and read the material more slowly concentrating on the elements that were of immediate relevance. Tried to recall my days as an Open University student and how I got over the feelings of panic and thoughts of "why did I join".

First glance at Course. Impressed by clarity of presentation of material and felt that I had made the right decision. Of particular import was the advice to look beyond the immediate material and take learning from the wider world. I am off to a meeting of the Distinctions sub-group of the Norfolk Photography Group this evening where members discuss there submissions or work in progress for Distinctions of the Royal Photographic Society. I shall look at it with new eyes.

Cedric Sherwood