I returned to my picturesque style of shooting for this photograph (similar to Photograph 1 – Assignment 5) but for the reason that it for me best showed off the whole of the scene and how much was going on within it. I shot from a (small) hill overlooking another local park and used this slightly raised angle of view to better show the number of people taking advantage of the activities hosted at the park as well as the colour and character of the activities in one photograph. This particular local park was hosting a fayre on a smaller scale to that of the fayre on display at the bigger park in Photograph 1 – Assignment 5. The view was quite distant and the elevation I was shooting from relatively low so I decided to shoot a normal exposure rather than a long exposure like in Photograph 1 – Assignment 5.

Photograph 13 – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 13 – Assignment 5 were:

f/9, 1/200s, ISO 450, focal length 85mm. Handheld.

I liked the aesthetics of this photograph quite a lot and thought they tied in well with the narrative of how the park was being used. There were the flowing lines of greenery in the foreground, showing what the park was otherwise normally used for and also simultaneously helping to lead the eye to the hive of activity of the fayre in the middle ground. There was a stroller to the right enjoying the scenery, the main bulk of information for me in the fayre itself and its attendees and then the two cranes in the distance which added context and showed there were developments taking place further behind.

Photograph 13b – Assignment 5

The night photograph showed how intrinsically a scene and therefore a corresponding photograph can change without the aid of human intervention. While the composition and a lot of the land features remained the same, the scene gained a completely different character. From being full of life it now appeared an empty space.

Camera settings for Photograph 13b – Assignment 5 were:

f/9, 28 seconds, ISO 250, focal length 85mm. A tripod and cable release were used.

I took this opportunistic snapshot very quickly because as my eye saw it, the scene before me typified the more banal and secluded suburban roads in my local area which were purely for housing and conduits of travel rather than business or a hub of any sort. The setting showed two boys their riding bikes. I found this telling as it must then be true that not many cars travelled through these suburban areas other than to get home. Although the difference was subtle in comparison to Photograph 8 – Assignment 5, this shot showed for me a slightly different kind of suburbia to Photograph 8 – Assignment 5 in that it was less gentrified.

Photograph 12 – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 12 – Assignment 5 were:

f/9, 1/200s, ISO 100, focal length 24mm. Handheld.

Photograph 12b – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 12b – Assignment 5 were:

f/16, 20 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 35mm

Another depiction of what I deemed the ‘Edgelands of suburbia’, this scene caught my eye as being strange as there were two street signs announcing a road that was basically a dead end on that side at least. I waited with the road markings and houses on either side lined up symmetrically for a person to intervene on the landscape features into the middle of the frame. I managed to catch him almost perfectly as her crossed onto the middle of the frame/road markings and luckily his clothing stood out against the dark greens of the trees at the end of the dead end while somewhat companioning the road markings in tone and colour. This all set the scene for what I felt was the main appeal of the photograph: namely a person in the Edgelands of his suburbia. While he may have been perfectly comfortable in reality he looked a bit ‘on edge’ in the photograph and this was reflected by his positioning on the road markings, just off the centre of the imaginary lines of symmetry and the actual lines of the road markings. Then behind him was the ‘no-man’s land’ – the dead end of the Edgelands – the reason he seemed to be a bit lost in this photograph.

Photograph 11 – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 11 – Assignment 5 were:

f/9, 1/200s, ISO 220, focal length 35mm. Handheld.

Photograph 11b – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 11b – Assignment 5 were:

f/16, 20 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 35mm. A tripod and cable release were used.

This showed a more gentrified slice of my local area and I felt this was where my decision to make the walk as unbiased as possible (by drawing a circe on a map and walking on the perimeter) was proving valuable because it was quite likely I would inadvertently come across parts of my local area which ranged in terms of social status, or how suburban that part was. It was admittedly near another station (so was good for infrastructure connectivity) but there were still signs of how well-to-do the surrounding parts were. This included broad walkways for pedestrians, flowers and then the more notable cafes and restaurants on the left which for me symbolised a sort of gentrification. Traces of a previous time when it wasn’t as gentrified were evident in the buildings above the cafes/restaurants. I included people in the frame so it depicted the area in use and made it appear as lively as I knew it typically to be from experience.

Photograph 10 – Assignment 5

 

Camera settings for Photograph 10 – Assignment 5 were:

f/9, 1/400, ISO 100, focal length 24mm. Handheld.

 

Photograph 10b – Assignment 5

 

Camera settings for Photograph 10b – Assignment 5 were:

f/13, 10 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 24mm. A tripod and cable release were used

I knew this part of the area to be particularly colourful in terms of character, vitality and also street art so when I found the main attraction of this photograph (the mural on the wall) I was inwardly pleased. By offsetting the mural with a typical for me vibrant resident or passer-by of the area I felt I was able to capture a part of this colourful personality of this part of the area. The mural was incidentally ‘looking down’ on the man as he left the shop which for me added an implied line connecting the two, further strengthening their ties as the mural belonged to the shop he’d just left. The fact he’d just left the shop on the left was evident because of the small, brown paper bag in his hand.

Photograph 9 – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 9 – Assignment 5 were:

f/9, 1/250s, ISO 100, focal length 24mm. Handheld.

By taking away direct human presence in the scene in the night shot (there was no longer a person walking by), the scene for me lost almost all personality as there was no connection between the mural and person. In addition to this, the more muted colours as a byproduct of it being nighttime and the replacement of lifelike representations of cars in Photograph 9 – Assignment 5 as opposed to light trails (the remnants of cars gone by) in Photograph 9b – Assignment 5, the whole scene appeared much more lonely in my eyes.

Photograph 9b – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 9b – Assignment 5 were:

f/13, 10 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 24mm. A tripod and cable release were used.

In contrast to the last two photographs where I had looked to the sides of the streets for inspiration and subject matter, in this photograph I discovered a scene actually taking place on the street itself. Two people playing football on the street was the setting and while not unique to this area, it still showed a bit of my local area’s personality where the suburban areas were quite relaxed and vibrant.

Photograph 8 – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 8 – Assignment 5 were:

f/9, 1/200s, ISO 110, focal length 85mm. Handheld.

The street itself was fairly nondescript with mainly the football players adding some dynamism to the scene but by using a quite long focal length (85mm), I was able to compress the perspective so that the football players and the end of the street with signs were visible, adding some extra interest and depth. Although I felt the street was nondescript in terms of interest for me, it still offered an insight into a typical suburban part of my local area for anyone who was from the outside looking in or for people who were from the area but lived in other, less suburban parts.

Photograph 8b – Assignment 5 partnered Photograph 8 – Assignment 5 by being very similar in composition and framing. However, it took away the direct human presence of the football players and added indirect human presence in the form of the more inconspicuous light trails from cars passing by the road at the end of the street.

Photograph 8b – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 8b – Assignment 5 were:

f/10, 25 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 85mm. A tripod and cable release were used.

This was a continuation of the idea of looking to the side and the side view included another lane, this one more well kept. There were still signs of wear and untidiness present though with the markings on the black door and the litter beneath respectively so there was a suggestion for me of this still being an ‘Edgelands of suburbia’. Instead of somebody walking up the path I included someone walking by the entrance to the path, looking down the path as if to say ‘I was not aware of such a lane and either way I have no reason to go down there!’ The contrast of the man’s blue clothing with the slight orange of the lane’s pebbles/buildings contrasted nicely and I felt added to this supposition.

Photograph 7 – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 7 – Assignment 5 were:

f/9, 1/200s, ISO 110, focal length 35mm. Handheld.

The accompanying photograph was even more lacking in obvious human presence apart from two factors. The first was the car’s light trails in the foreground induced from the long exposure caused in turn by the settings required for a night time shot with a smallish aperture and low ISO (to maintain image quality in terms of low amounts of image noise). The second was the presence of a yellow dustbin which stood out quite distinctly in the night time and simultaneously served as a reminder of the landscape’s impermanence; (indirect) human intervention had meant the dustbin now appeared in the landscape and so in the photograph.

Photograph 7b – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 7b – Assignment 5 were:

f/8, 25 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 35mm. A tripod and cable release were used.

This shot was quite important to me for this assignment because it was the first time I happened to look to the side when I was photographing and looking for inspiration on how to photograph the more banal suburbia areas I was now entering. I noticed there were a fair number of lanes intersecting the actual streets. I also noticed a person walking up one of these lanes and (fortunately) had my camera at the ready to take a shot. Although I didn’t put much consideration into how I was composing the shot, it turned out quite well in my opinion, capturing the man as he walked in these, what I would term, a kind of ‘Edgelands of suburbia’. There was nothing particularly unfriendly about the lane; just that it was quite wild and unkempt so to see someone walking back (apparently from work) along it was quite rare I would imagine. The presence of the skip and the overgrown pathway helped add credence to this crossing-places between actual places or Edgelands scene.

Photograph 6 – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 6 – Assignment 5 were:

f/8, 1/200s, ISO 1400, focal length 50mm. Handheld.

The night time shot Photograph 6b – Assignment 5 required a couple of factors to make it comparable or even recognisable as as companion to Photograph 6 – Assignment 5. The first factor was of course similar composition and framing but the other, more obscure one was to light the scene in a manner that it was possible to see what existed down the very dark lane at all. My somewhat convenient solution was to trip the security lighting mechanism along the lane and use it to light important features at least along the start of the lane. These features turned out to be the removal of the skip since I had taken the daytime photograph and of course the man’s transient existence in the daytime photograph was no longer evident in the night time scene. The setting therefore showed temporal permanence showing the two photographs were linked iconically but only to the degree that the setting was recognisable; other factors in the landscape had since changed.

Photograph 6b – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 6b – Assignment 5 were:

f/10, 25 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 24mm. A tripod and cable release were used.

I actually attempted this shot twice (on differing days) because I wasn’t happy with the result of the first photograph. For the first photograph I decided on a long exposure to convey the multitude of people creating a hive of activity in Brockley Market, which I was happy to find, fell along the perimeter of my circle walk. I was happy to find this because I liked the vibrancy of the market I was already familiar with and so wanted to create a photograph reflecting this.

Attempt 1 for Photograph 5 – Assignment 5

However, I wasn’t entirely sure the first attempt worked for the reasons the angle of view was a bit static – not really conveying the intimacy of the market environment and secondly I thought the long exposure was taken from too low an angle to convey a sense of movement in the people who were quite static anyway.

I decided to reattempt shooting Brockley Market on a different day, with a handheld technique, looking to convey some intimacy and vibrancy to the scene, which I knew it possessed. Shooting handheld allowed me to capture more spontaneously and I didn’t think I lost too much sense of activity in this instance without the long exposure. I decided to get some more of the colour of the market in the frame – namely the fruits and by adopting a lower viewpoint (rather than a higher viewpoint which would have been beneficial for the long exposure), I was able to make the scene more intimate. As well as making it more intimate, by ‘freezing the action’ using a short exposure, i could give a better indication of the kind of people who visited the market because their faces and clothing styles were obvious.

Photograph 5 – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 5 – Assignment 5 were:

f/13, 1/250s, ISO 280, focal length 35mm. Handheld.

I saw it important to include other market stall tops (just visible above the market-goer’s heads) to show that they were indeed at a market as I didn’t want there just to be people and the foreground only present in the frame because then there would have been less context. To add further context, houses were visible beyond the market stalls which indicated the circle walk was approaching more suburban parts of the area.

The night shot was very deserted and devoid of any people in comparison. The only traces of human use were in the faded car parking lot markings and the car park’s lamps. I focused my attention on the tarmac in the foreground more than the houses in the distance so Photograph 5b – Assignment 5 was in keeping with the framing of Photograph 5 – Assignment 5 but also to better show this contrast in use from one day to a typical night time usage.

Photograph 5b – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 5b – Assignment 5 were:

f/16, 30 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 35mm. A tripod and cable release were used.

I was aware this train station would fall along the perimeter of my walk and so I waited for the time of day when people would be coming back from work. My reasoning for waiting for this time of day was because I wanted to show the numerous amount of commuters coming home from work I knew exited the station at this time of the day. This I felt would give a physical use value to the station which otherwise would have appeared banal and disused.

In my mind I had an ideal where the commuters would ‘fan out’ of the station onto the exit pathway/car park and onto the main street. However, of course it didn’t turn out like this and I had to improvise! The multitude of people headed to the right of the frame but there were a fair few headed to the left too, however not in sync with the ones on the right. Therefore, I composited three of my (handled) shots on top of each other in Photoshop and used the auto-align feature in Photoshop so the land features were lined up. Then I painted in, on the layer masks of two of the three layers, the people headed left onto the background layer similar to Photograph 2 – Assignment 5. I felt this added to the sense of busyness as the commuters headed back from work. Also I used one layer to paint in the people crossing the bridge on its layer mask so that there was a sense of progression from the bridge to the exit pathway/car park and then onto the street. Lastly, I included some trains barely visible in the centre of the frame so the train station was more recognisable (besides there being the station sign also included in the frame).

I was pleased with the end result, as it conveyed successfully what I had envisaged of the train station being in full use, with people spilling out in multitude from packed trains after a day’s work and then going their separate ways.

Photograph 4 – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 4 – Assignment 5 were:

3 shots composited, all consisting of the following settings:

f/8, 1/250s, ISO 200, focal length 35mm. Handheld.

Despite becoming very busy during the rush hour I knew the train station photographed to be quite a quiet one the rest of the day and this was none more true than at night/blue hour which is what I tried to portray in Photograph 4b – Assignment 5. This showed the more consistent side to the train station which had an alter-ego that only came out during rush hour. Aesthetically because I shot this photograph while the sky was still (just) blue, there was a nice balance in my eyes between the tranquility of nature represented in the blue and greens of the sky and trees respectively and then the oranges in the foreground of the train station where people would normally be walking had there been any present.

Photograph 4b – Assignment 5

Camera settings for Photograph 4 – Assignment 5 were:

f/16, 30 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 35mm. A tripod and cable release were used.