- Documentary: using pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject.
- The decisive moment: The decisive moment is a concept made popular by the street photographer, photojournalist, and Magnum co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson. The decisive moment refers to capturing an event that is ephemeral and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself.
Image Bank:
Henry Cartier Bresson: Born: 22 August 1908 Died: 3 August 2004
A large number of Bresson's images are in black and white. This leaves them with an immortal essence of life, he perfectly captures moments within our daily routines. He was one of the pioneers of modern photography and created a style of photography called the decisive moment. This is where a moment is captured at the perfect time and consequently allows people to feel as if they are a part of the image.
The above image of a woman walking through a flock of birds is a perfect example of decisive moment photography, this is because a second or two before or after the image was taken would have been too late or too early. Bresson managed to take the picture at the precise moment the birds began to fly away, the effect this has on the viewer is remarkable. It is as if you are jogging up the stairs behind her and feel the gush of air around you as the pigeons take off. The fact that it is in black and white gives it a classic vintage, the kind that cannot be replicated without being genuine.
Don McCullin: Born-9 October 1935 (age 82)
After spending most of his life as photographer McCullin has developed a dark and morbid style of photography, taking photographs of the raw reality he was in at that point in time. For example, some of his shots are of people who are in an immense deal of pain and suffering, widows and starving children to name a few. 
Both of these photographers share a common theme of documenting the brutality of reality, in Bresson's work normalcy is almost toxic. He captures beautiful images of the un-beautiful; in comparison, McCullin takes ugly pictures of the suffering of people, an extremely profound subject.
Despite being at two ends of the photography spectrum, the beautiful to the heart-wrenching, they both have similar styles. They both use black and white film to record their experiences as bystanders in other people's stories.
Shoot One:
Images that need improvement:
DCS_0524.nef:
This image is at a canted angle and gives the image a different atmosphere than I wanted to convey, as I am afraid of heights I wanted to take a photograph that conveyed this. However, I believe I have achieved this in DCS_0521.NEF as this angle implies that the Ferris wheel is towering over the park.
DCS_0552.nef:
This image is poorly framed and is uninteresting, next time I will try using the rule of three when I frame my images to make them more engaging to the viewer.
DSC_0594.nef:
This image is poorly framed as there is an odd building in the frame, however as I was on a Ferris wheel I had a limited angle that I could take the photo at and so it was unavoidable.
I've selected the following as my best images:
DSC_0521.NEF:
I used a fast shutter speed for this shot to reduce blur as I was walking along at the time and the Ferris wheel was moving also. As the weather was miserable I used a low F-stop to open the aperture to allow more light into the image and to reduce grain in the shot I used ISO 100.
I liked this image as the weather that day was dull and depressing which fun fairs shouldn't be, the depressing weather paired with the angle of the photograph shows the Ferris wheel as an imposing threat. I wanted to take this photo like this as I'm afraid of heights and to ride in the Ferris wheel was a terrifying. I also liked the angle I took it at because there is no scale to judge the size of it by and the dark sky creates a sinister feel that I felt.
This was taken while I was riding in the Ferris wheel and I'm looking out at the rest of the fair, Winter Wonderland. As it was located in Hyde Park, London, I wanted to take photographs reflecting the false front created by the fair to lure people in. It looked beautiful, especially on a sunny day, which I had the misfortune of missing. However, the fair itself is buried in the heart of London, where there are countless homeless people and untold stories of poverty amongst its people. This photo has a large contrast in it. I took this photograph as it shows the built-up parts of London smothering the fair. It seems like a child's fantasy has been placed in a harsh, dark, adults reality.
I chose this photo of the view of the fair un-distorted by the protective glass of the Ferris wheel as I took it through the doors. I like it as it reminds me of a child peeping through a set of doors to a wonderful fair where they'd be able to eat sugary sweets and enjoy the circus. There is also a darker element as the London is looming in the background and all that stands between the city and the fair is a band of barren trees, the outside of Hyde Park.
There is a mark running down the image offset from the centre on the left that can be removed by photoshop. I chose this image as the London eye is in the background, like one Ferris wheel imitating the larger and more permanent version of itself. The fact it is so far away as well symbolises how unachievable permanent residency is for the Ferris wheel in Winter Wonderland.
I chose this image because I liked the contrast between the colourful fun fair and the dark depressing backdrop of London. Again it is just a band of trees that separates the harsh reality of everyday life from the fun of a child's dream.
DSC_0565.NEF:
I like this photo as the canted angle makes it seem as if you're one a ride overlooking the others. I also like being able to see the other rides in the background through the rides in the foreground, it makes it seem as if they're a tangled mess of rides. It plays into the idea of it being an awe-inspiring adventure for a child but it only creates nausea in adults. It is a sad prospect that as we grow older we lose our sense of adventure and finding fun in every day becomes a chore.
Shoot Two:
Contact sheet:
Images that need improvement:
DSC_0707.NEF:
This image requires improvement as there isn't any clear focus on the shot. Next time I will choose a subject matter and frame the photograph around it, or alternatively, I will use the rule of three.
DSC_0731.NEF:
This image is slightly slanted. I could have changed this in photoshop or as I noticed the slanted image in real time I took another, slightly straightened photo.
Best Photos:
This photo is the first in the series and implies the start of an outing in the snow. I and my sister still love snow and will happily play in it given the chance. However fun snow is it still has deadly consequences, children think no further than making a snowman. When it snowed and England hasn't prepared the country froze, buses stopped circulating, people were unable to come to work and school. Ice on the roads caused car crashes and the elderly were at peril, from both the cold and the warmth that would turn the snow into ice. In this instance having a child enthusiasm could have caused injury and fatalities.
This photo shows our trek up to the woods in fresh, unyielding snow. As you plunged your foot in, it threatened to take your shoe and made your feet feel like lead with every step.
This image is of a damaged barbed wire fence and brambles that barricade a farmers field, to keep people out. However much like England, the fence is broken and the brambles have died to allow me to photograph the farmhouse in the distance.
I like this image as there is no real focus on the image apart from the trees, showing how the branches bow under the weight of the snow. I framed the shot with the tree to the right as it gave the photo a childish feel like you're peeping round the corner, either sheltering from a snowball fight or playing hide and seek.
I took this photo as the forest looks extremely dark and daunting, the trees towering high overhead. The snow on the branches lightened the image and caused the F-stop to malfunction and drain the colour out of the image.
I took this photo at a canted angle because it implies movement as we walked through the snow. The footprints in the snow in front of us show that we aren't the first people to walk there and people after people shall walk over our footprints. This shows that where ever people walk there will have been someone before them and someone after. Both infinite and yet already passed.
Shoot Three:
Contact sheet:
Photos that need improvement:
5392.NEF:
I didn't know how to frame this photo as there was a pub in the way of me moving further back to get the whole of the cathedral in the shot. Next time I will look at the images on the camera before I leave the location I'm in, in case I need to reshoot anything.
5416.NEF:
I struggled with remaining discreet while I was taking this photograph and the resulting image is an angry looking elderly woman, who I feel adds to the image. Because I was preoccupied with remaining discreet I didn't notice I had taken the photo on a slant due to the hill I was standing on.
My Best Images:
This is a photo of a picnic table outside of a pub next to a large church in Thaxted, this was taken on New Years Eve. I found it both endearing and sad that nobody was sitting outside. Given that it was a seasonably cold day I didn't expect people to be sitting outside but as I looked into the pub people were sitting and socialising. I found this quite sad because these people weren't at home with their families, and yet I was pleased because family to these people might not necessarily be the people they were born to but the people they choose.
This is the inside of Thaxted Church, completely empty on New Years Eve. It was incredibly eerie as it was silent and me and my father were the only people there. As we walked around talking photographs two people walked in and began dismantling the Christmas Tree that had been put up. The empty pews in this image demonstrates the decline in belief in God and Faith.
This is a view of the rows of seats from the back of the church, the people that had come to take down the christmas decorations are hidden by one of the pillars. It was interesting to me how quiet it was, the cold stone walls of the church blocked out all other life. It was as if when you entered the church you entered a different world where everything was stone and impersonal, if it hadn't been for my father being with me in the empty church I would have felt like the last person on Earth.
This is a small decommissioned windmill near a rural town in Thaxted. These two bungalows line the path that runs from the Windmill to the Church.
This is the view of the church from next to the graves buried in the church yard. Form this point of view the entrance to the church is extremely dark and foreboding, which is a contrast from what they are believed to be. For centuries the Church of England oppressed anything that was unknown to it, for example the discovery of the Heliocentric model of our galaxy. The man who proposed this idea was under house arrest for the rest of his life.
This is the view of the village from the top of a hill while I'm standing in the Church yard. This small community has managed to remain relatively untouched by the developments in villages surrounding it. This isolates this village in some ways, and yet must unite the villagers as they will all feel strongly against developers changing their home.
AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.
My main idea for this topic was to document people or the lack there of. I was inspired by my research into Don McCullin as he mainly uses black and white film for his photographs, which are mainly of people.
I was aiming to be the opposite of McCullin as I was documenting my travels and the lack of people that I encountered. I wanted to see how the world looked and functioned with little to no people. This would present itself as a tiresome task as Don McCullin's main subject in all of his images are people and their emotions and I was purposely trying to avoid people. To counter this I looked for distinct landscapes that would evoke emotions in the viewer, rather than the subject.
As he is a war photographer I wanted to take photographs that meant something to me and hopefully convey this to the viewer as well.
For the images of Winter Wonderland I wanted to convey my dislike for large social events because I have an ingrained fear of being lost. I tried to convey this through the people being small in the images as I felt they were enjoying the Fair more than me as I was clinging to the people I was with.
I was inspired to get away from my town and visit some where unfamiliar to me as Don McCullin had. I went to Thaxted on New Years Eve and wondered around the village for a bit before going and looking at the inside the church.
AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
The camera I was using for the Winter Wonderland Fair and the walk in the snow was a Nikon 1 J2, with fluctuating camera settings. The camera I used for the Thaxted photos was a Nikon D7200. While I was using the D7200 I used an ISO of 400 and F- stop of 5. I used a fast shutter speed of 1/160. The fast shutter speed will give me clear images and the low ISO will reduce noise. I chose an F-stop of 5 because this would give me an appropriate field of focus for taking pictures in churches and on the street.
AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
I utilised my research into Don McCullin as it helped me determine the subjects of my photos to evoke emotions in the viewer and also my self. Especially in reference to the pictures I took in the snow, they will always be a fond memory as me and my little sister began having a snowball fight in the woods.
The research into the decisive moment also helped some of the images I shot had to be timed just right in order to get everything into frame.
AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.
I believe that my images tell a story of how I went looking for places without people and found more than I thought I would, which has opened my eyes. As in this day and age people forget the importance of the quiet moments, which is what I wanted to capture in my shoots.
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