I fear my last post may have been overly cynical. Despite a less-than-ideal premise to our photography venture, me and my dad did both have fun with these shots, and I think some of that shows through here. Despite this optimism, there is still an uncomfortable tone both behind these, and in my presentation of them.
It’s probably just me, but I feel like rushing to get photos on here as an end-goal is limiting me from really exploring what I can do to make each shot just that bit better in editing. Then again, perhaps a lack of perfectionism will add to a certain tone that I will retrospectively and falsely say I was trying to capture.
As you can probably tell from the colour images above, I’ve figured out what was causing the colours in my previous few posts to be so lacklustre - put simply, I was exporting them in the wrong colour profile. If there was any images in the affected posts that this particularly drew away from, I would take the time to go back and solve the problem on them, but as I’m lazy and not as much of a perfectionist as I present myself to be, I’ll leave them be.
Regarding this set, this was the first time me and my dad have been out taking photos in quite a while. We used it as a sort of recovery after having a particularly awful group of kids yesterday (we do sword fencing themed birthday parties for kids). You can probably tell that we weren’t in a particularly passionate mood, but hopefully the quality of these images serves to show that even when I’m not giving it 100%, I can still crap out some vaguely artistic shots. That’s the beautiful laziness of street photography.
Final set from Manchester, 22nd March 2012.
I’m not sure whether it’s a good or a bad thing that homeless people have become so accustomed to being the subject of photos by students.
This guy asked us if we were taking photos for college, told us he was recently homeless and said if we gave him some change he’d pose for some photos. I didn’t ask anything more about him.
There’s definitely a lot of ethical issues around this to consider, but I really can’t be bothered discussing them here. Here’s the result, extract what you will from the ambiguity.
Second set from Manchester, 22nd March 2012.
We had a lot of fun this day.
It’ll always be a good memory.
Manchester, 22nd March 2012.
I tried to teach Chloe some street photography skills, and she was polite enough to feign interest while I blathered on.
Not much to say about these. These are just the result of a semi-educational experience. Had a lot of fun, captured what I loved about street photography again. When I first took the main picture, the old man & Marilyn Monroe, I thought it would come out a lot better than it did, but I guess that’s street photography for ya.
Howarth Set Two
People are, and always will be, the most interesting subject. No other force on earth can do what we do. There are hills that have been carved into and rolled over the landscape over millions of years, animals of boundless variety and spectacle, and buildings set to be weathered by thunder, lightning and dodgy gas-fitters. But humans can express incredible emotion, action and more importantly, inaction, so fast that a shutter can only capture 1/10th of it. But that 1/10th is still the most amazing thing to capture, to me.
Howarth Set One
For no particular reason, these photos seem to be darker on here than they are on my computer, or Lightroom. Ah well. It adds to the whole graveyard aesthetic, I believe.
Howarth was a fun trip overall, and I got these okay-to-good photos out of it. It was nice to get out into a really rural setting and explore landscapes and old architecture, though as you’ll see in the next set, I still wedged a bit of street photography in.
“‘Wuthering’ being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which it’s station is exposed in stormy weather”.
It’s been a while since I’ve taken photos, but I’m (hopefully) starting a wedding photography business soon, meaning I’ve got to brush up my skills again.
It’s somewhat of a bad omen that I only got one good shot on my first foray back into street photography yesterday. That’s the fourth shot here, of the people on the street. It’s not even that good.
The first three are just some shots I’ve been experimenting with. I recently downloaded Color Efex Pro 4, which, despite it’s annoyingly Americanised spelling, is a fantastic tool. Essentially, it’s Instagram for big boys. The first shot was done with a basic ‘recipe’ (a set of filters), to give it that vintage hipster look. I’d normally avoid this, but I don’t think any photographer should scoff at a certain aesthetic without at least trying it, and the candid shot I used already complemented that style.
The second picture was a lot of fun to play with. It’s three Spitfire planes that I saw at an air show with my dad and brother. I got a lot of good shots that day but oddly enough I’m struggling to find a coherent theme to group some together with. Until then, I’ve just been playing around (again with CEP4) and I came up with this vintage illustration style. I added some text to turn it into a postcard in my graphics sketchbook.
The third shot is funny, but probably only to me. I took a lot of shots of the planes that day, but this guy’s huge lens gave me a sense that he was just there for the planes, which were beautiful to watch, but I think it’s kind of sad that he was missing out on so much happening on the ground. I could be completely wrong, but some people just give me the sense that they don’t truly enjoy the act of photography, only the final product (if that) which I think is a huge shame.
I’ve already talked a bit about the final shot so I won’t ramble. Like I said, I took my first street photos in a long time yesterday, and this was pretty much the only good one. I’ve not quite got my eye back yet, but I have no doubt that I’ve yet to reach my peak. Yesterday wasn’t about the final result anyways - as I just mentioned, the act of photography, for me, is hugely fun and empowering. As soon as I took my camera out, I felt more confident. It sounds weird, but when you’re looking through a lens you get a sense of judgement and superiority, like you’ve got one over on the public. The psychology behind this is pretty simple, in that everyone you’re looking at is going from A to B, carrying on with their business, whilst you’re just observing. If your brain didn’t tell you that you were superior, you wouldn’t feel right observing, and you’d miss out on some great shots.
Graphic Design Project - Olly Moss ‘Film Real’ posters
These posters are the culmination of my project in Graphic Design this year - they include my logo design, typeface and the poster graphics themselves.
The only thing they don’t include is anything referencing my app of hazard signs, but I don’t mind that - they’re similar enough in style that the brand is still consistent.
These were designs for a mock magazine feature spread, based off my contextual study for graphics.
The study explored the movement of ‘minimalist’ poster designs, and poster designs in general. It’s pretty long for a magazine piece, and has stuff in there that wouldn’t normally be in a magazine - but it was created as an essay, not an article.
If you’re so inclined, you can read the whole thing here.
On the design side, this was really fun to make and I learnt a lot about the flow and layout of magazines, as well as how to use Adobe InDesign. I could definitely see myself doing this as a career.
(P.S: The background is quite dark because my printer always prints one or two shades lighter - The printed copies look much better compared to this)
Graphic design project - Pop culture hazard signs
These signs were created for the mock promotion of a designer called Olly Moss. The theme of the mock exhibition that I came up with was ‘Film Real’, meaning the ‘invasion’ of the real world by iconic elements of pop culture. These signs are a part of this, intended as ambient advertising in the town where the exhibition takes place, and interacting with an app that I mocked up, that I should show if I do a ‘brand identity’ post here.
Some small experiments in GIF creation.
The first was taken at the Southport air show, 2011. Starring a random guy in an orange shirt, who had a much better camera than me.
The second stars one of my rabbits, who just appears to be doing nonspecific rabbit things.
London 2011- set two
My second set from London, these photos contrast those from the first set, in that nobody had any idea I had photographed them (at the time, but I’ll get to that later)
I think street photography crosses over with voyeurism almost indefinitely, which is unfortunate because it gives the genre a bad ‘tinge’. Nevertheless, it’s clear why it does- just take a look at this set. There’s a man and a woman sharing an intimate moment, a man looking vulnerably befuddled at a map and three girls in their bras (it was gay pride, which apparently means people remove clothing to various degrees)- the final image isn’t particularly voyeuristic, though I wouldn’t want an image of myself being captured when I looked as silly as that.
Where is the line between private and public? Street photography is founded on the basis that anything you do in public should be available for all to see, which is an odd notion, with lots of grey areas and blurry lines. Most of the time we get away with this by saying that we’re simply fanning the flames of debate, asking the tough questions etc., though at the end of the day it’s clear what side we have chosen.
The reason I added that nobody was aware I was photographing them at the time was because my dad noticed the old man in the second picture talking to some police officers and pointing in our direction- we didn’t stick around to find out why, but we assume it’s because he thought we were violating some laws, which we weren’t- it’s actually a wonder that anyone in London, a city with such a huge tourist industry, even notices people with cameras.
London 2011- Set one
The first of two sets I took in London, I wasn’t really looking for any specific theme but going through the pictures now I’ve found a definite contrast between this set and the next.
The contrast is that these four photos show people looking, posing or otherwise interacting with the camera. It’s a weird moment when you’re attempting some candid street photography and someone realises they’ve got your lens pointed at them. It’s worth noting, however, that three out of the four photos show people smiling at the camera (whilst the other shows someone taking a photograph of me, which is an interesting ‘twin’ concept- is my image floating around the internet too?)
Is the smile instinctual, ingrained into our brains after years of ‘cheeeese!’ for family snaps? Out of politeness? Is it a nervous smile? Are they laughing at me, because they caught me? Most likely each smile is different, which makes photographs like this more open to interpretation than the others.
The final photo in the set, with the three young guys posing, is the freakiest experience I’ve ever had with photography. I was in the Tate modern, attempting some eerie photos of passers-by using a slow shutter speed, when the guy on the right shouts me over and tells me to take a ‘real photo’. I was suddenly nervous as hell, so I obliged without saying anything. When I checked the photo and realised how poor and awkward it looked, I was too freaked out to ask for a re-shoot, and in any case they were talking among themselves- they didn’t even want to see the picture afterwards.
Considering the amount of explanation behind that photo, it may not be true that a picture is worth 1,000 words, but I hope that the fresh eye can still pick up my nervousness.
Windermere 2011
The third of my dad’s Great British Swims (the second of 2011), we went down to Windermere in the Lake District to watch my dad swim in the freezing cold lake for a mile. I couldn’t get any pictures of him swimming, but it was interesting to see how people interact with animals and nature in such a rural area.
Dogs of all varieties scampered down to watch their owners compete, and some even clashed with the local wildlife, as in the second image- a particularly antisocial swan provided some much needed pre-swim entertainment.
