Examples of some of my images from the Hairdressers shoot were I tried to get shots from different perspectives and angles in order to appear more unusual or ‘exotic’ as the brief asks. The images are not necessarily my strongest but I wanted to show how I tried different ideas to fulfil the brief.
Although some of the images aren’t as a strong as others it was essential for me to tryout new things in order to learn what works and what doesn’t work.
I like this Photo very much so. I really feel I captured this persons character. Its one of my favourite portraits. The framing is interesting as it follows the rule of thirds. But I think hat is most obvious is the connection between photographer and ‘subject’ which then translates to a connection between the viewer and the ‘subject’. This is key as it curses the viewer to question who this person is and wanting no more about them, even tough you feel as though you already do know a bit about them. The smile gives this persona friendly demeanour, she appears ‘bubbly’ and ‘approachable’.
This again is an exceptional Portrait shot. I fee again I have managed to capture an essence of who this person is. There is a smile that appears more ‘humble’ then the first and this gives you an idea of who they are. Again theres that element of trust that is key for anyone wanting to photograph people. Not so much a quick snap like some of the street photographers I have looked at but also not a planned or orchestrated shot, its truly a echo of a moment or connection between the photographer and the subject. Both portraits remind of Vivian Maiers work on the street.
Inspired by Andre Wagner I tried to play around with drawing connections between multiple subjects in a frame. I love the fact that the two women echo the painting in the frame above them. It echoes the gestalt theory and his principles of grouping were through similarity they are automatically perceived in the same group by the viewer.
Another photo highlighting the relationship. There is immediate eye contact and the facial expression suggests that this moment captures the connection. I like the fact that my photos prove I am a social person and I have a skill in connecting to people…
These are the contact sheets of the best first edit shots from my two days at the hairdressers.
As I mentioned earlier there was little editing needed for the images in terms of corrections, the hardest decisions I made was choosing between images that were similar for the final 20.
Hats
Id taken a few of the hats throughout the church. They are part of the tradition and is something that you see less and less of in modern churches. I couldn’t ignore the detail from the image on the right. It was and still is one of my favourite images from the whole shoot. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the white hat. I think this definitely highlights my intention of showing the importance of the hats in this church. Like the images from my research, (Adama Jalloh identity series,) there is no face to connect with, no eyes all we can see is the hat, and its intended for the viewer to understand the importance of the hats within the church. For me the image on the right similarly composed has less of an impact there is more of a sense of beauty and even texture in the image on the left.
Ethereal/Spirituality
I wanted to capture a spiritual and ethereal feel from one of my images. These two were the perfect candidates. Both images show movement of the congregation in worship and it is part of the Apostolic (Pentecostal) belief system that there is the power of the holy spirit. This is basically God coming down and connecting with brethren through worship causing them to ‘speak in tongues’ and allow God to move through them. I feel the image on the left heightens the idea of a ‘holy spirit’ as the long exposure causes more of a unified mist through the aisles. Both images work really well but I prefer the image on the right for my final.
Praise/Worship
I really wanted to capture the different ways in which ‘black’ apostolic (pentecostal) churches worship and praise. Its all about the clapping of hands, tambourines, singing songs and dance. I had a plethora of images that showed this, however these were the best that concentrated on the Choir (or praise and worship team) at the front. I think the tight crop works well on the image on the right. I love that choir members are frozen in the moment of using percussion in praise. I think its a much better “action” shot than the one on the left and so it was chosen. Its an added bonus that the second image was taken during the special ceremony of ‘The Lord’s Supper’ meaning the women were dressed in white creating a beautiful contrast.
All in all for most of my photographs all i had to do was convert to black and white, up the contrast and clarity slightly and they were done. for me this just shows how much of an improvement I have made in my photographic skill as Im doing less editing in post production and getting it right in camera first.
Out of my final images these are the more serious edits. mostly in terms of cropping and slight rotations due to the 80-200m lens being heavy and me not holding the camera straight but I still think that these edits are still very minimal compared to some of the things I used to have to do.
CROP CROP BABY
Much better portrait crop, too much going on in the initial photo and detracts attention away from the DEACON AT THE FRONT.
WORST OF THE EDITS!
I didn’t realise my wide angle lens filter was slightly dirty and the exposure wasn’t long enough. i had a lot of spot removal and I turned the exposure up. Thanks to shooting raw i was able to save a nice image.
Slightly better crop…
Slight angle straightening..
Again straightening…
These are the selection of my best images from the hairdressers shoot. At this point in my mind I have already made the decision that I will be going forward with the religion images but i will still look at some of the photos in further detail and explain why i feel they work.
There is a nice collection of portraits and establishing shots, along with ‘action shots’. But is there an obvious narrative?
With the deadline looming and my scheduled shoot times only two weeks before the deadline I am in a state of Panic. As a result I have spent my spare time photographing Warley woods opposite me and Chaddesly Woods in an attempt to capture the Sublime and as a back up plan in case my cultural images don’t work.
These are the best of the bunch, in no way enough for the brief, but I feel quite pleased with them as Landscape photography is not my natural style or skill.
My favourite of my images…(The quality of image has been deliberately reduced)
I love the wide angle of view and how the person in the image provides the viewer with a sense of scale. You really feel as though the forest is extremely vast. The trees are beautifully gnarly and there silhouette highlights the beauty of them. The composition s interesting as it breaks some rules but I feel it works.
shivniv01 