Shoot 1

Nick Waplington - Artist Research

Above are two Images I am using to influence my first shoot. I like how Waplington has documented family life in these images, including the good, the bad and the ugly. I appreciate how he has paid attention to composition in an implicit way, especially in the first image by framing the woman on the floor in the corner of the room in between the chair and the radiator, whilst framing the woman on the left within the sofa and filling an empty space on the wall. I plan to pay attention to composition in a similar way, framing my subjects as best as possible so that even noisy images can look pleasing to the eye with sly symmetry or repetition. He has been able to shoot raw moments between people, and given the images a fly on the wall feel as nobody is paying attention to the camera, creating successful documentary shots.


Image Bank:

The above are some other images that have inspired me for this shoot, focusing on family life and relationships. The images are shot in family spaces such as the dinner table and this is an idea I would like to use in my shoot. I may use these ideas as inspiration for my editing process as well in regards to black and white images.

Contact Sheet:

Best Images:

Shutter speed: 1/60 

F.stop 6.3

ISO 400

Shutter speed: 1/50

F.stop: 4.5

ISO 400

Shutter speed: 1/30

F.stop: 4.5

ISO : 400

Worst Images:

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My main ideas for this shoot were to capture the raw moments between the people around me, dependant on the decisive moment. It is a documentary project and therefore I had nothing else on me besides my camera to take candid shots. I tried to focus on composition and the rule of thirds so that my images were pleasing to the eye as well as concentrating on capturing special moments between people, offering a glimpse of their relationship. I planned to use settings appropriate for the lighting present and am most comfortable shooting in aperture priority.

I wasn't expecting this shoot to be the best I had ever done because I was trying something new in regards to the documentary aspect. I was also aware that lighting could potentially be an issue when shooting inside due to yellow lights. However over all I did shoot some images that I am pleased with and have an idea of where to take my project from here.

Referencing to best images:

The first shot includes my great uncle and his niece sitting together in the garden. it depicts my uncle smoking a cigarette looking concentrated on someone who is outside of the shot, talking. His niece also seems to be focused on this person talking as well. It is clear from the image that this is some sort of gathering as there is lots of food items and empty drinks on the tables each side of them like small bowls of nuts. Both my great uncle and his niece appear very comfortable in this setting with their legs crossed and their arms resting on the chairs. I liked the fly on the wall feel to this image as if the viewer is watching in on these peoples lives without the people knowing. They both appear unbothered  by the camera and haven't even noticed the picture being taken which plays a big part in why this image was so successful. In regards to composition I liked the small space in between them, leaving the centre of the image empty, whilst filling the thirds.

The second image depicts a family enjoying each others company and having a laugh together. Six people are pictured here although someones arm is shown reaching into the shot as well. Something I like about this image is the man on the left of the image in the very forefront. I made sure that he was out of focus whilst the rest of the people were in focus, which I think somehow gave this image even more of a fly on the wall type of feel. Additionally I like how no one is aware of their picture being taken so it is also a very candid shot. Again, everyone seems very comfortable in this setting suggesting that they have regular gatherings and spend a lot of time with each other. I think the composition could have been better if the camera was slightly more to the right but this could have affected people noticing this shot being taken.

My final best image pictures a family sitting at the dinner table all having a conversation, drinking alcohol and playing some kind of card game with the cards on the table. Despite the man on the right looking in the direction of the camera, he isn't actually looking at the camera which makes it seem even more like the camera isn't there at all, as if he can't even see it. The fact that no one notices the camera in my images emphasises the fact that it is documentary, like an insight into peoples lives.I used the technique of having an individual in the forefront of the image remain out of focus as I like how it affected the last image.The composition in this image seems to be quite good and I think I got lucky with the decisive moment for this shot, if it wasn't for the man on the right to have leaned outwards and look in the direction of the camera, he would have been covered in the shot by the man out of focus in the forefront.

Referencing to worst images:

I think the reason that this image wasn't as successful is because I probably failed to focus on camera settings for this shot and had the camera on manual focus without adjusting the focus, resulting in a blurry image. I was in a bad position to shoot this as two people are completely hidden on the left, and a few people have noticed their photo being taken and looked at the camera. The story being told in this image is not as clear as in my best image and wouldn't make any sense to someone who wasn't there. Additionally as well as the things I have mentioned so far, if I were to shoot this again I would remove the wine bottle from the centre of the image as it draws attention away from the people in the image.

An issue I had with taking this image was lighting. It was darker than I would have liked and the kitchen lights gave the image a yellow tint so if I edited this i'd need to adjust the white balance. Because it was darker than I liked I used flash but this only reflected on the kitchen tiles making the image look even worse. It appears to be out of focus as I make the shutter speed slightly longer so that the image was brighter, but as i'm shooting candid documentary photography I don't really use a tripod. Additionally the image is at a strange angle, as if the viewer is looking upwards in the room, towards the ceiling almost. I was drawn to what could have been a good composition in this image if my Nan in the left of the image was framed by one of the cupboards behind her head perhaps. But I would have needed to stand on a chair or something to ultimately shoot the composition I truly desired for this image.

AO1 - Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigation informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding. 

This shoot that I produced was influenced by the photographer Nick Waplington who I had researched initially before setting off. I feel that viewing Waplingtons work steered me in the right direction in order to produce a piece of work that depicts a true reflection of family life. His work is very focused on speaking the truth about the people in front of him and their relationships, he doesn't try and hide or cover the bad parts to impress an audience but captures pure moments. I really enjoy this work and tried to take his style into my own shoot by becoming comfortable shooting what would usually be normal moments in family life, and encouraging those around me to become comfortable with being in front of a camera without posing. Another way Waplington influenced me was the technique he used to shoot, being freehand. It can be slightly daunting shooting without a tripod but I was reassured by the quality of waplingtons images. 

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing
and refining ideas as work develops.

I used a Canon EOS 350d for all shots taken and shot using a handheld technique as I am shooting documentary so it is not appropriate to use a tripod or any other equipment. I used my family as subjects for the shoot and although they were aware I was shooting, were told to ignore the camera. 

Additionally I tried to use a middle range of aperture to control the detail and depth of field in the images. However due to the close proximity between the camera and subjects because of a lack of space, these images don't have much depth.

Referring to editing process: 

The first thing I wanted to do in the editing process was adjust the brightness as there were areas in the image that I felt were too dark, I used the curves tool to complete this efficiently so I could see how the image changed as I moved the curve.

I also adjusted the levels for the white balance and used the eyedropper tool to to select a white area in the image so that there were no coloured tints in the image.

I began experimenting with saturation and lack of colour, thinking about how I could present my final images for this shoot. My original plan was to convert all of my images to black and white, influenced by a couple of photographers documentary work I have looked at. However I adjusted the red hue and saturation in this image and it reminded me of Richard Billingham's work and gave the image a tone that I feel fits with the shot.

I did convert it to black and white afterwards to see how it looked, I do like the outcome of this edit as well and I think it gives the image a reflective and nostalgic tone as black and white images can often be associated with old photographs.

I decided to stick with the idea of under saturating my images after my first bit of experimentation. I did this by converting the image to black and white and then changing the opacity from 100% to 55% to achieve this look. 

 After this I adjusted the brightness as I felt the under saturation made it slightly darker than I would have liked.

I edited my final best image following the exact same steps to achieve the same look for this series.

AO4 - Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

I believe I have produced a meaningful response to my initial objective which was to photograph raw and true moments of my family and their relationships with each other in the style of Nick Waplington. As evident from my best images I have managed to produce three strong images that have depicted candid and natural moments between a family that show the good and the bad such as happy moments, and bad habits like smoking. I wouldn't change my best images but would like to have produced at least two more to the high standard that they were at. That being said the three I have are strong enough to stand on their own in showing the style I had in this shoot.