Analysing Process.

  I never new there was so much Psychology involved in such a simple act as taking a photo but apparently there's more going on in your head then you'd think. I've already looked at Gestalt Theory and how this effects photography but theirs also a need to understand the psychology of perception to gain more of an insight into the inner workings of the mind when composing an image. I never thought I'd be considering getting a psychologist in to explain why I take photos the way I do, hell I never understood half of what I learnt about the psychology of the mind in my A-levels and I've killed quiet a few brain cells since then so what hope of getting my head round it now.

   One of the best if not the main theories on Perception to look at was produced by Hermann von Helmholtz, in his theory he concluded after looking at the construction of the eye it was optically poor which meant the information gathered through it wasn't very good and therefore with this alone vision was impossible. Straight off to me this sounds a little crazy because even though I where glasses what I can see through my eyes is pretty good and I don't see how it could be better but he concluded that vision was the result of unconscious inference, in other words our brain fills in the gaps in the images formed from the eye by using assumptions and conclusions produced from previous experience of similar scenes. This idea would seem to be backed up by looking at visual illusions, for example look at the image below.



Illusory Necker Cube

What you see is a three dimensional square but it isn't really there, your mind is filling in the gaps in between the circles and lines to produce a complete image from your previous experiences, this is where perception links back to the Law of Closure in Gestalt Theory.

   So I here you asking what bearing does this idea have on photography, well the answer to me is that if you can understand how to control perception you can create much stronger imagery and make elements within your photos seem more natural and easier on the viewers eye. Or on the other hand I could have completely the wrong end of the stick and I'm just rambling again, either way the one thing I do know for sure is I still don't really get Psychology and I'm pretty sure I never will. I thing I'd like to get back to some photography now.

Reactive Photography.

   Just reading through the next section where it's talking about the idea of "reactive" photography and it got me thinking about my own work. On the whole I think the majority of photos I take would fall under this title because I regularly find myself out for a wonder reacting to the situations as they unfold. Anyone who enjoys capturing any kind of photography other then studio work would agree that when you're out and about you can plan all you want for most situations and they never seem to work out as you thought so you find yourself adapting to meet what's before you. A good example of this happen when I attended the local Remembrance Day service at the War memorial in the village I live in, as usual I'd taken my camera just in case I could capture anything that would be useful in my major project but I wasn't that hopeful as the weather was a bit over cast and there was maybe to many people about to get shots I thought would work. So I'd got my camera set up right for the light then don't you know it the sun comes out and so I have to quickly alter my settings to suit the stronger light. Then during the service through a gap in the crowd I noticed a couple holding hands behind their backs so before they disappeared again I snap a couple of shots.

 Another good example is when in September/October time I head for Cannock Chase in search of a good shot of the male deer fighting during the rut, in all the years of trying I've never got the shot I'm looking for yet but I do find myself trying to capture the deer as they burst from the undergrowth in all directions as you surprise them.

 I think its safe to say the idea of reactive photography I've pretty much got down a fine art but that doesn't mean that half the photos I take are any good, more times then not the focus is off or

Social Documentary.

   Now that I've finished for now the second assignment in this course I want to start looking for inspiration for my Major Project and to look in particular at the area of Social Documentary which I need to gain a better understanding of. To begin with I simply wanted to find some good examples of this kind of work so the easiest   way to start with is by looking in magazines and newspapers that rely heavily on this kind of work. Some of the best examples I came across were in this months edition  National Geographic, there were two articles that stood out to me the first about Africa's Albertine Rift and the second on the Sami people's way of life in Scandinavia and how it's changing. In both cases what I found interesting about the images was that you almost didn't need to read the attached articles to understand the story they're trying to get across. In the case of the Albertine Rift story I found the work extremely powerful in that you could really understand the problems associated with trying to maintain a balance in these countries between protecting the wildlife and habitats while at the same time giving a growing population the space it need to thrive, there are good examples throughout of the photographers use of expression to get across the feelings of his subject while others depict daily life in a troubled land. This is one thing I do like about this type of photography, the way in which you can capture an everyday event and make it something special but at the same time tell an individuals story with a single image if caught in the right way.

Project 9: Change.

   After a lot of thought and and a good re-read of what both projects are asking I've finally decided to have a go at this one, I originally wanted to have a crack at one of the projects in this section because I thought it'd help me with my major project because I've got a section in that where I'll be focusing on people within the village I live in but on a third read of the project layout I discovered that although I could look at changes in people over a period of time it also gave me the chance to look at landscapes and how they change over a period of time which is something that I'm far happier doing. Don't get me wrong I know it would have been better pick a subject that I'm not as versed in and I have every intention of looking more closely at social documentary in the future its just right now I'd don't feel as ready as I like to be to start looking at this form of photography.

  So what exactly am I going to look at in this project, well I thought I have a go at looking how the season's affect a landscape. This clearly isn't going to be a project that I'll be completing right now but as I produce the seasonal images I'll be updating this entry. What I'm going to be looking for in a landscape is something that is going to show good seasonal change in colour and mood, luckily for me living in the National Forest and being near to Cannock Chase there's plenty of options when it comes to finding these kinds of landscapes.

Autumn.

   Above is the view that I'm thinking of going with for a couple of reasons, first off this area of heath land on the Chase goes through some obvious colour changes throughout the year as the heather flowers and the Silver Birch goes through its seasonal changes. Another thing I like about this view is the good depth that's provided by the three birches as you have one in the foreground, another about in the middle and then the last which is way off in the background. To look the view right now you might not think its that special but I'm pretty confident that when all four images are seen together that they'll work alot better as a whole.

Choosing Between Project 8 & 9.

   I've reached the point where I now have to make a chose that I've been putting off for a fair while over which project out of 8 and 9 I want to have a go at. Project 8 is called The Decisive Moment and asks you to look at "capturing the most telling moment in a sequence of activity" the subject is pretty much down to you but what I find appealing about this project is the idea of doing a long study on a single person/place and trying to capture a moment that best illustrates the mood, feel and activity taking place. On the other hand Project 9 Change asks you to look at the different aspects of a subject in a short sequence of images, again the subject matter is very open but it needs to be something that shows change over a period of time, again I like the idea and I can think of a couple of ideas straight off that might work well but still I haven't picked which project to tackle.
I think I'm going to have to really consider whether these projects are best suited to my interest and whether or not I feel that I'm maybe heading in the wrong direction by attempting them.

Gestures & Expression.

  Time for a little background work again before I get to my next set of projects, the section I've come to is called Gesture and Expression and it starts off by looking at how a common place image of a person can become something more simple by capturing an expression or a body movement, in other words if you can lead the view to feel a certain way about the subject because of the way they appear you're doing something right. I'm no great portrait photographer and I'd say that I don't really take much pleasure from this kind of work but for my major project I'm doing a whole section on people so I need to become a little more aware of the ways to make a good image in this respect. There are two examples it gives you to look at and now I'm going to have a look at them and the reason's why they work.

Winston Churchill by Karsh.

Above is said to be one of the most copied images of the 20th Century capturing Churchill during a visit to the Canadian Parliament during the World War II, but how was it captured and why does it works so well?

The best person to explain this first question is the photographer himself  in his own words " He was in no mood for portraiture and two minutes were all that he would allow me as he passed from the house of commons chamber to an anteroom, two niggardly minutes in which I must try to put on film a man who already written or inspired a library of books, baffled all his biographers, filled the world with his fame, and me, on this occasion with dread." In the moment he had Churchill regarded the camera " as he might regard the German enemy" but the problem was his usual cigar which Karsh didn't feel suited the scene " Instinctively, I removed the cigar. At this the churchillian scowl deepened, the head was thrust forward belligerently and the hands placed on the hip in an attitude of anger." What he'd just captured was an image which captured was a photo which represent the defiant attitude of the British nation at this time towards its enemies, did he realise this the answer probably not because Karsh preferred the image bellow taken a short time after where just the change of expression on Churchill's face alters the feel of the image to a much more lighter mood. This is clear a great example of capturing a moment if there ever was one because with these two photos you can see how this small change can have a drastic effect on the feel of the image.

Quote taken from Faces of Our Times.

Images taken from http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/winston-churchill-by-yousef-karsh/

The Kiss by Robert Doisneau.

Image taken from Masters of Photography.

What we have here is a photo capturing a couple kissing on a busy Paris street during the 1950's, this became a symbol of young love in Paris during this period but it isn't all it seems. The couple was actually a pair of actors hired by Douisneau and he attempt capturing a simliar scene at the Place de la Concorde, the Rule de Rivoli before finally taking this shot outside the Hotel de Ville. What's good about this work is even though it's staged by using two actors it looks very natural just look at the way the rest of the public seem completely oblivious to what is going on as they pass by. I like the way he's captured a very intimate moment    from an unusual vantage point, I think I saw somewhere that he was seated at the time in a pavement cafe, this would explain the top of a head and shoulders which appear in the foreground but you hardly notice these because you are draw quickly to the focus of the image. The question I still need to answer though is why it works, to me its because its one of those images that captures a moment in time perfectly, then on the other side you could argue it portrays the idea of young love in the changing world of the 1950's either way it clearly struck a cord because it has become one of the most reproduced images of all time.

   So what will I take away from this study, from the Churchill photo I've learned that small changes in a persons expressions can drastically alter the feel and meaning  behind a photo while with The Kiss photo tells me that gesture can be an equally powerful way of getting a message across but that the more clear and powerful they are the stronger the results will be. I know as ever with photography it's still all about timing but it's a matter getting this stop on for the best results, I'm not a great portrait lovers as I've said before but I'd hope that the next time I have a crack at this kind of imagery my work will show some kind of improvement.  

Another Go At Project 6.

Tech Details

F-stops- f/9

Exposure- 200secs

ISO- 400

Expo Bias- 0 steps

Focal Length- 18mm

   You might have guessed from my last entry that I wasn't completely happy with the shot I produced for the second part of project 6 (involving the use of the foreground, middle ground and background) so I've had a second crack at it to hopefully resolve some of the issues I had. Above is said second attempt, this was taken at the Magpie Mine in Derbyshire. Straight off I'm much happier with the fact that I feel the middle ground (the field) and the background (the mine) are clearly divided where in my first attempt they'd kind of blended into one, plus the foreground of the wall and sign are clear and balance the background well. Again I stuck to the idea of getting up close to the foreground focus and using a Grad. filter to darken the background and increase the feeling of depth, the only problem being that the shot is fairly dark overall so the effect of the Grad. filter isn't as strong as it could've been had the foreground been a lot lighter. I can  happily say that this shot is an improvement on my first attempt but there's still something about it that doesn't feel quiet right, I don't know maybe again I'm being to picky but I still feel that I can do better in regards to capturing an image that clearly includes the three areas.