Street Photography.

Another thought that came to me today while pondering my Major Project (in particular how to approach the Daytime section) was the idea of Street Photography. This is a type of documentary photography where you show candid situations within public spaces, it can be quiet ironic at times but at the same time its possible to capture a familiar scene in a more personal way. Its also tends to be less intrusive on the subjects then other approaches giving it a very unique very on life. Of course it does have it's problems in today's modern world because of how peoples view on privacy have changed, issues of terrorism and the thought that if your near children with a camera it means your up to no good. These issues can hamper your pursuit of the perfect shot but in the right situations it's still a great use of photography.

Street Photography originated in America with greats such as Helen Levitt, Joel Meyerowitz, Lisette Model and Garry Winogrand setting the scene of American life in the early 40's in on into the 20th century but what I'm looking for is a more modern look at society. In my search I came across this site showing some of the winning entry's in the 2011 International Street Photography Awards below are a couple of my favourites.

 

 

The image above is one of the best, I love the fact that the women almost appears to be being avoided by everyone else and doesn't seem to be part of the surrounding yet the one bloke up in the right top corner is giving her a very strange look. What I like is the fact these kinds of images make you question what is really going on in them.


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Thoughts And Planning.

Today I've been thinking a little about Landscape photography as clearly my Major Project will be built up centrally around this kind of work. In my landscape work I want to give the viewer an impression of what kind of place Yoxall is so that they have a true feel for it even though there likely never to visit. So how am I going to achieve this, well that's a very good question and to try and find the answer the obvious thing to do I think is have a look at how other photographers have managed this feet in their own work.

To begin with I found this article which offers some interesting suggestions Urban Landscape Photography Tips . Although the focus is more on the urban side of life this doesn't mean I can't take some of the points made and use them to my advantage, for example it talks about capturing the old and the new together which is just as relevant in a more rural situation. Another useful site I found was How To Capture Stunning Fine Art Landscape Photography, on this site I particularly liked the idea of looking for relationships between older buildings and the environment around them, do they sit more comfortably in the landscape then there new alternatives? The only problem I might have with this idea is that the older and newer parts of the village don't really merge together so I'll have to put some serious thought into how to get round this problem.
Another thing I've found myself doing is looking on sites like Alamy at village shots in general just to get a feel for how other people might approach the subject. What I've taken from this is I don't want to fall into the trap of just capturing an image of say the local landmarks and presenting it like a guide say here's the church and the village Post office aren't they nice. What I'd like to do is maybe be a little abstract maybe even minimalist in my approach particularly in the section focused on the Daytime. I don't think this approach would work as well when it comes to the theme of the Abandoned village because for that I'd think a little more depth is need to get across the idea of how things have been left.

Tony Ray-Jones.

Tony Ray-Jones aim was to try and photograph British life before it became to 'Americanised', in the early 60's America and its influence had yet to fully take hold in this country and after studying in America at Yale and then returning to his home shore's Ray-Jones began to look for a subject for his work and eventually set on the idea of the English at Leisure as the starting point. You can find alot of surreal humour in his work but for me it's some of the contrast within society that he's captured that stand out, for example take the second photo here below a well dress couple having a picnic surrounded by cows and sheep. With my modern perspective this looks incredibly strange but its quiet a strong photo. I also really like the Eton school children in the final image seemingly avoiding there parents on a parent teacher day.

Images taken from Science and Society Picture Library.

Ray-Jones once said "Photography can be a mirror and reflect life as it is, but I also think that perhaps it is possible to walk like Alice, through a looking-glass, and find another kind of world with the camera". I like this idea and I think you can kind of see this in the photos above because they do feel a little like this. I really like his surreal approach to British life but I'm not quiet sure that's the kind of feel or approach I'm looking for with my Major Project, I'm beginning to wonder whether in my case a more serious documentary approach might be better to capture a village during changing and challenging economic times?

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Anna Fox- The Village.

When I put to my Tutor my plans for my major project one of the first things she recommended for me to take a closer look at was the work of Anna Fox and in particular her collection called The Village. This is a deeply satirical look at local events such as family weddings and fetes while also seeming to focus on women's life's in general in a small rural west Sussex village, she says that she was fascinated by the rituals that take place in the home and surrounding community. What she's trying to do is challenge the concept that villages are these sweet chocolate box place's that many people image them to be when in fact there quiet the opposite. Like myself she was brought up in a rural community so she understands clear the problems and constants that are associated with living in these areas. In a second collection called Back To the Village she found herself returning to similar themes but with different eyes as she'd spent a considerable amount of time living in towns and cities before returning to a more rural area. She became more aware of how events are more significant in these communities because of how they bring people together in social rituals such as Halloween parties and 5th November celebrations.

 

I find her work interesting because it give me some ideas for particularly the section in my major study on people because I'll be following similar ideas but I don't really find her photos crying out to me as something really special although in future generations you might look back on them as we do on photos from the early 20th century because they capture a part of english life that might not be around in another 100 years.

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My Critical Review.

For my Critical Review I chose to study the work of Ansel Adams, he was someone who's work I'd briefly look at earlier when studying Straight Photography and thought he deserved a more in depth look. As I've already said this isn't my favourite part of the course, but there has been an improvement over the last few years in my essay work and there's still a hell of alot of room for improvement still. One of the main areas I'd say I've got better is with my research, I tended to only look in a very limit area for information on a person but this time  
I've look in a much wider field over all mediums from the internet to books and even on tv to get as much info as possible. Where I'm still struggling though is in my written skills, its just getting the relevant facts down in a manner that's easy for someone else to read and make sense where I'm still not happy. Anyway if you follow th link you can read for yourself and see what you think.

A Critical Review of Ansel Adams.


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Critical Review Writing.

When it comes to essay writing I'm like many people I hate doing them because I always seem to struggle to get started, then when it comes to include all the relevant information within the amount of words specified again
I seem to have problems. Its not something I've ever been great at but I have discover a couple of helpful websites that have at least improved my essay writing skills and given me more confidence in my abilities in this department.

http://lklivingston.tripod.com/essay/
Gives very basic structure ideas but found it to be surprisingly helpful.

http://www.essay-writing-tips.com/
A little more detailed then the first site, used before in my last course to help with my piece on the ethics behind digital manipulation. Really helpful.

http://www.studentnow.com/features/essayswritingtips.html
Offers bullet points on ways to improve your writing and research skills.

These are just a couple of the many hundreds of sites that are out there but these three I found the most useful personally. The major things I've learned is that clear planning and plenty of research are the bases of a good essay, brainstorming diagrams I found where a great way to break down the subject in my case Ansel Adams into smaller sub sections and then take my cues when writing from these. Its a approach I found work in my case I'm not saying its for everyone but its finding the best way to work personally.


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