My Work - Cheltenham & Worcester

This is a rough edited mixture of 3 shoots worth of photos, I have categorised these only for my own benefit at this stage so I can see how they might work later as part of a series or book.

The photos were taken experimentally with a few objectives to try and establish a. the best combination of equipment and settings and b. to see how I would feel about different styles of shooting and c. to see which combo feels stronger in review.

Surveillance

These shots were taken whilst sat in my car.  I use a Nikon d810 camera and have trialled both a sigma 24-70mm f2.8 aperture and a 120-400mm f4.5 lens.  For these shots, I favoured the larger 120-400mm lens because of its physical size - more about that below.  What I like about these shots in the purposeful inclusion of the interior frame of my car, it changes the narrative of the shots from street to surveillance.  With this in mind, I tried experimenting with shooting empty windows, however I feel this may be somewhat cliche and weaken the overall strengths of the other work.
I particularly like the shots where the person is almost obscured by the car, it gives the impression of the shots being taken in a hurry or that I am trying to conceal myself in taking them - which of course I am.

The image to the left is of the 120-400mm lens, its basically a beast! it's very heavy and cumbersome to use, definitely not concealable and feels very voyeuristic to use.  It takes a great clear shot and has obvious benefits with the focal length for my work.

The image on the right is a sigma 24-70mm lens.  It is by no means a small lens but it doesn't feel intrusive.  The benefit of this lens is the small aperture capability of f2.8 which gives a lovely aesthetic to some of my images and also means I can shoot in lower light circumstances which can be beneficial.  

Irony

These shots I have for now categorised as Irony - in the final edit, I don't think I will isolate these shots or give them a title but in doing so on here it gives me a better insight into what I have and more importantly what I haven't got.

These are some of my favourite photos, I love the metaphors and humour that these present to me.  In order to take these shots, I tried a different approach.  I stood outside a prominent corner in the centre of Cheltenham with my camera hanging around my neck whilst i subtly shot from the waist without looking at what I was doing.  Because it is important to me that people do not know I am taking their photo - I want to capture them as natural as I can and for them to not be influenced into posing or changing their expressions or appearance in anyway. I tried not to be obvious and make it look like I was merely stood there - but evidently to no avail as I shortly encountered the police demanding to know what I was doing and why!

I definitely know I want to make more images like these.  They have a very different feel to them than the more obvious surveillance work, but I like the implied narratives and assumptions that may be made by the viewer because of my choice of framing, cropping and angles.

Street Portraits

These shots I think I am most ambivalent about, at the time of shooting I was quite pleased with these, but on review in my opinion they are weak and just 'so what'! i wont be persuing this type of image in future.

In Cars

I was very pleased with these shots, I particularly like the dog shots and the dynamics between the dog, the air freshener and the viewer.  I also liked the experience of taking these shots, it got my adrenaline going because I had to be more obvious in taking them.  I think there is something quite interesting and confrontational about looking at people in their cars as a private space, I need to shoot more of these to try and gain a clearer understanding of this.

Engrossed

These shots were taken with the big 120-400mm lens and I felt I was taking more of a risk with them in the sense I was more obvious and it would have been easier for the subjects to catch me in the act as it were.  I do feel quite happy with these shots, i like the framing and the narrative.

Uncategorised

These are the ones I have selected in the 'so far' edit, but I cant decide at this stage where they belong.

In Shop

I did enjoy taking these photos as the risk of being caught was heightened, however I am aware there may be legalities regarding shooting in this style so its sadly not an option I will pursue in future.

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