The photographs I have chosen for my final images are from three different shoots. Before each shoot I planned what sort of shots I'd like to achieve and briefed the subject about the kind of thing I was going for. Also before each shoot I planned what equipment I would use and took health and safety into consideration.
The equipment I used on all my shoots was a Canon 1000d digital slr body, sigma 18-50mm f2.8 standard lens, Canon speedlite external flash gun, Canon camera battery, SD memory card, a Geottos tripod with ball head and a hoya ultra-violet filter. The filter was used just to protect the lens.
All photographs were closely scrutinised afterwards and checked for sharpness, focus and if the composition was right. Also they needed to fit in with my style and the colours needed to be similar.
For the first shoot I had to take into consideration that we were using a replica gun. Although absolutely harmless it could cause distress and panic if a member of the public saw us. The shoot was down a local under pass late at night so we had to take into account health and safety. The area is renowned for gangs of youths up to mischief so we worked quietly and quickly. It was also very dark so we took a torch so we could see where we were going and our mobile phones in case of emergency.
The second and third shoots were similar because they involved having beer bottles and cans in public places. The illegal aspect of this was removed by emptying the contents before we hit the streets.
My original theme idea was gangs but it became clear to me that I would have to tweak the idea slightly to make it easier to shoot. I didn't have loads of people on hand to shoot gang scenes so I shot individuals doing gang related things. Although my images are portraiture, I was trying to get a documentary kind of feel to the shots.
Here are the final images.
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| f/10 1/160sec ISO-200 |
The image above is the opener of the series because the "bright future" wording sets the scene for where this kind of lifestyle leads. As we were on the third shoot I noticed this graffiti under an under pass and thought it would send out a strong message. It was quite dark but I didn't want to open up the aperture for risk of parts of the shot being out of focus, so I kept the aperture reasonably closed and used an external flash gun. This also enabled me to use a higher shutter speed, as the shot was hand held it prevented any camera shake.
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| f/8 1/125sec ISO-100 |
In this image I wanted to get the eyes in sharp focus but have the gun slightly blurred as if it was coming towards you. I achieved the selective focus by controlling the depth of field with an aperture of f/8 and locking focus on the eyes then re framing the shot. Even though this was taken in very dim light I got away with using a low ISO by using my flash gun, this enabled the best image quality and no grain.
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| f/4.5 1/250 ISO-200 |
I always think when I see this shot that it looks quite real, my brother was really great at this stuff and almost completely immersed himself in character. I think his accurate portrayal and the overall look I achieved adds to the documentary feel I was hoping for. Inspired by the film This Is England I dressed him in Ben Sherman and dark blue jeans. It was a big help that he was already a skin head. I took a few shots experimenting with different apertures until I managed to get the one I wanted. The open aperture slightly blurs the hand and on reviewing the images I felt it looked best and had a rawer feel.
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| f/6.3 1/160sec ISO-200 |
This is probably my favourite shot from the series because I think it looks authentic. Although staged I think the way he is standing against the post looks quite natural. I purposely chose this location because of the council houses in the background played a significant role in setting the scene and making it look like a genuine documentary shot. For the composition I used the rule of thirds, framing him to the right of the frame. I was very inspired by Tobias Zielony's work in his series Curfew and decided to try and get a similar style. I achieved this by not upping the contrast and draining the colours slightly. I think this makes the mood of the picture a bit more glum and resembles Zielony's work more.
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| f/4.5 1/250 ISO-200 |
My brother by this time was so deeply engrossed in character he decided to free style, he was moving, gesturing and getting quite aggressive. I used a fast shutter speed to freeze the action and just fired off loads of shots while he was in full flow. I decided on this one because he looks quite aggressive and that he might do some damage with the bottle. I think it reflects the theme well and because it's improvised and not posed for it adds to the documentary style.
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| f/8 1.3sec ISO-200 |
This shot was taken inside an under pass and uses the darkness of the tunnel and the back light from the street lamps to cast the subject into shadow. I was only using ambient light so it was important to have a long exposure to let more light onto the sensor. I had to use a tripod and a time delay to prevent camera shake. The only light source was a street light so I had to change my cameras white balance to tungsten. Some people would probably crop out the surrounding darkness but I have chosen to leave it in so it looks like the end of a tunnel. The composition I feel is very strong with the subject placed in the centre and in sharp focus, the way the slabs fit together draws the viewers eye down the tunnel.
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| f/6.3 1/160 ISO-200 |
I have been undecided as to include this image or not because I don't feel that technically it is very strong. However the idea I had for this shot would be to close the series off with a behind bars photograph to suggest that he would end up in prison. I wanted him to look washed out so I didn't increase any contrast. To make it clear that this was just some railings I decided to leave the top of the bars in the crop. I asked my friend to roll his sleeves up to reveal his tattoos and make the image more interesting. It's not my favourite and I'm not totally happy with how it turned out but I like the concept of ending with this shot so I have included it.
On the whole I am very happy with what I have achieved. I think all of the images relate well to the theme and my inspirations are evident in my photographs. I think it's clear that I have come a long way since my first blog and I now feel confident and competent in using a camera in manual.
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