Shoot 7- Work Record

Plans for this shoot:
My aim and plan for this shoot is to capture a series of images capturing the fronts of shops. The reason behind me choosing this as a shoot is because I believe it connects really well with this topic. As the shops in Waltham Abbey are most small unknown shops in old listed buildings I think they will be really interesting to capture. Therefore my main aim to to capture this and keep in mind the composition of photographers such as Andreas Gursky- Thus showing the key influence Gursky has had across this project. There are also a few other photographers which have helped influenced different ideas for this shoot. For example the image shown here is present in my research log by photographer Nigel Henderson.


What I actually achieved;

Personally, I find this image is my strongest image within this shoot. As a whole I am really happy with the outcome of this image because of the positioning and composition I have captured. When capturing this image, I was standing there for a little while before taking these images because I didn't want people within this image. This is because even though I do think images look good with subjects, I wanted this image to purely focus on the post office. This is because I believe there is lots of posters and signs up and this isn't a plain looking shop wall. My main aim of focusing on the composition is really clear and successful in this image because I captured the post box as central as I could. I didn't use a tripod for this shoot so when I re-shoot for my exam shoot, I will definitely use a tripod because this will mean I can focus more on the framing rather than worrying about holding it. The white sections of this image is quite over exposed however, I still like this effect because I believe this helps link with the lighting work of photographers such as Bernd and Hilla and always Gursky. 

At first sight people may think that this image is distorted in the way of a fish eye lens effect, however this is the reason why I thought I should talk about this within my work record because it is not that my camera focal length was wide, but because of the state of the building. This building as the audience might guess much like the other buildings in this shoot, is really old and in time is has slowly become "wonky" but not only this but the row of shop bends backwards around a bend adding to the effect of it being distorted. I do think this is a successful image in terms of showing old buildings. However, I do believe when I come to my shop front shoot for my exam, I will take the photo just of the shop rather than the alley next to it, this is because this way my audiences focus isn't lost on wondering what is down the alley. I do believe that if this image was just of the shop alone, it would have a very similar effect to the image which I have used in my plans for this shoot from my research log.

When I shot my shoot 6 shoot, I captured an image of the door of this cafe, because I find the outside of this cafe really beautiful as it looks like it belongs to a cottage small town. However, I do believe as mentioned about on my shoot 6 work record, that this is my weakest image within this shoot because firstly, my focal length is much wider than it should be creating a fish eye distortion which straight away I do not like. Further more, there is shadowing from the shop next door as this is sort of down an alley so it faces the wrong way to the sun. A way to improve this image would have been to maybe go back later on in my shoot so the sun had moved stopping the shadow, but also the use of a tripod would have been much more successful because when you look at the kerb in the foreground, you can see how this image is not at all straight.

What I am doing next:

My next shoots will take place within my exam. Therefore I will be taking all the experimental tasks I have done from this shoot into my exam shoots in order to create the best outcome for manufactured structures series of images. In regards for shoot 7, I believe the main outcome I can take from this will be that I must use a tripod within my exam because other wise my shop shoot might not be as "sharp" and "neat" as I want them to be. 

Shoot 7- Straight Images

Shoot 7- Contact Sheet

Shoot 6- Work Record

Plans for this shoot:
When researching for this shoot, I came across images for doors and I believe a door can be completely symbolic, no doors are the same, they all do the same thing hide what happens inside from the outside world. Therefore I wanted to experiment by allocating this shoot focusing on different doors around Waltham Abbey. The main influence for this shoot are different photos across my image bank and my research log, this particular image shown on this blog is by photographer Riemersma who has a series of different doors which I find so interesting. My main aim and plan for this shoot is to use a head on composition creating straight lines across my images of doors so when my audience view my work they will find them as aesthetically pleasing to the ones I found when researching.



What I actually achieved:

Personally, I think this is my strongest image in this shoot because even though it isn't just an image of a door and is the image of the front of the house, I find that this is one of the better images which shows the plans for this shoot. Originally when taking this photo I tried to crop out the rain pipe however, I am happier with the final result photo with it included because I believe this is much more successful in framing the house. Without the pipe I found that the house was too over exposed, yet with it the black combined with the black of the door is a much better final result so am much happier. Furthermore, I find that this image has completed my aim as being a "straight"/ neat image as the lines created in the photo are parallel to each other. I also find this house quite sophisticated because of the black and white colour- even though I did edit this image to be black and white, the original house is pure white with contrasting factors being black and even though some may find this image to be quite plain I find it really interesting because this was a house down a street full of different houses, all different colours, each with different decorations in the front, therefore showing how people down this street displayed their personality through the front of their house. I do believe this shoot could have been more successful if I had followed  the style of Bernd and Hilla by taking photos of all the houses and editing them together, although as a singular image I do think that it has been quite successful.

This is another image in which I think is one of the more stronger images in this shoot because I found this house really interesting. However, I must say that I prefer this image in colour because it looks so much cuter and prettier, however, if I kept it in colour it would not have fitted in with the rest of the shoot. Another reason I found this image worth mentioning in this shoot record is the fact that directly opposite this house there was a complete opposite looking front of house (shown on the left here). I found this interesting because the image above is so well kept, all the plants are kept neat and it looks as if it belongs to a cute little cottage. This is completely contrasted with the image from the house across the street where it looks like it could do with a bit of TLC.

I found this cafes door really pretty because of the reflection between the two sides, however, I do believe this is one of my weakest images within this shoot because of the shadowing. As this cafe is down an alley, I got the shadow of the sticking out shop next door which I do not think works that well. Furthermore, this image does actually have a distorted effect which I do not really like- it appears that my camera was zoomed out at the wider focal length causing a slight fish eye distortion which I do not think is successful. Therefore because of the lighting and focus, I think this is my weaker image, thus showing me that when I come to shooting my exam shoots, I need to make sure I am looking over my images and if there is shadowing over the frame, I should go back a little bit later on- perhaps at the end of my shoot instead.

What I am doing next:

For my next shoot I am hoping to extend on the concept front of buildings by capturing shop fronts in my town. As some of the images I shot in this shoot weren't as successful as they could have been, I have learnt for my next shoot to keep an eye on the shadowing around my frames because other wise the same effect on what happened to the last image displayed in this blog will happen again.

Shoot 6- Straight Images