Assignment 2 - People and Meaningful Activity

What: The main brief of this exercise was to photograph people in a public place, trying to capture them in a meaningful activity.

Where: Museum of Flight, East Fortune, Outdoors

When: Morning on sunny day.

How: While traversing a corridor at work I noticed on a social and recreational noticeboard that there was a “wings and wheels” event at the nearby museum of flight. Noting that it would be an ideal opportunity for the assignment I made arrangements to go along and photograph the local car and motorbike enthusiasts as well as some of the demonstration events by the white helmet motorcycle display team.

I decided to concentrate on the crowds rather than the demonstration as I wanted to capture the small group of devotees of all things motor driven gathered together in this one place. I felt quite relaxed as I started to photograph as one of the first people I came across was another “member” of the sons of arthritis and we had a chat about treatment and a complain about ailments.

I made my way around the field noting a photographing subjects that I found interesting and eye catching; I took more personal shots for myself than I did for the assignment as I was so comfortable and calm as I photographed.

A large number of the people that I photographed were together in a group representing the local motorcycle riders and the local steam engine aficionados. They were all standing together chatting and comparing notes on engines and machines. I also took a couple of comparison shots where I compared the photographic excitement and usage between current generations.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 185mm (35mm equivalent 277mm), aperture f9.5, speed 1/250 second, ISO 160, Daylight white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 48mm (35mm equivalent 72mm), aperture f16, speed 1/90 second, ISO 160, Auto white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f2.4, speed 1/2000 second, ISO 160, Shade white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f2.4, speed 1/2000 second, ISO 160, Cloudy white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

I had been watching this subject for a while, he was animatedly talking to another classic car owner, and all the while his beard blew in the breeze.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 300mm (35mm equivalent 450mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/250 second, ISO 160, Auto white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I did perform a crop on this image to remove the white tailfin of the Cadillac, however I found the crop too severe and it offset the balance of the image.

Just along from the white Cadillac were a couple sitting beside their remodelled classic car. I had a chat with them before asking if I could photograph them. They were quite happy to be photographed.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 11mm (35mm equivalent 16mm), aperture f8, speed 1/250 second, ISO 160, Daylight white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I really wanted to capture the size of the car, as it was very small and I did wonder how they both got into the car.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 122mm (35mm equivalent 183mm), aperture f4.8, speed 1/350 second, ISO 160, Daylight white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 112mm (35mm equivalent 168mm), aperture f4.8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 160, Auto white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I like the comparison in these two images, both photographers were moving in and out of the vehicles and what I wanted to capture was the difference in style and technology of these two individuals. Both interested in vehicles enough to capture the beauty of the cars and bikes.

When the white helmets came out to perform the crowd moved across to the barrier area and settled in to watch the performance.

I wanted to get a couple of images of the performance as that was part of what everyone was there to see.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 300mm (35mm equivalent 450mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/320 second, ISO 160, Auto white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I liked the way that he is framed in the image with the people in the background looking directly at him.

I wanted to get a couple of stunts as that is what the white helmets are known for,

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 200mm (35mm equivalent 300mm), aperture f9.5, speed 1/1000 second, ISO 250, Cloudy white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 230mm (35mm equivalent 345mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/1500 second, ISO 250, Daylight white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 300mm (35mm equivalent 450mm), aperture f6.7, speed 1/500 second, ISO 160, Shade white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

Afterwards we walked around the classic car exhibition and saw a couple in an Old Zephyr, they had a couple of dogs with them who were constantly looking out the window at everyone that passed.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 180mm (35mm equivalent 270mm), aperture f5.3, speed 1/250 second, ISO 160, Auto white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

At the bike exhibition there were a group from the British Legion Motorcycle supporters, some of whom were driving modified motorcycles which looked like American highway patrol motorbikes and they dressed the part.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 70mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), aperture f4.8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 100, Daylight white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

Of course I could not resist the cliché of the American police officer with the doughnut in hand! I cropped the image slightly to take out the right shoulder of an individual who stepped into the frame just as I pressed the shutter.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 70mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), aperture f11, speed 1/180 second, ISO 100, Auto white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

In all of the 28 images that I finally chose, the 14 that I have submitted are the ones I am happiest with as they met the remit of the assignment. Again I used the lessons learned from the previous exercises to good use in both taking posed and un-posed photographs.

Exercise 15 - A Public Place

What: The main brief of this exercise was to photograph people in a public place, trying to capture them as they interact with their surroundings.

Where: North Berwick, Outdoors

When: Afternoon on a mild overcast day.

How: I decided at random to pick a nearby beach and visit hoping to capture more than people sitting in cars or walking their dogs.

Having completed the previous exercise I was quite upbeat going into this exercise; having learnt that unless I give myself a time limit I will move about too much for too long and then end up in pain for two or three days. Again I gave myself a time window and an area to work in; this time at the beach which was luckliy for me quite busy.
When I arrived I found that there was a sailing competition on, but the boats were about a mile out from the bay as so were well out of range as well out of my remit. As I walked along the beach I regularly changed lenses and photographed in a number of different styles. Again shooting from the hip was a bit hit and miss but I had much for confidence in my work.
I was very pleased by a number of shots as not only was I looking for people interacting with the locale but I was also photographing them as they interacted with each other, I was also pleased by the number of different activities that I could spot.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 70mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 100, Auto white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I spotted this couple walking past and what caught eye was that she was not wearing any shoes and she appeared not to be carrying any.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 98mm (35mm equivalent 147mm), aperture f4.8, speed 1/350 second, ISO 100, Cloudy white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

They appeared to be having different experiences of the beach whilst being together.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 300mm (35mm equivalent 450mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/125 second, ISO 100, Cloudy white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 75mm (35mm equivalent 112mm), aperture f4.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 100, Cloudy white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I am really pleased with this shot, the subject is relaxed an unaware that she is being photographed even though she is only a few feet away. Her hair caught in the wind leads into the image and he stands out against the background without the lens bokeh being too much to distract the eye from her.

I saw this youngster walking along the beach behind his guardian and he would pick up and set down a handful of dried seaweed as he went. He was completely caught up in his investigation of what he had in his hands.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 195mm (35mm equivalent 292mm), aperture f5.3, speed 1/500 second, ISO 100, Auto white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

This child on the other hand was in full industrial mode, building sandcastles and hills of sand as he went.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 300mm (35mm equivalent 450mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/500 second, ISO 100, Auto white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I was slightly disappointed in this photograph of the dog "Rocky" and his owner, having used the wide angle lens at a lowish angle I had to try and straighten the perspective as the lens created a tilt away from me.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/250 second, ISO 100, Shade white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

Even when I “corrected” the tilt in the image, it still does not look quite right. However it does capture that happiness in the owner and his pleasantness.

I was a little happier with this image, although it is slightly cropped, as for some reason as yet unknown the conical petal shaped lens hood was shown at the outer corners of the image causing a vignette of the image.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/1000 second, ISO 100, Shade white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

As I moved along the beach I noticed that this person was wading along the breakers on the beach, not once did he come out of the sea but walked along with his waders in the water.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 70mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 100, Cloudy white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I am pleased with the colours in this image as the sea reflects the colour of his waders and the sky reflects the colours of the shallow water. It was not until I reviewed the image that I noticed that he was wearing a set of headphones and was listening to something other than the sound of the beach

As we moved to the end of the beach, we reached the shallow pool built in Victorian times, which is now mainly used by dog owners for allowing the dogs to play felt the ball in the water.

There were however a couple who stood close by, who were picking seashells up from the beach.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 210mm (35mm equivalent 315mm), aperture f8, speed 1/250 second, ISO 100, Auto white balance, Centre Weight metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I could have spent all day in the area just watching and photographing people; what I have started to notice from the teaching from this part of the course is the number of different activities that people can partake of in one area and how the interact with each other and their surroundings.

Overall lessons learning as I go into the Assignment; relax, watch and photograph with care, do not photograph randomly and in a hurry and hope that something will fit the brief. It has been a good boost to my experience and confidence. I feel a lot happier and much more confident photographing outdoors than before I started.