Exercise 14 - An Organised Event

What: The main brief of this exercise was to photograph an organised event.

Where: Edinburgh, Outdoors

When: Afternoon on a mild overcast day.

How: I looked over a number of public events and chose one where there would be a number of people moving around and a number of varied activities.

I decided up on the Edinburgh Mela as it ran over several days and had many differing events on during the run of the Mela festival.

Armed with a number of differing lenses I wanted to use as many differing lenses as possible and in varying styles to capture the crowds and the performers.

Even as we approached the site I could see that people were rushing to get into the site.

DSC_0046

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 14mm (35mm equivalent 21mm), aperture f9.5, speed 1/30 second, ISO 400, Daylight white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 11-16mm lens,

Once I started to focus on the passersby, everyone was enjoying the day and meeting with their friends and family.

DSC_0071_01

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 46mm (35mm equivalent 69mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/90 second, ISO 800, Daylight white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

I almost abandoned this shot, but I feel that the branch obscuring the second individuals face gives the image a little bit of fun mystery. I also liked the look on the left hand subjects face.

DSC_0157

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 195mm (35mm equivalent 292mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/350 second, ISO 2000, Daylight white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

DSC_0160

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 270mm (35mm equivalent 405mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/1000 second, ISO 2000, Daylight white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I then went to one of the main performance tents and caught the last part of the Chinese dancing. The girl on stage was performing the peacock dance.

DSC_0113

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 240mm (35mm equivalent 360mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/125 second, ISO 2000, Auto white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

After the dancing the stage was reset for the arrival of the local Chinese choir who sung traditional fishing and farming songs.

DSC_0128

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 122mm (35mm equivalent 183mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/60 second, ISO 2000, Flash white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

DSC_0142

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 155mm (35mm equivalent 232mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/45 second, ISO 2000, Auto white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I was particularly pleased with the composition of this shot as I managed to get all the singers as they focused on the conductor.

While the singing was going on I turned and started to photograph the crowds looking for suitable interesting individuals or groups.

DSC_0145

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 92mm (35mm equivalent 138mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/500 second, ISO 2000, Auto white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

DSC_0010_1

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 155mm (35mm equivalent 72mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/125 second, ISO 800, Auto white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

DSC_0096

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 13mm (35mm equivalent 19mm), aperture f9.5, speed 1/30 second, ISO 400, Shade white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 11-16mm lens,

Back outside the tent a couple stilt walkers were dancing to the tune played by a wandering obo player, as she danced and played the stilt walkers talked to the crowd and lifted children into the air.

DSC_0148

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 300mm (35mm equivalent 19mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/750 second, ISO 2000, Shade white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

DSC_0152

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 210mm (35mm equivalent 315mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/1500 second, ISO 2000, Shade white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

DSC_0167

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 220mm (35mm equivalent 330mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/250 second, ISO 2000, Shade white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

Towards the end of my visit I went over to the second performance tent where local musician were playing a combination of African and folk music.

DSC_0170

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 300mm (35mm equivalent 450mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/60 second, ISO 2000, Fluorescent white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

DSC_0174

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 300mm (35mm equivalent 450mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/60 second, ISO 2000, Fluorescent white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I particularly enjoy watching musicians as they play, as you can watch them get lost in tune, the rhythm and the memories of the music

DSC_0179

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 260mm (35mm equivalent 390mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/45 second, ISO 2000, Fluorescent white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

DSC_0180

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 260mm (35mm equivalent 390mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/60 second, ISO 2000, Fluorescent white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

DSC_0185

Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 300mm (35mm equivalent 450mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/45 second, ISO 2000, Fluorescent white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 70-300mm lens,

I enjoyed this exercise as I had worked out in advance what I wanted to capture, the crowds and the performers. I was pleased that I was able to find location to photograph from that allowed me to observe and photograph without interrupting people.

I also enjoyed the challenge of photographing the performers in different lighting conditions as they were set for the performers and not really for photography.