What: The main brief of this assignment was to draw together
ideas and experiences covered in the course so far and produce six images of a
location in the style of a thought provoking publication.
Where: The Town of Haddington.
When: Midmorning
How: I undertook research of several locations. After
photographing and collating one set of images I decided that they did not gel
so I changed location and shot the town of Haddington.
I decided that I wanted to capture images that
provoked an emotional response in me. I moved from place to place and waited
until I saw something that I felt that I wanted to capture within the context
of the assignment.
What I wanted to achieve was to capture the
peacefulness of Haddington even though it is an expanding and busy market town.
I wanted to show that a lot of the activity takes place in one of two locations
- either around the main street at the town’s Corn Exchange or along the river.
The river was one of the first sources of industry
in the town. At one time Haddington had a large wood industry and a large mill
and waterwheel to grind the grain that was then traded in the Corn Exchange.
The town itself is carved into two by the river and is crossed at various
points by small bridges.
I think I succeeded well in capturing the town,
showing that even though it has lost the mills and the heavier industry, the
spirit of the town still survives and people now use the river for
entertainment and pleasure.
Just beside the bridge the river runs past The Waterside Bistro. This building was originally a coach house, inn and shops before being renovated and is now a popular bar and restaurant.
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The bright white of the building reflects in
all manner of sunlight and produces a lovely reflection in the river nearly all
year round. It always makes me happy when I pass to see the reflection in the
calm path of the river.
The river provides a relaxing spot for people to pass time either by feeding the swans and ducks or by sitting peacefully by the water’s edge reading a newspaper.
The river provides a relaxing spot for people to pass time either by feeding the swans and ducks or by sitting peacefully by the water’s edge reading a newspaper.
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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 55mm (35mm
equivalent 82mm), aperture f4.5, speed 1/2000 second, ISO 400, Daylight white
balance, Matrix metering, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens,
I really wanted to capture the excitement of
the children as they fed the birds, each child trying to outdo the others and
feeding their favourite bid.
As I moved along the river path I encountered a gentlemen sat for a while reading a newspaper and it reminded me of my dad who used to do the same when on holiday in his caravan.
As I moved along the river path I encountered a gentlemen sat for a while reading a newspaper and it reminded me of my dad who used to do the same when on holiday in his caravan.
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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 300mm (35mm
equivalent 450mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/1000 second, ISO 1000, Daylight white
balance, Matrix metering, Hand Held Camera lent against tree trunk, 70-300mm
lens,I chose to use the telephoto as I did not want to disturb him as he looked like he just wanted to sit quietly and pass time on his own. At first I thought the hat on the end of the bench was his but realised that it had been left there by someone else, probably found in the path and left there just in case someone came looking for it.
During the historical period known as the 'Rough Wooing' there happened a siege of Haddington and soldiers from the French village of Aubigny came to support the Scottish troops. Due to this link the two locations were twinned in 1965. Since the twinning, Haddington has had a resurgence and interest in sport and the Aubigny Sports centre and grounds, which were built as a result of the twinning are now used regularly by local schools and the public.
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The sports centre sits beside the river and there are always dog walkers, runners and cyclists using the old tow path which runs parallel to the watercourse. Here a cyclist takes their dog out for a run along the river path which runs through the town out to the east and west of the town. The dog looked like it was having the time of its life as it ran long.
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I cropped this image down as the dog and the cyclist were too far in the background and were too small; the balance of the image was on the path and the trees rather than on the intended subjects.
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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 56mm (35mm
equivalent 84mm), aperture f8, speed 1/30 second, ISO 100, Shade white balance,
Matrix metering, Hand Held Camera, 18-70mm lens,
I liked the fact that the small child showed no fear
initially and was pulling her parent toward Minnie before being distracted by
the fountain. One of the other children pulled her mobile phone and
photographed Minnie as they approached and then photographed the smaller girls,
their parent and Minnie with the backs against the fountain.
I found it quite difficult to reduce my final
selection to six images as I found I was having difficulty giving the full
sense of place of the town. In the end I had to choose to remove a couple of
images that while I found them ideal artistically they did not fit into the
brief.
There was a missed opportunity to capture an image of
Haddington at its busiest during the school drop off and pickup periods as this
is when most people are out and about, as now being a commuter town the town centre
itself can be very quiet during the day even at weekends.
I have added the other six images at the end of this
assignment.
If I had been taking images for no end result I may
have spent more time on the smaller botanical area in town which is full of
plants and insects and not so many people. I would also have spent more time within
the town limits capturing the passing people. I would have also spent more time
photographing in internals and externals of the buildings. The final collection
of images would probably not be quite so focused as they are.
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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 11mm (35mm
equivalent 16mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/1500 second, ISO 400, Daylight white
balance, Matrix metering, Hand Held Camera, 11-16mm lens,
DSC_0072
Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 18mm (35mm
equivalent 27mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/1500 second, ISO 1000, Shade white
balance, Matrix metering, Hand Held Camera, 18-70mm lens,
I liked the
sense of silence and quietness this image gives, but it also gives a sense of
abandonment and emptiness that I found jarring.
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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 44mm (35mm
equivalent 66mm), aperture f4.5, speed 1/180 second, ISO 1000, Shade white
balance, Matrix metering, Hand Held Camera, 18-70mm lens,
DSC_0194
Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 11mm (35mm
equivalent 16mm), aperture f11, speed 1/180 second, ISO 400, Shade white
balance, Matrix metering, Hand Held Camera, 11-16mm lens,
I really liked
the colour of this image as the reflections from the building opposite really
brighten up an overcast location. However the lack of people within the image
means that the image is not quite suitable.
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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 56mm (35mm
equivalent 84mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/750 second, ISO 400, Daylight white
balance, Matrix metering, Hand Held Camera, 18-70mm lens,
I liked this image as it showed the bridge in use,
but I felt that the final six all met the brief better.
I think you've done very well to capture so much of the variety of the place in 6 images.
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