Thursday, 7 November 2013

Street Photography Self Evaluation

                                                              Self Evaluation




My Project was Street Photography and I loved it. It was one of the most fun things I have done in a long time and not to mention how much I have learned. I’ve learnt how to develop photos in a darkroom, how to use the enlarger, what under and over exposure means and what contrast means visually. For my street Photography I originally wanted to take pictures of people up to no good shall we say, but when it comes down to I was too nervous and when I was brave enough to take a shot I was caught and stared at a very intimidating way and I ended up filling that film with pigeons. I did find I was naturally drawn to people who were in their own worlds. Who were thinking or just looked fed up. In a way I feel I just wanted to show that you’re not the only person with problems and if we take the time to look people all over are dealing with their own problems weather they are working or on their dinner and having some time to themselves. I do also find a lot of humour in people when I’m out and about and I wanted to put this across in the photos to. I do feel I have meet the requirements of the street photography brief which to me meant catching people natural and going about their daily business which I felt like I achieved and put across what I was seeing into a photo.  I think I could maybe learn more about the contrast on the photos as I don’t feel like I played enough with the exposure time, but I feel this has more to do with I already had an idea in my head on how I want things to look. I feel I was very lucky with this project as I haven’t in counted any problems with film developments, fogged films, unwound films, photo developments or anything else in the whole photo part of the project. I have however developed a possible allergic reaction to the developer in the darkroom as I can’t be a 100% sure what has set this reaction off  it has hindered me slightly as I have been advised not to come into contact with the chemicals while the reaction is still showing on my skin. So I had help developing my last films and had to wear bright rubber gloves in the dark room to finish off my contact sheets ready for handing it but that is the only real problem I have had. I found the information and advice the tutors give me very informative and felt led me to a successful project without any hiccups. With this brief I feel I have learned a lot about camera and how to use the light, and about the speed of films and I feel more confident about this than I did when I started. I also feel confident with the development of films and of the photographs.  I feel this project did challenge me but more in a personal way as I’m a very shy person and I found taking photos of people very scary and some of the photos that would have been brilliant in my eyes I was to frighten to take in case I was seen or something was said to me, But the more pictures I seem to let pass the more angry I became with myself and just pushed myself to take them and started to become more confident as I realised most people are too busy to notice…. Or they think I work for the benefits office. I really enjoyed this project and want to keep taking street photography in the future. I would not do anything differently apart from being braver at the start to take the photos I want. So for the hand in I struggled picking just 5 photos as I have printed out nearly 30 prints and  I have 7 images I feel are really strong and I just can’t choose between them so after speaking to Jill she suggested I hand in all 7 which is my problem now solved.

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