Assignment 2 – Visa Versa – that fellow simon

Developing the Theme

This assignment provides the freedom of approach within the confines of the themes covered in Part Two. I chose to go with what I am more artistically comfortable with, which is traditional covert street photography. There are many practitioners to choose as context, and in the end I selected Tom Wood, particularly the selection of a market venue. See later for more on context.

Technical Approach

I used my Fujifilm XT3 with an 18-55mm zoom lens, with the zoom set at 55mm, allowing me some distance (though ideally I would have liked substantially more to provide greater anonymity). I set Iso at 800 as it was an overcast day.

I kept my camera at waist level, using the tilting LCD screen in the horizontal position, imitating an old-fashioned waist finder. As a result, very few people were aware I was in the process of taking pictures.

Very little post-processing was carried out, other than my selection of film, in this case Fujifilm Classic Negative, to obtain a more classic film look.

I took around 60 picture and deleted about 6, leaving 54, shown in the contact strip below.

From these I shortlisted 15 that had close to the right feel (a greater focus on one person if there are multiple people in shot, for example) and that demonstrate a single theme. These are shown in the contact strip below.

Body of Work

The selected images all demonstrated candid capture of a person busy shopping at a market, something they probably do every market day. Today was unusual in that restrictions have been lifted partly, resulting in individuals partially protecting themselves against COVID-19 to varying degrees, though perhaps not sufficiently.

Reflection

Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills

(Materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills)

I feel that the body of work above demonstrates sufficient technical control over the photographic process pre and post process. Although street photography can be a little random, the body of work demonstrates some competency in visual awareness and composition.

Quality of Outcome

(Content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, with discernment)

I found it quite difficult to select 5 images. I was very happy with at least 8 of them. I believe the final set is coherent.

Demonstration of Creativity

(Imagination, experimentation, invention, personal voice)

Covert street photography requires a lot of practice to convert the random into planned. However, I was aware that I saw the shot, then took it, rather than snapping at anything and anyone.

Context

(Reflection & Research)

The context for my work, was Tom Wood’s Market Series, and I have taken that context very literally. Of course, Wood used black and white and colour; I have stuck to one film stock.

As I put in my learning log I look for the aesthetics in my photographs, rather than following a formal approach, and like Wood, I hope I am “loose and instinctive”.