Completed assignment

Well, I'm more than pleased with myself as I managed to complete assignment 5 and posted it off to my tutor just before my family came to visit for Easter. It was a question of pushing myself hard to write up all about the character photos I had taken, assemble them into a coherent order, wrap up securely and post.

Initial feedback from Clive was very pleasing. His emailed said:

'I won't be writing the report till after Easter but I think it's a triumphant conclusion to the course. You've fulfilled your potential and produced the quality of work that you probably envisioned achieving when you signed up for P&P.  Well done!'

Brilliant, now to get all five assignments organised for the May submission to Bucks Uni and the July assessment.

If anyone wants to see Clive's comments on each of the images you can see it all using the following link:

http://jenhollandspandpassignment5.blogspot.com/

Thanks for taking an interest.

If you want to follow me on my next module, Digital Photographic Practice, I've set up the link so you can go straight to my home page. 

http://dppjenhollands.blogspot.com/2011/04/whole-new-module-new-tutor-everything.html

If you want to know all about the DPP module follow the link here to the relevant OCA page:

http://www.oca-uk.com/distance-learning/photography/photography-1-introduction-to-digital-photography

Final List of Characters

Here's a list of the people of Lyme that I have asked and the results:

1. Artist (completed)
2. Museum curator (completed)
3. Fossil hunter (completed)
4. Harbour master (completed)
5. Town Mayor (completed)
6. Photographer (completed)
7. Boots shop assistant (completed)
8. Local winemaker (completed)

-- ooOoo --

1. Student (abandoned)
2. Local town councillor (abandoned as unwell)
3. Name (?) Potter, Town Mill (abandoned)
4. Name (?) Best fish and chip shop owner (abandoned as never available in his shop)
5. Adrian Grey, stone balancer (abandoned as hasn't been seen on the beach yet this year)

A good day's work, I think. I have eight strong portraits and think my tutor, will be pleased with them. Now just to write up about them and how I took the pictures and any processing I did using Photoshop.

Nearly finished all the pictures

I've been working hard to get the photography done for this assignment. I've photographed the mayor putting on her official robes, the harbour master looking out of his window and John, a retired shepherd, in his shed drinking his home made wine.

Here's a couple of the shots of the mayor in her robes:

John, the winemaker, enjoying a tipple:

And the Harbour Master, surveying his domain:

Graeme is a bit small in this picture because the original was 21 inches wide. I used the panorma view to take three images and the camera then stitched it all together making each image a bit quirky which I really liked.

I have given up on several subjects as either I have been unable to contact them or, as in a small town like Lyme Regis with people wearing so many different hats, it's been too difficult to visualise them in one particular role. The other suggestions I have abandoned were the best fish and chip shop owner, Adrian Grey the beach stone balancer and the Potter at the Town Mill.

So far I have photographed - in no particular order - an artist, a photographer, a fossil collector, the mayor, the harbour master, a well-known shop assistant, the curator of the local museum, my dyslexic IT student and a local home made wine maker.  Now comes the hard bit - writing up about all of them and, what is even harder, getting them to write a few words about themselves.

My timetable to complete this module is to get the photography done by the end of March, complete the write ups and support stuff and post it to my tutor by Easter (Good Friday is April 22nd) then send in the whole People & Place module for the window of May 15th - June 15th for the July assessment at Bucks University.

Wow, can it be done? Yes, it can, fingers crossed and a following wind!

Moving on

11.3.2011

Well, I've completed three more character photo shoots over the past week; the photographic historian John, Colin the fossil hunter and my IT student MIchael. I'd like to try for a few more pictures with Michael as he plays the drums, but it was very difficult to get the address of the garage where his drums are stored, so I gave up on it last week. Hope to get more info when I see him again next week. All my subjects couldn't be more helpful and posed as requested after they overcame their slight self-consciousness at being photographed.

John had his own studio with an attic room, not small and cramped as you might imagine an attic room, but a large, well lit room 3 floors up. He has the most amazing collection of everything to do with photographic history and over 300 cameras. Here's a couple of possible shots to include in my portfolio. The close up image, taken with a Nikon D700 and an 18mm fish eye lens turned out okay, but I don't think it will be the defining image of John.

Colin, the fossil hunter, is a well know character around Lyme and has such a collection of memorabelia from his seaching in and around Lyme that he has devoted a whole floor in his flat to store it all. His collection ranges from fossils (of course) through bullets, belt and shoe buckles, bullets, coins, maps, old books and whatever else you can think of. He knows precisely where everything is and can go straight to the cupboard/cabinet and find what he is looking for.  He was a great subject to photograph:

My IT student, Michael, is a 20-year old lad who tries very hard. He left school with no qualifications not helped by the fact that he is dyslexic, and wants desperately to get a permanent job. With no qualifications and being dyslexic as well the outcome is poor but he keeps trying. He spends his spare time in the local internet centre working on his literacy, numeracy and IT skills and I thought he deserved a mention here. His main interests are cars and music.

Valerie from Boots

Starting the morning

Took pictures of one of Lyme's real characters yesterday. Valerie, shop assistant in Boots the Chemist, couldn't have been more helpful and wanted to play act several scenarios for me. Valerie is well known in the town for her very helpful nature and how she takes the trouble to ask seaching questions when needing help when choosing products available to buy over the counter.

After creating havoc in the window by dislodging the poster in the main window, Valerie and Matt, the manager, had to organise it back into position before any customers came into the shop.

What's happened here then?

Made a start with my subjects

1.3.2011

Well, I've made a start and got two sets of pictures under my belt; an artist friend - Moya, a friend who let me practice on her, 

At work in her studio

But I prefer this one of her full face. My tutor, CliveW, told me when I did the first assignment People Aware, that it was important to show people in their own environment as it gave you an impression of them and their lives. But I prefer this one of Moya,

And the curator of the local museum, Mary, came in early last Sunday so that I could take her picture.  Again, I like this one of her,

Giving me 'the look'

but, bearing in mind my tutor's comments from a previous assignment, will probably use this one in my final portfolio:

1.4.2011: Changed my mind about the Curator picture and have decided to use the one below:

Is it straight?

I'll need to manipulate it as it's heavily influenced by the fluorescenting in the stairwell. Never mind, easily corrected using Photoshop.

Two down, eight to go as I assume you aim for about 8 - 10 subjects and choose the best!

Characters inLyme

Here's a list of the people of Lyme that I have decided to ask if they would allow me to photograph them in their natural environment:

1. Michaela Ellis, Town Mayor (F)
2. Moya Paul, Artist (completed)
3. Mary Godwin,Museum Curator (completed)
4. Valerie Handley, shop assistant (completed)
5. Grahame Forshaw, harbour master (started)
6. Name (?) Best fish and chip shop owner (M)
7. Colin Dawes, Fossil hunter (M)
8. Adrian Grey, Stone Balancer (M)
9. John Marriage, Photographer (M)
10. Name (?) Potter, Town Mill (M)
11. Barbara Austin, local town councillor (F)
12. Michael Wood, Student (started)

Good old iphone!

Where's the phone, better start ringing round?

Trawling for new ideas

8 Feb 2011

I was trawling through OCA student blogs this morning for inspiration and read a student's reading list which included photo mags. I've always liked looking through magazines for new ideas for pictures so followed the link to Photo Pro magazine. Whilst I can't afford to  take out subscriptions or buy the latest offerings, it's always interesting to look at what 'new' photographers are doing. It often seems that young photographers are out to shock and thrill so I was keen to see what Patrick Fraser, a 'new kid on the block' could offer. He's not so new as he a wide portfolio of images on his website. It was fascinating to see his different styles with different age groups and how he managed to extract the idiosyncrasies of individual personalities. As my next assignment (People & Place assignment 5, on assignment) will feature a variety of local characters in the town where I now live, I was very keen to see how he portrayed a wide age range of people showing their individual strengths.

Fired with enthusiasm!

Having appealed for help with regard to a subject for assignment 5, emails have been flying thick and fast between my tutor and me as to how to proceed. CliveW seems to have the bit between his teeth as to subject when I commented on my preferred genre.  Next thing I know is that CliveW suggested I take portraits of local people in their own environments.  Then he developed it further, see below an extract from his last email:

"I think your project is going to be an excellent summation of the course for you and when I woke up this morning, thinking about it, I was reminded of a book a friend of mine did. In it he asked  the people to write their own manifestos and it occurred to me that you could ask your people to write something. Perhaps a paragraph about Lyme; how they came to be there or how they feel about living there.  I think that’s something you could expand into an interesting book project, a picture per page with a small block of subject authored text underneath."
 

Talk about firing me with enthusiasm, I can't wait to get started now and have already fired off 2 emails to 'friends' to get started.  I only hope I can live up to Clive's expectations!

Ideas for Assignment 5

I've been conducting an extensive email conversation ranging far and wide with my tutor, CliveW, about the difficulty of finding a suitable subject for assignment 5. This is where you have to choose your own topic within the confines of the whole people and place theme. Whilst you will have seen from my earlier posts, I thought it would give me extra points to change the location of 'place' in the eyes of my tutor, not so. CliveW suggests that I stay with what I know, ie, Lyme Regis. My only problem with this is that I and what seems like the whole world has photographed the town to death. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find new and original pictures. 

As part of one email I pointed out that my true love is portraiture, and how there is a dearth of opportunities, both formal and informal, in this whole area to continue this genre. I live in a very small cottage which we managed to squeeze into only by dint of shedding 40 years of accumlated detrius to local charity shops, eb** and the local tip. No room for a studio there. Not to be out done, and I admire CliveW for his wide-ranging  ideas, we have come up with the suggestion of photographing local people in their own environment. This means, of course, having the bottle to go up and ask if I can take pictures of those subjects that I feel are interesting enough to include in my portfolio.

Once I sat down to think through who I could approach, the ideas started flowing as there are a goodly number of characters in the town. I include the local harbour master, town mayoress (with or without her consort husband) who works in the local Boots part time, local fishermen, the museum curator, gig rowers, shop owners/assistants, local artists, the list is endless.  Now will come the problem of sorting through and finding the best. I'm quite excited now, better get on with it as the ideas have started flowing!

Starting Assignment 5

Where do you start? What do you consider? I will have to check out the OCA forum for other photographers' blogs to see what subjects they have considered and give it some thought. I'll have to think hard as I really would like to get this module finished for the May assessment so I can't hang about.  CliveW, my tutor, is excellent at giving feedback quickly, sometimes too quickly, as I've only just 'put it to bed' my latest assignment and the report is back within a week to 10 days at the most, even when he tells me he is ultra busy.

Still, here I go!