Seizing an Opportunity

"Its one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it's another thing to make a portrait of who they are."        Paul Caponigro

An introduction to Street Photography

Having prepared a Time Frame using Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) targets and a Project Brief Cycle (see below), I now needed to focus on my theme selection in order to prepare a structured project proposal by the end of February.

Project brief cycle showing monthly breakdown of project tasks

In the interim, a weekend trip to Edinburgh beckoned; the reader should be aware that such visits are a rare novelty for me, with Scotland's Capital City some 220 miles distant from the very rural Isle of Skye where I live (the nearest city to my home in the Scottish Highlands is Inverness, which is a journey of 103 miles).  I had therefore never previously tried street photography but having become aware of the genre through my course, I decided to take the opportunity to try it in Edinburgh's streets during this trip, despite it being a very cold Saturday afternoon with wintry snow showers. 

For me capturing moments of public life in urban streets was an alien concept, but I did find the experience both exciting and rather exhilarating.  I recognised during my time of portrait taking for the Image Making Unit, that I really did enjoy the interaction between the photographer (me) and the subject being photographed.  These conversations contributed to making the atmosphere relaxed and resulted in images which reflected the characteristics of the person in front of the lens.  Perhaps, living in a small rural community makes me also enjoy the buzz of city life and gives me a personal fascination for the people on the busy streets.  I also may have discovered that taking photographs of city street people encourages my empathy for fellow human beings, eg living in the Isle of Skye one does not really encounter homeless people, living on the streets.

Homeless James on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh

I believe the resulting image of James, who was homeless and sitting out on the street in the freezing winter weather, was a defining moment in my decision to develop a theme in the genre of street photography.  When a viewer remarked that he did not like the picture, as it made him feel sad, I felt that I had managed to capture the essence of the person photographed; that is, I had harnessed an emotion and was able to share it with the persons viewing the picture. 
"I had a portrait of who he was".   

A decision was made and my theme was selected.

street petition, campaigning for living wage

The following two images are a result of my investigative research of how to present my final images, perhaps in triptych style or even superimposing one shot on top of another to make a statement. 

Test triptych of LUSH shop images, taken from the street.

Double exposure shot of bus-stop super-imposed on Princes Street landscape (Edinburgh)

Statement of Intent

My aim is to photograph people on the streets of Scotland's capital cities in the street photography genre, and to develop a personal style by researching and investigating the work of street photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, Robert Frank and contemporary street photographers such as Eric Kim.  The added value of this project is the challenge of working both in an unfamiliar genre and also within the time constraints of visiting distant urban locations, which will require careful planning.  I also aim to extend my depth of knowledge and skills,  both in the development and production of images as well as in the evaluation and critical reflection of my photographic work.

Objectives are:-

• to produce a structured project proposal and action plan to support the project brief cycle by 29th February 2016;
• to complete the time frame for SMART targets, detailing tasks, resources, location, people and success criteria by 29th February 2016;
• to be able to research and investigate the influence of classic and contemporary street photographers;
• to photograph images in appropriate locations and produce sheets of test contact images for initial selection by 31st March 2016;
• to gain an understanding of and evaluate the sociological impact of my street photography;
• to use post-processing software in order to present a set of images for final selection;
• to complete the selection process for the final twelve technically competent images for submission to the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) by 30th April 2016;
• to present final images in appropriate format detailing the chosen methods;
• to critically reflect on and evaluate my photographic practice and produce a piece of text for submission to SQA by 9th May 2016;
• to submit project by 17th May 2016. 

I am beginning to enjoy the challenge!

"Photography for me is not looking, it's feeling.  If you can't feel what you are looking at, then you're never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures."   Don McCullin