Just for a recap...

I was reading my older posts recently and i've realised how far my idea has come from my starting point. A lot has changed since then, so I'll just list stuff that has changed.

- The whole black and white thing

My original idea was to use black and white with one item of colour in my pictures. I researched films such as Sin City and looked at various editing styles that changed the concept of the photos. I completely dismissed the use of colour all together as I didn’t think it would be appropriate but now I am using full colour, maybe because it was such a sunny day and didn’t want to waste the opportunity.

- Street photography style

It is still street photography, just in a more documentary style. My original idea was to use a similar style to ….. but it changed due to my circumstances as people not turning up etc. It is still posed but it is documentary as they socialized in each of the locations.

-Extremes of people

It was such a sunny day that people did not really wear their most extreme clothes to portray their stereotypes. In the beginning, this was my idea, to clearly show all of the subgenres of youth fashion culture. But then this developed to be a documentary style of photography after looking at the book Fruit and was pleased with whatever they were wearing on the day.

I never realised how much my idea developed...

It's all about the organisation...

So I've started putting together my sequence. I've done so much today. The overall style of the piece wasn't exactly what I wanted, wanted it to be more gritty and urban, but in the end it turned out to be colourful!

So the sequence, I'm finding it quite hard to choose the photos that i want. I think it still fits the brief in general, as it is following the group that I stayed with all day. It was quite a shock when I realised what sort of photos i got, i was expecting dull but the change really threw me off. Unfortunately, all the good photos are of the same few people, as most of them didn't turn up for the photo shoot, but that is all that I've got to choose from.

I've let my instinct choose what the sequence should be, what I feel looks right and has a flow through it. I've tended to go for portraits, as all of them show the personalities and the social environments that they inhabit. Most of them are posed but I have stuck a few random shots in there, that they didn't know that I took, just to break it up a bit and show them as a group of teenagers. hopefully the documentary style I was going for.

I think it's gone quite well...

First quick edits...

I took one of my photos and edited them in 3 different ways. To be honest, I didn't pick the best one at all, just the first I clicked. Here they are:

I like the full colour. I feel it be a shame to waste what is unique about these people. Placing the photos in black and white may take the individuality away from the people in the group, which is not what I want. The more saturated one doesn't really do it for me, however in this next image, I feel it works.

In this next image, I decided to take the picture of my sister with a flower in her mouth as it can be edited in various ways.

From these, I have decided that colour must be used in every photo, so black and white is out of the question. The sun brought out some interesting textures and colours so I must embrace them!

Ideas on editing...

Here has come to the part that I have been dreading, the photo editing. I am really not sure what will suit my photographs and convey the style/ purpose. Everything I do is for a reason and this is no different. i want the same editing style for the whole sequence.

Black and white

The roots of street photography stem from black and white imagery and I also feel that I lean towards it when doing this style. It also looks very stylish but it could take away from the environment and the uniqueness of the people. Also, it may not be the best option, as I was taking pictures in very harsh light and the shadows may become too prominent.

Sections of colour

There is quite a lot of photos that I have taken that involve a lot of colour. If i wanted to go down the black and white route but bring out key items in the photos, this would be the way around it. But I'm not sure if this will be right for it or not.

Sepia tones

This is a way of editing, without giving away or bringing forward too much colour. I quite like it, but it is all a question of if it will take too much away from documenting the people in photos.

The only way I'm going to find out is to just do it...

The unpredictability of teenagers...

I had everything planned, I took a lot of inspiration from Jacopo Pandolfi and had a lot of shots lined up in my mind. For my steam punk, I wanted to get a shot of him in the old part of town with the cobbled streets, stood isolated. I then wanted an image of him leaning against a worn brick wall staring at the camera with his gas mask on, to create a gritty street photography style.
I wanted a small emo girl, and to bring her sparkling black wings to stand her against a graffiti wall.

All of the very unusual and extreme stereotypes never showed up for the shoot and the majority of my photos had to be re-thought on the spot. So on the spot I used what I had around me. As it was an extremely sunny and hot day, the people I was photographing weren't exactly wearing their most extreme clothes. But then again, is that what the shoot was about? Yeah it was about youth fashion culture, but I had a look at the book Fruit by Shoichi Aoki. He captured Japanese youth culture and took photos of random people in the city. I like this documentary style approach, so I feel it may have been better that they were wearing what they wanted instead of being made up just for a photo shoot.

So I decided that I would follow my sister and cousins main group of friends around town, see the places that they naturally went too and then set up photos there. they went to a wide range of places, they went to the grassy park, to the main shopping area, to the marina and around the older parts of the town. Along the way, they bumped into more friends that were different and they all came together for a group photo (you'll know which one it is Mike).

All in all, it was a different day than I expected. Not the gritty street photography style that I was really after, but you never know, it could be just as good...

Posed vs Candid

I love my natural photos, just taking pictures of whatever goes on around where ever I am. It's probably why I love street photography so much as the most natural things I think are the most beautiful and interesting. However, for this project, I don't really think it is appropriate for this project. So I'm going to look at photography styles with and without posing.

One of my favourite photographers, Elliott Erwitt, did a mixture of posed and candid shots, but my favourites of his are the natural ones. This next one was a natural shot, he set it up for focus but the subjects were just passing by:

It's great for the right purpose of capturing the French culture.

This next one is also candid.

It's the right environment for this sort of shot, it wouldn't look as good posed.

Next I'll look at posed shots also by Elliott Erwitt.
This next one is of Marilyn Monroe, it looks right posed at it is a portrait

It may be due to the fact that she is an icon and we expect her to be picture perfect 24/7 but I think that it wouldn't have looked as good if it wasn't posed.

This is also posed and tbh I really like it. It fits its portrait purpose.

So, what do I think is best for this shoot?
Well, I think that posed shots would be best. As it's people in their environment, I really do think it would be more suitable. On the shoot I will take some candid shots too and see what they look like some may fit quite well in the sequence. These would be of the group of people together, could make some great shots.

All systems go!

I sent the message to my younger sister to tell her to gather the minions ready for saturday! I'm going to take a few approaches to make sure I get everything I need. One of my main subjects is my cousin, who is a very elegant goth, she's already got some photos done of her by various people. Here is one of the only examples i can find of her on facebook but there are some fantastic ones of her in a graveyard but i can't get them.

I have a feeling she will be one of my main subjects.

Other sorts of people I have that agreed to come and meet me on saturday are:
- Skaters
- Steam Punk
- Indie Kid
- Other goths
- Emos
- and i think a pirate?!?!

Just to do an evaluation of what sort of places are in the area when I'm shooting, I have a small church/graveyard, record stores, a marina, the whole facilities of the town in general and the place where all of these weird and wonderful teenagers meet every week (basically this massive hole in the ground).

My idea, to shoot them in this very plain environment where they meet, basically a bit like street photography. I think i have found an interest in this area of photography as I just want to keep revisiting this style. I'm not sure if they should all be posed or not yet, but I'm trying to think for the sake of the sequence. Here is an example of the sort of style I want to shoot it in:

I was also thinking to take photos of people in their stereotypical environment such as goth in graveyard etc but maybe them outside of where people would expect them to be.

Not sure yet, I'm gonna have to decide in the next few days.

Lets take a trip to Sin City...

I have found a new inspiration for my photography project. Bombastic to me means colour, but I don't think that full-blown colour would be the best way for the photos to be edited. For a start to my research, I looked at one of my favourite films Sin City. I love the way colour is used to highlight key objects or characters. Here are some examples underneath:

The only thing about Sin City, is that the colours are over exaggerated and the rest of the image is in black and white. I kinda want to lean away from black and white. I feel it's too overused for no particular reason. But what i want to do is use the image, tweak the brightness/contrast but to keep a key object or element in the picture in full colour. This should fit into my colour criteria.

To be quite honest, I will probably slip into the black & white street photography image style but at least I'm trying not too...

I've had a break-through!

My photography project has started moving, finally, less than 2 weeks before the deadline. Bombastic to me means in your face and reminds me of younger teenagers (15-16). So I went on a few digital dictionaries where I got the definitions pretentious and inflated. But what got me thinking was the rhetorical meaning "emphasizing style at the expense of thought" How many times when you were younger did you brave the extreme cold or heat just to look good? I know I did quite a few times!


So then I liked my idea, my younger sister has an array of weird and wonderful friends, but earlier I lost confidence in it. But then I came across Jacopo Pandolfi. He photographs youth culture in London in an environmental portraiture style. It is exactly what i wanted! So this has really sparked my idea! Here is his website.


Must remember this to go in my research file!