The Photostory
Initial Ideas
First Idea
My initials idea for this project was to look at a Dairy Farm. I wanted to do this as there is a lot of controversy on the price of milk at the moment and how this is effecting farmers. I though it would be interesting to look at how farms who don’t rely on major companies to sell there milk go about locally selling there milk at Farm shops. This could be shown by following the milk from the farm to the shop. However, in the time frame that I have access is taking longer to get than I first though it would so although I would still like to cover this idea as a story it wont be possible for this project.
My second Idea
For this photography project I want to look at the conservation of green areas as volunteers help to make the areas sustainable and attractive so they can continue to be used in the future. I want to look at this project as I am interested to see how the areas are improved and the difference work which is carried out all the time without us hearing about to areas around us. I also want to look at the workers behind the projects and the benefits to taking parts in schemes like these and their reasons for participation. Its also easy to travel to the areas where this work takes place as I would be able to get lifts with other people going.
My Third Idea
Another Idea that I had was to look at athelets. In specific I want to look at cross country runners and the different types of training they do to keep themselves fit and ready to compete. I would look at all aspects of their training from being at home to competing and the preperation and dedication that goes into the sport. I want to capture the emotion and behind the scenes of the sport which is a side that you dont get to experience if you dont compete yourself.
My Proposal
I decided to go with my idea of photographing competitive middle distance and cross country runners. I feel this has the most scope to create a story with as I can show the training behind the scenes and everything that goes into getting ready for a competition as well as the competetion itself. I want to show all the different strength, speed and stamina training and how much time and effort needs to be dedicated towards the sport.
Why?
I want to show the passion and dedication that goes into the sport behind the scenes at training. Everyone knows what happens at competitions so I want to share more. I also used to be a competitive runner myself so I know the time dedicated towards this and how much effort it takes and the emotion you feel to the sport which I want to convey within my photographs.
Who?
I feel picking individuals from the group of runners will give me the best result in this project as it will give me a clear focus and prevent me from getting distracted and trying to photograph everything. I am going to follow Poppy Tank a senior girl who is currently in overall first place in the Westford League cross country competition. Therefore I know she will defintley be attenting upcoming competitions to keep her places at the top of the league.
Where?
I will photograph at their running track Brickfields in Plymouth where they train with Plymouth AC. I will also attend competitions around the South West with them.
When?
21st February - Track sessions on a Saturday
Hurdle and Flexibility Drills
28th February - Competion Preperation
29th February - Cross Country Competion
3rd March - Stamina Training
John Shearer - Artist Research
John Shearer Spent time with heavy weight champions Joe Frazier and Muhammed Ali in the lead up to their fight in 1971 which was considered 'The Fight of the Century'. I looked at this particular selection of photographs by Shearer as it looks at all aspects of the two competetors lifes. The photos show the training and the hype around the fight rather than just the end result of the match. I want incorporate this into my own work and show what it takes to be a competive runner and how there is more to it than you might first think.
Joe Frazier and Muhammed Ali. Photograph by John Shearer
This photograph shows Muhammed Ali taunting Frazier from outside his training room. The way Frazier isnt looking at Ali enforces the feeling of a challenge and competition between them although they are not in the ring yet they are allready focused and playing mind games with each other. This reflects in my own project as when training the atheletes within the same training group compete to keep up with each other. I want to capture this side of their personalities and how it leads them to push themselves further.
Joe Frazer celebrating his Win. Photograph by John Shearer
Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali in action 'Fight of the Century'. Photograph by John Shearer
Joe Frazier in Training. Photograph by John Shearer
Fans outside Joe Frazier's Training Room. Photograph by John Shearer
Looking at Previous Years Work
We looked at previous years work and discussed things that we should think about when creating our own publication.
The first photograph is a strong lead shot which shows the viewer clearly what the story is about. However, the amount of text and size of the text is distracting from the photograph. The font used is also not the easiest to read and the colour of the text should have been kept the same.
The whole publication should have been more organised and kept the spacing between both the text and photographs consistent through out. This would have made the whole thing look more professional and easier for the reader to follow. Also the background colour doesnt add anything and the photographs would have stood out better on a white background. On the page below not all the photographs are needed and they could have had two bigger photographs as this would still have told the story and you would be able to see the details in those photographs clearer.
Artist Reseach - Emily Maye
I looked at Emily Maye's photography as she manages to captures behind the main action of the sport while still showing the context and event that is taking place. Her photos of an Ivy League Track event show not only the competitors but also the crowd, teams mates and coaches. I like this as it gives the viewer a better understanding of the sport and all the people involved which creates a stronger narative. The interaction between the athelets and the people around them is what I find interesting, whether it is competition or support. I want to show this in my own photostory to give the people I am photographing more of a story rather than just to show them running.
Emily Maye- Ivy League Track
Emily Maye- Ivy League Track
Emily Maye- Ivy League Track
Artist Research - Jenny Matthews
Throughout Jenny Matthews Woman and War project she has a strong collection of portraits. However I would have liked to have seen more photographs of the womens day to day life around where they live. I feel this would have given the viewer a greater understanding of the womens stories and how they have been effected. I liked this story in particular as she revisited the people she first meet twenty years later. This showed the transformation and how there lives have developed and improved.
Artist Research - Alex Webb
Webb’s photographs have layers within them and make use of the entire frame. He does this by showing different angles and framing the subjects of his photograph within the environment they are in. He also uses light and shadows to draw attention to certain parts of his photograph, making them the focus. I feel this makes his photographs more interesting and encourages the viewer look at the entire picture for longer.
Webb's photographs capture the interaction, or lack off, between the people themselves and also with their surroundings. He captures moments in time and see's ways of capturing scenes differently to how other people might. I would think he see's an opportunity to frame a subject then waits for the right moments before taken the photograph rather than it just being down the chance.
Webb's takes a lot of his photographs with a wide angle lens, allowing him to capture more of the scene and the different stories and people within one photo. This quickly gives the viewer an idea of the environment that is being shown. I feel his work is just showing us glimpses into other peoples world rather than trying to portray a certain emotion or message though his work.
Alex Webb - HAITI. 1986. Cite Soleil.
Alex Webb - PARAGUAY. 1990. Encarnation.
Alex Webb - PANAMA. 1999. Panama City. Run-down bayside real estate in Panama City's El Terraplen.
Alex Webb - MEXICO. 1995. Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.
Artist Research - Gideon Mendel
I went to see Gideon Mendel’s photostory called 'Drowning World' at the Plymouth Arts Centre. Mendel has been working on this portrait lead project since 2007. He has photographed the effects of floods and how it changes the way of life in a range of countries including England, Australia, Hati, Germany and Pakistan to show the similarities and differences between flooding in different areas. Through this project Mendel wanted to explore the effects of climate change and show the people who are being effected and share their experiences.
"In a flooded landscape, life is suddenly turned upside down and normality is suspended. With an almost ‘tracing paper’ effect on the societies in which they occur, flood waters often reveal underlying tensions and difficulties as they recede. It is these elements that continue to draw me to flood zones, evoking many questions about our sense of stability in the world." - Gideon Mendel
The wide range of photographs from different parts of the world with the main subject remaining similarly possitioned allows for comparison between the different scenary and people within. Even through it means the photographs look very similar as the angles used are the same, I feel it works to translate the message of peoples situations and how people all over the world are being effected by the same thing.
These photographs are also displayed in the National Geographic as a photostory. They are displayed two photos on an A4 spread. They are displayed centered and the same size on each page. As there is a large collection and at least 15 pages all layed out in the same way this becomes a bit repeative. It would have been more interesting in the layout changed page to page with different sizes, positions and number of photographs on a page.
Gideon Mendel
Gideon Mendel
Gideon Mendel
Gideon Mendel
Presentation - Publication Research
We looked at the Sunday times Magazine and chose a photostory to look at from the publication. We chose to look at God's Country as it has only published six photographs which is that same as what we will have to do for the outcome of this project.
Artist Research - Peter Holgersson
Peter Holgersson is a Swedish Photographer. This collection of work is called Heptathlon And Cancer and is based on Nadja Casadei. She is a athelet and this story focuses on her stuggles with cancer and the training she is going through to get back on track. This photostory won First Prize in the 2014 Photo contest for Sports Features.
Holgersson started the series with including a picture of Casadei when she was on peak form, while she is getting her personal best in the long jump. This was so that it made her story unique and stop it was being a story like any other cancer patient, it also showed the journey she was going through and what shape she was training to get back into as she is aiming for the Olympics in 2016.
I feel the use of black and white is effective in this set of photographs as it highlights Casadei's form and physical condition. This is useful in the telling of the story as its about her training to get herself back to peak fitness. This is something to bear in mind when choosing whether I want my own project to be in either black and white or colour.
In a lot of these photographs she is by herself with little interaction between her and other people. This reflects the solitude of her journey as only she knows what she is going through and could be reflecting her own internal battle. A tilt shift lense has been used in a lot of the photograhps from this series which adds to this feeling of isolation. Holgersson wanted the story to concentrate only on Casadei and seperate her from the surroundings which is why he chose to use this lense.
This story is very emotive as it has captured not only Casadei's strength and fight but also her moments of weakness which allows the viewer to see her journey. The access to the subject that was allowed has made this photo set. To get the most out of my story and a diverse range of photographs I need to spend as much time as possible with my subject in different situations.
Peter Holgersson
Peter Holgersson
Peter Holgersson
Peter Holgersson
Peter Holgersson
Peter Holgersson
Peter Holgersson
Peter Holgersson
Peter Holgersson
First Shoot - Training at the Track
For my first shoot in this project I went to Brickfields Running Track in Plymouth. I am following the long/middle distance training group and in particular I am focusing on Poppy Tank. She is currently training for the end of the cross country season and is leading the Westford league cross country series with the highest number of points overall from placing near the front in every race.
This was my first shoot at the track so it took a while to work out where the best places to stand and how to move around to capture the action. I would have captured more interesting photographs if I had anticipated the movement of the runners and got myself into a position infront of them so they were running towards me rather than away from me. This would have made it easier for the viewer to engage with the subject in the photograph and also allowed me to capture the runners expressions showing how much they are putting into their training.
On my next shot at the track I want to look at not only the running put also Poppy and her interaction with the other runners and her coach. This is as I felt it worked well in my photo of Poppy talking to the coach above. However, the red flag and other runners back are distracting and take away from the moment shown.
Second Shoot - Training in the Woods
For my second shoot I went along to see Poppy training in the woods with Victoria who is a friend, team mate and also one of Poppy's competitors as they are in the same age group and both take part in the same distances. I liked the first shot out of these three as it shows them together, I wanted to look at how even in training having each other there makes them push themselves as they encourgage each other.
As it was a large area they were running around I didn't manage to spend much time with them as I didn't have any way of keeping up with them. It will be easier to capture the moments I want to at training sessions and competitions where I can find out the route/sessions before hand so I know when and where they will be somewhere.
Research - The Mambo Dancer
This photostory is about Candice Angelet. Angelet has been dancing since she was a child and took classes in flamenco, ballet, jazz and ended up returning to the mambo. This story is from the collection ‘One in 8 Million’ which is by the New York Times as they look at individuals using sounds and image to discover and share their stories.
A video plays a slideshow of photographs while the person who is featured talks over the top about themselves and what they do. Having the subject speak as well as the photographs being shown adds to the story. Being able to hear them talk about what they enjoy and why they do it makes it easier to understand the photographs and translates the passions Angelet has for what she does.
This the establishing shot for the photostory. The photo shows that she is going somewhere and the sort of wistful expression on her face makes it seem like it is something exciting and makes you want to know where she is going. However, for an establising shot it doesnt set the scene and make it clear straight away what the story is going to be about as there is no clues to dancing in this photograph.
There are a few photographs in this series that are not including Angelet and are of the club and building she is dancing at. This gives the viewer a feeling of the atmosphere. However, I don’t think as many of these types of shots that have been provided are necessary. Such as this photo below:
A variety of different angles have been used with different focal points which makes this project more interesting. As there are a lot of dancing shoots the angles used change the ways they are seen preventing what could have been too repetitive. The use of a slower shutter speed has allow the movement of the dancing to be captured which makes it seem the viewer is more a part of the action.
The photographer has also captured moments such as Candice putting on her shoes and her sitting down and socialising with other people at the club. This develops the story as it allows you to see more than just what is obviously going on.It also gives a greater understanding of Candice as a person and her personality. I need to expand my own story and capture moments like this that would fit in with what I am trying to show.
Shoot Three - Cross Country Competition
For my third shoot I went to photograph the final cross country race for the Westford league competion series at Redruth in Cornwall, which Poppy ended up winning. During this shoot I looked at capturing moments between Poppy and her mum and the exhaustion at the end of the race.
For my next shoot which will be back at the running track I want to capture the moments between running. Such as when the runners are chilling in the club house between sessions, or listening to music in preperation. I feel this will give the project more of a narrative and focus of Poppy and what she does and why rather than just running. I will also try and get into the gym which is next to the running track when Poppy is training there and doing weights. This will hopefully allow me to get some more variation between the shots that I allready have. I need to make sure my shots are not to similiar as I dont want to have repetition photographs on my publication that do not add anything to the story.
Paper edit one
I chose 20 of what I considered by best photographs and printed them out so I could see how they worked together. From this process I have seen that on my next photoshoot I need to concentrate on getting photos of Poppy interacting with her coach. I also need to decide on an establishing shot that will open up my story effectivley.
Photographing at the Track
I went back to the Brickfields running track for another photoshoot. I looked at photographing the interaction between Poppy and her coach. As her coach was training at the same time this was hard to do as there were not often in the same place at the same time. I also wanted to get some shoots of Poppy in the gym as on Tuesdays she usually does strength training and conditioning after her session. However, she has recently had medical conditions which are a result of over training so this has prevented her from doing much at all. This limited how much I was able to photograph as she has been doing a lot less that see usually does in the last three weeks.
