Exercise 11: Standing Back

I spent Saturday morning photographing the Edinburgh Farmers Market and the characters there. I used my f/2.8 70-200mm lens which is a large, heavy white lens which stands out. I have noted in other students postings the challenges of using a lens like this in a public place because you are really noticed. I knew that this could be a problem before I went, but I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to take photos without being noticed. I think this is mainly because it was really busy and people were concentrating on the stalls & produce, not on other people around. There were a few other photographers out too, and it is a common place for tourists to visit, so perhaps it was a good place to pull out the big lens.

My first photos were not great - a few blurry, some out of focus and I had some real challenges with metering in the bright sunlight. As I realised this, I adjusted some settings, and waited for the patches of cloud to drift past the sun to take my photos, and also chose my position more carefully so I wasn't shooting towards the sun. I also became more aware of the background of my photo, and tried to avoid bright spots (eg from vans in the background etc). I wandered through the market a few times and gradually felt more comfortable taking photos. Towards the end of the morning I simply stood in one spot and shot a few photos of people in the distance, exchanging money, chatting, drinking coffee. I felt a little like shooting prey on a safari, but I did like the feel of being able to stand back and take photos without people noticing, or at least most people not being aware of me.

It was a shame that a number of people were wearing sunglasses, though I guess this is a common problem, however it would be nicer if their eyes were not covered. I took a lot of photos and have chosen what I consider to be the best ones and display them below. I have tried to choose a mix of people - some young, some older, some were watching a cooking demonstration, others are simply walking around. I have cropped in close with some, and tried to capture a bit of background in others. This was really fun project and a good challenge for me. I really enjoyed using the long lens to grab shots of people, and I quite like the effect of the telephoto - blurred backgrounds and foregrounds in some shots. This really makes the subject 'jump' out of the photo I think.

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These people were watching a cooking demonstration and were easy to take lots of photos of.

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A stylish young lady with her fancy sunglasses on.

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Even though she is blurred in the foreground, I really like the capture of this girl with her mother.

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This lady seemed very expressive.

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I found sometimes people walked through the shot as I was taking it, and sometimes the shallow DOF didn't work so well, but overall I found using the telephoto quite good. If I was more clever, I think you could play with juxtaposition with the telephoto lens, but I have not managed to do that in this set of photos. I think my favourite photo is of the mother & daughter, the young girl is out of focus but she looks directly at the camera (I think she noticed me), she is biting her lip and the mother is looking at something in the stall. I think it is an interesting image.

Exercise 10: Movement & Gesture

I spent Saturday morning photographing the Edinburgh Farmers Market and the characters there. I played with different lenses (for the next few exercise), and also managed to capture a variety of movement and gesture photos.

I took a series of photos of the Falko stand (our favourite German bakery), and saw a woman who looked like a bit of a character, so took about 15 photos of her (using a telephoto, so I was not noticed). I have chosen 5 which show interesting facial expressions and gestures. I quite like the last photo as it puts everything into a bit more context by including arms of a customer and the seller exchanging money in the foreground.

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I also photographed one of the entertainers on the stage, she was easy to photograph because she stayed in one place, had a variety of facial expressions and I could just stand back and take photos. She was singing and playing guitar, and I think a couple of the photos are reasonable. However because she was singing her mouth looked a bit strange in a few shots. I find this a challenge when photographing people talking/singing etc, however in this case it gives her a fun variety of expressions!! I have included 5 photos of her below.

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I found using the telephoto lens good for capturing gesture & movement, as it enabled me to stand at a distance and take repeated photos of the same person/people. This is not so easy with the wider angle lenses. Taking repeated photos of people means you are more likely to be noticed, so this is something to take into account. I got more comfortable taking photos throughout the morning.

Day 2, portrait 2

Today I went out in the rain to take some photos. Already this project has forced me to make some changes to my photography - I put on my lightest lens (the plastic fantastic - 50mm f/1.8) because I was already laden with my 5 month old and all the associated paraphernalia (one of the main reasons I have not been taking photos much lately). This meant that I could whip the camera out when I needed to take a photo and not worry about changing focal length. This is good for street photography, though some people would certainly say that a shorter focal length would be better (it is closer to 80mm full frame equivalent). Anyway, it suited my purposes for today.

Today's photo is of a young woman waiting at the bus stop - she is nicely looking up at the electronic board which tells us when the next bus approaches. I don't think she noticed me taking a few snaps, and I am quite happy with this photo. I have cropped a little to remove some bright reflections from the left side of the photo from the wet road. I really like the way the umbrella frames the photograph, and her hands are neatly crossing her chest.

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Exercise 9: A comfortable situation

According the the notes in my study guide, the aim of this section (People Unaware) is to have the “confidence and skills to tackle street photography … without being conspicuous while still being able to make effective compositions with good timing” hmm... somewhat of a bit challenge I think! Nonetheless, I'll have a go.

I chose for this project to take photographs while on a recent holiday in Northumberland. We were staying in a cottage right next to Hadrians Wall, and went for a few walks along it. One day I took my camera along and aimed it at the other walkers/holiday makers. It was easy to take photos of the scenery, but I found it quite challenging to take shots of the people there. Most of my photos are actually backs of heads/people, which is not terribly interesting to look at! I think I gradually improved over the morning, but never felt very comfortable.

I used the lens I normally have on my camera – 24 to 70mm, which is roughly equivalent to 35 to100mm full frame. In the chosen 12 photos I have used most of this range except the widest angles. The subjects are generally quite small in the photos, but this is partly a factor of the environment. Given that the area is quite large (ie the wall is long, and there is a large area to walk in), it meant that although busy with people, they were generally spread out. This meant that I couldn't get really close to people without it seeming strange (and very obvious!). At least one pair of people noticed I was taking their photo (no. 3), but it didn't seem to matter.

It was fun to undertake this project, and I found I did slowly get more comfortable throughout the morning. I am moderately happy with the photos, and my favourite is number 10.

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Note to self: Next time I will use multi-shoot on the camera – that way if the person's expression improves I can capture a few photos in sequence more easily.