Work Diary - Shoot 1: People of London

Evaluation 

For this shoot, I wanted to begin the project of 'Issues and Observations' with influence from photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Homer Sykes, Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr. These photographers all shoot street photography, of people in the streets and of different settings and events. I enjoy shooting street photography as the photographs are somewhat natural and realistic, with a true reflection of the time and place. Plus, that particularly occasion may never happen again, therefore that photograph is the only evidence of it actually happening. My plan for this shoot was to just walk around the most popular parts of London, and literally observe my surroundings. Such as, the people taking photographs of the London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the boats on the River Thames, people jogging, people out with their families etc. A lot of the images that I shot were taken very quickly so parts may be blurred, but I believe this adds to the effect of the image being realistic and showing the movement from the rush of the public. Some of the photos I took underground in the train stations, developed quite grainy as the lighting was dark and I didn't have a chance to change my camera settings from the usual ISO 200, F11, 1/125. However, after editing the images into black-and-white, I think this created a rustic, edgy vibe to the underground photos. 

This is one of the images I shot along the walkway passed the tower bridge. Here, we can see a man taking a modernised 'selfie' with his phone, of him and the tower bridge behind him. I took a few images similar to this with lots of different people, as I think it shows the modern-age of society, and how camera phones have evolved, along with technological creations such as the 'selfie'. Despite the fact that the man is posing for his own photograph, technically he was not posing for the photo I was taking, therefore this is kind of like a 'behind the scenes' shot, which is quite realistic. Although the man is the main focal point for the image, I also like that I was able to capture some of London and the River Thames in the background of this shot as well, as it gives the photo more context behind it. This image is a lot like the images Martin Parr has taken of people using their mobile phones in museums and in the streets etc. 

This is a shot I took on the London Bridge, of a homeless man begging for help. Although I didn't intentionally plan on shooting any homelessness within this shoot, I decided to use this photo anyway because London is unfortunately filled with homeless people, so it truly identifies the place. This photo makes you feel sympathetic towards the man, as he looks cold huddled with his blanket. In this photo in particular, he looks very unhappy and lost. Although this image creates a negative emotion, I think the impact of images like this are huge as they show people what is obvious, but ignored on a daily basis. 

Progression 

For my next shoot, I plan to shoot in London again, but this time focus on the sights and views of London. Particularly popular places such as the London bridge, Tower bridge, the O2, the Shard, and all the different train stations. As even though we observe people, we also observe views and landscapes on a daily basis, and I want to explore this through my photos of London in the next shoot.