Subject Visit Two - Jacki - BSG Photos

I also took several photographs intended for the BSG website. I took particular influence from the work of David Hares and asked Jacki to bring along her son to the shoot, so I could photograph them together. The idea was to get Jacki to smile and I could get some more natural shots from a distance. I started shooting outside, to make use of the natural light, but it is very grey in November and this didn't work so well!

I feel that the shots utilising shallow depth of field work much better, and have more depth - these will fit in much more with the brief provided by the BSG's design agency. I have learnt more about what sort of thing I'm after, and again feel much more prepared and feel like I have developed my work on a stage. 

Subject Visit Two - Jacki

Having conducted a little more research, I set off to visit Jacki this week, who I have met before from the Birthmark Fun Day. I felt much better about this visit, as I had more of an idea of what I wanted to achieve having learnt from the previous shoot. I went with the intention of conducting two separate shoots on the same day, to fulfil the brief for both projects. As a result I will be discussing them separately in my research and development blog.

These are the images I intend to use for my personal university work

With every visit I go on, I find out a little more about what it is like for other people to live with a birthmark. I am really discovering a lot already, and feel that even at this early stage the project is successful with regard to the personal journey aspect that I was so keen to work.

With regard to the images, I found I took fewer this time, which in my opinion is a good thing. I felt much happier and more confident I knew what I wanted to achieve, and as a result the subject became more relaxed and felt like I knew what I was doing! This is very important to me in my work, because the more relaxed the subject is the more natural the work tends to be.

I posed Jacki in a few different seats, and decided not to do the standing up photographs, as I feel that they weren't so strong when I visited Stanford. I also ensured I did a few close ups too. Overall I think this shoot went well, and I am looking forward to my next one. I felt that Jacki was comfortable and happy to be in my work.

Richard Ross - Waiting for the end of the world

I have chosen to look at the work of Richard Ross because I find it particularly inspiring. It continues with the theme I have been previously looking at of photographing people that have something in common, but this set of images from his series "Waiting for the end of the world", which comprises of photographs of underground shelters and the people that own and operate them, is more relevant as it shows these people in what could be regarded as their home environment.

This gives the photographs a sense of intimacy which isn't found as strongly in the work of Morrison or Hennell. The photographer is given access to these people's shelters, and the portraits are personal in nature.

I really like that, again, Ross produces neutral themed portraits on a group of subjects. The photographs represent his investigation of these people's lives and their shelters - I think that this idea is key to my own work, as I am embarking on a personal journey on this project, and am also investigating people's lives. 

My personal favourite of the set is this image, which I feel is particularly strong and fairly similar to the style of image I had in mind when I started this project.

BSG - Project Research

Having visited Stanford I sent my initial images to Flag - the design agency I will be working with on the Birthmark Support Group's side of the project ( http://www.flag.co.uk/ ) and they suggested I take a look at the work of David Hares to get an idea of what sort of thing they were looking for.

When it comes to the website, the image style I will be producing is very different to the photographs intended for my University project. As I have previously mentioned, the two projects are working side by side, and for every subject I visit I will have to produce to sets of images, for both projects.

The work of David Hares:

The use of natural light in his work seems very important to creating the desired atmosphere - happy/bright/upbeat. This is key to the feel of the website, and working with the design agency is really teaching me how to work to a particular brief. When visiting my future subjects, I will take into account, and try to get a more varied style of images. It is clear that the two projects have a very different style and will have to improve on creating the pictures for the agency so I can get my funding!

The key elements of the images here are that they are natural looking, bright and airy with plenty of natural light. Use of shallow depth of field to pick out the subject is essential and having looked at this work I feel that I am much more prepared to photograph my next subject.

First Subject Visit - Stanford

I have now visited my first subject! He is the Chairman of the Birthmark Support Group, and I met up with him to discuss the terms of my funding and to follow up the first time I met him at the Birthmark 'Fun Day'.

I think he is a good person to start my project with, as he understands my project and as a result will be more tolerant with my experimenting and trying different things. Initially, my work will need a fair amount of development to find out what works best when photographing my subjects. Also, there is potential for meeting Stanford again, so if I am not happy with the results I can reshoot!

I tried to experiment with different poses - sitting, standing, smiling, neutral, straight on and with his dog! As my confidence wasn't too great, I was struggling to direct my subject, but found it easier as time went on. As I didn't quite know what I wanted, I needed to experiment a little, but Stanford was very patient and didn't mind.

I feel that this shoot has returned some fairly usable results, and I have begun to find out a little more what I want from my subjects. This will make it a lot easier when I come to visit people I don't know, and will know exactly how to sit them.

I took these 'mugshot' type images as more of a record for myself, to get a closer look at the birthmark. Although I like some of the seated ones I feel these are effective too, so will ensure I get a close up of each subject too, incase they come in handy!