Street Photography
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Everybody Street
“Everybody Street illuminates the lives and work of New York’s iconic street photographers and the incomparable city that has inspired them for decades. The documentary pays tribute to the spirit of street photography through a cinematic exploration of New York City, and captures the visceral rush, singular perseverance and at times immediate danger customary to these artists. Covering nine decades of street photography, “Everybody Street” explores the careers and influences of many notable photographers––a number of whom have never been documented, featuring: Bruce Davidson, Elliott Erwitt, Jill Freedman, Bruce Gilden, Joel Meyerowitz, Rebecca Lepkoff, Mary Ellen Mark, Jeff Mermelstein, Clayton Patterson, Ricky Powell, Jamel Shabazz, Martha Cooper, and Boogie, with historians Max Kozloff and Luc Sante." |
Bruce Davidson
Bruce Davidson is an American Photographer, he has been a member of the Magnum Photos Agency since 1958. His photos taken in Harlem, New York City, have been widely exhibited and published. When he was 16, he won his first major photography award, the Kodak National High School snapshot award, presenting a photo of an owl at a nature preserve. When he graduated high school, Davidson then went to Rochester Institute of Technology and Yale University. After college he worked in the army, at his first station he was assigned to the bases photo poll. His talent was recognised and he was perminately assigned to the photo poll. After briefly working as a free photographer he joined Magnum in 1958. He then led out to do a two year documentary on the people inhabiting the East Harlem Street. Recently Davidson has returned to East Harlem Street to review the changes and restorations that have happened in the 30 years he hasn't visited there. |
Brooklyn Gangs - #2
This is one of my favorite photographs taken by Bruce Davidson. I think the main focus of the photo is the man in the middle in the background. I think that the man closest to the camera is trying to show off his tattoos or trying to act/seem hard, and the men in the background look like they are trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. The image is in black and white, this makes the image feel older, the clothes that the people are wearing make the image feel older too. The composition of this photo is quite central. I would imagine that the photographer was standing at maybe a 45 degree angle in front of them taking the photograph at his point of view. The image is part of the 'Brooklyn Gangs' collection of photos that Bruce had taken. Why did Bruce feel the need to take a photograph of this scenario? Why (or did) he find this interesting enough to take a photograph of? |
My first set of photos
[This photo was taken on one of the school iPods]
I think this is my best photo because the main focus is on the tree, and the photo is quite basic, and its not very confusing. The background is fairly out of focus and you can't really see the houses clearly. I like this photo because the tree takes up most of the space and the image is in colour, not black and white. When I took this photo i was standing close, and directly in front of the tree that i photographed. I think that this image captures the beauty of nature and how it works and looks. |
[This photo was taken on one of the schools iPods]
I think this is my least successful photo because i think it is too plain. There is no main focal point in this picture which, to me makes it seen confusing to try and look at and to understand. The part which would be in focus is too far away and none of this image is blurred. This photo had too much grass (green) in it, so i think that the colours aren't balanced as much because there is mainly one colour. This image has no main purpose. There is no main information into the image, this image explains nothing. |
Cropping
Cropping
Cropping in street photography allows the photographer to crop out parts of the image they may not like, it also allows the photographer to focus on a certain point in the image. Cropping the image makes the viewer ask more questions; Why did the photographer choose to take a photo of what they did? Why did the photographer decide to focus oh a certain point in the image? Why did the photographer decide to crop certain parts out?
Shadows
Shadows in street photography allow the photographer to capture and expose the chaotic surrealism of rushing working people, to capture the company of a single-serving friend, or the reflection of traffic in a dirty office window. The depth of these type of images depend on the tone of the shadow or reflection, the wide range of tones add up.
Cropping in street photography allows the photographer to crop out parts of the image they may not like, it also allows the photographer to focus on a certain point in the image. Cropping the image makes the viewer ask more questions; Why did the photographer choose to take a photo of what they did? Why did the photographer decide to focus oh a certain point in the image? Why did the photographer decide to crop certain parts out?
Shadows
Shadows in street photography allow the photographer to capture and expose the chaotic surrealism of rushing working people, to capture the company of a single-serving friend, or the reflection of traffic in a dirty office window. The depth of these type of images depend on the tone of the shadow or reflection, the wide range of tones add up.
Over the shoulder
My best over the shoulder image
When this image was being taken we were looking at taking over the shoulder shots. In this image there is the person who's shoulder I had used then in the background there is a person that isn't looking at the camera. The background of this image is really bright so it is hard to tell that there is a person there but if you look closely you can see them. I think that the bottom of the image where the persons shoulder is, could be the darkest yet most focus part of the image, and the top part is the part that is slightly blurred. This image is in colour, it doesn't have an effect on it but I took it using the schools iPods(4th generation). When i was taking this image I was obviously standing directly behind the person and the person that is standing in front/at the back of the image was standing fairly far away from the image.
When this image was being taken we were looking at taking over the shoulder shots. In this image there is the person who's shoulder I had used then in the background there is a person that isn't looking at the camera. The background of this image is really bright so it is hard to tell that there is a person there but if you look closely you can see them. I think that the bottom of the image where the persons shoulder is, could be the darkest yet most focus part of the image, and the top part is the part that is slightly blurred. This image is in colour, it doesn't have an effect on it but I took it using the schools iPods(4th generation). When i was taking this image I was obviously standing directly behind the person and the person that is standing in front/at the back of the image was standing fairly far away from the image.
My second set of photos
What I learnt from the 'Everybody Street' film
Firstly we watched about 20-30 minutes of the film 'Everybody Street'. We watched it to see how street photographers behave, what they take pictures of and how they feel about what they see while taking the pictures. I learnt a lot from what we watched of the film, I learnt that what the street photographers take pictures of things that can sometimes really get to them and make them happy or sad. After we had to go around the school and in the classrooms and independently take 12 photos. We had to do this independently, so we didn't have any pictures that were like anyone else's. We had the chance to go into the Sixth Form art rooms and take pictures of what they were doing and to walk around the school and take pictures of people doing their jobs. This was a good opportunity to not be told exactly what pictures to take, only what to base them on, I think we had more freedom taking pictures in that way because then our pictures would be ours and unique. There were a lot of chances to take good photos but I think because I was quite scared I refrained from taking some of the pictures, and because they were people that were older it felt a little bit awkward to take those pictures.
Homework
- we had to take a series of 10 photos in the style of street photographers around where we live
-all of these photos were taken with an iPhone with the general camera with no effect
Evaluation
This is one of my favourite images that I have taken because I like the way it has been set out. I also like the fact that this image shows a reflection of some trees in a puddle on the floor. Even though the image has a type of graininess about it, I still really like how it turned out. If you look carefully you can see some triangles. You can see one in the trees with the two set of branches and then the top of the triangle would be the tree trunk or the branches at the top. There is another on near the bottom of the image made from dirt. I took this image using my iphone and it had the effect 'fade' on it. If you look at the reflection of the puddle you can see at leas three trees and the reflection of the sky. At the left side of the image you can see my shadow as I'm taking the image. |
Eric Kim - Use Of TrianglesUsing triangles within your work would be part of a compositional set of techniques. They seem to add balance to the photos, it also frames parts of the photos. Other than that the use of triangles could create questions in the viewers mind that the viewer might not have thought about if they didnt notice the triangles
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The Rule Of Thirds.
The rule of thirds is a guideline that helps you take better and neater photographs. The image would be broken up into 9 different sections by 2 lines going horizontally across the photo then 2 lines going vertically across the image, like a naughts and crosses grid. Some cameras already have this option on it but on others you could imagine it on the image.
The rule of thirds is a guideline that helps you take better and neater photographs. The image would be broken up into 9 different sections by 2 lines going horizontally across the photo then 2 lines going vertically across the image, like a naughts and crosses grid. Some cameras already have this option on it but on others you could imagine it on the image.
Rule of thirds-Challenge 1
take a set of photos that represent the rule of thirds
My Least Successful Image
This is one of my unsuccessful images because i think that the composition of this image was not thought about properly because you can only see one of the basketball nets clearly when my intention was to be able to see all three of the basketball nets clearly. If you were to split the image into thirds vertically i think that the nets would be in each of the rows but you can't see this when you just take a quick look at the image you would have to look at the image for a few moments to notice it. I also think that the image is too busy and it looks quite messy because there is the green grass then the brown/grey concrete then the green again the background. There is no main focal point which again could be a reason for it looking messy. |
My Most Successful Image
I think that this is one of my most successful images because it shows the rule of thirds quite well. The rule of thirds is shown well because if you were to split the image into thirds with the line vertically there would be a person in each of the thirds. Also i think that if you split the image into thirds with the line going across the page there would be a third of each persons body in each section (the head, the middle part of the body and the legs). I think that this image could have been made better if the people in the image were more spaced out but this image wasn't set up the people were just standing in that position anyway |
Images that include diagonals in Henri Cartier-Bresson's work.
In Henri Cartier-Bresson's work he takes images that include a lot of different photography rules, such as using triangles, using lines to get a better composition. In the example i have on the right, the images show how Henri Cartier-Bresson has used diagonals in the image of the couple, where the focal point of the image is. |
Images that show diagonals in Bruce Davidson's work
To the right of this text there is a slideshow of images taken by Bruce Davidson that I think represent his use of diagonals in his work. Bruce Davidson also uses other photography 'rules' but i think that the one that stands out is the one where there is a man in a red tracksuit. I think that this image stands out because there is a sort of one point perspective going on there with the floor leading to the back of the image, the same thing with the buildings. Photographs taken by myself that include diagonals WWW: I think that the photographs i have taken show diagonals strongly. When taking the photos really thought about what I was taking a photo of. EBI: If i were to take this set of images again I would like to capture more natural things like people or trees. If I had the chance to go out onto the actual street and take these I think that this would be possible because there are more people out and about. Also some of the photos could have had an effect on them or been clearer. |
Compare And Contrast
Similarities
These two images have a few things in common, in my opinion. For a start, both of the images are in black and white, (the one on the left, by Henri Cartier-Bresson, more black and grey), i think that the main focus of both of the images would be the couples, and the images are obviously taken on the street because in Henri Cartier-Bresson's image you can see the mass of people in the background and in the image taken by Garry Winoford you can see the road and if you look into the background you can see some people walking along the street. Both of the images are in the shape of a rectangle.
Differences
These two images also have a few different things. First, in the image taken by Garry Winoford you can see that behind the figures there are some shadows(I can see at least 7 shadows) and the image taken by Henri Cartier-Bresson doesn't include any. Also in the image by Garry Winoford you can see the road and some cars but in the image by Henri Cartier-Bresson you can only see buildings and people. The first image looks like the photographer has captured a good memory of a young happy couple, but in the second image the photographer seems to have captured a slightly older looking couple that look like they are having a disagreement by the look on the woman's face.
These two images have a few things in common, in my opinion. For a start, both of the images are in black and white, (the one on the left, by Henri Cartier-Bresson, more black and grey), i think that the main focus of both of the images would be the couples, and the images are obviously taken on the street because in Henri Cartier-Bresson's image you can see the mass of people in the background and in the image taken by Garry Winoford you can see the road and if you look into the background you can see some people walking along the street. Both of the images are in the shape of a rectangle.
Differences
These two images also have a few different things. First, in the image taken by Garry Winoford you can see that behind the figures there are some shadows(I can see at least 7 shadows) and the image taken by Henri Cartier-Bresson doesn't include any. Also in the image by Garry Winoford you can see the road and some cars but in the image by Henri Cartier-Bresson you can only see buildings and people. The first image looks like the photographer has captured a good memory of a young happy couple, but in the second image the photographer seems to have captured a slightly older looking couple that look like they are having a disagreement by the look on the woman's face.
Rule Of Thirds Challenge 2
For this challenge we were told to try and take images that didn't represent the rule of thirds. This was quite a hard challenge and I had to think about the composition a lot more than i have had to with other images I have taken.
My Most Successful Image
I think that with this image, I have successfully done what the task was, because I don't think that any part of the image would fit into the rule of thirds. The main part of this image pretty much takes over at least half of the image. I took this image on one of the schools iPods (4th generation) and i used an app called Cross Process to take this image. The fact that this image is in colour makes it easier to spot things that you probably wouldn't have if it was in black and white because i think that you wouldn't really see the different branches of the tree because in black and white it would be too dark. This part of the image works in colour because the brown is highlighted by the sky colour. I like that there is no people in the image because it shows nature, the tree and the grass area. Although the bottom of the image would surely fit into the rule of thirds grid I still think that this image has completed the task. I was standing on the staircase of the links, looking straight ahed and standing still when I took this image so the tree is slightly further up than it would be if I was standing on the floor. My Least Successful Image
I think that with this image I haven't quite done what the task was, because on the right of the image I think that the window panel would fit into the rule of thirds. Also the fact that at the bottom of the image there is a space that would definitely fill the bottom section of the rule of thirds if the image was split into the grid. Again with this image I have used one of the schools iPods (4th generation) and I had used an app called Cross Process to take this image. I don't like that the image came out almost all pink/purple where the shade would have been. This challenge was quite difficult in itself to take images that don't represent the rule of thirds because I couldn't really find anything to take a photo of in school but i think that if this was set as something like a homework this would have been easier to do because outside of school there is more interesting things. |
My First Favourite Image
-Image taken for the 'Rule Of Thirds' section of Street Photography. I have chosen this image to represent my understanding of the Rule Of Thirds because I think that this is one of the strongest images that show the Rule Of Thirds. I think that this is the strongest image that i have taken because if the image was to be split into the rule of thirds grid, the tree would cover half of the upper left side of the image. I think that if this image was taken in black and white it wouldn't look that good because I don't think that you would be able to see any of the shadows as well as you can when its in colour. My Second Favourite Image
-Image taken on our Street Photography trip to Tate Modern that shows Cropping. I have chosen this image because I think that it shows cropping quite well. I think that it shows cropping because you can only see the persons head and shoulders, not their whole body, obviously meaning that their body was cropped out of the image. I also have chosen this image because as well as having a strong foreground(to me) I think that it also has a strong background as well, with the woman speaking to the man at what seems to be a Cafe' or a restaurant. My Third Favourite Image
-Image taken in school on the iPods, showing looking down. I have chosen this image because it shows looking down from the links onto the concourse, I have also chosen this picture because i think that this image has been set out really neatly because there is the row of bins, then the row of benches, then a row of trees and then it goes back to a row of benches. I think that this image shows looking down well because you can tell that the image has been taken from a height. My Fourth Favourite Image
-Image taken on my iPhone that shows shadows and reflection. This is my favourite image that shows shadows and reflections because it has a very strong reflection of the trees that are above the puddle and there is a lot of detail in the puddle that reflects the tree, if you look carefully you can see the thin twigs and leaves on the ends of them. Also on thew corner of this image you can see the shadow of myself taking the image, so this image has both elements of shadows and reflection. |