PLAN
So for this assignment I have decided that I will do an African Attire Fashion Shoot focusing only on women. Im a strong believer of going to church every Sunday therefore I thought to myself what a great way to put my skills into practice with the people I know, whom I am comfortable around and also who are comfortable around me. I have decided that I will gather up a few of my friends and family and do a shoot on at least 3 different upcoming events which are taking place over the next few Sundays to show the different cultures and how diverse Africa as a continent is. These separate events include a wedding, a youth conference as well as as Easter Sunday gathering. My idea is to show how we integrate as a congregation and this will show in my images. Also the idea behind my shoot is to show that although most of us who attend my church are africans, we all have different tastes when it comes to our fashion senses. My aim for this particular project is therefore, to show that Africans do not all dress the same way.
My aunty and I quite like designing African Attire particularly dresses, so for this shoot I am going to take photographs of the actual dresses made from my aunties designs. What she normally does is she will design an outfit that someone may be interested in and then she actually sows the design into the pattern that a person may have ordered.
Below are a few skectches of some of the dresses that we have designed and made for people which we have sown into outfits which I will be using as part of the fashion shoot. The plan at this point will be to try and get people who had these designs made for them,, wear their outfits on the different occasions that happening in church, I will then photograph these individuals in hopes that the final images will blend in well with these sketches I have below.
This green outfit is my best outfit out of all of the designs. I absolutely love the colours and it just reminds me of Africa. It was designed for our pastor's wife and I have asked her if she can kindly put it on for our youth conference celebration next Sunday and have expalined to her that I am doing a project for college and have also mentioned to her that I have put up the design on my blog because it goes hand in hand with what I am about to do. She has agreed and I am looking forward to my first shoot.
I have also picked the yellow for one of the ladies because I thinks she looks stunning when she wear it church sometimes and because I hadn't seen her wearing the outfit in a really long time, I asked her if she could maybe wear it for our Easter Sunday gathering which again she agreed to do. This is becuase I want to show this image as well as the final image of when a person is actually wearing the designed dress. This should be interesting. I plan to take the dress at differnt angles so that I will be able to compare and contrast the design as well as the final image.
I just put this in but no one really wears this sort of attire to church. Well not in our church anyway, but again it was a design that my aunty made for someone and later sowed it into this huge beautiful floral dress. The reason I added this image in is to show the different tastes in people's outfits as I have probably mentioned already.
I have aslo asked one of the ladies to put this dress on as it has great contrasts compared to the other two outfits. For my shoot I am particularly interested in bringing out the different colours we like to wear and how they resemble different countries and perhaps cultures too.
One of the ladies in our church is getting married in two weeks on Sunday so hopefully I will be able to take photographs of this event too. She has asked us to design a dress for her bridesmaids and has asked for this 'orangy' colour as it goes well with their chosen theme for the wedding. So my aunty has made a quick sketch of the possible dress which may or may not add bits to it.
So for my shoot I am going to have to consider the following:
. Health and safety precautions
.Research on professional photographers
.lighting
.children
tripod
.assistant
.spare batteries
and plan B
So today is the second Sunday into my project however taking a few photographs on Easter Sunday has not been as bad as today's youth conference. There were so many people from diffrent churches and it was really difficult to gather everyone around. Members of the churches wanted to get in the pictures and it was difficult trying to explain to them that I was only doing it for a project. I am panicking that this is already the second Sunday into the shoot and I really dont have much time left. It might be the same when we have the wedding. This project is not go according to plan and it is stressing me out as a results because what it means is I might probably not be able to do my work on time to meet the deadline. So I trhink I wll resort to plan B, which I will expalin on further below.
Lucky for me, I had plan B, which is to go out to at least 3 or four different local fire stations and do my shoots there instead. So I have decided to write a letters seeking permission for me to be able to do the shoots.
Today is 10 May 2013, and I have only had two responses from my local fire stations and it has turned out that one of my local fire and rescue station, is the biggest in the Manchester area, which for me has worked out great because I needed as much details for my project.
Today is the 15th of May and I have been asked to come in for a very brief interview to discuss what exactly it is I want to achieve as a result of this shoot. I am over the moon because at least I have a few good weeks to go straight in and do different shoots in time for editing and printing my final piece of work. Meanwhile I have contacted the other Fire Station in Blackley and they have said when I
am coming in to do the shoot, all I need to bring is my college ID and possibly the assignment brief for my project been gathering all the relevant items I need to be able to carry out the project successfully. At the same time, I have been researching on things such as their opening hours, their busiest times during the day, as well as the types of work that they carry out during their working hours. This will hopefully help me establish the best times I can go into the Station without distracting the workers there. For health and safety reasons, I have had to find out the number of men who work at both stations at any given time so that if I am working with the same men, it will make things a lot easier.
As part of the assignment, i have also looked at professional photographers who have inspired me to do this type of shoot. I have managed to look at some the work done by..... and... and.
Now that I have been granted access and permission, I will make sure I give each and every participant a consent form to fill out and sign and return back to me on the deadline I will give to them. This is also part and parcel of my plan. The idea behind this is to make sure that everyone who is taking part understands exactly what I will be doing at the fire station in the next couple if weeks. As soon as I get everyone on board, i will begin my work which I hope will be fun and exciting.
Below is a sample of the consent form I intend to use for part of the project.
Describe your aims and objectives:
The main aim of this assignment was to take photographs of firemen and then try to capture their day to day activities. I was only allowed minimal access into both station due to the health and safety policies they have in place so I did not really capture the images I had in mind. I do however like the outcome of some of the images I took.
So on the 4th and 7th of June 2013, I decided to do test shots of the two fire stations just to get comfortable and to sort of introduce myself to the teams. I managed to do my first test shots at Manchester Central and Blackley Fire Station and below are a few test shot images I took of the Station.
Greater Manchester Community Central Fire Station
Blackely Fire Station
What did you create?
Below are the final images I chose to exhibit for my Specialist Location Assignment.
I will explore and evaluate further on these images below.
Please note: The images that are numbered 1-12 are the ones I actually I chose for my Specialist Location Assignment Brief. I have decided to compare and contrast my work from the two stations as well as the test shots I did alongside my plan.
Image 1).
1/15 f/16 IS0 100 105mm
For this part of the shoot, I decided to take at least 4 different shots of the same trucks to see if I could get the same effect on all the different images. They were about 6 trucks parked outside the stations so in total I took about 24 images. This image above is the one I chose for my brief because it has good depth of field. What I found to be particularly challenging with these shots is that the trucks were very large in size so trying to capture the whole length of the truck was extremely difficult for me.
It was after doing more research that I found out that in order for you to take good images of larger vehicles i.e. trucks, backing away from the rig far enough to get a good ¾ view and to leave some room for cropping or editing was completely necessary. e truck in the sun together can cause the front to be shadowed and lose detail. Angle the trucks so that the sun fully lights the side and front.
Test Shot
1/15 f/16 IS0 100 105mm
I also like image, however, I could not add it as my one of my final images because it looks almost the same as the first one. For this type of shot however, shooting with an SLR camera with a fixed lens that most closely produces the same results as a 50mm SLR film would have been ideal because using zoom or wide angle on a digital tends to distort the quality of the image.
Image 2).
Having only the side and not the front of the truck in the sun together can cause the front to be shadowed and lose detail. For this image I specifically requested that the truck be slightly angled at this position so that the sun fully lit the side and front and this is how my image turned out. Great Stuff!
Test Shot
Test Shot
The next set of images were shot in line with the training the fireman had as part of the rescue demonstration which they staged last week at Greater Manchester Fire Station. The firefighters spoke to a lot of people during the day about road safety, distractions when driving and pedestrians. The rescue demonstration was staged as part of a range of events held recently to highlight the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) National Road Safety Week. I asked if I could come and be a part of it because I figure I would be able to get some very interesting shots.
Image 3). 
I find this image particularly interesting because it gives you a sense of fireman in action and although this is only part of their training, I figured that these are the types of situations they are faced with in real life. For example, the dummy in the car weighs the size of an average man. I tried lifting it up and it was so heavy that I decided not to. It made me appreciate that these firemen work really hard.
Image 4).
In image 4, you can see some of the equipment that is used by the fireman.
Test Shot.
I just thought I would add this image in. It is actually an image showing what sort of equipment the fireman wear to protect themselves before a call out.
Test Shot
This is just a test shot, I don't have much to say about the image apart from the fact that I like it.
In image 5, we can see how firefighters from Blackley Fire Station showed how they carry out a rescue from a car following a crash.
Reference:
This is an image I took off the internet just to show that this is what firemen do in real life situations. If you look at my image above (image 5), it shows that although the men where only just doing their training. this image below is quite similar and you can almost immediately see that fireman in the image below are working at a real accident scene.
Image 6).
By the end of the day it was getting a bit
cloudy day, so I tried putting my ISO to 400. I discovered that I was certainly less likely to get camera shake from using shutter speeds that are too slow. The image itself is not so bad although it is lacking something. I really don't know what it is but it is certainly not my favourite picture.
Image 7).
When conducting my research, I discovered that objects like wires, trees, and brick walls can cause unattractive or distracting shadows a lot of times. Therefore, in order to avoid this shot from mixed shadows I stood at an angle where the image itself would not be affected from such which could be a significant distraction and detraction to the image.
Image 8).
17-40mm f4 L lens at 17mm.
Test Shots
17-40mm f4 L lens at 17mm.
Black and white photography is about shape, texture, lighting and composition and shooting in black and white has definitely helped improve my photography skills and eye for a photo. Black and white photos are artistic and creative. Some of the best portrait photographers around today shoot in black and white and I have sort of adopted this technique. I converted this photo to black and white because I liked the feel of the image.
Image 9).
This image shows an in depth understanding of good depth of field. According to Diane Arbus, good depth of field is how much an image is in focus and you can reduce a number of different kinds of blur available depending on what program you are working in. This is evident in most of her work and when I was doing my research on her work, I decided I would use some of what I have learnt through research and my own skills into practice. So this is the picture I produced in the end. For this image
I set my aperture to 5.6, with a Nikon D80 18-105 kit lens then focused only on the water pipes as this is only what I was interested in capturing in this image. It was important for me to set my camera on aperture priority mode which easily helped control the depth of field and for me personally, it turned out great, I love the image and will definitely be using it for our up and coming exhibition.
Image 10).
Using a long zoom on the Nikon 70-200 f2.8 was critical for this shot because it enabled me to shoot the image from afar. I also like how you can almost not see the firemen near the black building. The only issue I have with this image is that the top of the building is cropped out. Using a tripod would have ensured that the building is in focus and is straight with all the detail included in the image.
Image 11).
The scenario in image 11involved the rescue and medical stabilisation of two injured firefighters in a high rise flat. I was made aware that at least 2 firefighters were killed at two separate incidents in high rise flats and therefore by law firefighters now had to through this sort of training in order to protect themselves as well. The men at the top of this staged high rise flat wore breathing apparatus while giving simulated medical assistance in a mock hazardous area. The images also shows them descending on ropes from the flat.
Image 12).
A wider angle lens was used to incorporate the landscape in this image. I tried to capture the cars as well as the trees, however I feel I did not do a great job of it because some of the items in the images are cropped out.
And this is the image of the lads. I just thought I would add in.
What could you improve on?
I could have done my research on how far i can go as far as being part and parcel of the team. I found out that I could have actually been able to taken 'action shots' had I seeked permission well on time. I also found that if you checking out my shooting area ahead of time and asking the drivers if they could do something specific from the start would have helped the process as they were very accommodating and helpful. However for insurance and health and safety purposes, I was only allowed access to the fire station only. So I could have improved more on my organisational skills as well as my time management.
In terms of the actual photographs themselves, I could have done a bit more research on natural lighting, as I sometimes found it really difficult to get the correct balance from the natural light. I it was lovely and sunny outside for the couples of weeks I did the shoot and therefore you would find that a few of my good images where a bit overexposed.
For example, if you look at image number .... from my project setting my camera to... would have allowed for the correct balance therefore giving an even exposure which would have allowed a much better picture. Some of these points I have noted, I noticed when it was already too late, so again doing you research and planning before hand is way important.
How could you develop it further?
To get better images for projects like the one I carried out, I figured that it was important to invest in small items such as a tripod and reflectors different lenses and spare batteries. I faced a few challenged during my shoot because I did not have most of these items. All I had was my camera and although I had made sure that the battery was fully charged, I still could not stay as long as I would have wanted to for the simple reason that my battery was running really low. I could have taken different pictures at different times of the day but however, I was restricted due to this.
Where would your work be displayed and why?
I think a few of my pictures are good enough for the upcoming exhibition, especially image 9(water pipes and 7 overturned car.... see above), well this is because although I feel that they are not at a professional level where they can be exhibited in galleries etc, they will be great for the upcoming exhibition because as an 'amateur' photographer, it will be a great experience for me be able to see other people's work and how I can improve on my own. Other than that, the expereince itself was fantastic and I would definitely do it again. I have enjoyed myself and have learnt a lot in terms of how to work your way to be a professional photographer. I used to take for granted using a camera thinking it was just clicking a small button and then you have your picture. But actually there is more to it, and although it is about clicking that button, one has to know about the different setting, e.g. apertures, f-stops, metering, using the correct equipment ie tripods, assistants, lighting and all other aspects in order for you to be a good photographer.
Although I faced some challenges in between shoots, I made sure I was composed and tried my hardest to deal the differently situations as they arose.
