With my idea at the moment being 'Lincoln spaces by night', I'm taking some test shots to get an idea of what scenes look like in a frame & plan situation's & composition, one idea is to focus on places where people go out to eat, where people engage with each other separately but within the same space.
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| This image, taken outside a Japanese restaurant, gives a glimpse of a couple eating food together, sitting opposite each other but not really engaging with each other, this is what I like about this kind of photo, it makes you wonder about what's going on, or not as in this case. |
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| This image wasn't as appealing as the one above, I think this is because you cannot identify with anyone, there is a lack of information about what inside, a closer crop might reveal more interesting detail - I guess I'm just nosey! |
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| Although not quite close enough to see any great detail, I like the colour of the interior lighting. it seems to compliment the colour of the brick paving at the front of the restaurant |
My first attempt at the assignment saw me start off Todd Hido style, driving around the dark streets of the less desirable side of town looking for inspiration. The first hurdle was the traffic, as usually there was a car behind me making more difficult for me to look around and stop when I did see something. The other problem with this approach was the limitations of shooting from the car, as this restricts you to the side of the car you are sitting on and sods law dictated the side I wanted was the side I wasn't sitting on. I managed to pull over a few times, using the car to lean on as a tripod, but needing to switch the engine off to reduce camera shake - I wonder if Todd Hido had the same hurdles and how he dealt with them. Also, the area's I wanted to get my gritty, deprived, emotional pictures weren't quite the sort of places one should set up the tripod and point a camera at a strangers house, so confidence was a little thwarted. My next port of call was the Bailgate, the area surrounding the Cathedral, a most desirable area by contrast. I wondered with my tripod, feeling quite safe, pointing in various directions without drawing attention, the sight of a photographer is a common one in this area. I proceeded still mind full of the brief that the images shouldn't be 'touristy'. I took some of the bail by night, and some by day.
The first image below for me, is the most typical of Todd Hido, as his images of houses at night time were also in deprived areas. It wasn't taken within the chosen area for the assignment, but my inspiration behind the choice of night time photography led me to the less affluent area. If I am to keep this image, I may need to shoot the rest of the assignment in similar areas. The image shows the close proximety of people living in their space with the 'open all hours' shop and cash point attached to their homes. The image makes me wonder what it must be like to live firstly so close to other people, do they interact with each other, are they good neighbours? friends? but also with people walking right outside their door to use the cash point and shop all hours. Whilst not particularly attractive to view, there is a lot of life within this image. I would've liked to get more images like this for the assignment, unfortunately I didn't feel as comfortable with setting up my tripod as in other areas.
Other images that passed the first trawl of my workflow:
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