Overview of Project

This project was enjoyable to venture down as it gave me the opportunity to depict something in my photography that I find interesting, how we are all classed as something, because of what we do or how much money we have, when in reality we are all together and without one another society couldn’t survive. I did this whilst photographing the cities in a similar light as one another to show just how similar society is around the UK, London is like an overly sized Leeds and Liverpool a common comparison I made throughout this project adding extra context to my photography as a whole.

Photographing in a candid style helped me achieve this, as I could capture the natural reactions of the people in the photographs. Which was important to me as I wanted to photograph them in the most natural sense I could, to ensure the photographs would capture there emotions whilst they went about there daily business, this was all so similar despite the social they were considered to be apart of, an interesting observation I made whilst endeavoring on this project.

During the post-production stage, I ensure that the editing of the photographs was all the same as I wanted continuity in my work, something which I had learned over the years as a Foundation Degree student, so this was something I made sure would happen with this project. The photographs were edited to be black and white and high in contrast, this is my preferred style and something which I picked up when researching is to be visually true to yourself.

Overall the project has been a success, as I have ventured out and captured what I intended to, I am happy with the photography as they are aesthetically pleasing to me, as photographing for yourself is more important that photographing for other people, especially when undertaking a project that is personal to you. However if I were to undertake the project again I would photograph more in Liverpool as I only came out with one photograph befitting to the project, however the evidence is still there in that photograph that depicts what I intended to, so I am happy with the final series of photographs.

Final Piece #10

The final photograph from the cities I photographed in, diluted to just 10 of the what I consider are the best, for my project in a sense of capturing social classes, the divided and similarities of them, with an added context by depicting the city in the same light. This photograph was chosen because it is a man working on the maintenance in the street, considered to be working class so befitting to my project. Something which I have seen in, Liverpool and London alike, society would not survive without them, again implementing how we all come together as one society, working, living and cooperating to ensure that society as a whole runs smoothly.

Final Piece #9

Here is a photograph of a charity worker on Briggate in Leeds, she saw me taking the photograph and instinctively smiles, then asked if I would like another of her, I said no this was perfect as it has to be candid. So as previously mentioned on the photographs in London, I love seeing people who are accepting that it is just a camera, as I have met many people who have been aggressive towards me for taking a photo, however I tend to walk away as I know I am legally allowed to photograph anyone in the streets. The photograph displays an interesting character who is working towards a good cause. Furthermore displaying the diversity of people, she has opted to wear a strange hat which attracts attention, it attracted mine as I walked by which inspired me to take the photograph, dipicting some of the strange and uplifting characters around Leeds.

Final Piece #8

The second photograph from Leeds, taken on Briggate, capturing an elderly women going through her daily routines, in this case a trip to some of the retail stores available in Leeds. An aspect which I love about this photograph is the shadow, I have caught from the angle I have taken the photograph which I was experimenting with was taking photographs from stranger angles to the ordinary, a tip I came across when researching Bruce Gilden, the philosophy behind this was to come out with more intriguing photographs, something which I think I have achieved with this.

Final Piece #7

The first final piece taken in Leeds, I captured this whilst sat in The Angel Inn, I happened to have my camera with me as I usually do when visiting Leeds, to ensure I don’t miss a moment which could be considered interesting. The reason for this is the bar is considered to be a place where working class visit for drinks so I thought this was a perfect opportunity to photograph for my project on social classes. This has depicted the working class doing an activity which we can agree is a favorite of there’s, visiting the pub for a few beers. However this is common in the various social classes as I don’t think any would deny they don’t love going for drinks with friends, showing how similar they really are as a society. So this was a perfect venue to display my chosen concepts, because I could capture the working class doing an activity rather than the other photographs which heavily consist of them walking around the town they live in, giving an added context to the series and giving it again more diversity which I think is important.

Final Piece #6

This is my final photograph from London, taken near the Hostel where I was staying, again of an elderly couple, showing stories with there aged faces, something I love capturing as it adds more context to the photograph. This part of London would be largely considered to be more working class as it had many independently ran stores rather than large chains, this is similar to Leeds as the outskirts of the main City tends to be small businesses. Further catching the concept of just how similar the cities are.

Additionally to this, I have processed the photograph in the same way as the others in the set, ensuring a continuity in how the photographs accompanying this one perceived, essential to any photographic set.

Final Piece #5

A photograph taken in London on Oxford Street, displaying two elderly women in the foreground, the reason for photographing the old is that they tell a story in there faces. What also captured my attention during post production, is the two men doing maintenance on the street behind them, which adds to the photographs context as again it depicts society together, this was one of points of photographing to display society as one. A photograph that is more ordinary than some of the others in the series, however with it capturing my intending concepts making it a perfect photograph for my series.

Final Piece #4

A photograph I captured on Oxford Street in London, encapsulating a man well dressed, which leads to the assumption he is middle class, this is due to his attire and where he was located at the time when I took the photograph. I consider it to be more ordinary than the others in the series as the location isn’t as diverse in character in comparison to Camden, however the photograph is conceptually succeeding to my project, as I have captured the main point of this project on society, it fits into the series well as it shows how contrasting the city of London actually is, that a short subway journey away is Camden where a stranger side to the city can be found, which brings the city together as one working society.

During post production I followed the same criteria of black and white and high contrast to ensure that I had a continuous looking series, which is important as photographs from the same set should be similar with one another, an important aspect as viewers of my work can make easier judgement’s to which series the photograph belongs to.

Final Piece #3

A second photograph from Camden town in London, again focusing on the weird characters that are working there. These are an unusual pair of street performers where they have amazing cos-play and people actually pay them for photographs. What I love about this photograph is how it is taken candid and to me raising my camera one of them posed instinctively, a great character to photograph as I love meeting people when street photographing, who see it as just a photograph not something hurtful.

Furthermore the photograph is fitting to the concept as I have captured a diverse looking people, which adds context to the series as strange is always better than the ordinary in my opinion. I have photographed true to myself as I have used a style which I am accustomed and edited black and white as this is my preferred style to street photography specifically.

Final Piece #2

A photograph I took in London of a women who owned a small old film camera stall, I used a 50mm lens for this, with the F-stop at 1.4, I had to be careful as this creates a shallow depth of field, so I had to beware of the focusing, to ensure she being the subject was in focus. This was a technical experiment to see how using this kind of lens would be visually. Personally I think using this method has worked perfectly as she is in focus, which makes her the main focal point of the photograph. The photograph was taken in a candid style, which I took as I waited for the moment, she was in conversation with someone and I was waiting for a smile, to depict that she was happy, which by all means she seemed to be when conversing with her. Furthermore to this she seemed to be quite a strange character, this is what I was looking for as capturing the strange and diverse is much more interesting to viewers than just a normal photograph, also giving my viewers an idea of Camden and some of the strange characters you can be exposed too.

Overall a great photograph technically and conceptually as I have experimented with different lenses and settings but also captured a working class women in her working environment which is befitting to my brief.