Assignment 1 - Seventh Night Shoot

Monday night I got brave and headed for Phase 3, and luckily the dogs were nowhere to be found. I set up my tripod to take the shot I wanted of the BSI sign, but as there is no light falling on it and no manual focus, it was impossible despite me trying several things to try and overcome this. I got quite frustrated, but then walked around and found a few alternative views. As you can see, there were no car lights in the first shot - not due to lack of cars, but the cars going round the roundabout I was standing on the wrong way! The last shot was taken on the way back to my car, from the middle of the road :) and turned out to be my favourite of the night, the unexpected shot.
I still need one of a BSI sign - I will either bring a torch to shine or venture out to the other sign although for safety I need another person.....

Assignment 1 - Sixth Night Shoot

I went back out last Saturday night and didn't stay out long as again I was walking and had the fear of power cut! Gin I am trying to decide what to do with the flare from the lights, I need to try and photoshop one image. The other thing I could do it go back to shorter exposures....

Assignment 1 - Fifth Night Shoot

So tonight I started with the market and then the industrial estate before venturing on the road to Phase 5. The market shoot was better than last week, I had a few more ideas although some were still a bit weirdly lit. The industrial estate was creepy, not so well lit but I did manage a few shots.
Then I decided to go for a drive around to Phase 3, but there is still security and I want to look around in the day first. I saw a cool sign but there was a pack of 5 stray dogs who started running with my car and barking - they managed to follow me for a while and it was too scary to get out of the car! But I will try again for that shot!

Surveying the scene. f22, 60s.

Interesting screen for people to watch TV3 as they eat......f22, 60s.

Makan.......f22, 60s.

Still unhappy with the lights but I like the composition. f22, 60s.

Finally a car drove past! f22, 60s.

A closer up shot than last week. f22, 60s.

The road to phase 5 - the first time I have seen the gate open. f22, 60s.

Wasteland. f22, 60s.

Wasteland 2. f22, 60s. As I was taking this, there was a dog howling and frogs making heaps of noise....

A car surprised me by coming past, as you can see the road is quite bumpy hence the light trail! f22, 60s.

I still want to try over by Indah Regency for a shoot, and maybe more around phase 1, I need to do another day drive to check a few things out. The eco park is not very exciting at night so don't think I will include that!



Assignment 1 - Fourth Night Shoot

I found the basketball court (eventually, and yes very close to my house) and so headed there this evening for a shoot. I was happy with the ones I had taken on impulse, not so happy with the ones I had imagined.

 This is one shot I have thought of, but I am not sure I like it. I need to try and come when people are playing, so maybe a weekend evening, to see how that looks. f10, 60s

 A bit closer up - a little better. Shadows were fun to try and hide from, mine seemed to be everywhere! f13, 60s

 I quite liked the effect here, with the shadow of the tree, and the trace of people where the house lights are on. f16, 60s

 Then tried it from a bit further back. f16, 60s

 This building caught my eye, I am not happy with the light on the left, am deciding if I want to try again or clean up in photoshop. I could also try a shorter shot, but that affects the whole project! f22, 60s.

 This one was tricky to get a good angle for on account of the sewer I had to stand over....f22, 60s

The final shot I took - the first car that obliged and turned into my shot! f22, 60s

So overall, I still like the effect of 60second exposures, but am thinking about lights and if I include them or not and where they will be in the shot if I do. The market is on tomorrow and so there will be more going on over at the industrial estate. I have a few shots in mind for over there.....

Assignment 1 - Third night shoot

This time I wanted to reshoot in the park, and try to find the basketball court. I went on foot, but as I got further away from my house panicked about being able to find my house in the event of a power cut, so only did the shots within a distance that I could get back from without too many turns! My area all looks the same in the dark, just with a torch would be a nightmare. I will go again with my car!

 I started off on my street, noticing how one of the lights there is different to ther others, it doesn't give an orange glow. f18, 60s.

 I then went back to reshoot this with stars. f7.1, 60s.

 One with a street sign to give a sense of where we are. f20, 60s.

 I wanted to show the palm trees and stars, but this one needs a reshoot as I am not happy with the overall composition. f5, 60s.

I started to get fascinated by the road arrows.....f30, 60s.

My thoughts so far are that I think I want more evidence of people, possible ways to show this are car light trails, and lights on in houses. I will also try to get the basketball court when there are people playing there.

Assignment 1 - Second night shoot

I went out again the following night with the aim of taking photos of the market.

 I started with a 60s exposure (f22).

 And then decided that as it was quite light, I would try a faster exposure. 4s, f8.

 f22 60 s. No obvious trace of people.

 The industrial estate, f22, 60s. Car lights give us a sense that others are there.

 f22, 60s. I chose a slightly odd angle to try and get a good amount of light.

f22, 60s. A car in the frame, plus lights. I took other shots but they were not straight! This area was qyuite creepy.....

I still like the 60 second shots, and want to explore the insutrial area and market again. I have to wait until Tuesday for the market though, and this time I need to be a little earlier, a lot were packing up when I got there.

Assignment 1 - First night shoot

I went out at twilight with the intention of taking shots at this time to capture the light. However, it quickly became apparent that living 4 degrees north of the equator gives me very little time in which to work, so I started to wait until a little later and do longer shots.

 This photo was taken just outside my house, and this was when I realised I still had the UV filter on! This was shot at f4.5, 2 seconds on shutter priority.

 I then braved the middle of the road for a more balanced shot. This time I used 1.3s, giving an aperture of f3.5.

 The park was the next destination. f6.3, 5 secs.

 The road by the park. The car light trails show a trace of human involvement in the landscape. f9, 5 secs.

 I tried the shot a little later as it got darker, and was happier with the effect. f18, 60 seconds.

Again I went with a 60 second exposure, f9.

Overall I was happiest with the 60 second exposures, I would love to go even longer but don't have a remote for my lumix. I also need some limits, and so may use 60 second exposures and my 14mm lens.

Brainstorming

I sat down last Sunday afternoon and thought about what angles I could take for this assingment. I did this brainstorm and then went on an initial scout shoot, as I know that there has been some new building work happening since I last took a trip to the new part of the estate.

In the wording of the assingment, I am most interested in the part that says we need to think about representing people who live in our neighbourhood, or traces of them. I am really torn about the type of shoot to do, mostly torn between day and night shoots. I have done a few day shoots around here that I am happy with, but also want to try out night shooting around here.

I spent Sunday afternoon trying to find the drag racing (not on that day) then driving around to Phase 3 and then seeing how close I can get to Phase 5. But my little car would not make the last bit of the road! It feels quite deserted out there, although a couple of 4 wheel drive cars did go past me.

Here are a few of the shots:

 The Industrial Estate, looking to the new "Regency" houses

 The Industrial Estate

 The road to phase 5

Book Review - I wanna take me a picture

I wanna take me a picture By Wendy Ewald and Alexandra Lightfoot

I read this book as it was recommended to me a long time ago due to my interest in participatory photography. I put it on my Amazon wish list a few years ago, and totally forgot about it until a couple of months ago when I put in another order and saw it there.

In my current job, I am curious to find out what the children think about the project I am working on and so I am trying to find a way to help them communicate their thoughts. Whilst looking into that, I read this book and have lots of other ideas about getting some of the kids to photograph their lives in general so we can get an overall picture of where they are coming from.

The book has lots of information about setting up darkrooms and teaching about film, which is now not so relevant although still interesting to read about. There is a lot also about setting up projects and about exposing pupils to images and getting them to talk about them in order to develop 'visual' literacy. In a climate there literacy is so important, I feel this may be another way to help develop the pupils in the schools I work with. The book talks about pupils from different backgrounds using photography to share what happens in their lives with fellow pupils, and this will also give teachers an insight. Writing about the photos can also help develop their writing skills. The combination gives a strong way to tell people about their lifestyle.

There is also a wide range of projects described, and how they have been set up by the authors. They seem easily adaptable, it will just take some planning to figure out what to do. I am particularly interested in exploring the "Alphabet Project." using the Malay alphabet and words as a base for the pupils to learn and think about English vocabulary. There are also a lot of ideas from the authors about presentation of images, from exhibitions to fold up books, which can all tie in to the English curriculum. A wonderful and inspiring book.

Assignment 1 - First Thoughts

Assignment 1 is about my neighbourhood, I need to convey a strong sense of place, and show what makes my neighbourhood unique. What does it mean to me and the other residents?

I started by looking online at Google Images to get an idea of what came up when I put in certain searches. The first was 'street photography,' a search which brings up mainly black and white images, mostly with people in, or traces of people. Most are also on city streets rather than rural areas. I have always thought of places like New York and London when I think of street photogaphy, not my local town of Tawau, Sabah! The few colour images stand out but the colours appear odd amongst the black and white. The images are often just showing people going about their daily lives rather than posed portraits.

When I put in 'Malaysia street photography,' the first thing that strikes me is that most of the images are colour and involve more food/less people. I also note that a lot of images are not actually taken in Malaysia, some are showing trams!

I tried 'environmental portraits,' and this brought a balance of colour vs black and white, showing people in places of work or engaging in hobbies by the look of it. A search for 'neighbourhood' produced a lot of images of architect sketches of new neighbourhoods, like the ones I keep seeing advertised here! They are sketches of the 'perfect' place to live, rather than photos of reality. 'Malaysia neighbourhood' had a mix of apartment blocks and skethches, and on the first page there was a police car - what does that mean! I narrowed the search to 'Tawau neighbourhood,' and saw sketches of the new developments being built, food, mosques and aerial shots of the town, all in colour.

This brings me to the debate about colour vs black and white. I have decided that I will probably use my lumix gx-1 for the shoot, and may try to limit myself to just one lens (14mm) as a challenge, although of course, this may well change depending on what transpires. I may also experiment with different effects. I want to test my camera out properly and see what I can do with it, and may well do some twilight or night shoots as part of this.

I have also read a few articles on the Guardian website today. The first,  Why Street Photography is Facing a Moment of Truth talked about the images taken by Friedlander, Winogrand and Meyerowitz on New York's streets in the 1960's. These are the kind of images I saw when I did my initial street photography search in google images, and what I always think of when I hear the term. Winogrand said that it was not about making nice photographs, it was more about capturing life. The article also mentions Gilden, who used flash to 'surprise' his subjects (I am not sure how this would go down, I already attract enough attention on photo shoots by being an 'orang putih' (Westerner) without adding an element of surprise.....) They also mention Roger Mayne and Helen Levitt who took photos in the '50's and '60's of children playing in the streets. Of course, then comes the debate about that and the changes that have occurred almost preventing this. I have known people even unable to take photos of their own children in public places. One reason I am not in the UK currently! There are so many anxieties around photography, particularly street photography in the UK and USA. People worry about terrorism (when I was at the University of East London, we were regularly stopped on photo shoots, especially around Canary Wharf), paedophila (again, stopped in Trafalgar Square in case we took shots of children), intrusion and surveillance. A little ironic, as I forget the horrific stats but people in London are photographed in some way by a few hundred cameras a day. Good old CCTV! There are concerns about the rights to privacy, and things like google street view  have been criticised for invading people's rights.

Another article linked to this was called  "Right Here, Right Now" and talks about contemporary street photography. They also mention the work of Joel Meyerowitz and him wanting to 'blend in' so he could capture people going about their daily lives. They also talk about Bruce Gildens more 'in your face' aggressive stance. Meyerowitz's photo is interestingly in colour, again getting me thinking on the debate about what to use!

The article entitled "Why You Are The Future of Photography" talks about an exhibition, which features work from webcams, google street view and a cat who has had a camera fitted to him. The exhibition is about digital photography changing the way we see the world. I would love to see the images by the cat! When I went paragliding and fed the birds in Nepal, the owner was telling me how they often fix their gopro cameras to the birds to get an alternative view....The article asks the question "Will the creative world be destroyed?" I guess this is a response to the saturation of the net of 'normal' images that people share, with a lower percentage of 'creative' images now being shown. I agree with this, although I am still seeing some high quality images produced and the interest they attract. I listen to podcasts about effects like HDR, and realise that some are still striving to produce creative works rather than share everything they have.

Starting the course

I picked up the course materials from the courier office yesterday, and checked to ensure I had received everything. My tutor is Keith Roberts, so I emailed him my profile, and went through all the information such as writing a critical review, and looked through the new pack. This time there is a book, The Photography Reader by Liz Wells, and it looks like we read some of the essays and then write about them which sounds a lot more interesting than the last courses I started.

I read through the guidelines for Assignment 1, which this time is right at the start of the module. I also, as part of my research for this, read some online news articles in the Guardian online. A quick run through of the other assignments and projects made me excited about getting started!
The Photography Reader

I read the latest issue I have of Amateur Photographer, and came across the work of photographer Martin Zalba http://1x.com/artist/martinzalba/info. I have always been fascinated by night photography, and long exposures, and so looking at his work was an amazing experience. I really love being able to make the night sky almost seem like day, and star trails. I remember looking at the work of Hiroshi Sugimoto who did exposures of drive-in-movies, which sparked my fascination with long exposures when I was studying in London. I love the surreal quality. I did some long exposures to get star trails last year in France, and although I got really cold doing it (it was December - my body is now acclimatised to the heat we have all year round in Borneo!), I stil had fun making the shots. A few weeks ago I went to Pom Pom Island, and we had an awesome view of the stars - I totally need to take my D7000 and a tripod when we go back in August, I didn't have either of them with me!

Martin Zalba's work also reminds me of Robert Adams, his series called "Summer Nights, Walking." This was a series with some photos taken at twilight, another favourite time of mine to shoot. My only regret is that living only a few degrees north of the equator, we have a really short time of twilight each night! And somehow I always seem to miss it.....

Also in the magazine was a reader's article, by Edward Bowman. He talked about how we take our best photos when we let our 'unconscious mind' take over. He mentions the work of Sigmund Freud who says the unconscious mind works all the time, but the conscious mind only works some of the time. We use our 'conscious' mind to help set up tripods and the technical side. Our unconscious mind often means we can sense a photo before it arises, meaning that we are ready when the moment occurs. He talks about street photographers being able to sense a moment and have the camera up to their eye ready.

The issue of taking photos in schools also came up, someone was documenting their school dinners and there has been talk about cameras not being allowed in schools at all. This again reminds mw why I am not in the UK.....

So I have finally taken the plunge and decided to recommence my photoraphy studies. I heard that OCA had completely revamped the PWDP course and so decided to give it another go. My interest in photography has been renewed since joining the Nikon Club in Malaysia www.nikonclub.com.my and going to their workshops in Sabah. Although the workshops I have been to were quite basic, it has sparked my interest, and I am looking forward to the upcoming Speedlight workshop in Kota Kinabulu. I have had a speedlight for years and use it occassionally, but have never really sat down to learn about how to use it more effectively. In the last school holidays, myself and a friend who also comes to the workshops visited the Nikon Centre in KL, which is where I got to play with a D7000, and I managed to get some good advice about why I should upgrade my D90 - is it really that much better? Well, they managed to persuade me, and I am soooo glad I got it. It's lovely. I am currently using it to take photos in classes I observe and it really does seem to cope well in challenging light situations. I look forward to using it for assignments in the upcoming course!

Hopefully my pack will get sent to me today, I am not sure how long it will take to make it to the Borneo shores! I already have some idea of what the first assingment is though from the sneak preview on the website and other people's blogs, and I am already inspired. But I will not plan anything concrete until I have read the official guide :) and make sure I really know what I need to do.

I have been continuing to listen to photo podcasts to keep myself up to date, and I still read Amateur Photograper on my ipad, as well as some Malaysian photography magazines (luckily they print a few in English, my Malay is not quite that good yet!).