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.
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.
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