FINAL PORTFOLIO

As we are coming close to the end of the year I'm starting to tie up loose ends and publish all of my final works. Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on putting togehter my final portfolio for printing and now it is finally finished. I had the whole thing printed last friday and honestly I'm really quite happy with it. My final portfolio images can be found below.

As always and feedback or constructive critiscim is welcome. Altough I will not be reprintig my portfolio, I will take any feedback into account when I capture future photographs.

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JUST A BUNCH OF LESBIANS

Its only just occurred to me that I never got around to posting any of the photographs I took in Dublin at the Strike 4 Repeal march. These photographs are my finals for my Creative Process project which I started back in February. The nationwide strike was in protest of the law (the 8th amendment) which prevents Irish women from seeking safe and legal abortions.

I initially based the project around abortion rights, well the lack of abortion rights in both Northern and the Republic of Ireland. My initial plan was to interview and photograph women in an almost Brandon Stanton style to raise awareness of the issues. Due to a lack of time and resources the project developed and I moved away from this original idea.

Through my research I came across adverts for the planned strike and I knew I had to be a part of it. On the 8th of March this year I flew to Dublin to not only stand in solidarity with the protesters but to document the day and spread awareness. 

So you are probably wondering about the name of this post? Well it was how a male passerby described the gathering to his other male friend as they tried to figure out what was going on. I thought it pretty much summed up how ignorant people can be to the situation and so its what I just had to name this body of work!

As always I would appreciate any feedback you have on my images!

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Barry Island Final Images

Here are my final images from my Barry Island shoot. Honestly I am really disappointed with this shoot, and I really struggled throughout the day to capture the images in my head. Although I am very pleased with my final images, I'm unhappy that I only have 6 and that they are all very similar.

 

I spent all afternoon shooting along the coast of Barry Island and these images have been taken at various points along the beach and cliffs. I faced many problems during this shoot, the worst being the wind. Although I expected a breeze on the beach I didn't anticipate the gale force winds I was faced with all day. Because of this some of my images are very shaky and the long exposures I experimented with were a disaster. Even on my small Gorillapod tripod the camera shook, so all of my long exposure images are blurry. Even when I managed to find some cover from the wind my polarizing filter didn't go down enough stops for me to have a shutter speed of more than 1 second in the lighting conditions. Next time I want to take long exposure images I will make sure I've got the appropriate polarizing filter.

Another problem I came across was the amount of people on the beach and walking along the cliffs. The majority of my usable photographs were taken in the late afternoon when many people had gone home. This is also the reason many of my photos are taken in portrait as I was cropping people out. I do however quite like the look of Landscape photographs taken in portrait so I'm not too bothered about that. 

As usual I've tried not to edit my images too much, just a bit of cropping and turning up the contrast slightly. Before taking the photographs I had plans to change the colours in the sky to look more appealing but I didn't really feel like they needed it.

I am very happy with my final images, despite them not being particularly traditional. I would like to do another Landscape shoot as its something I really enjoy and I think I need some practise. 

I'd love to get some feedback on my images!

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Belbroughton Scarecrow Festival Final Images

So these are the final images from the Belbroughton Scarecrow festival and if I'm honest I am disappointed I only have 5 which I think are of a good enough standard to share.

I arrived just after the festival started and stayed until the end, running around trying to capture every element of it. If I had been a professional photographer hired specifically to photograph this event I think I would have gone on both days it was running as there was just so much going on.

If I were to photograph events again in the future there are several things I will do differently. I would definitely apply for a press pass or at least have some form of ID/ business cards on my to put the public at ease. There were several people who turned their backs on me or looked visibly uncomfortable as I was photographing around them. If I had a press pass or something similar to show them and explain why I was taking photographs they may have allowed me to take their picture or even pose for one. 

Along the same sort of lines I would approach people to take their photograph. It would have been nice if I had taken some photographs of people, families in particular enjoying the festival. I didn't really feel comfortable doing so and because of that I don't have many photographs with festival goers in.

I was pretty happy with the equipment I took with me, the only thing I wish I had was a superzoom lens to capture the air show in more detail. I didn't manage to get a decent photograph of the airplane and as that was a main event I probably wouldn't be hired again if I was a paid photographer. As these lenses are very expensive and I am not proffesional I don't own one but that if something to consider if I plan on shooting something similar again. 

I didn't really feel the need to edit these photographs too much. Apart from a bit of cropping and turning up the contrast slightly I havne't done anything else as I didn't feel that the client would want any 'unnatural' looking images.

I'd love to get some feedback on my finals!

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