documentary

Documentary- Its beginning to look a lot like christmas, A day out in London.

Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life.It's a style of photography that provides a straightforward and accurate representation of people, places, objects and events, and is often used in reportage

Artist Research

Henri Cartier-Bresson ( August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35 mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as capturing a decisive moment.

Cartier-Bresson was one of the founding members of Magnum Photos in 1947In the 1970s he took up drawing—he had studied painting in the 1920s.

The decisive moment:  

"the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organisations of forms which gives that event its proper expression." 

there was a single instant in which the meaning of an event was most clearly represented graphically. It was the responsibility of the photographer to capture that representation. 

This image is a good example of documentary as it almost looks like a candid image but this image was taken during the decisive moment as a couple of seconds before the woman on the swing would be in a different place and not in line with the man this is the same as if the image was taken seconds after. The use of the black and white also implies that this image was taken during an early period of time, the clothing also suggests this, the meaning behind this image may be to enjoy the finer things in life.

Simon Roberts 

Simon Roberts is a British photographer, born in 1974. His work deals with the relationship people have with landscape and the notions of identity and belonging. For his documentary, Roberts travelled across England between 2007 and 2008 in a motorhome. We English contains themes of identity, memory and belonging which resonates throughout his work, his aim was to show a populace with a profound attachment to its local environment and homeland. His work explores the motion that nationhood (what it means to be english) is found on the surface of contemporary life. His images are intentionally a lyrical rendering of a pastoral England, where Roberts captures beauty in the mundane and the exploration of people and location and our  connections to the landscapes around us.

Image bank

Contact sheet(s)

Best / improved images

The theme of my documentary is 'It's beginning to look a lot like christmas' like the lyrics of the popular christmas song, the aim of this documentary was to capture the build up to christmas, and the way people prepare themselves for the festivities, my documentary follows the streets of London and  the well known places within the location, like somerset house, Carnaby street, and Regent Street.

Improved image(s):

 

 

 

i decided to edit this image in the way that i have because the original doesn't draw attention to the 'SOHOHO' sign but to the surroundings, so by editing the photo in the way i have, draws the viewers attention to the sign as it is the only element of the image that isn't black and white.

i then made the image bigger and zoomed in a bit as the figure on the left looked blurred and i didn't like the way it looked.

Images that require improvement:


 I felt that this image required improvement as it is very over exposed and the lights on the tree over power the image and makes it look really bright.

This image i felt needed improvement as it is too dark and almost underexposed and you cant see the details of the fire place, all you can really see are the baubles, which just look like they are spilling out of a black box.

i thought this image needed improvement as i just didn't like it at all, as the image is out of focus and just low quality in general.

i thought this image needed improvement for the same reasons as the previous, i just didn't like it at all, as the image is out of focus and just low quality in general.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

(Here you will discuss how you developed your work based on your research of e.g. artists/photographers, etc).
(It is important that you show a progression of your work… which may mean revisiting a subject area and adding additional images showing a development of your ideas or refinement of the final images through).
(At the end of the entry you will discuss whether you have produced a personal and meaningful response, this means  (are my images creative/relevant to the subject area studied/connected and influenced by any research undertaken). 

Despite my research Cartier-Bresson, i felt my work was more based off of the work of  Simon Roberts and his 'We english' documentary, as Roberts uses more landscape pictures which have a wide depth of field and doesn't have as many people as close up subjects, and my work also explores the motion that nationhood (what it means to be english), found on the surface of contemporary life and around christmas time.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea for recording a documentary was to base my work off the popular christmas tune 'its beginning to look a lot like christmas', which would be work based off of Simon Roberts. Like Roberts, i took more photos of landscapes and different sceneries in and around London. With reference to my best images, I feel that although I could not create photographs exactly like Roberts' photos, I did create a set that was in the style of his work. I am happy with the overall outcome of my images and feel that they all show the many ways that a documentary can be captured.

With regards to some of the images that did not come out as I expected, I struggled to adapt my camera settings as I was unfamiliar with how the camera worked and was also in places which were extremely crowded .   Some images lacked focus, whilst in the case of others I struggled to use the cameras exposure meter.   I believe I can overcome these issues through more practise and if i had placed myself in situations that weren't as packed with people.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

All images were taken using a iPhone 8, with the shutter speed at 1/17 of a second, f1.8  and ISO 80. I tried to increase the aperture setting to as high as possible so that I can have a sharper picture with a wider depth of field, however in some cases this was not possible as the lighting was poor and i could not get as much distance from the subject(s) as i aspired to.


AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.  

I believe that I have produced a strong series of images inspired by my research of documentary and the artists Simon Roberts and Henri Cartier-Bresson The final images were refined by developing the contrast and changing the brightness.