Reflection and thoughts

 Update 27/4/10

I finally get a breathing space from work to update my blog and the internet is playing up. Argghhh! On the plus side I have completed a few more exercises and just need to get them uploaded. Have also arranged a client for the final assignment but have agreed to leave things until I finish college in June, so I can give it my full attention.

Finding it very difficult to make time to read and look at photography on the web. So frustrating as there is so much out there to learn from. Planning to visit the Diane Arbus exhibition at the Dean Gallery, Edinburgh at the end of May.


Update 5/12/09

I hate making yet more excuses for not doing coursework but November really has not been my month. My mother has been in hospital and my college workload increases every day. It's dark at night, i'm tired and have no energy to take or edit photographs. Something will have to change as I am really missing not creating pictures and feeling very guilty about my current lack of committment to the course.

On the plus side I have been listening to various photography podcasts, such as '7 Photography Questions' and 'Photography 101', which are informative and inspiring. It will soon be the holidays and I am determined to move forward - and to complete assignment 2, which is waiting patiently for me to finish editing and to write about. I am thinking about the images a wish to create, researching techniques and examples and I have borrowed a prime lens from college, hoping to experiment with depth of field for the formal portrait exercises.

I intend visiting the 2009 BP Portrait award exibition in Edinburgh, as seeing the 2008 exhibition in London alongside the work of Annie Leibovitz, was a major influence in my decision to start studying with the OCA. Here's to a much more productive few months ahead. . .


It's almost the end of September and although I have been taking pictures for the exercises, I am aware that I have not been giving the course due time and attention. I now have a lot of work to do to get my blog up to date. Resolved to set aside dedicated time each week from now on. It's proving more difficult than I expected to co-ordinate people and places at suitable times or weather conditions. I also appear to have somewhat camera shy acquaintances and my initial list of possible sitters has rapidly dwindled.

I have approached 2 hillwalking friends who have agreed to sit for me early October and have planned several constructed portraits of my husband, David, working towards Assignment 1.

Ex 14: An organised event, Ayr Flower Show

This was my first visit to Ayr Flower Show, indeed to any flower show. The blooms were spectacular and so colourful. It was a bit easier to take candid shots, as lots of people had cameras but I still felt a bit strange taking pictures of people rather than the flowers!



I was pleased to get some shots of the judges but should have had a shallower depth of field to defocus the backgrounds.





The show patron was 'very dapper' indeed in his straw hat, flower pattern bow tie and striped blazer. He moved around the show with a haughty air and was marvellous to observe. I did feel like I was stalking the poor man as I trailed after him and wished I had the courage to ask outright to pose for me.



I learned quite a bit and am reasonably happy that the pictures capture something of the day. I used a 18-55mm lens.

Ex 15: Public Space, Spain, August 2009

I used our holiday in Denia to start thinking about the People Unaware project . Pavement cafe culture is an integral part of Spanish life so we took a table and began people watching. I used my compact camera as I thought it would be less conspicuous but as it was a Sunday morning, the cafe was not overly busy and I felt quite uncomfortable that people would notice me using the camera. I had hoped I could use a longer focal length to take pictures across the street but unfortunately the tables were only on one side of the street.



I then tried walking down the street, shooting 'from the hip' but my aim was not that great! I do like the idea of this random technique and intend to try it again in Glasgow - maybe a busy shopping area such as Buchanan Street.

Next we wandered round the backstreet, around 9am, before the sun was too strong. I like the shot of the local man walking down the street, perhaps to join his friends in the cafe or to get the morning bread.



Then to the beach. Very few people seemed to have cameras and again, given everyone's concerns about photographs of children, I felt very uncomfortable using the camera. It's a real shame as the beach was so vibrant and full of life. Family groups making sandcastles and splashing in the sea. People reading books in assorted languages, suggesting that many nationalities enjoy a common recreation. In the end managed a few shots from the promenade around midday and then early the next morning, before the crowds arrive. I like the contrast they give. The busy shot show how close people are prepared to be to each other to claim their space on the beach. With the other shots, I tried to capture the appeal of sitting on a quiet beach, close to the water's edge, staring out at the clear blue sea, dreaming of. . .