ASSIGNMENT 5: Update. Commuter photoshoot.

Not much progress on this assignment over the winter apart from taking shots at the cyclo-cross races in December and January. Then a few weeks ago Susan Walker contacted me to say she wanted the new brochure ready for the Scottish Bike Show on April 16/17th. This means the whole project must be completed and ready for the printers by the end of March. Yikes! I met with her to discuss the design and photography and visited the shop yesterday to plan the pictures required.

Taking advantage of a sunny day my wonderful husband kindly agreed to come out of retirement as a model (after Assignment 1) to pose for me. He donned his suit on a Sunday and pretended to be a commuter, travelling to work via public transport and a folding bike (on loan from the shop). I looked at the manufacturers website http://www.dahon.com/folding-bicycles for some inspiration.

Susan had the idea of a shot of a commuter at the station so we turned up for the 9.57am, East Kilbride to Glasgow Central - a long lie cause it's Sunday! If anything the sun was too strong by this time but it did make the shots very colourful. I wanted to have the train slightly out of focus arriving at the station so set my aperture to F7. I also tried several shots of David boarding the train. The client likes the shots but is concerned about permission from Scotrail to feature their train.

In the afternoon I decided to set up a shot of David 'leaving the office'. We remembered some vacant, modern office buildings nearby. No sooner had I got my camera out than a security guard wandered over to us. That's the end of this photo session I thought but he was very nice, even offering to open up the building for us! I was really happy with these shots, posed yes, but suitable for a brochure.

 The client likes the shot above best. Importantly it clearly shows the brand name, Dahon.

2011 course update

Well, I am embarrassed to see how much time has passed since I last posted to my blog! I could make lots of excuses but suffice to say I must get back into the habit of posting regularly if I wish to complete the course in the next few months. I have been catching up with other student blogs and it's inspiring to see how well people are progressing. Reading about fellow students is so helpful and motivating. Nice to see that several of the people I have followed over the past 18 months have been featured in the OCA blog.

That's not to say I haven't been busy.

Assignment 3. Submitted in January. I decided my images only required minimal post-processing before submission and I feel this reflects how my technical skills are improving as I work through the course. I was very pleased with my tutor feedback, "You have a good understanding of the functionality of each building and portrayed interesting and poignant photographs in their description. You have expressed well how you feel the buildings have succeeded and the effectiveness of their design. You have also included important features that stand out and how you decided to photograph them. It was a challenge that you have managed very well and produced a fascinating photo journalistic article". While I enjoyed this assignment immensely, it took a long time to research and write up. Submitted pictures are to be found in the Gallery Assignment 3 (link at the top of the blog homepage).

http://janetsocaphotographyblog.blogspot.com/p/assignment-3-gallery.html

Assignment 4. This has taken a back seat but now the weather is improving I shall endeavour to make a few more trips to Glasgow to get the final images I require. I was interested to read a recent  post on the OCA blog by Jose http://www.weareoca.com/photography/photo-manipulations/ which threw me a curve ball regarding my approach to this assignment. More of this in my next post.

Assignment 5. Work is well underway. I took photographs at the Irvine Cyclo-cross in January and was vert flattered when the local paper, The Irvine Herald, invited me to submit phoographs to accompany an article on the event and Walkers Cycling club. They published three of my photographs and it was real buzz to see my pictures in print, even if it was just the local paper. Several competitors have since asked for copies of my photographs.

Met with Susan Walker yesterday and now have the information to start the redesign their promotional brochure. The deadline is March 25th as they wish to have it printed for the Scottish Bike Show on April 16/17th. Nothing like a very tight deadline to focus the mind!

ASSIGNMENT 3: BUILDINGS IN USE update

Have made my final selection for this assignment. From the list of buildings I originally researched I have narrowed my choice to:

GOMA, The Briggait, The Botanic Gardens, Glasgow Climbing Centre and Glasgow School of Art.

I decided to add my workplace, James Watt College as it is a very modern structure which compliments my other choices quite nicely.

I am becoming mindful of the March assessement, so need to focus on the final assignments if I want to meet the deadline mid Feb. I have decided to leave writing up the remaining exercises on my blog for now (most of which have been photographed) to concentrate on completing the assignment work.