laylaphotographingthecity - Tumblr blog

[laylaphotographingthecity]

Final Part 2

I chose to have the two men as a centerfold (from part 1), right in the middle because it was my only photograph of two people and as the viewer looks at their quotes, their experiences are very different. I also decided to end the zine off with an interesting quote about art that will leave the viewer thinking.

[laylaphotographingthecity]

Final Part 1

For this project, most of my description/introduction is in the second uploaded image. This project was very interesting to do, and I learned a lot. I plan on playing around with the format/ font before I print an actual copy. I decided to present this project in the form of a zine because I envisioned this project being accessible to many people and able to be continued about many places easily.

Besides playing around with the format/font the only thing not included in this version is that on the back of the cover page, there will be a blank page and the introduction would be on the right of that. I chose to make the zine background black because it is so eye-catching, and I've only ever seen zines with white backgrounds. I would like to look into more ways to make the text pop, but this will have to be explored by hand most likely.

[laylaphotographingthecity]

V&A Museum

This was my favorite picture of the day. The statues I captured were small, but the angle and proximity make them look bigger. I like the sort of expression the viewer can see in the statue's face. For the settings, I chose an ISO of 800 because it wasn't as light indoors and since I was closer, some light was being blocked. For aperture, I chose an F stop of 5. This aperture allowed for the background to be slightly blurred so more attention is drawn to the two statues in the front without completely cutting out the other statues. Lastly, for the shutter speed, I chose 1/13. I didn't want to go too high for ISO because I didn't want to make the image grainy, so I compensated in the shutter speed area. Usually, I wouldn't go lower than 1/60 because of camera shake but I stabilized my hands and the camera on a rail so that factor was eliminated.

[laylaphotographingthecity]

Studio lighting

1. Small light source. I chose this image because of the dramatics and the harsh shadows

2. Medium light source. I chose this image because of the pose and soft lighting.

3. Large light source. I chose this because if the flat lighting and very minimal shadows.

[laylaphotographingthecity]

Architecture photography techniques

Set camera to black and white, take a photo of a glass & steel building. I loved all of the reflections in the glass and the vantage point in this photo.

Make an image of a whole building with no people in it. I think the building is very unique and I like the kind of side view where the viewer can see how thin the building appears.

Make a triptych of a building. I didn't love these pictures, but it was an interesting technique that I would like to try again.

Shoot a building from a low vantage point. The clarity of the sky with the different textures of the building elevates the photo.

Shoot an image with at least 4 separate buildings included. The way the buildings overlapped and are hiding behind each other look nice and the pause of sky is a good place to draw the eye to.

[laylaphotographingthecity]

Street photography techniques

A photo kneeling/ crouching using rule of thirds. I like this photo's angle; I also like the darker lighting on the subject because it adds a sense of mystery.

Set camera to black and white and shoot using leading lines. Alex suggested this technique and the results look very nice. The lines lead to the people on the stairs and to the exit at the top.

Make an image with only 2 people in it, full bodies, from the front. This photo is a little overexposed, but I like the expressions of the subjects and how their outfits go together.

Stand in the same spot for 10min and set camera to 32mm focal length. This is not my favorite photo but I the sense of urgency from the photo made it stand out to me.

Shoot an image with a vanishing point. I chose to go back to black and white for this image and shoot down the length of the station, the repetition of the lights and the reflection of the lights on the ground are the highlights for me.

[laylaphotographingthecity]

Evidence

These are some portraits by photographer, Diane Arbus. She captures unique people and focuses on differences. I see similarities in our work in that way. I like the personality she is able to capture in her pictures, especially through black and white photography. Her images are striking and that is something I would like to produce in my work.

[laylaphotographingthecity]

Power dynamics

For today, my group's theme was "power dynamics". The first thing that came to mind was a low vantage point and a looming figure. This can be seen in my first photo. I chose to photograph from a low angle to show a sense of power, superiority, and intimidation. The dark shadows in this photo also add a more ominous tone. In the second picture, I was thinking about the media, instead of just photographing the BBC building, I wanted to get a unique perspective that could have a different interpretation. By having the BBC logo reflected in a window, it shows the effect media has. I thought of it as the media being everywhere and covering many things. People everywhere can see current events, the reflected BBC logo in a space that doesn't look like a media hotspot represents that news and media can reach everywhere and has a world-wide audience.

In the third picture, I decided to capture a security camera because that is also a sense of a power dynamic. The person who owns the building or CCTV wants to see what is going on at all times. It shows how we are always being watched, I noticed that around London there are many "CCTV is watching" signs. In a way this is power, people are always being watched and therefore might be more enticed to act a certain way.

The fourth photo of the man against the black background is more of a confident, relaxed power. The way he is standing and looking to the side is more relaxed. You can see the strength come through in the full body shot. The last photo is one of the more interesting ones in my opinion. Although it is a mannequin, there is still a sense of power, it looks like the mannequin is staring into the lens, the sunglasses give it a direct/ targeted feel. There is also the aspect of consumerism that has a sense of power, the mannequin is there to draw people in to buy a product.

[laylaphotographingthecity]

Pilot phase 2

Here are 6 photographs of some people I had the pleasure of talking with about the black experience.

Here are some stories:

The two men in the 3rd picture were very interesting. The man on the left was talking about how he was biracial, and he felt like he wasn't discriminated against as much. Then he brought up how he will sometimes get randomly pulled over because of his nicer car. While the man on the right said he felt completely neutral about being black in London.

The woman in the 5th picture told me about how there's a lot of knife violence and physical violence since guns aren't allowed. It shocks and upsets her when she hears about all of the shootings in America.

The woman in the 1st picture talked to me about how she faces a lot of microaggressions and subtle racism. We talked about the difference in that and my hometown, Oklahoma.

Overall, it was very interesting to get different perspectives and share stories with one another.

Something I changed from my first set of pilot phase photos was that I decided to keep all of my photos in landscape rotation to make them more cohesive. One critique I got was to be more intentional with the background. I overthought that note a little bit which resulted in my last photo (of the woman in front of a brown wall) being plain in comparison to the others. Going forward, I will find a way to better incorporate the captions/ stories I have gathered- possibly making a digital form of a zine. I have also gotten a note recently to experiment more with filling the frame and reduce the amount of negative space so I will work on that going foward.

[laylaphotographingthecity]

Pilot phase

Here are some images for my project. Working title is "The Black Experience: London".

I had the pleasure of talking with the people pictured about art, music, cool spots in London, and the overall black experience in London. I'm looking forward to getting more stories and meeting more people.

In this pilot phase, I went in initially to hear stories and connect with people. I decided to play around with portrait vs landscape and flash vs no flash. Most of these were taken on Brick Lane so there were many interesting people around and the backgrounds added a lot to many pictures. The photo with the man in the matching black and gray outfit with the black and silver background is one of my favorites in terms of background and the person going together well.

I also really enjoyed the photos with flash. The ones with flash included: the woman in the shop behind a counter, the woman with sunglasses in front of the pink background, and the full body of the woman with sunglasses. The ones with flash overall gave a cool effect so I might experiment more with that.

[laylaphotographingthecity]

Shallow depth of field

For this we were requested to do one photo using the technique of shallow/short depth of field and one photo using the technique of great/long depth of field. I asked the two women in the first picture if I could take their picture and I instructed them to “act natural, like I wasn’t there”. The ladies just continued to talk, and I took a picture. I liked the shallow depth of field in this photo because it draws more attention to the women and makes the viewer wonder what they could be talking about. The space between them helps them fill the frame, one distracting point could be the “Southbank Centre” sign on the right. In order to achieve this shallow depth of field effect, I used a smaller f-stop (a bigger hole for the aperture).

Great depth of field

For great depth of field, I was looking for an interesting character to take a candid picture of. I decided to take a picture of the woman sitting down, I think she saw my camera pointing at her, so she was meeting the camera at the same time I took the shot. I like the colors in this shot, and I like how the background is not too distracting. In order to get the great depth of field and more of the background in focus, I used a larger f-stop (a smaller hole for the aperture).

Stopped motion

For stopped motion, many of us were taking photos of people at this skate park and I captured this moment mid-air. I was waiting for this skater to jump and every time I took a few pictures, so I had many options, and this was my best one. In order to achieve this stopped motion effect, I used a faster shutter speed. I like how the skater is taking up the frame from top to bottom, this makes the viewers eyes go directly to the skater. The graffiti adds to the overall vibe of the image, giving it a more rebellious, young feel.

Blurred motion

For blurred motion, I actually captured this on accident, but I love how it turned out. The repetition of the four people in uniforms makes the viewer's eye go across the frame. I like how the people are not too blurred to where we can't make out anything, but it is just enough to show that these people are being active and walking fast.

[laylaphotographingthecity]

Partner shoot

The 1st photo was directed by me. I knew I wanted her picture to be more candid in the way she interacted with the camera. I wanted her sitting on the bench so I could get a full body shot and a sense of the surrounding area. In terms of the background, I liked how there was a tree branch hanging down, almost as if it was making eye contact with Tiana, like she had some sort of connection with nature. For how her body was posed, I wanted her legs and arms to be close to each other and not sprawled out. I liked the limbs close together because it had more of a cohesive feel. I wanted her face to look upwards to get more light on her. I decided to have her directly centered because it allowed her to fill the frame more. My favorite things about this photo are her body position and the slightly blue tint. I also like the repetition of the windows in the background.

The 2nd photo was directed by Tiana. She chose the location, pose, and expression. It was up to me how I wanted to capture this. I didn’t have time to get a picture that I’m proud of because we almost got one of the cameras stolen and that was a sign that we should stop taking pictures for the night. I decided to frame her to the side so the viewer could see the cars in the back and have a sense of motion. In the perfect world, Tiana would be in the focus and I would have captured blurred motion on the cars behind her. Perspective wise, I decided to get a little higher than Tiana to showcase the background more. The lights in the background gave an interesting feel to the picture and really showcased the nightlife.

This experience was fun, we had a bit of a later start so we got to experiment with night photography, we used flash, played with settings, and tried different locations near where we live. I feel like I would’ve done better if we shot during the daytime but with the amount of time we had, I liked how the first photo came out. The three facts I learned about Tiana were: She’s been to 5 countries, she collects crystals, and she has an irrational fear of ketchup.