martin parr

Martin Parr

Martin Parr is a documentary photographer. He often takes pictures of people on their holiday. It seems that his images were stolen shots (his subjects were caught unaware that their picture are being taken.


Here are some of martin Parr's work taken  at Amalfi coast in Italy:

This image is in colour that shows people in swimsuits and enjoying themselves on the beach. You can see the background is beautiful where there are lots of boats and big rocks. It's a sunny day and the water looks bright and clear green blue green. The orientation of the camera was horizontal. The camera used was digital. It seems like the picture was taken from the distance. 

This image is in colour which shows a couple having an intimate moment by the beach while having a suntan. They're wearing swimsuits. The brollies in the image are very colourful and stands out. In the background, you can see people swimming and playing ball. It looks like a sunny day, so there's plenty of light.

This image is in colour which shows people enjoying ice cream. You can see a couple sitting while talking and eating ice cream outside a shop. There are other people outside the shop standing up and eating ice cream while people pass by. Motorbikes are parked outside the shop. The camera's orientation is horizontal. It looks like a sunny day, so there's enough light.

I was inspired by his work because it is based on everyone wanting to go on holiday  and have a good time. I went to central London and I was amazed that everybody want to experience and taste London.


How do I plan to emulate Martin Parr's work:

Planning: I will go to three locations, London Eye, House of parliament and St Paul Cathedral to photograph the people go holiday and sightseeing the British tradition .I will use stutter speed and F1/125 and try to use ISO to captured people going normal day.

See my work below:

This image was good shot because I had to stand up to take the photo. I had no tripod and the people were far away, so I used the zoom on my camera to get a closer shot. I didn’t need to use the flash as my camera light meter let me know that there was enough light to take a good shot. I used shutter speed 1/125.

 This photo was possibly my favourite because you can see the visitors who were taking pictures of   the Houses of Parliament on the other side of the Thames. I had to stand on the elevated bankside to see the people below, and pointed the camera down to capture the image. I never used a tripod. I had to use a small zoom, but didn't need to use flash with my camera as the light meter told me it was OK to take the shot. I  use shutter speed 1/125.

This image was good shot because I had to stand up to take the photo. I had no tripod and the people were far away, so I used the zoom on my camera to get a closer shot. I didn't need to use the flash as my camera light meter let me know that there was enough light to take a good shot. I used shutter speed 1/125.

Café Review

Café and Restaurant Review.

At Aladino’s restaurant and bar located in Kensington, Time Out reviewed the restaurant and talked about the dining room where there are art work on the wall and chandelier. It also mentioned the type of food and the list of alcohol beverages the restaurant serves.

There are 17 pictures shown from the website and I posted three of them

Chocolate dessert – a piece of chocolate with a pastry roll on the side was served on a platter decorated by green leaves and dashes of honey. The photo was taken from above and the combination of colours used to make the chocolate stand out made the picture look appetising.

This image shows how the restaurant arranges their table for dining (table with set of plates, glasses and cutleries and covered by linen cloth). There’s a chandelier hanging on the ceiling.  You can also see a painting hanging on the wall.  I think the photographer was standing on something to take the shot so that the camera was pointing down. The lighting was a bit dim to create a warm environment and digital camera was used. The camera orientation was horizontal.

This image shows wines on racks. It was arranged or placed in racks according to their color

This image shows how the restaurant arranges their table for dining (table with set of plates, glasses and cutleries and covered by linen cloth). There’s a chandelier hanging on the ceiling.  You can also see a painting hanging on the wall.  I think the photographer was standing on something to take the shot so that the camera was pointing down. The lighting was a bit dim to create a warm environment and digital camera was used. The camera orientation was horizontal.ur which makes this picture looks good because of the contrasting colours that it created. The camera was angled at an unusual position which was at the side

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Café Gourmet

One of Café Gourmet’s branch is located inside Lambeth College in Vauxhall. It’s a self-service restaurant for college students and staff.

How I plan to take Café Gourmet restaurant:

I plan to take pictures of the Café’s service such as the following: the staff serving food over the counter, customers paying for their food, customers, queuing up to be served. I would try taking pictures at different angles, such as pictures taken from above, at eye level and unusual angles. 

This image is the best shot I’ve taken because of the lighting. It’ bright and clear and has the right amount of lighting. I think the subject looks appetising because of the lighting.

This image is not so bad, but it could be better if I shoot this image at a distance and adjusted the focus settings.

I set the table up to show the restaurant’s service. However, the picture did not come out so great as it’s a bit dark and doesn’t look interesting. The aperture setting was probably not precise.

My Experience:

I went to visit the Gourmet Café to capture stunning and interesting food. I was armed with a camera to try to explore composition e.g. colour, pattern and good angles. I was disappointed most of the photos I’ve taken were overexposed, so I tried again on a different day. Unfortunately, the restaurant was not ready yet to serve food, so the best I can do was the pictures I’ve posted above.

Once I had finished taking the photos of the breakfast food: Patties and croissants, I decided to interview kitchen staff about their skills and passion in the kitchen.

Most of the food they cook is British food and Italian food .e.g. Pasta and at later at lunch that day they made lasagne. They cook Halal food for their Muslim customers.

The most popular item on the menu is the chicken.

The chef said the quickly way they cook the chicken is they put the chicken in the tray and then they add the spices sauce and herb and then the chicken put in the oven for an hour and the chicken is ready  for  serves Lambeth college ‘s students. Every time I see the chicken in College café I want to eat with pleasure   and I want like see chicken each week in Lambeth College.

I think the good thing in college s the staff is very friendly and helpful with their service. I want to see more organise with tray when people finish with their meal and they need cook the pudding because I am having sweet tooth. 

The London Zoo

This image is Gary Winogrand's work. It shows hand of a person giving the elephant some food (probably nuts) through the animal's trunk. There was a wall between the elephant and the man, but it depicts an image where a big creature like an elephant can connect with people. The image is in black and white and the orientation is horizontal.

Planning:

I plan to go to London zoo to capture images of animals and people. I will use a digital camera and an SLR as well. I will try to capture images of people connecting with animals to emulate Gary Winogrand's work.

When I went to London Zoo I tried to find  people to connect with the animals because they want to understand them. I had to look around to find the public that had a little bit of a connection like the images that I researched. I wanted this to influence my work and show this wonderful connection.

London Zoo Experience:

I had the best day ever, as it was a beautiful sunny glorious day!  I also love looking at different types of animals. I was disappointed though I didn't see any lion or elephant in the premises. I enjoyed taking pictures of the animals as well as people visiting the zoo. I wasn't very pleased with some of the outcome of my pictures, as some of them turned out too dark or underexposed. I would still need to improve my skills on how to use the camera setting properly. Here are some of the pictures that best emulated G. Winogrand's work. I used F 1/125 shutter speed for these pictures. I could have used Photoshop to change this pictures into black and white, but I decided to show the animals in colour instead.



In this picture, you can see people outside the fence were looking at the llama under the shed.

 In this picture, the man and a woman passing by were trying to make eye contact with the little monkey, but the little monkey was too busy trying to work out how to find some way to have food.

This picture best emulates G. Winogrand's work, as you can see the couple trying to connect with the penguin by feeding it and the penguin was trying to get close to the couple.

Christ Church Union Grove





Here is the old picture of Christ Church Union Grove in Wandsworth Road. I found this image online (http://www.churchpostcardviews.co.uk/LondonSW/pages/Wandsworth%20-%20Christ%20Church%20Union%20Grove%20LSW032.htm) where the website is using the image as sample of the postcard they're selling online. It's in black and white and the image orientation is horizontal. The position of the photographer who took this image seemed to be in the middle of the road and the camera was angled slightly to the left of the road where part of the park on the left hand side and the houses behind the church were visible.

When I look the Old images of church I  had to try to be creative and copy the image but when I went to the location I realised that is not easy. I took a print of the original image with me to make sure i got the important landmark in the frame to match. I had to move to the right and left to try to imitate the original. I had to make sure I used a similar shutter speed to the original as best as I could.

Planning:
I plan to locate where the church is located by using map. I will also work out which is the best spot to take the image. I will use digital camera instead of SLR camera for black and white films and use the same orientation as the original picture. I will decide on the aperture setting depending on the weather.

Below are the images I produced to emulate the image in the postcard above. I used F 1/125 shutter speed for these images since it was a cloudy day. The angle of my pictures were not perfect though, as I was looking at a wrong direction or spot when I took the pictures. I should have angled the camera slightly to the left of the subject.

This is my first attempt to emulate the original photo, but I was not really pleased with the outcome because the angle was not correct.

This shot is the best emulation of the original work. It's a bit dark though



This is not so bad, as the lighting is balanced.



 

Scavenger Hunt Photography

 

 

This image was photographed  in the 80's. It was in black and white. The building shown is a pub called" Queen of Denmark" at the corner of Lupus Street and Aylesford Street in London.

The pictures below is my replication  of the image above:

 

I took these pictures at the same angle as the original image. I used a digital camera to shoot the image and the outcome was in colour unlike the original image which was in black and white. I could have used Photoshop to change the colour to black and white, but I wanted to see if it would make a lot of difference seeing the picture in colour. There wasn't much difference though in my opinion. The orientation of the camera was horizontal and the shutter speed was F 1/125.

It was cloudy on the day I took these picture, so I moved around to get the right amount of light into the camera. The pub is now called 'The Gallery'. In the original photo, there are no tables outside the pub unlike the images I took. There are also hanging plants outside the pub and more street lighting

Food Market

See food blogger, (Maltby Street Market@ clerkenwellboyce1)  pictures through links below


https://instagram.com/p/17-f3JP6gC/?taken-by=clerkenwellboyec1

The food has vibrant colours. It was bright green and yellow with brown little squares.
The pan is a circle: the pan is similar to the little china plates.


https://instagram.com/p/17pI3Jv6iU/?taken-by=clerkenwellboyec1

The food was colourful.  It was very bright brown and there has little red little circles of beetroot.
This photo had shapes like the circle from the dull grey plate.


https://instagram.com/p/2G0Phzv6t8/?taken-by=clerkenwellboyec1

This photo has very bright colour with different layers and the shape has good curved  and long cup.


https://instagram.com/p/157W4kP6o6/?taken-by=clerkenwellboyec1

This photo had good use of colour (pink) with leaves and this has square size so it  was good composition because the main image is in the middle of the frame.


https://instagram.com/p/1uqabaP6t4/?taken-by=clerkenwellboyec1

This photograph was good colour brown with yellow curved like fruit with white  plate and is very interesting food called Chocolate pear tart.

When I did research on food bloggers, I had to look how they used colour and pattern. The day I went to the market I chose similar colours and patterns to what I had seen in the blogs. The food,  colours, composition and patterns used in the pictures help them to appeal to people and help sell their food.

Planning:
I need to find the right food when I take pictures that would best emulate the work of the food blogger above. They need to be colourful and bright as well.

Borough Market Experience

I had a wonderful time visiting Borough Market. It was something I never experienced before. The market looked like an old historical place, not like the modern market you usually see nowadays. The place was massive and looked like a train station from centuries ago. The roof was curved like the one you see in football stadium. There was about probably over a hundred stalls in the market selling different types of food, drinks, flowers, etc. Customers were allowed to taste the sellers’ products before buying them. Loads of people were in the market the day I was there, looking around, buying stuff, taking pictures, etc. The place looked amazing, as it was very colourful from the types of goods such as flowers, vegetables, cooked foods, fruits, meat, etc. People who visited the market seemed excited as I was, seeing the variety of foods on offer.  I went to a stall selling burger and tasted a piece of their cooked meat for the burger. Oh my word, I was in heaven! The taste exploded in my mouth!

 I took photographs of shell fish, wine, raw meat, flowers, vegetables, fruits, spices, cheese, sushi, cakes, pies, cooked foods, sausages, delicacies, assorted juice and eggs. I had a lot of fun taking pictures in the market as I tried to think about the composition of the pictures I wanted to create. Some of the pictures I took were not bad, but I was unhappy with some of the pictures that were underexposed because of the wrong aperture setting I used. It wasn’t easy to take pictures in this setting as it was crowded and difficult to find the right angle for the shots.

See below some of  the pictures I've taken: I used a digital camera at F 1/125 shutter speed, horizontal orientation and natural light for these pictures.

Picture of delicacies used as savoury

 
Colourful fruits.

This is my favourite shot. The picture of Paella makes me hungry. It looks appetizing because of the combination of colours.

 Smoked and processed meat.

Different types of olives. Very interesting and colourful.

This Image is called "The Brave Normal Face"

This photo was created by Zanele Mohali. The photo was taken in South Africa as a protest about treatment of bisexual /lesbian people. The picture depicts that everyone is equal.

This woman in the photo has a masculine appearance and she lives in South Africa. The environment she lives in was not easy, as people are judgemental over their sexuality.

She wears a black shirt and blue/ black jeans. similar to men's street clothes.
The photo could be shot with F 1/125 and the photographer uses SLR because it's in black and white..

This photo gave me an understanding of arts and how important  equality is about. I think this photo shows that every one should be treated as a human being.


How I plan to emulate her work:

I will take the picture in the studio and use one bright artificial light at the right side of the subject. I will ask the model to wear men’s street clothing and pose with a tough face and arms crossed. I will use  a digital camera and set the  shutter speed at F 1/125. I will then use Photoshop to change the colour into black and white. The orientation of the camera will be vertical.

The pictures below are some of the photographs I produced that best emulate Zanele Mohali's composition.

 

I tried to emulate Zanele Mohali’s work and I think I achieved some of it. I think her work is beautiful and brave, as it was taken outside while mine was taken in the studio.  I had a bit of trouble getting rid of the shadows in some of my pictures, as the lighting position should have been moved around as I take different angles or I could have used a diffuser.  My work could be better if I used two lights instead of one.

The  subject was wearing men’s street clothing and posing with a tough face and arms crossed to signify defiance.

Willing Gossip

This image is called “Willing Gossip”. It was created by photographer David LaChapelle. The composition: Two lights with white diffuser (one on each side of the subject ) were probably used and a dark blue backdrop was used to create this composition. The shutter speed used could be F 1/125. The objects used in the composition are: colourful wilted flowers on a vase, newspaper, artichoke, mango, peaches, lit cigarette, table and human leg with bare foot.

How I plan to emulate his  work:
I  will take the picture in the studio and  use two bright artificial lights with white diffuser attach to one of the light. I will place one light on each side of my subject. I will use colourful flowers, new paper fruits, cigarettes and  all the objects David Lachapelle used  in his composition. Then I will arrange all the objects on a table and used  blue background. I would probably set up the camera's shutter speed at F 1/125 and take "portrait" shot for this composition.

The pictures below are some of the photographs I produced that best emulate David LaChapelle's 'Willing Gossip' composition.

I tried to use similar objects David LaChapelle used in his composition, but it was difficult to find some of the objects such as wilted flowers, a foot/leg model, artichoke, peach and real lit cigarette. So, I replaced some of the objects with something that's in the same category, but the flowers I used were still fresh. David Chapelle's composition was very creative, which is inspiring and I tried to do the same with my composition and I think achieved a little bit of the composition. 

There are a bit of unwanted shadows in my photographs, as I found it hard to find the right position of lighting that would make the shadows disappear. Also, it was difficult to find the right angle so that my subject would be in the centre of the frame, so I cropped them to make them look better.