FINAL PORTRAIT

Main Concept and Reflection on Outcome:

In my Portrait I am exploring a world of untold/unheard stories. I love the idea of creating narrative through photographs and wanted to see what kind of stories i could find. Whilst experimenting with street photography up in London I came across some characters, but this one in particular not only looked like he had a story to tell but actually told it to me. People have so many things to say but not necessarily a powerful platform to say them on. What's more powerful than a photograph?

I approached him, after taking a few photos from a distance, to thank him for his protest and we ended up deep in conversation for about 20 minutes. He was telling me how he stands in the same spot every day for 4 hours. He said that it gives him joy to think that he's making a difference. He also went into reasons as to why what he's protesting is so important. I mentioned that it was up to my generation to save the planet and he shut me right down (in the nicest way possible) saying that the state of the planet is everyone's problem. The issue is that everybody just passes the blame so nothing ends up getting done because no one feels like they're in the wrong. When in fact, our planets well-being is everyone's responsibility. He also told me about how animals were affected. Creatures such as door mice that he's found nibbling through tin cans only to find they're trapped and end up suffocating. Birds filled with plastic and rubbish that's been dumped in the ocean. He was telling me how he collected plastic bottles, which you can see some of them make an appearance in my final piece, just to show the amount of landfill they create.

This portrait was not staged as I took it while he was oblivious of my presence, so as to capture his natural expression. To me, it's the face of disappointment and, as sad as it is to see that expression. However, it's relevant to the context of the image and that just makes it all the more powerful. 

What i like about this image more than the others i took is the vision of people blurred in the background. The fact that he is turned away from them and looking down in a rather sorrowful manor acts as a metaphor for our planet- people are busy with their everyday lives meaning that their vision for the planet is blurred. The creation of layers, starting from the people at the bottom of the photo, moving to the line of bottles and then ending with the sign, helps carry the narrative. He's out in the cold protesting with signs and recycled bottles whilst people are just walking by, unaware. I wonder how many people stop and talk to him in a day? His facial expression tells the audience not many. I wonder if people question or criticise his protest? I also love the orangey glow of the traffic man in the background. It's drawing the eye away from the main subject so they can see that there's more to the narrative. 

I chose to focus on street photography because i wanted stories to unravel themselves. I didn't want to artificially create one in a studio. I'm genuinely interested in people and am constantly wondering what people are thinking. Even on a simple commute to work, i'll come across so many different kinds of people who i'd love to know the story behind. It's little things like meeting the man with the blue hat (i never got his name unfortunately so we'll go with that) that are so easy to miss and are almost impossible to replicate in the studio. Which is exactly why i wanted to go out and take this project to the streets. 

My ideas changed dramatically from my first portrait research on Pawel Bajew but i'm glad for it. His work was so bizarre that it helped get me inspired and start to think outside the box but, when looking at street photographers, i knew that was the challenge i wanted to take up instead. I knew that i wanted to use available lighting and experiment with adjusting shutter speed and aperture as the day went on and the light got darker. As I generally didn't want to create a posed appearance, using available light seemed like the best way to reinforce that- keep the authenticity of the photo.

One issue I did face was the race against time. The day gets dark a lot earlier around this time of year so I knew I needed to set off up to London early to catch the best light. It was rather a gloomy day anyway so I already had to work around that. Thankfully it rained on the train up then miraculously stopped as I was walking around the streets. This meant I was left with the lovely reflective ground post rain fall, without having to run for shelter. I think that, even though I had to adjust the settings on the camera to account for the dark skies, it worked in my favour for the mood meant to be created in my final portrait. Sunshine implies a sense of hopefulness but what you see in this man's face is the opposite of hope. You know that he wants to believe things will change otherwise he wouldn't be standing there. It's just hard to look optimistic for something, at this moment in time, so out of reach. I think that's what I like about this portrait- the sense of determination. Nothing's going to sway this man and nothing should.

I think if i was to do this concept again then i'd try and be more daring with my photography. Test the limits and be a little invasive until someone tells me no. A camera can really be seen as a threat so street photography is something to tread lightly with. I think the kind for theme of uncovering stories through a portrait for this project would also work really well for a series piece- carry the narrative throuhg several photos. I think this concept is definitely something to be developed but i'm happy with the final outcome. It's not the story i expected to find so i was pleasantly surprised. The condition of our planet and it's rapid deterioration is a major issue of today and hopefully this portrait shows that in a hard-hitting but quirky way. 

Technical Data

Shot

1/1000 sec. f/4 67.72mm

ISO

160

Copy printed on A4 Gloss