Prior to beginning this assignment, my tutor advised me to choose subject matter than contained an element of narrative, rather than combinations of different coloured flowers etc. With this in mind I decided to pursue street photography; a natural extension to my frequent ‘travel’ orientated photographs. This would involve shooting pictures of people, something which I had very little experience in, but which would provide narrative, hopefully strengthened by my use of colour. Two books which I studied and which were particularly helpful for this assignment were In the Shadow of Mountains by Steve McCurry, and Street Photography Now by Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren. I studied these books from a colour perspective, and they were particularly useful in showing me how colour can be used as a compositional tool to strengthen the story portrayed in an image.
Once out on the street, what quickly became clear was that pure colours were very difficult to find, and interesting scenes, once discovered, rarely had colour combinations in the ‘ideal’ ratios. Ultimately I decided that narrative and storytelling should be the primary concern, as in this quote from Steve McCurry –
'Colour, light and composition are just the building blocks for telling a story'
In order to successfully complete the assignment, I spent several weekends wandering the streets of Birmingham city centre, looking for a ‘stage’ that caught my attention in terms of its colour possibilities. I would then imagine the completed scene, working out what other elements, and of which colours, I would need for the final image. Finally I would need to wait for the other elements to fall into place before pressing the shutter. The speed of the above process varied from image to image; in Pedestrians for example I had to wait for quite a while for suitable subjects to appear, but in Girl with Green Hair I saw the opportunity and took the shot within seconds; any longer and the moment would have passed. I have learnt while undertaking this assignment that in street photography you often have to think quickly, but there seems an almost equal amount of observing, and waiting for a scene to develop.
Images
52mm, f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 400
Complimentary Colours
Boy Sitting
In this image the red and green are more or less in equal proportions (1:1) and both are equally muted, keeping the complimentary colours balanced. The relationship is not as strong as if the colours were pure, though as seen in the course materials pure colours in the real world are rare, and broken colours abound. The person sitting with his back to the camera provides the narrative - it is not clear from this angle what he is doing; eating breakfast, looking at his mobile phone or a book, or just waiting. I also like the diagonal cut-out of the pathway, with white edging which adds some dynamism to the image, along with the off-centre positioning of the subject. There is also dappled light throughout the scene, creating small bright areas in both colours. Overall this image, with its clean buildings, freshly mown grass and even, complimentary colours feels very orderly and balanced.
40mm, f/5.6, 1/60, ISO 400
Complimentary Colours
Closed Toilets
The blue sign near the top of the image signals the entrance to the ladies loos, but the blue barrier contradicts this by blocking the entrance. Someone has helpfully graffitied the word STOP in orange spray paint in the centre of the image. The complimentary colour combination in this scene seems to bolster the fact that access is restricted to this often hard-to-come-by resource in a city centre. Had the graffiti been in blue, green or similar I think some of the impact of this physical and textual combination would have been lost.
55mm, f/8, 1/200, ISO 400
Complimentary Colours
Homeless Segregation
The red and white barrier tape was the first thing I noticed when I first approached this scene, and tried to use it against the green grass and foliage in interesting ways. While ‘working the scene’, I noticed a homeless person (possibly two people) asleep under the shade of the trees, covered in a red blanket. It occurred to me that it was almost as if the homeless person or people had been taped off, as if on display in a zoo or an oddities sideshow, and something to be examined from afar. The image seems to suggest a divide between the general public and the homeless community who are often treated with indifference or even contempt, regardless of their plight.
50mm, f/4.5, 1/400, ISO 400
Complimentary Colours
Girl with Balloon
My initial reason for being present at this scene was that there was some sort of street performer around which was gathered quite a crowd of people. I had then spotted this man’s orange socks and blue shoes while thinking of complimentary colours. While I was deciding how I could create an interesting image with this subject, a girl wanders into the frame carrying a bright yellow balloon. Suddenly I had an image with two sets of complimentary colours, one near the bottom of the frame and one near the top. I took a burst of shots and chose this one, where the man is looking towards the other side of the frame, and the girl towards the camera, the combination of which gives a sense of 3D space to the image. In post-production I modified the hue of the girl’s top slightly to more accurately match the yellow/violet combination I was looking for.
48mm, f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 400
Contrasting Colours
Pedestrians
This image was one of those where once I arrived at a scene, I could imagine what I wanted the picture to look like and I needed to wait until all of the required elements fell into place. The red pedestrian sign was striking against the yellow barriers, and I noticed the arrow pointing to the right, and the ample room in that direction where I could hopefully capture some people following the directions. At first there were people walking contrary to the direction of the sign, too large a group, or some people obscuring others. Eventually the two ladies shown in the picture matched my requirements and I pressed the shutter. The sign itself could be taken two ways – directing the pedestrians which way to go, or pointing AT the pedestrians, as if to label them and state the obvious.
38mm, f/5, 1/400, ISO 400
Contrasting Colours
Rescue Line
The rescue line in the yellow bag is eye-catching when presented against its red backdrop. I liked the colour combination, but noticed that the life ring itself was absent. I was thinking about how I could take this narrative of missing safety equipment and turn it into an interesting image when I noticed a man about to board one of the nearby row-boats. The result is an image where due to the striking colour combination and prominence in the foreground you notice the missing safety ring, then look further into the scene where you notice the man, and almost want to rush over and warn him!
38mm, f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 800
Contrasting Colours
Woman Selling Melons
The heavy shade under the market canopies seems to really saturate the orange colour of the sliced melon, especially when set against the green crates. The young woman selling the fruit is seen centre frame, creating a context. The brightness of the fruit seems out of proportion to the rest of the scene, which feels reminiscent of, if lacking the grittiness and desperation of Steve McCurrie’s image Boy Selling Oranges.
55mm, f/5.6, 1/80, ISO 400
Contrasting Colours
Girl Boarding Bus
I noticed the green bus had pulled up at the stop, and being directly parallel to it I could see the attractive curvature to the roof at the top left corner. I scanned the queue of people waiting to board looking for someone whose clothing would complement or contrast the green outline of the bus. I saw the strong colour of the purple top on this girl and framed my shot carefully, waiting until all elements were aligned before I pressed the shutter. The contrasting green and purple colours reinforce each other but also set the two elements apart, making the girl in purple the obvious subject rather than the driver or the other person clearly in view. Once the scene has been established in the viewer’s mind, they can then begin to wonder the circumstances and destination of the girl’s journey.
55mm, f/5.6, 1/80, ISO 400
Contrasting Colours
Free of Obstruction
After noticing the bright yellow barrier I saw the red sign near the top of the frame which states that the passage must be kept clear at all times. I thought this provided some comedy value as two people can be clearly seen standing in the middle of the passageway enjoying a chat and a cup of coffee. The bold contrasting colours and their power to reinforce each other and thus reinforce the perceived strength of the barrier and signage seem to have been insufficient to prevent these two people causing an obstruction.
18mm, f/5.6, 1/200, ISO 400
Similar Colours
Overflow
This image represents the less well-kempt side of a city, a side street with litter strewn across the road from an overflowing skip. As I’ve wondered around the city, I’ve noticed the rear of businesses can be quite telling, and often contrast heavily with the pristine ‘customer-facing’ frontage. Here I’ve used the similar colours of orange and yellow, with the brighter yellow in the foreground catching the viewer’s eye, and leading it through the litter on the ground up to the big orange skip, itself heaving with rubbish.
24mm, f/5.6, 1/1250, ISO 400
Similar Colours
Pedestrian Crossing
I had just used the pedestrian crossing seen in the image above, and as I was observing the scene at this side of the road I noticed that from the back the operating buttons of the crossing were bright yellow, and created a vertical oblong stack. The traffic light at the time was green, and I liked the idea of somehow combining the green light with the yellow back of the control unit. I felt the green light itself was far too small, and decided to wait in situ for someone in green clothing to appear. After a while of waiting the man depicted in the image arrived, and waited to cross. Fortunately he was positioned directly under the traffic light, and also happened to stand completely straight, with his arms at his sides, thus creating a vertical oblong with the green light, mirroring the yellow control unit at the fore of the image.
24mm, f/5.6, 1/1250, ISO 400
Similar Colours
Girl with Green Hair
I spotted this girl with completely green hair walking in front of me through the busy city centre, and I immediately thought I could use her in an image in some way. I obviously couldn’t control her movements or direction, and simply had to observe for a time to see if an opportunity for an effective image presented itself. A little further on, my eye was attracted to the bright yellow advertisement on the side of the phone box, and in turn I saw the text which reads ‘I go pink in the sun all the time’, which is in the form of a speech bubble coming from a talking ice-lolly. The path that the girl was taking, and the direction the ‘talking lolly’ was facing created an image in my mind where the lolly was actually talking to the girl, in reference to her green hair. Once the girl was almost level with the phone box I pressed the shutter.
28mm, f/4.5, 1/2500, ISO 400
Accented Colours
Storm
The storm clouds in this image look almost apocalyptic, and due to the suddenly dull lighting the whole scene took on a grey, murky feel. I thought this might be a good opportunity for accented colour if a brightly coloured vehicle were to enter the frame. At the risk of a heavy downpour, I only waited a few minutes before the large yellow van entered the frame, and I was able to take a burst shot. The brightness and colour of the van really contrasts with the dark looking greys, blues and blacks that dominate the rest of the scene, and it seems almost out of place in a scene presenting such doom and gloom.
55mm, f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 400
Accented Colours
Parachute
Some fireman in the city were doing a charity event were they would attach orange parachutes to children’s teddy bears, and then throw them from the top of their crane. I thought this would be a good opportunity for displaying accented colour, and when setting the exposure to keep detail in the few wispy clouds populating the sky this had the effect of turning the crane, firemen and bear to silhouette. By doing this it removed distracting colours from everything except the sky and parachute, the complimentary colour combination of which strengthens the composition, drawing the eye immediately to the parachute.
18mm, f/4.5, 1/1250, ISO 400
Accented Colours
Tree of Life
I had walked past this WWII memorial, titled ‘Tree of Life’ while taking photographs for this assignment, and read some of the inscriptions. A while later in the day while walking back past the memorial, I noticed that someone had placed a bunch of yellow flowers on the memorial, presumably purchased from the nearby market stall. The drab browns, greys, blues and blacks provide a sharply contrasting backdrop to the bright yellow flowers, adding to their poignancy and sense of respect and importance.
42mm, f/5.6, 1/3200, ISO 400
Accented Colours
Man on Bicycle
I spotted this man wearing a high visibility vest riding towards me, and I started to think how the very nature of the hi-vis vest made it an accented colour. I realised he would soon be cycling past the town hall, with its impressive stonework and pillars. With the subdued red of the pavement, stone-coloured building and the man’s dark clothing and bicycle I thought the vest would stand out nicely against the grand backdrop. I also like the glimpse of bright blue sky that can be seen in the top right hand corner, the complimentary colour to the orange of the vest, adding a little extra dynamism to the image.
The following sketches represent the basic colours and colour relationships I was considering when taking each photograph. As these street scenes are very dynamic and to a great extent uncontrollable, there are often other colours in varying quantities present in the images. My sketches omit everything except my primary colour considerations at the time.
Boy Sitting
Toilets Closed
Homeless Segregation
Girl with Balloon
Pedestrians
Rescue Line
Woman Selling Melons
Girl Boarding Bus
Free of Obstruction
Overflow
Pedestrian Crossing
Girl with Green Hair
Storm
Parachute
Tree of Life
Man on Bicycle
Meeting the Assessment Criteria
Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills
As in part two of the course, one of my aims in part three was to integrate knowledge gained in the earlier parts of the course while experimenting with the use of colour in composition. As noted in the introduction, two books in particular were very influential in shaping my thought-process during my work on this assignment. In the Shadow of Mountains by Steve McCurry introduced me to images and subject matter that are far removed from the streets of Birmingham, but I was able to analyse his use of colour to enhance narrative. Many of his photographs in the book, such as TV Mountain, School Room in a Ruined Building, and Portrait Photographer show positive bright colours set against the drab greys and browns of ruined buildings, as if representing hope and the desire to survive in an extremely hostile environment. I have attempted my own versions of colour against the drab urban background in my photograph Storm and with a more attractive but still muted-colour background in Man on Bicycle.
Quality of Outcome
I am pleased with my end product for this assignment and feel I have met my objective of using colour to enhance the narrative of the image, without colour being the primary draw of the photograph. In assignment two I made the mistake of letting some of my images be overwhelmed by the geometrical element of the composition, thinking more technically than creatively. For this assignment, although evidently I have been looking to use colour relationships to strengthen my composition, I have not allowed myself to be burdened by ‘exact’ colour relationships, ‘pure’ colours and ‘correct’ ratios. In a street photography scenario, the scene is so dynamic and changes so quickly that finding all of those exact elements would be rare, and in combination with an interesting stage nigh-on impossible.
Demonstration of Creativity
On the advice of my tutor I decided not to interpret the assignment brief in such a way that meant I’d be taking pictures of flowers or colourful still-life objects etc. I decided instead to explore street photography, a natural extension of my usual ‘travel’ photographic subject matter. This differed from my previous hobby work in the sense that I wouldn’t be taking pictures of grand buildings, or countryside etc., but of ordinary people (which I am particularly inexperienced at), and ordinary street scenes that aren’t usually considered attractive or meaningful. This prolonged look at the ‘ordinary’ was a large part of the concept of Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren’s book Street Photography Now. In looking at my image Girl Boarding Bus for example, I am inviting the viewer to make their own mind up about who the person is, where they are going and why. My photograph Overflow depicts almost a comic failure on the part of a tool designed to hold rubbish which ends up strewn all over the road anyway; someone took the time to deposit this large amount of rubbish into the skip, but not to ensure it stayed there; would this have been the case if the skip were positioned at the customer-facing front of the premises?
Context
While Steve McCurry’s book gave some insight in powerful use of colour in an image, Street Photography Now was certainly of more relevance in that my assignment was literally based around ‘street photography now’. This book allowed me to see how my vision for this task sat amongst other well-established and up-and-coming street photographers active today. From the introduction to the book - ‘…a good street photograph is remarkable because it makes something very ordinary seem extraordinary’ – this is a train of thought that I’ve tried to encompass with images such as Girl with Green Hair and Storm, while embracing the use of colour relationships. I think I now have the street photography ‘bug’, and with more experience can develop this idea into more and more images.
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