A Narrative Picture Essay

As specified in my groundplan, I ultimately settled on the Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas market, an annual event of which I am very familiar. This fact, coupled with the fact there would be a wide variety of subjects, attractive lighting, a great atmosphere, and plenty of time meant that this was destined to be a pleasant and approachable project. The market can get very busy, so I decided on maximum portability by leaving my tripod at home, and instead using my very small and lightweight 50mm prime lens. This lens was a particularly suitable choice as it's fast, able to open to f1.8. This was very much a low-light shoot, and this lens allowed me to work with limited light without a tripod and still at relatively low ISO's. These benefits also presented a challenge in that I was without the ability to zoom, and also having a very shallow depth of field.

The types of photos I'd planned to take were covered in my groundplan, but with the shoot done the next stage was deciding how to organise and present the images. Broadly, I thought the following main 'groups' would be appropriate:

• Couples / Families
• Food / Drink
• Rides / Activities
• Items for sale

Ultimately I created a seven-page photo spread, with a total of 14 photographs. The first two and last two pages have whole-page images, with the middle three pages having multiple images per page, arranged around a particular theme.
 

Page One

This shows a full-page image of some beautifully-presented chocolate goods for sale. I chose this image for the first page as I think it sets the tone of the event, in that it is a market selling expensive, creative and unsual goods.

Page Two

I used a slow shutter speed here to evoke the sense of speed from the carousel. This image represents the other 'side' to the market, that of rides and activities.

Page Three

A selection of images to do with Birmingham's Big Wheel, which only makes an appearance at this time of year. The images here each have an individual viewpoint and closeness to the subject, from the top right image which contains the entire wheel juxtaposed with the Hall of Memory, down to a close crop of my daughter's face; looking carefully you can see the wheel reflected in her eyes.

Page Four

This page highlights the popular Bratwurst sausages - in an anticlockwise direction you can see a queue in front of the stall, the sausages being grilled, and finally someone about to enjoy the finished product.

 

Page Five

I wanted this page to show wider views of the market, emphasising the bustling crowds, and the warmly lit cabins.

Page Six

A single image of some of the crafts on sale.

Page Seven

The outdoor ice-skating rink. Like the wheel this only arrives in Birmingham at this time of year. I think this final image sums up the 'family' aspect of the entire event.

I am especially pleased with the end result of this exercise. I think it's possible to follow the 'narrative' and understand what the event is all about, from the photographs alone. I enjoyed experimenting with the organisation of the images, and also their sizing and presentation.

A Narrative Picture Essay - Groundplan

For this exercise I am going to form a brief groundplan, as the course materials are quite clear that photographing an event requires careful planning for best results.

My choice of event is the Blackpool Illuminations, which I am visiting in a couple of weeks. I think this will give a wide variety of subject matter that I can exploit in order to put together a picture essay. I have broken my thoughts down into the following categories, each of which contains ideas or an avenue of research:

Technical considerations

• Shooting at night with bright lights.

 Shooting at night has its own technical challenges, and I will be taking along my tripod. This will allow long exposures at low ISO to capture the highest quality images. Where a tripod is not suitable due to crowds, I will handheld at a high ISO, and use noise reduction later in Lightroom.

I also need to take care not to overexpose the lights, turning them plain white and losing their colour. I will use exposure compensation where necessary, and have the highlight clipping monitor set on my camera (which I always do anyway).

Avenues of Research

• Google Street View.
• Youtube.

 A youtube video of the illuminations a couple of years ago proved useful to acertain the kind of subject matter I will have available. Due to the distance from where I live, it is not practical to take a physical walkthrough beforehand, although Google Street View is just as good. The images on street view were taken in the day time, but it allowed me to see that the main material will be found in the vicinity and immediate surrounding areas of the tower. We are planning to arrive in Blackpool before dark, so this may also provide a brief opportunity to scope the area beforehand.

Ideas for Variety

• Before and after dark (the town transformed).
• Some black and white images.
• Vertical and horizontal.
• Closeups of details on illuminations, people's hands on rides, slot machines, fountains, people on train, etc.

Subject Ideas

• The tower and rides.
• The promenade.
• Individual Illuminations.
• People.
• The beach.
• Car light trails.
• Shops.
• Casino.

UPDATE

We didn't go to the illuminations in the end, as the weather was extremely poor; not ideal for a family day out. Luckily I have a backup plan, in the form of the Birmingham Christmas market. A lot of the above will still apply, apart from certain things like the tower and casino. In project terms it will be quite similar, as they are both mainly night-time events with artificial lighting.

The market itself opens at 10am, so this gives an opportunity to arrive early, to capture some images of the stalls being opened/set up. When the market gets busy, it gets very busy, so my opportunities to use a tripod will be limited, but I'm sure I'll be able to find a vantage point somewhere for one or two images.

I am very familiar with the location, and have visited the market several times before, so this will be a significant advantage on the day.

Contrasting Subject and Treatment

Our first task in Part Five of the course is to compare two images, one of which is mostly concerned with being aesthetically pleasing, and the other which is not necessarily so, but where the subject is paramount.

This first image is one of my own, taken recently inside the viewing platform of The Shard, in London. The interplay of light and shadow in the scene caught my eye, and it is this which is the primary subjcct. The location is mostly irrelevant (most people wouldn't know by looking at this image that it was taken from inside the tallest building in the EU), with the people and the interior of the building providing lighting contrasts and shapes.

 24mm, f/22, 1/1000s, ISO 5000

This next image is of US President Barack Obama and his security council, while they are watching a live video feed of the Navy SEAL raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. Graphically, the lighting is harsh and unflattering on a group of people. They are all looking rather tense, hardly ideal for a 'portrait' shot. The photographer has also managed to catch the top of someone's head in the lower left of the frame, and someone's elbow in the top right. All in all, it's quite an uncomfortable image to look at, however the context of the image and the subject matter is way above and beyond that of the first image. It captures the scene of one of the most important events in the history of the United States, and is a raw, behind-the-scenes look at national security.