100th Post, Just in Time

In Szarkowski’s book, The Photographer’s Eye, he mentions some approaches to making images that have some influence in the way that viewers interpret the image and the message behind the photo. We were tasked by Alice to go out and take five images using a chosen approach, then upload to Padlet.

One of these approaches is Time and how altering the shutter speed or exposure time of a photograph ensures that the viewer can take some meaning or at least be prompted to ask questions as to why the photographer chose to freeze in a split second a gunshot or let a racing car blur as it raced through a scene.

In the book Szarkowski writes “Exposures were long in early photography. If the subject moved, it’s multiple image described also a space-time dimension” Long exposure photography has interested me since I first picked up my Canon Powershot S30 in 2002 and found that I could choose the Shutter Speed. I like low light photography and some of the effects that can be captured to represent something or someone moving through a scene.

The split second of a splash of water in a bowl or a still frame of a baseball being hit by the bat are fantastically technically great pictures but I’ve always felt that it makes the image feel false and fake. It’s not something that the human eye sees in it’s usual form, which whilst it might be interesting immediately it soon wears off for me and I’m looking around for another detail that allows me to work out how fast the bat was being swung or whether the athlete in the shot was off balance etc. The movement implied by some motion blur, either of the subject or of the background in a panning shot makes it a more interesting image that explains to the eye just what was happening.

Time Out

For my plan I decided that I’d go out on a Saturday night into the Shrewsbury Town Centre, and it had been raining lightly allowing for some good reflections and some light being spread around instead of just being lost from a scene.

I went into town and parked in Shoplatch, took my tripod out of the boot and prepared to shoot. I had two cameras with me on the night, a digital Canon 5D Mk IV and my 120 Film using Bronica ETRS 645 camera containing a roll of Portra 800, each with a tripod mount on the base and a shutter release cable.

The first shot I set up for was outside a Threshers off-license and the light of the scene from the plate glass window would be interrupted by pedestrians walking through the town. As it happened it had been Octoberfest in the Quarry Park and there was an unusual amount of drunk people around. The scene filled up with people walking through the shot, and also a lot of young men shouting, “Take my picture bro!” and they were not in the mood to understand that they couldn’t see the images immediately because it was a film camera..

I did swap to my digital and take a couple of photos of these youngsters and when they came across to see them they were less than impressed. Ha ha. The picture above was not what I went out to capture but it has a bit of a Martin Parr vibe with the couple to the left of the frame seemingly ignoring the young lads.

I took a few shots here on the digital camera and set the shutter speed to 0.8 seconds with an aperture of f/8 and an ISO of 200 to reduce the grain. The idea was to capture people moving behind the bus shelter in a ghostly image but none of the images I captured here were really what I was after.

Walk, Don’t Walk

After I finished here I walked up Pride Hill and found an unmarked police car with the blue lights flashing, after it had just pulled over a private hire car. The officers were doing their job, going around the car examining the tyres, lights and making it sure it was roadworthy, probably because they’d seen the driver do something daft earlier.

A crowd of, mostly drunk, passers by were grouped around the cars and shouting abuse at the police. Mainly on the theme of “go and arrest someone who deserves it” and “haven’t you got anything better to do?” There was some funny comments that I overheard and someone even asked me how I knew this was happening and had got my tripod there already. I didn’t explain that I was wandering around at random as they were not sober enough to make sense of it.

The image above shows the police car after the cab had been released and the passenger was making his way to the nearside door. The office can be seen to be moving towards his door, whilst walking on the road, behind the pedestrian crossing Red Man. All of the blue lights appear to be on simultaneously in this image but that’s because this was shot at 0.4 secs, f/8, ISO800. It’s also the reason why you don’t see a full image of a static police officer.

This was close to being in my final five for submission for the task we’d been set as it’s not obvious what is going on in the image. Is the police officer running to his vehicle for an emergency, is he leaving the vehicle to pursue a perp or returning back to the car after getting a coffee?

The police car is joined by lights on the left and right side of the frame moving into and out of the picture so it could be thought that the officer was jumping out to stop a car coming past him. In the end this image didn’t fit in with my final five, as it didn’t suit being black and white, where the other images were better suited to it. One colour image with a group of four others just didn’t seem to work so I left it out.

The Libertines

Leaving this scene behind me I walked to Butcher Row where there was a lot of foot traffic going towards a cocktail bar and The Bull pub. Again there were a number of people who were asking if I could take their photo, but trying to explain long exposures unsuitability to an image of them just bored them until they walked on. The image I captured here was exactly what I was after, the lighting of the area didn’t show off any colours so a switch to monochrome was the right thing to do.

The image shows three people walking away from me and one walking toward me with a cigarette on the go. The shadows on the floor seem to merge the three people into one being whilst the fourth is strange outline. The four figures are blurry due to their movement through the frame but the background is sharp due to the camera being on a tripod and this says to me that these people are moving through the space-time continuum on their way to the next drink and aventure whilst a smaller figure in the background appears stationary next to the sign for a WC. (Water Closet/Toilet)

Hong Kong Crossing

My next image I selected to upload to Padlet was of a zebra crossing in Barker Street with an Oriental Takeaway in the rear of the shot. There was a group of people crossing towards me, all viewing me suspiciously as if I was up to something really dishonest.

I initially loved this scene as the nice pink and purple lights of the takeaway and the pub next door made for some great reflections on the wet zebra stripes. It reminded me of shots by Liam Wong in his book TO:KY:00 in which he captures street scenes after dark and often in wet and rainy conditions. This image was acceptable to me but I felt that it worked better with the other selected images if they were all black and white.

The figures crossing the road look to be having a lucky escape as the car to the left of shot, which you can see the headlight of, might be plowing towards them and I’ve captured the beginning of an accident scene. The people in the photo appear faceless as in “The Libertines” above so could be anyone on their way to anywhere. The time they spent on the crossing was probably longer than usual as they were slightly inebriated, but the image could be showing a group of people moving quickly to get away from the vehicle or someone chasing after them.

Albert

The next shot is not far away from Hong Kong City Takeaway and features the frontages of KFC and a pub/club called Albert’s Shed. It’s a prominent spot for homeless people to sit and be supported by the people in the queue to get into this popular nightclub. The shot stood out to me as the guy sat on the floor seems motionless whilst the the partygoers and passers by stroll past without paying any attention to him. The blurriness of the group of revellers walking towards me shows how animated they all are in the movement in the same time segment as the chap on the floor.

I don’t take a lot of photographs of people who appear to be homeless or down on their luck as I don’t think it makes a good photo on it’s own, but in this case I chose to capture him as a contrast to the people around him. THe lights and KFC signs fill out the top of the frame with some sparkly patterns whilst the mass of people move through the image. The bus shelter in the shot also lends an element of time to the image, as there are timetables in the glass but no buses calling by at this time of night.

Hickory Hiding

From the scene outside KFC I ventured to Montys and Hickory’s where there is an alleyway between the two leisure premises. People walk in this well lit thoroughfare as they come from the Armoury pub around by the riverside so I set up the cameras and waited. After a couple of images I noticed that the gate I was stood behind had an opening in it, and under the opening was a large painted arrow. The lighting in this photo was great but the colours of the bricks were distracting to me so I converted it to a black and white image.

The motion blurred image of the couple holding hands in a sharp scene shows that they are traversing through the area. The image seems contradictory as the arrow looks like they should be walking away from the camera or on the right side of the image on the pale slabbed pathway. The negative space in this image is pleasing to me too with a large dark area at the bottom and some blocked off space at the top too.

Whilst here I had to deal with another group of people, one of whom said “What are you taking pictures of?” When I quickly explained he said”That’s Weird” and then walked off. Another couple started talking to me and I recognised them as two of the drunk people giving the police a hard time earlier. They were both hassling me for a photo of them so I told them to go and stand in the alleyway for a photo. For some reason he took his shirt off too. I’m really glad I don’t drink.

He wanted me to send him the photo so I recorded his details on a voice memo on my phone and promised to send it to him, which I have done via facebook. Better then getting pushed over and having my camera damaged I figure.

Another young fella who came to talk to me had earlier prevented his drunk friends from getting too close to the camera and he was a photographer and animator for a graphic design agency in the town. We had a quick chat before he headed off to the pub with his friends. At least it wasn’t pissheads all night.

Spoons

The last image of my five I chose to submit was supposed to be a rain soaked beer garden at the Shrewsbury Hotel Wetherspoons pub. There were some nice fairy lights and great reflections of the wet tables. This scene along with drinkers walking around in the rear of the image would show how the pub was there every day and night whilst the patrons were passing through and moving on their way to another pub.

As I stood there with my 5D on the tripod ready to snap an image, another couple of drunk males approached me asking “take our picture mate” before standing right in front of the camera showing their best strongest man poses, thinking they were the most original people in the world. So original it reminded me of when people used to shout “Where’s your other wheel?” as I rode past them on my mountain unicycle..

When I got home and looked at the image though, I was pleased with how it looked. I’d told them to stand perfectly still due to the long exposure, but as they were half cut there was no chance of them remaining motionless. The movement of them both captures just how unsteady they were and how little they were listening to my instructions. The stability of the pub in the rear of the image, and the constellation of star-like lamps above their heads back light the subjects and silhouette them so it’s difficult to make out features or details. Time in this picture is represented by how blurred the characters are, they couldn’t stand still for the 0.8 seconds at f/16 ISO800 as they were trying to pose like their heroes on instagram or love island.

Kebab Yawn

On my way back to the car after using all of my Portra 800 and a few GBs on my memory card I stood outside a Kebab Shop on Mardol. There were a random group of kebab fans in the shop, including a woman in her Octoberfest outfit. There were a few guys in Lederhosen too milling about but there was a noisy group of younger people in there whilst someone a little more mature waited for his food outside out of the noisebox.

I took a couple of shots of the shop as people were walking in and out of the door or moving around in front of the window but it wasn’t long before some more drunk people were asking for their picture to be taken whilst enjoying their late night snack.

I humoured them as I wanted no trouble and can usually have a giggle with them whilst maybe catching a photo of them that might work for another theme of shoots. In this image though the older guy outside looks like he’s screaming at the other people who could be making too much noise for him. He was actually yawning after a long day of imbibing but I thought he looked a bit fed up with the rest of the characters in the scene.

Walking back up Mardol I came across a restaurant called Avatar which had steamed up windows. It reminded me of photos by Saul leiter of people through misted up glass so I stopped and took a couple of images. There were some lovely colours in the photos too so I left these as colour images and I am really pleased with the spaceman and the young woman sitting behind the glass. There was also the Nerdy Cafe on the other side of the street and I liked the cold colours of the blue lights contrasted with the Rainbow flags in the top windows and the reflections on the vehicle in the foreground.