Street Photography Shoot in Brighton

I didn't feel that today's shoot went very well owing to technological difficulties, and perhaps due to me overlooking aspects of my project idea. I decided to go to Brighton as there are a range of different people in this area and often artistic or performative people who I felt were likely to want to be part of my project. My idea was to photograph these people whilst they are unaware of the camera's gaze. I then approached them and asked to take their photograph for a street photography project documenting Brighton and the people within it. Often people asked what I wanted from the photograph and I got into the routine of asking them to 'act natural' as I was interested to see how they would portray themselves naturalistically or how they construed 'reality'. I don't think that this was very effective however as the lack of direction on my part often made people feel nervous and awkward in front of the camera. Generally people smiled and did put on a different 'face' for the camera but I can't help feeling that this was more due to them not knowing me and thus keeping me at a distance in that sense. However, I did not want to direct them, as I wish to analyse peoples natural behaviour towards the camera and not merely create a scene that I have in my head for them to enact, as that partly defeats the purpose. 

In terms of the technical side of shooting today, I found myself continuously altering the aperture/shutter speed and ISO, due to varying light conditions in the Lanes and on the Beach. This meant that I missed out on a lot of good shots as photo's were over/under exposed but mainly blurry. I tried using both auto and manual focus but a lot of my photo's still ended up blurry. This wasn't good for street photography as real life is spontaneous and short-lasting, so you have to act fast to get the 'decisive moment' shot.

Another thing I struggled with today was with approaching people. I am quite shy as it is and although I tried to appear confident and friendly I still found it very hard to pluck up the courage to ask a stranger for their photo. It makes me wonder what street photographers like Gary Tyson must say to the subjects in their photo's. The subjects are often clearly engaged with the camera and aware that they are being photographed.

Here are my favourite unedited photographs from my shoot today:

I found this mans quirky sense of style and attitude intriguing, as he browsed the laines contemplatively. I wanted to ask him for his photograph but due to the technical difficulties I had with lighting and focus I unfortunately missed my chance.

The 3 photo's above are of my favourite person of the day. I really liked his bright clothing and thought that it would aesthetically be nice to capture in conjunction with the colour and vibrancy of the Lanes; almost as a visual representation of it. I also thought he was interesting as he seemed to be inquisitive and slightly shifty. As he was drinking I felt that he may be more likely to perform in front of the camera as he perhaps would be less inhibited.

I think the above 3 photographs are interesting as they show an 'in-between' stage between the naturalistic and the performed. At this point I was talking to the man, telling him that I was photographing him for my University project, and was asking him to stand in the middle of the Lanes. The main reason for this was due to the better lighting but I usually found it more visually appealing. In these photo's the man is interacting with me and looks to be acting/smiling naturally. I like the stages that this series of photographs go through.

The above 3 photographs are almost like a visual narrative. The man realises he's holding his can of beer/cider and, in a bid to disassociate himself from the stereotypical 'day drinker' -and all the connotations that come with this- he hastily removes it from the frame and holds out his hands in an comical 'innocent' gesture. The transition from the first naturalistic photograph of the man walking the streets openly holding the alcohol contradicts this self-representation and highlights the extent to which people will go to represent themselves positively and perform in front of the camera. The man also looks slightly more nervous in the last few photographs. I had stopped speaking to him at this point and was photographing him in the middle of the street in front of lots of people, so this may have contributed to this performative nature or the fact that he seems to be trying to 'act casual' in the last photograph.

The above photographs are quite overexposed, as the sky is whited out- so I will need to edit the lighting of them if I choose to use them in my project.

I loved the look of these dogs and the fact that they were so large in comparison to their petite owner. I couldn't get very close to the woman at the time without her noticing that I was photographing her, as the beach wasn't very busy, so I had to zoom from a distance and run along the promenade looking down to the beach to capture these photo's. Unfortunately you cannot see her facial expressions that well in these photographs which is a shame as it makes it hard to compare between the natural and the posed. I don't think there is much difference between the woman in both sets of photographs (above and below) other than the fact that she is clearly composed and smiling in front of the picturesque Brighton Pier and sea. I like this set of photo's mainly because they are aesthetically pretty. The sandy tones of the dogs fur match with the stones and the purpley blue of the woman's clothing somewhat matches the sea. However I don't think they will be effective to use in my project as they do not highlight my point explicitly enough. 

The above two photographs are ones which I found very interesting. The couple are notably close in the first, but when I approach them the girl distances herself from him and looks away, whilst he looks adoringly at her. In this sense the smile is the mask for both of them. I think that this photograph could have benefited from being taken slightly back for more room around the girls head.

This couple naturally posed in front of the camera and smiled after I instructed them to act natural. In a way their smile is also a mask and they are performing, however in the photo above they are clearly happy and so the truth of their emotions is not antonymous from those displayed in the posed photo. Therefore this photo isn't that different from the candid in terms of how the subjects act and doesn't fully support my project idea that people are conscientious and largely more aware of positive self-representation when depicted on camera.

Overall I am not very pleased my photographs in terms of my project idea. I think aesthetically and commercially they are good, but feel that they are affected by too many extra contextual factors such as unfamiliarity with subjects, lack of direction, mixed with the conflicting need to be objective. I also worry about the labelling of them as either documentary or portraiture. The candid, surveillance shots lean more towards documentary, whereas the posed are more portraiture based. I may have to consider rethinking some aspects of my project so that the photographs fit in better with the idea.