November 13th

Project introduction and street photography tests

1 Did you encounter any difficult or challenging moments taking photographs on the street today? Going forward in this project, what might you need to do to ensure you are working in a way that is morally and ethically sound?

Today, we were ask to list out 10 conventional rules in photography, and then we were to pick one to restrict ourself from specifically breaking it on our photography walk today. Although I was able to easily name 10 or more rules that I can possibly break, I struggled to find one that I wanted to break, so I decided to just decide on the way. So when we were set off to our photography walk, I started taking images of details that I liked, taking inspiration from Martin Parr and Saul Leiter, creating an imagery by photographing through an object, screen, frame, etc. But then I switched to using the pano function on my iphone to create warped images, but I also scratched that and just used the regular camera function to photograph people from afar, avoiding confrontation of consent... But so going forward in this project, I want to have a clearer mindset and narrow my aim so that I will be able to make the most out of my works, instead of vague objective to begin with. Today was very windy, my group and I were all very cold from being outside for a long time, as we chose a route that travels pretty far away from archway. In terms of consent/ ethics, there was no problem because I didn't particularly snapped any photos of people close up, or for too long. It was either I ask them for consent, or I photographed through a window sitting in a coffee shop, or from a far away.

2 In working to disrupt the conventional rules of photography, what did you discover about using the camera in alternative ways? How might you take this exploration even further?

I played with the pano function on the iphone camera and intentionally created warped and distorted images. It was a fun concept and the photos were interesting to see, but I didn't pick them for the crit display, as I wanted carry out a rather concentrated and obvious theme and concept today. However the warped pano images are something I would love t continue to explore in my future works.

3 What stories did you start to tell today? How might these be extended and amplified as you through this project?

In the first photography walk, I tried to capture moving things I observed that had a contrast in scale, like mothers with their child, or a stroller, dogs and their owners. However, I narrowed my selection to only the dogs and their owners. Satisfyingly telling a story of dog-walkers, demonstrating their characteristic and their common demeanours. I feel in my photos I was able to capture the love between the owners and their pets, either having a leash on them so they won't lose them, or letting them loose because of the trust between each other. In my second photography walk, taking inspiration from Philip Lorca Di Corcia and Jamie Hawkesworth, I stayed inside a coffee shop, and photographed passerby that was caught in the gusty wind, capturing the messy hair and the distressed expressions.

reflections

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