Please use the individual pages to navigate through my blog, as the pages contain all of my research/explanations, and I haven’t included the same in-depth information on the posts below.

The final brief we were given for our Photography module was titled ‘Home’, and the task was to take six images in response to the brief, interpreting the idea of ‘home’ in whichever way we pleased.

 For my idea, I wanted to try and do something slightly different.  For me, moving three hours away to come to university was a big step, and due to the cost of train fare, I haven’t been able to visit home yet.  The more I thought about this, the more I realised that home, for me, is currently represented by the possessions that I have with me that hold old memories.  I therefore decided that I wanted to try and create a series of images, capturing the one item that represents ‘home’ to different people.  I began by asking my flatmates and neighbours what these items were for them, but I found that a common answer kept popping up: teddies.  I found this quite interesting, as it showed that although we’re essentially becoming more independent and “growing up” by moving to university, we still cling onto the things that remind us of our childhood and comforting memories of home.  From this realisation, I decided that I wanted to focus my project on teddies instead, and the stories that stick with them.

THE TASK

For the second part of the Portraiture brief, I had decided that I wanted to try and focus on buskers.  I originally wanted to go down this path as I thoroughly enjoy listening to the different types of music performed by buskers on our streets, and I wanted to try and capture their passion within a photograph.  Furthermore, my intention was to take two photographs of each busker I came across; one photo whilst they were posing for the camera, and another whilst they were performing and getting lost in the music.  I wanted to compare the difference in things such as their posture, facial expression etc. and explore whether they felt more relaxed as they performed.

RESEARCH

I did some research beforehand to see if there were any photographers who had also focused on buskers, and that’s when I came across Rod Goodman.  Goodman started something called ‘The Busker Project‘, in which he wanted to try and photograph buskers in such a way that the viewer would be able to see them as the wonderful street performers that they are, and not as how some other people may see them.

Goodman’s style of portrait varies from busker to busker, as he uses a variety of different shots and angles that he feels best reflects the busker in question.  I decided to try and keep this idea in mind (of the pose/angle depending on the nature of the person), but I knew that I wanted to focus more on straight portraits that would look directly at the busker.  My plan for the project also changed after looking at Goodman’s work, as although I still wanted to try and capture how lost musicians can get in the music, my main goal became to try and capture the  actual person behind the music.

THE PROCESS

After I had established this rough plan, I set out into town with my camera and a Canon f/1.8 lens with the intention of finding some buskers.  I found the first one very easily; he was sitting by the war memorial playing the violin, and it had such a lovely sound to it.  At first, I was nervous about approaching him, so I just walked past and smiled in recognition.  I then prepared myself (and some spare change) and walked back past him the other time, but this time I went up to him, gave him some change, and asked if I could take his photograph for my project on buskers.  He immediately agreed and was extremely grateful for both my money and my acknowledgement (of him and his music), as he kept thanking me.

I ideally wanted a photograph of him whilst he was playing the violin, but he didn’t seem to understand what I was asking, so instead he just smiled and posed for the camera whilst holding the violin in place.  I didn’t want to use up too much of his time, so I took a few photos, thanked him again and then left.  I then went and sat on a bench for a few minutes until I heard him start to play again, at which point I got up and walked straight past him, stopping to snap a few extra photos.  These images still look slightly posed as he was looking at the camera, but he was playing the violin whilst I took them.

For my images, I used a shutter speed of 1/200 and set the aperture to f/16.  I intentionally set the ISO quite high as I wanted to give the photo a grainy, almost 35mm film look.  This wasn’t inspired by Goodman, as his images seem fairly crisp, but I just felt that the grain would give a sense of authenticity to the street feel of the of photos.  I love the friendly look in the man’s eyes, and I feel as though you can get a feel for his personality through the image, which was my intention.

For my second image, I walked around for a while trying to find a second busker.  I could hear the faint sounds of a harmonica, so I followed it to the tunnel under the train tracks.  There was a man in a bright yellow jacket playing the small instrument, and the sound was echoing off of the walls and creating a lovely atmosphere.  The man had a big duffel bag with him, which gave me the impression that he might be homeless.  This time I was a bit more confident in having to approach him, so I walked over and gave him some spare change, before asking him the same thing I’d asked the previous busker.  This man also immediately said yes, and he was extremely accommodating to my needs as the photographer, as he kept asking whether I wanted him to play/not play, look at the camera or avoid eye contact.  I asked him to try and not look at the camera, as I wanted to see what the difference was between how his personality came across compared to the first busker (who was looking at the camera).

I set the shutter speed to 1/200 and the aperture to f/5.6, but once again I left the ISO high to replicate the same grainy look as the previous image.

This was the second image that I took of the man, this time with his eyes averted from the camera (making him appear more vulnerable) whilst he continued to play the small instrument.  Although he isn’t looking at the camera, I still feel like the image is quite striking, as he seems small and vulnerable.  Once again, I feel as though if you were to look at the photo and make preconceptions about what the man’s personality is like, you’d automatically make negative assumptions due to his slightly ragged appearance.  Whilst I was speaking to him, however, he was polite and friendly, and seemed to perk up at some kind of acknowledgement, the same as the previous busker had.  It really made me realise how true the concept of not judging a book by it’s cover really is, especially in the case of street performers.

CONCLUSION

Overall I’m pleased with my images.  If I were to take them again, I’d lower the ISO to try and see what they’d look like without the film-like appearance, and I’d also be sure to double check that the focus is perfect.  Despite any negative points, I feel as though I have achieved what it was that I set out to achieve: to show a street performer as who they are and not just as a person that we walk past and ignore.

The second half of the portraiture brief was to photograph strangers.  I find the idea of this especially daunting as I’m not confident in approaching people that I don’t know.  However, I really liked the idea of photographing buskers, so I wanted to try and use this idea for the brief.