The Next Step

I like the photographer Shirley Baker and the idea of gathering. I would like to look more into gathering places and different reasons why people gather. I am going to research images on different gathering places and different reasons why people gather.

This is an image of a wedding i found on the internet, Weddings are a special event that usually a lot of people gather to celebrate the Partnership of two people.

 This image is of people gathering in a church. It is a gathering place for religious people to share their beliefs and pray to God.

 Protest is another reason why people gather. People gather to protest for something they believe in or have strong opinions on.

 People also gather for funerals. Funerals are not a happy gathering however, everyone eventually has to go to one to show respect for the person who has passed away and their family.

 Concerts usually have a load of people gathering, people go their to support a musical artist or go to listen to an artist live, and to socialize.

This photo shows students learning at school or college. A lot of people gather to go to school to learn and socialize with friends.

All of the photos above show different reasons why people gather and i would like to experiment and photograph some of these reasons and hopefully, for my final piece i will have a series of photographs showing different places that people gather.

My Photo Essay Plan

This is the plan i drew out of my photo essay.

Photo Essay

What is a Photo Essay?

A photo essay is the challenge of capturing or implying a story with photography is made easier when you can photgraph it in a longer form, in several frames that tell the story in more detail than a single image alone could do. It is a set or series of photographs that are intended to tell a story or evoke a series of emotions in the viewer. A photo essay will often show pictures in deep emotional stages.

Establishing Shot

The estbalishing shot/wid shot is used to establish and see where the story is going to take place, it establishes context, setting, and often mood.

 A close up shot is used to show the viewe a closer look of an object or something that is important and relevant to what is going on and it gives them more information.

Low Angle Shot

A low angle shot is used to give something more length and make it seem larger, to give the object dominance.

A high angle shot is used in the same way. However it makes the sunject more recessive and gives the viewer dominance.

Intentions For Next Photgraphs

Linking To Shirley Baker's Photograph that i studied, for my next set of photographs, i am going to take pictures of gathering places. I am also going to try and take photos of children and adults and how they react differently to different things. This can link to my everyday assignment as i photographed my living room which is a place where people gather.

These are a few of my photographs that i took for this project.

Both of the above pictures are the same, however, i chose to do one black and white because it makes the photo look older and more in the style of Shirley Baker, although her photos aren't in black and white they still look quite old.

The above photos show a gathering of students for a lesson, i thought this would be a good subject to photograph because its something i see everyday as a student and people gather to learn all the time.

Shirley Baker, Hulme, 1965

Before searching for a photograph that I liked and that linked to the every day, the type of photograph I had in mind was one of people. This is because people are a very interesting subject as no two people are the same and it is interesting how different people react to different situations.

I chose this photograph because, like I wanted to find, its subject is people. I also like how the photo is of children, I like this because I find that children are more  interesting than someone of an older age, this is because their minds work differently and are very intriguing.

The photo shows five children outside, having fun as they all look happy. However, from looking at their clothes and their personal appearance, they look quite low class, they don't have much money. I find this picture interesting because it shows that you don't have to be rich or have everything to be happy, and also that maybe children don't understand or know how it feels to be better off so it doesn't really effect them or how they feel.

It links to my earlier work because, for the everyday assignment we were set where i took pictures of my living room, and both the pictures of my living room and this photograph, show gathering places for people, and their sanctuary, where they feel at home or a sense of safety and happiness.

Also, the Family photographs i took, consist mostly of my niece which relates to this photo because the main subject of this photo is children.

Shirley Baker was born in Kersal, North Salford, and moved to Manchester at the age of two, she studied pure photography at Manchester College of Technology ad later took other courses at London Regent Street Polytechnic and London College of Printing. Baker's photography cannote a 'bygone' era with a strong sense of community spirit. Baker began this work in the early sixties with a strong desire to photograph life on the street, however, this inspired her to a larger project. Baker felt that she had almost a compulsion to record "the face of a people at a time when their homes were being demolished and they were being uprooted due to a huge 'slum' clearance programme." The adults of the community wear a friendly expression but carry the burden of a time of immense change. The younger generation, however, are immune. "The children saw things differently," Shirley Baker Wrote, "for them it was a giant playground with untold treasure hidden amongst the junk and rubble."

Text and the image

I chose to insert this text into the image because i initially liked the image and thought that if something was written on the wall that it would give the image more depth and purpose.

I firstly downloaded a Graffiti font that i thought would go well, i then wrote the text on a new layer in that particular font.

I then used the 'Fx' button in the layers tab to change the writing to how i thought would make it look more effective. I used the 'bevel and emboss' button to give the writing depth, I then used colour overlay to change the colour of the writing to a bright red.

I then rotated the text to go along the wall shape and make it seem more apart of the image.

Then i changed the perspective of the text for the same reason.

I then warped the text until i thought that it looked as apart of the image.

And lastly to make the text look more effective and attached to the wall as if it were real graffiti, i decreased the opacity.

Everyday Assignment Photographs And Evaluation

This was the first photograph i took  on the 2 weeks holiday, i think this is an effective photograph for this assignment because although there is not alot around it still tells you a bit about whats going on. For example; the shoes and umbrella by the door tell you that it is raining otside and someone has just come in from the rain. Also the Dvd on the table tells you that although there is no one in the room that someone has been in there. However People can interprat the photo in their own way.

This Photograph was taken in the morning and tells a story of what happened the night before. All of the objects you can see make the photograph interesting and make the viewer think.

For these photographs, i increased the contrast, i did this to enhance the colours which are made up mainly of red and green which are the colours people associate with christmas.

I like this photo because it is over exposed, this was an accident, however, it gives the photograph an interesting effect and cuts off the top of the photo.

Everyday Assignment

My intentions for this assignment are to photograph one room in my house everyday over the 2 week holiday. I am also going to photograph the room at different times of the day. I have chosen to do this because its sort of similar to what Zoe Leonard did, however, instead of photographing shop fronts, i am photographing a room, this is because I feel that the room changes throughout the day, everyday, it never looks exactly the same on one day as it did the previous.
I have chosen to photograph the Living Room in my house. This is because the living room is the main room in the whole house, its where people gather to socialise etc. Therefore, it is the room that will show the most change everyday.
At the end, i will know if i have been successful in this assignment if each photo tells you story or at least gives you an idea of maybe what had happened throughout the day it was taken.

Zoe Leonard

The Photographer who has inspired me on this subject is Zoe Leonard. She has inspired me because the intent of her photographs is to document things that she sees in New York, she mostly took photographs of shop fronts after hours when the grilles are down. She usually takes the pictures sqaure-on from chest height, and her photos usually depict the shops sign, the invariably graffitied metal shutters, and not much more.

Zoe Leonards intention for her photographs are becasue she knows there not going to be there forever and they will change. For example, a shop that she might walk past everyday when shes little, might turn into a big company shop when shes older. so she takes the photographs to capture things before they change later on in life.

3 Every Day Photographs

For this assignment we had to take photographs of things we see everyday.

Journey Home

I like this photo as it unleashes a sense of Danger. The colour red is the main reason for this, but also because all letters that you see in the photo are in Capitals.






This photo is interesting and gives you a feel of abandonment. This is because, as you can see it shows a childrens park, but there isn't anyone in it, it looks quite lonely and un-used.


I like this photo because it has a sense of escape and freedom. Also the photograph is diagonal, which cuts the photo in half which gives it an interesting look.