Summer ongoing

Over the summer i stayed with my nan and whilst i read about photography and thought about being a 'concerned photographer' i thought it best that i do a photo essay on what it is like to be a widowed pensioner. I lost my grandad last year and since then my nan has had to cope with help from friends and family, but largely alone. Obviously this photo essay is far from complete for one reason and another, but i hope to capture the every day, consistent dealings of my nan, Brenda Wilson's life.

I looked at the style of Richard Billingham as he was the most obvious example of family social documentary photography and also his essay was much more than just family shots, his told a tale of the fight both his parents had to endure through alcoholism.

This is my nan Brenda (left) and her sister, my great aunt Irene

My nan in her quite custom position

This is BO who my nan took in, BO stands for bugger off which she was called in the early days of the relationship, she is forever 'cleaning herself' and it is very annoying

My nan cooks the same dinner every night, she has potatoes and veg, gravy, and usually beef, sometimes chicken, fish if i am there

I love my nan

Photography and Fashion

Gema Cartlidge

I used this brief to broaden my knowledge on editorial and fashion photography, all things being equal if i could shoot editorially for Vogue or other high fashion, high society publications i would be very, very happy.

I used my cousin Gema Cartlidge as my model because not only is she aesthetically appropriate but she also dreams of a career in fashion. The photographs are shot to be used in a women's fashion, hair and beauty magazine.

For the most part i have used a more commonly used style of pose and form that would usually be seen in middle market magazines and supplements. I have tried to keep the style within these magazine's usual form, but i have also tried to implement a little of my own style which naturally leads to a darker edge, using more sassy clothes, darker tones and prop's to gain an extra edge.

We looked at magazine's 'Look' and 'Closer' in order to ascertain a style of modelling and photography that we would use.

After many, many, many shots under exposed, i found that setting the flash to ISO 250 with a 2.8 aperture at 35mm gave me a workable exposure using a macro lens.

After we had shot the more casual and more commonly used fashion and make up shots, I decided that we would attempt alternative looking editorial and started by over exposing by 1 and 2 f-stops.

I aimed these shots at magazines such as 'Vogue' and 'Cosmopolitan' using props and different style of angle and poses. As it happened some of the shots really worked (4th pic below) and some of the shots started to look like photographs used in advertisements (6th pic below) especially men's aftershave.

I personally could see any of the bottom 4 pictures on this blog appearing in any of the more up-market lad's magazines 'GQ' for example.

All of these shots were taken in my auntie's dining room and considering what we had to use and what i had predicted i would get, i am very, very, very pleased with the results. I think they do communicate what i'm trying to achieve which is mixing a classical style of fashion photography with alternative undertones where possible. I hope to one day produce by own magazine or online publication that would uses these style of photographs.

This type of shot could be used in any type of hip hairstyle magazine

This is my favourite of the fashion shots, i used a curtain to achieve a dark background

I copied this style directly from 'Closer' magazine, naturally Gema did her own make up

The richness of colour and silhouette make this a 'Vogue' looking photograph

Greyscale converted this shot from a make up shot to a soft beautiful looking portrait

Personally i think this shot could be used in anything from a fashion magazine to a lads mag publication to billboard advertisements

This pose was originally taken from 'Look' magazine, but with the black lace tights it gives it a darker angle

This shot would go into 'fabulous' magazine or anything new age fashion, the blue on red is very abstract and striking

I'm not entirely sure what type of publication the shots above and below belong to, i think that they both work as art photography portraits but could equally be used as a poster or part of a particular calendar or niche publication. I think this kind of style could also be easily used in magazines such as 'Vogue', 'Cosmopolitan' (pic above) or even lad's mag's 'GQ' and 'Esquire'

BIG ISSUE

Bond, James Bond

This is Andy from Blurton, Stoke-on-Trent. He is Hanley's residential 'Big Issue' seller come singer come dancer come all round entertainer. Ever since i can remember i have always enjoyed Andy's antics, many a time he's brightened up my saturday mornings between my mum dragging me from Marks and Spencers to Bhs. What i didn't realise is that these 'Big Issue' sellers have to travel to Manchester every week and buy stacks of the 'Big Issue' out of their own pockets and basically, hope they sell. Andy has been selling the 'Big Issue' in Hanley for around 15 years he reminises and the photo below just shows the kind of rapport he has with the people of Stoke-on-Trent. Although he has to shout "BIG ISSUE" if anybody ever declines they always receive a "thank you, have a good day, (Merry christmas)". He's gentleman and all round nice man.

Typical reaction from shoppers around Hanley

Hanley's got talent

"Big Issue, No Problem, Merry Christmas"

Wolstanton F.C Vs Hanley Town F.C

The ball falls to Danny Leese who puts away Hanley Town's 85th minute winner

Wolstanton's Chris Darlington and Hanley's Danny Brown battle for the ball

In an evenly fought match it was Hanley Town that came out on top, just. This match was a re-match from last weeks washout. In less than ideal conditions it was Hanley Town who started much the brightest testing the Wolstanton goalkeeper in the first minute. After a scrappy opening 20 minutes it was Wolstanton that took the lead when a cross from the left wing eventually fell to the Wolstanton's Chris Darlington who gave the stranded keeper no chance. Hanley were back level within 15 minutes when a long range shot was only part parried into the path of Hanley striker Kieron Shepherd tapping into an empty net.

The second half followed the scrappy first half, with conditions becoming increasingly heavy underfoot neither team were able put together telling possession. Hanley started to push with Shepherd hitting the post with an audacious volley and strike partner Jones having two penalties turned down. With extra-time approaching it was Hanley who continued to dominate and without Wolstanton's excellent goalkeeper the game would have been over well before the eventual winner came 3 minutes from time through Danny Leese after a scramble in the Wolstanton penalty area. Wolstanton pressed for the equaliser to force extra time but Hanley, who had defended very well throughout the game held on.

Wolstanton swing in a corner leading to the opening goal

The ball eventually lands to a Chris Darlington (left of Wolstanton's number 9) who gives Hanley's stranded keeper no chance

Hanley in the hunt of equaliser start to impose on the game

Shepherd (right) equalises for Hanley

In a tight game it starts to become a midfield battle

Both teams give it everything in awful conditions

Wolstanton enjoy possession down the left flank

Hanley press for a late winner with Shepherd battling with Wolstanton defenders

Hanley's Ryan Jones continues to push Wolstanton onto the back foot

Hanley get a deservedly late winner with the goalscorer Danny Leese being congratulated by team mates

MONEY FOR YOUR MONEY PLEASE

Is it me or is having to pay to withdraw your own money like the cheekiest thing you've ever heard? Well it's the cheekiest thing i've ever heard; and it's becoming a more and more common pain in my wallet. The first time i saw one of these cash machines warn of a withdrawal charge the pain and anger almost flipped me out. I had become a fully fledged member of the 'this country is going to the dogs' brigade. Whilst these machines were quite uncommon in charging for their supposed service of convenience, i just knew we would see more and more of them being introduced. Unfortunately i was right, and now, in the 'poor student' area of Shelton where i live there are 5 'rip off' machines to 1 'free' to withdraw machine. This 'free' machine is situated on Staffordshire university campus, and as you can see from the pictures below it is often 'out of order' presumably due to access use. To wrap this shambolic situation up you can expect to be charged £1.50 - £1.85 for the privilege of your own money and if like me you normally take out a tenner that's a minimum of 15% charge on your money. For this reason, when i have to use these demonic machines i instead withdraw £3o-£40 to shorten the service charge to the lowest percentage possible. This is bad for me as in the morning not only do i have to carry around a banging headache but also the knowledge and guilt of spending £40 on a night out i would usually only spend a tenner, because let's face it, in today's world you aint bringing home change regardless of how much you go out with.

His name is Rio but he don't care

After having a week of seemingly endless bad luck i took to my cousins house in preparation to finally shooting my local story brief tomorrow. After being let down time again i'm going to shoot Hanley Town F.C Saturday afternoon as The Sentinel cover lot's of local sport especially football and Hanley Town seem to get more exposure than most. This will help me as it will be good to show in my research just how the Sentinel report on local sport and hopefully how i have tried to emulate local sports stories. These shots are of my cousin Gema, her boyfriend Gav and their cat Rio.

A vs S

These photograph's show how with different aperture settings (f-stop's) and different points of focus, different shots can be produced. The f-stop number or aperture relates to how open the camera's aperture is set too. The higher the f-stop number the smaller the aperture will be in the camera and vice versa. With an open aperture (small f-stop) the depth of field becomes 'shallow' and as seen in the above photo and those below the point of focus remains sharp but detail front and back of the focus becomes blurry. Higher f-stops (smaller aperture) 'deepens' the depth of field and more detail within the frame becomes sharp. Sports photographers use wide apertures (small f-stops) and fast shutter speeds to achieve crisp in-focus shots. Wide apertures also help in low light situations as more light is being allowed into the camera.