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- Simon
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It's been a good while since I last stopped a stranger at random and asked to take their portrait. Inspired by @blakester and numerous others I thought I'd try to make a bit of a project of it, rather than my usual elaborately lit and processed studio stuff. It's definitely time I learnt how to photograph people who are neither models nor performers.
I quite often pop out from work at lunchtime and visit a local bird reserve but - bar the odd bad snap of a kingfisher - I've never developed much interest in photographing the wildlife. I though it would be interesting to create portraits of the other visitors through the seasons and see what comes of it. I'm going to try to photograph anyone who's willing rather than selecting interesting-looking people, but they may end up getting culled in the end.
I'm quite pleased with the first results but they're not at all what I had in mind. I was working too quickly, somewhat conscious that I was interrupting people's visits, and fell straight into a default head & shoulders shot. I was also just going for my usual walk around the reserve and shooting more or less where I found people rather than waiting at a good location with nice light.
Next time I'm going to lurk at one or two spots and try to include more of the environment.
I found that my conversations with the visitors started to come out almost exactly the same. Nearly everyone was there for the same sorts of reasons. I also need to think about the sort of expressions I want to capture, and whether I want my subjects to make eye contact. Most visitors are in a similar state of mind, fairly tranquil, out to relax, mildly surprised to be jolted out of their reverie by an uncouth photographer. I can't decide whether to make use of that or to try to get more of a reaction.
I also can't decide whether to leave the images entirely unprocessed or present them - as here - with a little bit of toning. My head tells me to leave them but I find myself applying a little polish by way of toning and curves tweaks.
Rachel was my first subject. She was a little shy and somewhat surprised to be asked, but entirely willing. Rachel visits most weeks and enjoys the peace and quiet. Ironically at the time there was a car alarm going off in the distance. (Another learning point - I'd used my default studio portrait lens for Rachel, which is too long for me to get close enough to make effective use of my hand-held reflector.)
John was next. He's been visiting this reserve and numerous other local ones for years. He's not a fanatical birder but is very knowledgeable all the same. He'd seen an otter and hoped to spot a kingfisher later on.
Next up was Marlene. Marlene was over from the Eastern Netherlands ('the very mountainous bit') visiting her daughter in Cambridge. We discovered that I'd been to her home town to attend an acrobatics festival some years ago. She particularly enjoyed how accessible the reserve was to those of limited mobility; The Netherlands doesn't have anything like it.
Feedback, both on the images and the direction of the project, is very welcome.
I quite often pop out from work at lunchtime and visit a local bird reserve but - bar the odd bad snap of a kingfisher - I've never developed much interest in photographing the wildlife. I though it would be interesting to create portraits of the other visitors through the seasons and see what comes of it. I'm going to try to photograph anyone who's willing rather than selecting interesting-looking people, but they may end up getting culled in the end.
I'm quite pleased with the first results but they're not at all what I had in mind. I was working too quickly, somewhat conscious that I was interrupting people's visits, and fell straight into a default head & shoulders shot. I was also just going for my usual walk around the reserve and shooting more or less where I found people rather than waiting at a good location with nice light.
Next time I'm going to lurk at one or two spots and try to include more of the environment.
I found that my conversations with the visitors started to come out almost exactly the same. Nearly everyone was there for the same sorts of reasons. I also need to think about the sort of expressions I want to capture, and whether I want my subjects to make eye contact. Most visitors are in a similar state of mind, fairly tranquil, out to relax, mildly surprised to be jolted out of their reverie by an uncouth photographer. I can't decide whether to make use of that or to try to get more of a reaction.
I also can't decide whether to leave the images entirely unprocessed or present them - as here - with a little bit of toning. My head tells me to leave them but I find myself applying a little polish by way of toning and curves tweaks.
Rachel was my first subject. She was a little shy and somewhat surprised to be asked, but entirely willing. Rachel visits most weeks and enjoys the peace and quiet. Ironically at the time there was a car alarm going off in the distance. (Another learning point - I'd used my default studio portrait lens for Rachel, which is too long for me to get close enough to make effective use of my hand-held reflector.)
John was next. He's been visiting this reserve and numerous other local ones for years. He's not a fanatical birder but is very knowledgeable all the same. He'd seen an otter and hoped to spot a kingfisher later on.
Next up was Marlene. Marlene was over from the Eastern Netherlands ('the very mountainous bit') visiting her daughter in Cambridge. We discovered that I'd been to her home town to attend an acrobatics festival some years ago. She particularly enjoyed how accessible the reserve was to those of limited mobility; The Netherlands doesn't have anything like it.
Feedback, both on the images and the direction of the project, is very welcome.
