Third Shoot

Shoot 3 Contact Sheet

Open publication - Free publishing - More children

Week 2 Exercise - Mini World

First of all, I shot and stitched this panorama....

...and then put it through the polarising filter to get this mini world.

Courtenay Place, Wednesday Night, Central Wellington.

Second Shoot

1) Here, I was looking at the empty playground, but was struggling to convey my intentions with no kids playing, and also thought the play equipment with no human interaction was rather boring - the bliss of childhood play is what I'm trying to convey and I can't do this with no one in the photos! The children aren't the subject of the photos, but they give meaning to the space.

2) This photo is a retake of one I took in my last shoot, just experimenting with a slightly different angle and composition. I also boosted the colour a little more in this shot, so as to convey the novelty and 'newness' of it in a child's mind.

3) I was very lucky that this photo is so focussed on the far child because I noticed after taking the picture that this captures her as she 'jumps' at the very top of the seesaw's movement! I love how this captures a very peak moment.

4) This is a beautiful photo - capturing in first person the joy of child's play. It was a spur of the moment picture that I took while on a tangent from my photoshoot that I took to play with a child who needed someone on the other end of the seesaw as her parent was with her sibling on another part of the playground (photo 5). It has a nice balance between the two sides of the photo (partially incorporating the climbing frame and swings on each side) and with the central seesaw focus, but has enough of the space to still be focussing on that rather than solely the child who was on the other end of the seesaw as I took this photo.

5) This photo has near perfect proportions according to the 'rule of thirds' and I really like it for that. It freezes a moment in time of blissful play between father and child.

6) This is the same part of the playground at a later point in time when two siblings were playing together, taken from a different angle also. I love how this shows the space being used cooperatively by siblings.

Shoot 2 Contact Sheet

Open publication - Free publishing - More children

First Shoot

Shoot 1 Contact Sheet

Open publication - Free publishing - More child

Unedited images from the first photoshoot

Proposal - Project 1 - Space

The playground is a place to explore, have fun and just be a child. There is a certain blissful ignorance that surrounds child's play and I'd like to explore photographically the feelings and memories that exist in a space such as this.


To ensure the photos are viewed from a child's point of view, I will be utilising low angle shots as if little people themselves were taking the photos.


It is in the middle of the day that children are generally most active, and hence the most activity takes place in a play park, therefore I will be shooting my series around noon each day to ensure similar lighting conditions throughout. As sunshine is assimilated to happiness, the weather must be fine for the shoots. I also intend to make use of lens flares as a direct link to this sunshine.


The location needs to be relatively local to enable me to revisit conveniently for regular shoots, while also being a popular area for parents and caregivers to bring their children - the playground in Central Park, Brooklyn, is just this, while being just 10 minutes walk from my current place of residence.


"You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing.  What!  Is it nothing to be happy?  Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long?  Never in his life will he be so busy again."  ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

Artist Precedents

First of all, my main starting point for this entire topic was this poem, by Tania Brady, studied in a past paper in an English exam prep class, way back in '08. It's called The Dragon's Playground.


The dragon's mouth opens wide

to let the children in. They stand,

and grin, gripping broken teeth –

no longer razor sharp –

their rubber soles indented by

worn off fangs that must have eaten

a gazillion of them by now,

but spat them out.

None are missing after all.

Perhaps it is the taste?

It seems a monstrous waste.

With teeth so white, shiny

golden hair and skin that glows

they'd be a delicacy –

each fleshy morsel, plump pink limbs,

so young and fresh and ripe.

You'd think that giant creature –

newly painted scaly aqua bright,

underbelly royal blue, floating

on a sea of softening bark –

would snap it's jaws shut tight

and steal them off

into a shadowy night, delighting in

treasured gulps of sweetness

and light, with a bundle of

goodness in every bite?

One day it MIGHT.

http://www.arts.org.nz/brady.htm

This got me thinking about all the adventures I had as a child on playgrounds, pretending I was in all sorts of outrageous imaginary situations, and how, to a child, the world seems so different.

---------

I then came across this image by Guy Bourdin, which made me think of having the photograph potentially showing the child's view of the playground on top of the real-world adult view.

http://dailyserving.com/2009/03/guy-bourdin/

I absolutely love this photo taken by Monica Elena Kost's of two young girls playing with a hula hoop. I just think it creates such a happy, carefree atmosphere which is perfect for what I want to convey about the playground as a space.

http://pirouetteblog.com/tag/childrens-photography/

Finally, the bright colours and bright lighting seen in this series of photos by Olivier Ribardiere are something else I'd really like to push in my work. I think it really conveys a fun, childlike atmosphere which fits perfectly with my photographic intentions.

http://pirouetteblog.com/tag/childrens-photography/

Starting out on Flickr...

Link to my Flickr page

This week's task was to create our own Flickr accounts and start to get networking - joining groups and the like.

So far, I am a member of:
"Children's Photography."
"surreal photography"
"indie & vintage"

The first is because I love working with children - they are definitely my favourite subject to work with. They are usually oblivious to the camera and are so unaffected by the world around them. And, if I'm being honest, they take a lot less photoshopping because they have naturally flawless skin!

The second is because ever since we did Surrealism at school, I have had a fascination for creating a fictional world inside the photo. I love creating what is almost a fairytale behind the image and showing that through manipulations.

Lastly, I really like the aesthetic commonly seen in this group - the soft, pinkish toned images have a really unique quality that I often apply when photographing children to show a sort of innocent aura.

Week 1 Exercise - Panorama

Children's Playground - Central Park, Brooklyn, Wellington

DSDN144 - Journal Page 1 - Brainstorm