Brief Two: Interior Location: The Residents of Broughton House: A Proposal

I work as a Care/Support Worker in various homes and independent hospitals around Manchester. The Service Users range from the elderly with/without dementia through to those with severe learning disabilities. The work is challenging, requiring patience and empathy. I won't say something cheesy like "I feel I make a difference", but I will say that I do make connections with some of the clients, and the whole experience of providing personal care gets me 'out of self' and prevents me from disappearing up my own arse with what's going on for me.

This gift I have (OK, calling it a gift is ostensibly me disappearing up my own arse, but I'm not at work now)- the gift of understanding and putting people at ease- is akin to portrait photography for me. The same rules apply. The people I work with are basically giving themselves over to me as a carer and a photographer; the former to get their own needs met, the latter to meet my own. In both, I am in a position of trust. The photographer is also a conduit for his subjects, enabling them to express certain parts of themselves, before recording this in the digital image. This- and the fact I am becoming more confident around asking what I want from my subjects- is the core reason for choosing to photograph the residents of Broughton House.

Broughton House is a 50-bed Residential Care Home for Ex-Servicemen personnel funded by the charities  Seafarers UK, The Army Benevolent Fund and The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. The building is one of the biggest I've ever worked in; a huge place opened in 1916 by Colonel Sir William Coates of the East Lancashire Red Cross as a response to the amount of people injured in the Great War. The place itself is like a museum- its walls adorned with pictures of old war heroes; its reception area holding a glass cabinet containing the many medals won in that war. Both the building and its residents are rich with history, which is the main impetus for me wanting to record said history photographically.

This is not a new thing for me. On the City & Guilds Level One course two years ago, I decided to do a similar thing, inspired as I was by the Social Documentary photographer Ian Beesley, who- at the time- had a few of his images exhibited at Gallery Oldham (where I was working as a gallery assistant). This was part of an exhibition called 'Women of Oldham', and featured black and white images of women who'd lived through the second world war, shot in their own environments. At the time I was also a volunteer befriender to an old man in Openshaw, so I approached the organisation I worked for in the hope they could set me up with so more old people to photograph in their own homes. I was put in touch with Auden Court, Clayton, and so was the start of a working relationship lasting a few months (I ended-up doing a calendar for them, assisted by my friend Trevor). Below are some of the images from the time:

f5.3, 1/10th, ISO400, 45mm.
I used a tripod for these. Back then I didn't know what I was doing like I do now. Its not a bad shot, and it was purely intentional that Brenda was looking away from camera (these portraits sometimes work). The colours are rich enough too. The main criticism from my tutor at the time was the subject's double chins. I think I can achieve a lot more this time round.

f5.6, 1/13, ISO1600, 55mm.
I must have really messed around with the settings two years ago. That being said, this is more within keeping to today's brief: Roy looks cerebral and contemplative. This time I will attempt to include more of the actual environment, though.

f5.6, 1/20, ISO1600, 55mm.
This is even closer to what I want from the Broughton House shoot, helped by the fact there are plenty of characters that look just like Albert. I shot him in several poses, both wide and close-up like this. The problem I had with the wider ones were the bits of tat in his room. I think I am experienced enough to remove any extraneous items now, though.

I think you can see what I was striving for here, but with the Broughton shoot I want to achieve a little more with it (if only to reassure myself that I've improved as a photographer). This time I want to make best use of the ambience of the surrounding area, making best use of all available light. This is based a rather pithy thing I read in a booklet I got free with Amateur Photographer magazine last year: "while normal people photograph objects, advanced photographers are photographing the light that is falling on the object" (1). As stated in my post on metering modes and exposure, for most subject types I use Spot Metering, but because of the importance of the environment here, I plan to use Matrix Metering. 

I assumed  the use of flash was prohibited in this brief, but have since been told it is acceptable providing it is used alongside natural light sources, not instead of. Of course, the problem I would encounter by using my flash in the TTL mode (I'd be lost without this mode), is that its sole purpose is to sync with the camera's settings to override all ambient light, thus eradicating any subtle changes in natural lights and darks. No good for focussing on the environment then.

The obvious idea was to shoot the residents in their own rooms, but Broughton has its own smoking room and library, offering me the opportunity to take full advantage of different moods and lighting scenarios. I've been inspecting both of these rooms for a while now, and both have potential. The only issue I see here is one of continuity (would I be able to get away with a mixture of shots from their own rooms and the communal areas?). In the rooms themselves, I aim to be more creative with the use of light than last time, and will try my best not to be afraid of shooting using a high ISO.

Gaining Access

My tutor, Richard Gaskill, has mentioned a few times how "access is the key" no matter what the project. This became all the more apparent at Broughton when it was made evident from the first time I mentioned the idea to the Manager. Of course, he wanted to know all about my intentions and where the images would be shown (I mentioned this blog). The manager of the home informed me he would need to speak to the Colonel (the big boss), but the upshot was a "yes", based on the following conditions: a) I could provide a letter of confirmation from one of my tutors explaining what I would be doing; b) I had my college pass with me at all times, c) I would also shoot some images for the benefit of their own website and newsletter (this was their main bargaining chip) and d) every person features in my images would have to sign a model release form (printed from Moodle). During the following shift, I was introduced to the colonel himself. Behind his stern demeanour, I found him generally interested in what I was trying to achieve (I sold myself as an up and coming social documentary photographer)- very accommodating. What I will stress here, mind, is that both manager and the colonel were more than adamant I produced some pictures that would be of benefit to the home itself. I had no reservations about this arrangement.

I also sent an email to Ian Beesley, asking whether he had the portraits of the old Women of Oldham in digital form, that I could use as part of the research part of this brief. I have yet to have a reply. 


1)  Demolder, D (2011), Advanced Photography: Camera Skills, p36, free with Amateur Photographer, October 22nd 2011. 

Field of View: Bill Brandt

After basing my last research post on Joel Meyerorowitz, I thought the obvious choice for the next was his key inspiration, Robert Frank. But- since I've never been one for making things easy for myself- I considered    other influential photographers who made their mark shooting fine art Black and White photographs. I present to you, Mr. Bill Brandt.

Born in 1904, Brandt is famous for documenting British Working life using a trademark stark high contrast style. His work was often dark, epitomising Blake's 'dark satanic mills', a tag pinned to anything set against an industrial backdrop, "often achieved in the darkroom, by cropping under the enlarger and by emphasising tonal contrasts in printing" (1). Because of his use of cropping, Brandt is a good one to discuss in terms of field of view. The Victoria and Albert Museum (quoted above) offers a comparison of the full frame and cropped images of Hadrian's Wall taken in 1943:

Original full frame version

Cropped with heavy contrast added to accentuate one of the key contours of the rock face.

I prefer the original here, for I feel the latter compromises the level of detail and subtle tones of what is a pretty good landscape to start with (why fool around for the sake of the abstract?). That being said, this is a different story when considering Brandt's trademark urban scenes.

Newcastle, 1937.
Much of his work defies any kind of photographic technique, evoking age-old questions over what can be considered beautiful. This is hardly a photograph at all; more the harsh memory of light, or else a mere whisper from the darkness. Notice how the rich contrast highlights what is important in the scene: the train, the smog, the factories faded into the background. The is no foreground, but complete blackness.

Unknown Location, 1940s.
Now and again, in art, I think its important to try to appreciate the minimal. Nothing's happening here, but space itself; the dark empty space of the sky and the way the river intersects the mass of land in the foreground from right to left. It reminds me of some of Lowry's lake paintings, or others whose key motif is one of loneliness.

Fylde Farm, LS Lowry, 1953

Brandt also created abstract distortions of the human body, as he was equally conversant in making poetic images as he was the very real surroundings of working class Britain. 

Ear on the Beach, 1957.
Landscape or Portrait? Would it be fair to say what Brandt is doing here is merging the two? From my research it looks like he produced a series of images of parts of the human body shot amongst traditional landscapes, some more erotic than just an ear. In this we are able to appreciate the landscape in the background despite being drawn to the ear that subverts the image, prompting us to ask important question: "what does the sea sound like?" Maybe.

Camden Hill, 1949.
Here Brandt uses a slightly wider field f view to draw us into his sense of narrative, made more prominent by the silhouette of the chair in the foreground. However, the chair doesn't prove a distraction, for we know that- not only is there a figure in the background, but also that she is naked and looking forlorn. Why?

1)  http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/b/working-methods-bill-brandt/

Field of View: Joel Meyerorowitz

Joel Meyerorowitz is mainly a street photographer usually placed within the same bracket as the likes of Garry Winnogrand, Lee Friedlander and Tony Ray-Jones- big names associated with New York street photography from the 60s onwards- not to mention a  pioneer of colour fine art photography of the same ilk as William Eggleston. A key work of his, Cape Light (1979), is an influential work in the field of colour photography, shot using 8x10 Large Format film. He was also the only photographer responsible for putting together an archive of shots of the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, appropriately called Aftermath. I hope to take a cross-section of Meyerorowitz's work and discuss it here in terms of field of view.

New York City, 1975.

This is one of my favourite of his. Meyerorowitz has an interesting- almost mystical- view on his work and use of the frame, believing it to be more about ideas than pictures: "do the pictures sustain your ideas, or are they just good pictures?" (http://vimeo.com/38937942).

There's so much going on in the frame here. It stands to reason why Meyerowitz made a complete transfer to colour in the 60s. Everything is happening. Its the image I think about when reading the quote I used for the above caption. The 'happening' and the 'situation' were prominent in the 1960s, and I don't think I make too tenuous a point in linking these pictures to this.  In another interview he mentions 'multiple... fragmentary, simultaneous events" (http://timconnor.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/everything-is-important-joel.html), all happening within the frame together. True enough.

Fallen Man, Paris, 1967.
This image is perhaps more akin to this idea of the 'happening' of the 1960s. Its unlikely it is staged. Indeed, whilst honing his craft New York, Meyerorowitz states: " My timing was good, I was getting better at it, and I could see these things coming. It became too easy" (http://www.foto8.com/new/online/reviews/181-joel-meyerowitz-early-work).

One from the influential Cape Light series.
Meyerorowitz has a rich understanding of light and situation, an understanding which leads him to interpret atmospheric landscapes such as this in exactly the same terms as his earlier street photography:  "where life is tumbling into the frame and he must make crucial decisions. He may centre an event or he may move it to the side so that it becomes one of many things happening within the frame" (http://www.joelmeyerowitz.com/photography/article_02.html).

Meyerorowitz spent 9 months photographing the site of the terrorist attack in New York, producing a scale of work that is both mesmerising and inspiring. This one leapt out at me, again because of the level of apocalyptic detail and craftsmanship in the image. The shells of buildings remind mimic cardboard cut-outs; the dust, smoke and water adding to the spectacle.

What he can't do with light isn't worth knowing, really. He must have studied the surrounding area for hours before pulling a shot like this out of the bag. Of course, shooting as he did with Large Format, it only serves to widen the sheer depth of the image; rich and busy in the foreground, whilst soft and hazy (much like Cape Cod) in the background.

Focusing and Metering Modes

Other than Manual focus, there are three focussing modes on my camera: Auto, Single Servo and Continuous.

Single Servo is the most common mode, and the one I use the most. With this the camera uses one focus point in the middle of the frame, allowing the photographer to decide on one single focus point that he/she deems more important than all other objects/people in the frame. The good thing about this, is it allows one to select said focus point, then recompose the shot. This is done by placing the spot onto our desired focus point, pressing the shutter half way, then moving to recompose before pressing it.

Continuous is largely used for moving subjects and/or when the camera needs to be 'panned' to follow the subject, as- once the shutter is pressed half-way and held- the focus will lock until said subject has left the frame.

With Auto-Focussing, the camera will choose its own focus point based on the scene, whether the subject(s) are stationery or moving. The problem with this, however, is-  much like the problem of choosing Auto as the overall exposure mode- you are basically allowing the camera to make its own decisions. If I was shooting a group of people scattered throughout the frame at an event , can I really trust that the camera will choose the one I want in focus?

Metering Modes

The metering mode refers to the system the camera uses to determine the 'correct' exposure for a given scene. A good exposure is one that contains an equal amount of tones across the whole tonal range, from perfect black through to perfect white. Ideally, we should be able to know whether an image has been exposed correctly by the the light metre provided on the view finder, a picture of which can be found below.

The numbers on the scale denote how under or over exposed an image is, as the centre represents a 'perfect' exposure according to the camera's metering system. This will read differently for each metering mode, for the camera is taking information from differing parts of the same scene.

There are normally three main metering modes on most of today's dSLRs : Spot, Centre-Weighted and Matrix.

Spot metering is the one I use the most. This is when the camera uses a very small area in the scene to determine the exposure (on my Nikon D3100, this is said to be "about 3.5mm in diameter, or about 2.5 percent of the frame") (1). This is most useful for situations where the subject is unlikely to move (e.g. still life). So why do I use this for near enough everything then? I suppose its because I deem the subject the most important part of the scene regardless of where it is set. I suppose, when using a shallow depth of field, you've already decided on a key focal point anyway. My camera is set to this mode all the time because I like to metre for the subject and not the scene. Not that I take much notice of the above scale. The main drawback of this, however, is- when we have a scene containing a mixture of varying tones (darks and lights)- the camera will struggle to interpret the subtle changes across the whole scene.

The symbol for Spot Metering.

The Matrix metering mode measures exposure by calculating an average of all the tones from the whole scene based on the information contained in the different areas of said scene. So if a scene has a mixture of lights and darks in it, it might be an idea to choose this mode. For this reason, this is often known as the default mode (for beginners?) due to the fact it places most of the decision-making in the hands of the camera.

Matrix symbol represents how the scene is divided into separate segments. After all, there has to be some science behind it.

Centre-Weighted is similar to Spot, in that it is measuring the exposure from one part of the scene. However, in this case the area is bigger and always in the centre ("Nikon D3100's Center-Weighted metering mode gives a weight of 75% to an 8mm diameter circle in center of frame") (2). With more sophisticated Nikon models users can widen the area the camera uses to metre, taking care of any subtle changes in tone outside of the centre circle.

Great representations, these symbols. The space metred is just like the Spot only larger.

1)  http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-select-an-exposure-metering-mode-with-a-nik.html

2)  http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D3100/D3100A5.HTM