Six to Eight weeks of shooting along the loose theme of “mobile telephones” did not feel like it was long enough to do the subject justice. I felt that I was grabbing shots that were not the best and tried hackneyed techniques to make the shots work. Coming up short on the research around other street photography practitioners; I was more focused on getting the images.

I shoot a lot of street style photography but not until I started this course did I concentrate on a theme – therefore over the course of the assignment there was a tendency to fall back toward my “default programming”.

I tried to step away from the graphic style of Cartier-Bresson, as the busy nature of Hong Kong would have limited areas and times to shoot. I concentrated on capturing people in their daily life, and while the images are good, they do not push the boundaries for the decisive moment. Lack of research being the major downfall.

Before the course and this unit, I was perhaps a little anti “the decisive moment” as there are many photographers on Facebook groups who see themselves are the gatekeepers of street photography. Who delete images from images sharing groups because it does not live up to their vision of “pure street photography”. This doesn’t help the development of personal style nor the development of photography as a whole.

Yes, an image has to show “that fleeting moment” but this can be expressed in many ways – in my original submission I had missed this in a couple of cases by shooting a too static a scene, but anything can be the decisive moment we just have to present it well. And this where my poor research comes to the fore.

Creativity needs to be fed, and that food is the work of others how it was shot before who can we replicate it, how we can change what has gone before and built upon it, what should be avoiding be it been done a million times before. By not fully researching I have hampered myself, particularly in this assignment, as I have not been able to make the best use of interpreting other styles and successes into my style.

This is a fact that I will take forward significantly in all my further studies research and self-reflection are a big key to success I can see that now – to neglect is to work with one hand tied metaphorically behind your back. Focusing on only your images is the worse thing you can do…

“Many thanks for sending through the rework of Assign 3. Your substitution of images improves the set in that it gives a more of a fleeting moment associated with the decisive moment. I think that you need to expand more about your reasoning for replicating Tri-X – yes it may well be what you used before, but you need to talk in terms of how this effects viewers’ impression of the image.”

 I like Simons comment gives me a lot more confidence in the images selected. I take on board the comments re the replication of Tri-X, and as I haven’t let Simon have sight of prints yet for this assignment (logistics as I live in Hong Kong), I will re-word the Assignment notes again and let Simon have it again with the prints, next week.

Mobile Phones

I live in Hong Kong and street style shooting is what revived my passion for photography. However, the crowded streets do not always allow for graphic Henri Cartier-Bresson-esque shots, and this has made me look at the decisive moment from a different angle and lead more to me capturing a moment in life; which I suppose inverts the traditional view, capturing the usual not unusual.

One thing that has always struck me about Hong Kong is how much smartphones are part of the culture here and always have been in the close to 7 years I have lived here. You may think that is not unusual, mobile phones are everywhere but, think back. I left the UK in 2009, and if you had a friend with an iPhone it was unusual, they were in their infancy, you would crowd around them to ask to see it. However, immediately on landing in Hong Kong, I felt like a Luddite not having an iPhone. Everyone was connected 24/7.

And this has just grown and grown faster that you can imagine everyone see now is glued to their smartphone – it’s not just iPhones now! With this in mind, I wanted to capture a set of images that use mobile telephones to illustrate my Hong Kong style of the decisive moment.

I shoot primarily around 35 to 50mm focal range when working on the streets, this a focal length I’m comfortable with and for this project I did not try to shoot in one day I shot images over a period using the following statement of intent:

“Use black & white images to capture the prevalence of mobile telephone use in Hong Kong society.”

All the images were converted to black & white using the same technique decision to use Black & White is because Colour in Hong Kong can be distracting one of which there is such a variance in quality of light, from unusual mixtures of neon to harsh, flat daylight. As this was an essay on the decisive moment shot throughout the day over many days, I didn’t want the variances in light/colour to cause an image or 2 to standout from the set.

Following tutor feedback that the set was patchy, I have taken the time to re-edit and shoot to remove the hackneyed and less successful images.

The images

Image 1.

In this picture, we have an older man heading up an escalator in an MTR station making a call. I like how in this moment of the man in his world. He is focused on both the call and his direction of travel holding the handrail tightly. Behind him are two women around his age who you can see clearly are engaged in a conversation. At this moment we can wonder or what is happen why is the call so important, what are the women chatting about

Image 2.

Here I like the captured moment of a man just looking up from his phone in a crowded MTR train, his face shows a moment of surprise perhaps from a message on his phone – however, the positioning of the other passengers looks as if he has an audience and he is shocked to find them there. I like this image; perhaps it could lose some of the train ceiling, but that would spoil the overall set dynamic.

Image 3

Here we have a businessman caught with wandering eyes – the shot came from seeing the girl taking a call away from friend and was waiting or unusual shadow, but the crowd played into my hands. While we can infer what he is thinking I like how is in the different direction to the other in the scene – perhaps an indication his thoughts are different to others.
Image 4

Here I like the fact that we have an older and younger person both checking their phone, with the live feed of the stock market in the background. Again this fit to my vision of the decisive moment because the image brings the question; are they both doing the same thing? Are they making rapid changes to their investments?

Image 5.

Here I like how the main subject is almost silhouetted against the contrast of the bright corridor. He is on the phone and smoking in his break-time, a classic look at the back of any restaurant and bar. There is a tiredness to his stance, is this a tough conversation or his is he just getting moral support from a loved one during a long shift?

Image 6

Crossing the flow of traffic in her world. Here I think is she rebelling by not following the herd, but iy maybe she is so engrossed, on her phone, that perhaps she is just lost from the herd. Will she be gathered back up or when she leaves the frame will she be lost forever?

Image 7

Boredom or attention seeking, what is going on here? It would appear the Mum is giving too much attention to the phone and not enough to the child. Why are they sitting in such a quiet station? Every viewer I can infer a slightly different story.

Conclusion

I have found this a very challenging assignment (even after the rework) as I have tried, with each image, to capture a moment in the daily life. I overall I’m happy to have kept a theme throughout the pictures, but tried to make each of them as a little individual.

As with the original the shot are all exposed well, and well standardized with uniform crops and black & white conversation, but still the project does have weaknesses, but I think less patchy that the original project.

Street photography is hard and sometimes can only reap one keeper image from several days of shoot – particularly when keeping to a theme and this project could run and run.

I’m on the whole I like the set of images I have submitted, but it has been a tough edit to get to this point.

Tutor Report (highlighted)

Highlighted FeedBack

Black & White was always a conscience decision that I again (similar to my choice of subject in A2) I failed to articulate fully in my assignment notes (this again is something I need to address going forward) so I’m in the position of having to defend a challenge in my reaction post.

I have covered my choice of B&W processing style in a separate blog post, but the overall choice to shoot in black & white came from personal experience/preference. Colour in Hong Kong can be distracting one of which there is such a variance in quality of light, from unusual mixtures of neon to harsh, flat daylight. As this was an essay on the decisive moment shot throughout the day over many days, I didn’t want the variances in light/colour to cause an image or 2 to standout from the set.

I find B&W a great leveller though it not the perfect fix, but is ideal for this essay and I stand by my choice to shoot this assignment in Black & White,

With regards to a rework of the assignment, the first step is a re-edit of the original shortlisted images, because as my tutor says there some which I shouldn’t probably have edited out and some that should never have been included

Then add in some different shots I have taken over the past few weeks to see if I can come up with a much less “patchy” assignment.

I live in Hong Kong and street style shooting is what revived my passion for photography. However, the crowded streets do not always allow for graphic Henri Cartier-Bresson-esque shots, and this has made me look at the decisive moment from a different angle and lead more to me capturing a moment in life; which I suppose inverts the traditional view, capturing the usual not unusual.

One thing that has always struck me about Hong Kong is how much smartphones are part of the culture here and always have been in the close to 7 years I have lived here. You may think that is not unusual, mobile phones are everywhere but, think back. I left the UK in 2009, and if you had a friend with an iPhone it was unusual, they were in their infancy, you would crowd around them to ask to see it. However, immediately on landing in Hong Kong, I felt like a Luddite not having an iPhone. Everyone was connected 24/7.

And this has just grown and grown faster that you can imagine everyone see now is glued to their smartphone – it’s not just iPhones now! With this in mind, I wanted to capture a set of images that use mobile telephones to illustrate my Hong Kong style of the decisive moment.

I shoot primarily around 35 to 50mm focal range when working on the streets, this a focal length I’m comfortable with and for this project I did not try to shoot in one day I shot images over a period using the following statement of intent:

“Use black & white images to capture the prevalence of mobile telephone use in Hong Kong society.”

All the images were converted to black & white using the same technique in Lightroom & Silver FX 2 The decision to use Black & White is to avoid the distraction that colour can bring to the scene and allow the viewer to concentrate on the subjects.

The semi-finalist images (see blog post http://petewalker-ocalearninglog.com/2015/10/20/assignment-3-semi-finalists/) we then left to marinate for a couple of weeks so that I could view them with a more critical eye.

The images

Image 1.

In this image, we have an older man heading up an escalator in an MTR station making a call. I like how in this moment of the man in his world. He is focused on both the call and his direction of travel holding the handrail tightly. Behind him are two women around his age who you can see clearly are engaged in a conversation. The image was deliberately framed with the escalator running from corner to corner

Image 2.

Here I like the captured moment of a man just looking up from his phone in a crowded MTR train, his face shows a moment of surprise perhaps from a message on his phone – however, the positioning of the other passengers looks as if he has an audience and he is shocked to find them there. I like this image; perhaps it could lose some of the train roofs, but that would spoil the overall set dynamic.

Image 3

The typical commuting scene here we captured the moment of 3 people oblivious to each other all engrossed in their life. You look at the scene and decide what each is doing. Man in the suit is checking business messages or email, the young guys perhaps watching a video or a video call with a loved one, the man in the background playing an online game.

Image 4

Here I like the fact that we have an older and younger person both checking their phone, with the live feed of the stock market in the background. Again this fit to my vision of the decisive moment because the image brings the question; are they both doing the same thing? Are they making rapid changes to their investments?

Image 5.

This couple appears lost on the busy surrounding of Mong Kok, have they stopped to consult their phone of perhaps Google maps. The moment to me is they are unaware of their surrounding; let alone the photographer in front of them, as they find out where they are.

Image 6

Walking along with eyes focused on the phone, such a “normal sight” the moment again raises a question to the viewer, what are they focused on? Why is so important? How do they not collide with others? This image was shot “from the hip” the angle was intentional could be stronger if less space to the left side.

Image 7

Here I like how the main subject is almost silhouetted against the contrast of the bright corridor. He is on the phone and smoking in his break-time, a classic look at the back of any restaurant and bar.

Conclusion

I have found this a very challenging assignment as I have tried, with each image, to capture a moment in the daily life. I overall I’m happy to have kept a theme throughout the pictures, but tried to make each of them as a little individual.

While the shots are all exposed well, and well standardized with uniform crops and black & white conversation, the project does have weaknesses – particularly it might be a little too far from the Decisive moment norm for some viewers. I wanted to stay away from producing Cartier-Bresson clones. Also on the presentation side, there is perhaps a little too much dead space in a couple of the images (image 2 & image 6), which could be cropped away, but it would then affect the overall presentation of the set.

On reflection I’m in 2 minds as if I have pushed thing too far conceptually here but I stand by my work – some of the images maybe a little too crowded. This is an assignment that could go on and on refining the shots, as is the way with the decisive moment, but is now time to submit for feedback.

I like this set of images, and I was hard to pick a starting team from the squad to use another sporting metaphor

Of the discounted images here are a few reasons:

No1 while I like the image I only got one shot off on my iPhone – not there on composition and focus

No5 & 7 these had the same issue a little too busy

No nine the man on the phone is with one of the shoppers which s why I took the shot however o reflection nothing is tying him to her, therefore, looks too random

No ten the subject is too lost in the surrounding crowd

No 11 no engagement with subject

No 13 I can’t quite but a word to this other than too generic

No 14 again no engagement with subjects,

This is my first cut of images for Assignment three, I’m using the statement of intent:

“Use black & white images to capture the prevalence of mobile telephone use in Hong Kong society.”I have quickly turned each image to B&W before making the contact sheet to give me a better idea of my vision. Once I have a more refined cut I’ll convert to B&W using my preferred method using Nik Software Silver FX.

Below are a series of contact sheets from images I have been working on for a the last month, you will perhaps recognize some from my post earlier where I was looking at a collection of pictures of crowds with mobile phones are a secondary theme.

For the decisive moment, I want to continue the work I started with mobiles are I think it is an area that has mileage and something which is relevant in today society. I am of the belief that we do not have to emulate Cartier-Bresson geometry and pattern to create a decisive moment – a decisive moment is a moment that illustrates a point or if we are lucky tells a story.

I am concentrating on mobiles as they are constant in our lives something which wasn’t even as prevalent six years ago. Although then we all had phones that what they were phones, iPhones we in their infancy, so we did have it glued to our hands 24/7 – if wanted music you took an iPod and phone and added a book if wanted read – now all we need is our phone.