Quote from assessors:

This is a very good submission, which was easy to navigate and you have clearly evidenced your ability to absorb and act upon tutorial guidance. Throughout this module you have produced a high standard of work and the assessors look forward to watching the development of your work through the course. In future, develop a more thorough research section of your learning log to fully explore the work of other photographers relevant to your studies.

514508 P Walker PH1EYV Marksheet

Dear Assessors

Thank you for taking the time to assessment my work.

For the 5 assignments, you will notice I have kept an over arching theme Hong Kong, together with the individual briefs for each assignment.

My blog can be found at Peterwalker-ocalearninglog.com. I am intending to use a single website / blog page for all my studies, however, the menu structure is the same as the standard OCA template and only the Expressing Your Vision posts will be visible to you as assessors.

To supplement my blog included in this package (DHL waybill number: 25 0554 7192) are:

Assignment 1

• Print of image 4
• Print of image 5
• File containing pdf blog posts for original tutor submission, rework and hard copy of the tutor report.

Assignment 2

• Print of image 4
• Print of image 7
• File containing pdf of blog posts for original tutor submission, rework and hard copy of the tutor report

Assignment 3

• Print of image 2
• Print of image 6
• File containing pdf of blog posts for original tutor submission, rework and hard copy of the tutor report

Assignment 4

• Print of image 5
• Print of image 6
• File containing pdf of blog posts for original tutor submission, rework and hard copy of the tutor report

Assignment 5

• Print of image 4
• Print of image 8
• File containing pdf of blog posts for original tutor submission, rework and hard copy of the tutor report

The OCA G drive contains:

• Original tutor reports
• Assignment 1 final rework images
• Assignment 2 final rework images
• Assignment 3 final rework images
• Assignment 4 final rework images
• Assignment 5 final rework images

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have left the original image 5 (the rope) and the Image 7 (passengers) as while they are not perhaps unique to the Star Ferry, they do capture what I am trying to achieve. The picture of the rope is one of the small details that catch my eye each time I board, something that indicates we are on a boat and something that will never change while ever the ferry is in service. Similarly, with the passengers it is meant to show a normality because while the ferry is perhaps a quirky working piece of history it is part of everyday life for many people.

I have removed the original image six in favour of a bilingual sign, as it shows more the audience the age that the ferry comes from and I have removed the Image 10 the standard ferry shot and swapped in a more quirky image of the crew cutting rope mid crossing on the deck of the ferry.

I have looked at the order of the pictures and they are presented to how a sense of journey from what you see as you board the ferry, to what you see as you walk around and finally the ferry arrive at the pier.

I feel that this set builds on the original set tightening and plays more to the quirkiness of the ferry. I have considered captions to the images, but I like that the feel it better to allow the audience to guided by the own thoughts, as would look to present this as an exhibition with the introduction being why 300 “what is it about.”

The Star Ferry

What is it about?

For HK$2 you can climb aboard the Star Ferry at Pier 7 in Central, Hong Kong and embark on a journey that has despite the marching of time and modernization has remained remarkably untouched in decades.

The Star Ferry was the one thing I wanted to do when originally came to Hong Kong on a short business trip – if I did nothing else I had to tick it off my bucket list. Now some seven years later I still take the ferry on a regular basis, and I am still as happy as I was the first day I sailed across the harbour. The ferry is to everything about Hong Kong that I love. For five years I lived stones through away and it would often be the starting point for me on many a day out.

The Star Ferry that it is living museum, a ferry runs from 6 am to 11 pm only stopping for typhoons, not matter how many passengers there are. Even though this is no longer the only way to cross the harbor it is still as relevant now as it was then.

I once said happiness was getting on board the star ferry, coffee in hand, and setting off on the short seven-minute journey across the harbor. There is peace and tranquility on the ferry, even at the busiest times, that you cannot experience any other form of transport. Life on the ferry moves at a different pace, there are details to take in, free air to breathe, there is personal space that you never feel on the MTR (Hong Kong’s underground); these images are an attempt to show the peace I feel every time I step on the ferry.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Image 5

Image 6

Image 7

Image 8

Image 9

Image 10

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…

Simon has not only given pointers about images I should reconsider in rework, but he has also given me a lot of pointers towards how I should consider presenting the images.

I thought that I had made it clear in my notes that the images were arranged in a particular way to show the journey across the harbor on the ferry. The initial images are the stars that are in the funnel of the boats to introduce the subject leading to timetable showing the direction of travel and finally onto the vessel itself.

I believe Simon is right about the last image, the ferry, everyone who has been to Hong Kong has that pictures, and I think in hindsight it isn’t 100% necessary to show the ferries sense of location.

I also agree with the comments about image 5 – doesn’t show anything unique the Star Ferry. This is an image I would look to replace the picture mentioned above.

Image 6 – understand Simons comment, however, to me there is more to this image that the signage, there is the lights on Hong Kong island in the background that help, set a sense of place to the overall image set. Again with image 7 the “normalness” of the passengers is what I am trying to portray, there is nothing quirky about the passengers on the ferry – it is just a practical way to get to from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui.

This first step to polish and rework this image is to look for alternative images; there were some pictures that I wanted to include originally that I was conflicted about leaving out – these will be my first considerations. I will have then look at the presentation style of the assignment and some accompanying captions for the images to help with the context of the set.

In addition to the assignment rework, there are a couple of areas with my coursework mainly ex 5.2 and ex 5.3 where I need to review and revise my work.

Highlighted Tutor feedback

The start of assignment 2  was a continuation of my confusion when it came to collating a set of images that sat well together. I spent hours shooting pictures of crowds which were appalling pictures and did not fit the brief at all. I had failed to read the brief clearly and was not using the right combination of lens aperture and viewpoint.

My research was inadequate for this assignment and the idea for the assignment came from an image I took while I was out shooting.

I love the idea that came out of it, the humanity of litter, but after that original shoot, I should not have just sat down and edited and processed the images into a nice looking set of images. I should have started more research and tangents, looking how others have shot this type of subject. But I had just returned from a 6-week trip backpacking in South America and decided against spending a further few weeks on research in addition to the time spent on my trip pursuing a failed ideas. Therefore, I rushed to get something “down on paper” and to my tutor.

If I had researched the assignment or even simply returned home written out an artist statement, I feel that the assignment would not be quite a one-trick pony that it is. Although I do stand by this assignment, I have an enormous amount of pride it. It has its faults but from fumbling beginning it is is one of the most cohesive pieces of photography I have ever produced.

I feel I wasn’t clear enough initially with the artists statement, I eventually created, about what I wanted to show this was caused by the slightly retrograde nature of the writing.

Perhaps starting the set with an image of litter being dropped and ending with a piece of litter being swept away would have enhanced the assignment Or even taking a longer time and focus on a particular type of litter – cigarettes for example.

As the course has progressed, I have found myself being drawn back to this assignment and the potential it has. While I have been conscience not to be drawn into overly rehashing; I will look to continue this a longer term personal project.

I was excited by assignment 1; it seemed to fall into my hands as being something that I like to photograph and that I was a good photographer, and this could show off what I had to offer.

How wrong I was, my tutor on our initial conversation said was about finding something I wanted to illustrate and exploring that theme. This confused me and which left me wondering and procrastinating on what I should shoot – my research into the suggested artists left me more confused.

What should have been a simple assignment led to procrastination, and me putting together a set that was just a nice set of individual images.

What I learnt from my tutor was that there was no consistency to my images in style or theme and if I’m honest I didn’t understand what he meant – even after the post feedback telephone discussion and as I worked on the rework.

For the rework, I concentrated on a re-edit of the images firstly to correct the inconsistent crops and then followed my tutor’s advice of concentrating on an individual theme.

The overpowering theme from the images that I had shot was signage so I followed this line. While I could see a more consistency in the rework, my head or more correctly, my heart conflicted. The original set had faults in the individual images, but I liked them better as a set than the revised set. I wasn’t that I didn’t like the revised set it was my heart conflicting with me.

My Tutor commented that it was much tighter set, and that was pleasing, but I was still a little confused. This confusion did not start to clear until I was shooting assignment 2  and now when I look back, I understand much clearer why the 2nd set was better.

Reprocessing

In the assignment, I was pursuing the effect of the mixed artificial li lighting that is abundant in Hong Kong. To show this and how the different types of light come through. To show this as I explain in my original submission, I used a combination of the white balance eyedropper and VSCO film preset in Lightroom. However, the lead to images with dark muddy shadow details which were extremely high contrast and didn’t do justice to original raw files.

I have now individually processed each image to ensure there is more detail in the shadows but also mindful to keep consistency across the pictures so that they still set well together as a set. This has been achieving through the use of the Lightroom adjustment brush to dodge and burn and also to brush in colour balance and saturation selectively in the pictures.

I have also corrected the verticals/perspective on the original images as most suffered from distorted perspective due to the combination of camera angle and the focal length of the lens. While not always an issue, here given the scrutiny the images are under – I felt it was an added distraction in the images that didn’t need to be there.

Re-edit

Overall, I was happy with the selection of six images I submitted to my tutor of this assignment. However, my tutor did raise a couple of queries for my consideration. One was the similarity to between image 1 and 3 and that image 4 was perhaps stepping a little away from the theme and overall quite a distracting busy image,

As soon as I relooked and image 4 in the pre-process stage I instantly removed it from the set – it doesn’t lean any weight to the set as a whole it is distracting. My tutor had suggested that a portrait orientation might have help, I don’t think so; perhaps if had it of been a setup portrait or shot with the old man’s cooperation it would have been better.

Earlier in the course, I looked at the work of Philip-Lorca DiCorsa’s “Huster’s”. In “Hustler’s” DiLorca used a technique of pre-setting up his scene and then waiting for subject to walk to the stage or invited them to pose. On reflection, this is the only way to go when trying to capture people successfully and control the lighting as desired.

I have replaced it with a cityscape where blue light is dominating the picture, except for a what could be seen as stubborn pieces of warm light. I feel this image rounds the set of nicely when placed at the end of the series, as it shows how the artificial blue light has replaced the natural blue of the first image.

It is for this reason while similar, images 1  & 3 remain in the reset bring a different perspective on light to the set. Image 1 shows the blue light of the sky against the warmth of the street lights and acts as a starting point for the set. Image 3 shows the effects of the mixes of light as it falls and envelopes its surroundings.

The Images.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Image 5

Image 6

Refection

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills

As presented, in this re-work, I feel that the pictures are technically much better that the original presentation. I have used Lightroom room as a digital darkroom to manipulate the RAW files, to achieve the effect I was looking for. In hindsight, shooting the complete assignment handheld was a mistake, and tripod would have allowed for bracketed shots which could have then been layered, in Photoshop, to increase the dynamic range of the images. Also, I didn’t “work the scene enough” alternative shoot angles – something to keep in mind for future shoots, although, I should be experienced enough as a photographer not to be making such a school boy error.

Quality of outcome

Overall, I’m pleased with this set – as you will note I was apprehensive about the concept initially I was buoyed by my tutor’s comments, and I feel it has been a significant landmark in my journey through this course.

The theme I was trying to convey is how ambient artificial light, in a city like Hong Kong, transform the landscape once night falls. There is method to how the images are squenced they illustrate a jouney, both across the town from my workplace to the ferry (which was to be the subject for assignment 5) and through time, showing how the light changes in different times and places.

Demonstration of Creativity or Imagination

By presenting, the theme as a journey through time I have tried to explore for the viewer the different effects of the light, how it mixes, creating scenes which sunlight can not replicate – and nor would we want it to; a city at night belongs to a combination of colour temperatures. It’s where it can express its individuality. All cities are lit by the same sun, but no to cities, nor to areas of a city are ever lit by the same combination of lights.

Whether it is producing aetherial blue canyon,  evident in image 2 or the extra-terrestrial environment of image 4, the set shows how things are different under the this unnatural light.

Context

This assignment came from within me if I’m honest I found the research difficult on this. I the idea was triggered by work of Sata Shinato, but I didn’t want to go too close to his images of neon signs. I wanted a more organic developed piece resulting in mini cityscapes.

Brassai said the light at night is magnificent, and that has only become a truer statement with every passing year.

Overall I’m very happy with the set, as I said above it is significant point in my journey I can see more clearly now how I need to develop my ideas and voice. I don’t in anyway this mean life on the course has got easier, just that the are clearer patches in the metaphorical fog

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills:

These images were shot with a range of cameras over a several visit to the ferry, sometimes a small compact EOS M mirrorless with 35mm Equiv lens. Other times with a full frame DSLR with a range of focal length lens.

Reviewing the shot on the Mac one day shoot most of the outside shots were in my opinion unusable as the light was too flat and grey. The images were shot in aperture priority mode, taking are to have unclipped highlights and shadows.

Post processing was very minimal across the pictures, just to make the RAW file pop and keep a consistency to the shots.

I lost count of the ferry journeys that I took over those days; I did keep swapping from the Wan Chai and Central ferries and the upper and lower deck for two reasons different views and to keep suspicion level down.

Quality of outcome
Photography is simple; of course, it is you just point your camera and viola, if only that were true. I have learnt a lot from the past for assignments, and I think that new knowledge was what made the picking of a subject and concept difficult.
The photography in a way was easy, but the tying the elements together that were a different story, but I like the final images I have submitted for this assignment, and the set was received favourable comments from peer review in the OCA Facebook groups and course message board,

A lot of thought went into the final images and their presentation order. The set is designed to reflect the direction of travel from getting on at Tsim Sha Tsui. Although, the set is not intended to reflect a single journey, it symbolic of the sights on that journey that have left happy memories, with the final image symbolizing that the ferry continues to run and will always be there for me when I need it
I conflicted, on the pictures, to pick, the brief was to show new information with each shot, but there was a need to show context and keep the feel set together. I have stepped toward the more eclectic set to show progression, and I hope that my tutor and assessors see it the same way.

Demonstration of Creativity or Imagination

Here I have explored the happiness that they I have felt by riding the Star Ferry, I was once quoted as saying as long as I could afford a coffee and the price of the ferry, I would always be happy in Hong Kong.

I have tried to explore that by showing where my mind takes me while on that 10-minute journey, to show the peace that ferry travel brings. This something you can’t experience any other form of transport – in my opinion. Perhaps for a future project a series of diptychs, partnering the ferry with another form of transport would be an idea to pursue,

Context

My research for this was the work of Alex Soth and Olivia Arthur, how they have captured the lives and expression of different cultures in their projects. Both those photographers have used people extensively in their project, but I just wanted to distill that idea to my ferry journeys but without focusing too much on the human aspect. I also was working with Robert Franks – Americans in mind as well.

Perhaps my the level of research isn’t quite right, with this Assignment as I was more focused, on achieving my aims visually. A ferry journey is a trip road, if only for 10 minutes; it is a journey I have tried my best to convey this fact.

There are element about the ferry I would have liked to have included that would have taken the set down a different viewpoint that is the finance’s behind the ferry, but I struggled to find a way to illustrate this.