Assignment Five – The last two images

I finished the shooting for Assignment Five last weekend and have processed the two images, on and off, over the last week.  I’m happy with the outcomes, overall, though I have a ‘technical’ regret over the first one, which is below.

My concern is to do with the eyes.  It was a cloudy but bright day and, with hindsight, I might have done better to use the reflector to get more light into the eyes and therefore more of a highlight.  The basic ‘information’ is there, and I’ve done quite a bit of work in Lightroom & Photoshop to make something of it – but using the reflector would have helped.  That said, it works successfully and is another good narrative.  The trophy is the first of many that Lance won playing football, and the envelope contains an invitation for a trial with a First Division football club back in 1955 – and indeed an invitation to play for their youth team.  There’s more behind the story as well, but not relevant here.  There might be a question mark over the way I’ve framed the image, with the positioning of the goalposts behind his shoulders & neck.  The first thing to say is that Lance chose the position he stood, precisely where he would have been for the kick-off when playing at ‘left half’.  I liked that – it made him part of the process of making the image.  With that position determined, I chose to make the goalposts very much a prominent part of the background – deliberately slightly off centre from his body/head, but still boldly part of the story.  I think it works fine, but I guess some people might have made a different choice.

The second image from last week is below.

I had the same issue with light and eyes here, but to a lesser extent.  This image was made in a much more public place – a busy high street, with passing shoppers and cars.  It’s a narrow street, and we’re actually working across the road from the shop, just into the top of a narrow private alleyway that is more or less opposite.  It isn’t necessarily very comfortable for the subject to have to pose, in public, and it was somewhat chilly, too.  So, I decided not to further complicate things by having someone standing with a reflector as well.  There are some challenges in photographing a black doll with a shiny head in the open air on a day with lots of white reflected light!  However, putting all those things to one side, I’m pleased with the outcome on this one, too.  The ‘story’ is another good one – Elaine was born in the house in the background; her mother bought her the black doll when she was a little girl; and her mother crocheted the dress that it still wears.  There isn’t any significance in the house being No 13 – at least I don’t think so – but it’s another little twist to the tale, as is the bright pink signage that now publicises the shop.

With the last two images ready, I’m now at the stage of writing up the assignment for submission to my tutor.  I said I’d try and do it by the end of March; 7^th April today; so not too bad.