The Square Mile

Brief

6-12 shots taken within a square mile of my abode; capturing my style, personality, and with a touch of experimentation; with some brief comments about why and how each picture was done, and a 500 word mini essay covering the processes and thoughts behind the project's outcome (and further development, with suggestions on how I would/could change it?), to be sent off as soon as!


Ideas

1) Use first letter of each word in the title of the task; worked ok at first but got a little complicated due to me flaffing around with contorted tenuous connections (contrived even; managed to hone it down to simple word connections like THE: Toast Hot Eat, but that felt ever so silly. Why? Well, as I said above, I felt that that was just me looking into it too much and maybe not letting the ideas flow out; thinking it over too much - trying to be clever. Dunno.
Scrapped anyway.
Remembering what the rubic said about keeping it simple (but pushing yourself in a new direction) and get it off fast to the tutor.

2) Have no idea how to pronounce "Y FILTER SGWAR", however "Why filter a square?" popped into my head and I went with the idea of photographing different squares with/without the use of filters (added by me physically and also digitally in post). Quirky and sweet, I thought. I haven't totally let this idea go just yet. I really like the idea of juxtoposing (had to use it!) language with image and I believe that this could be developed into a fairly effective idea.

3) One day in the Life of Kev
So, here, I am thinking about creating a photo sequence of moments throughout a typical day in the life of me. I am SO original. Would like to add some arty archi-abtract stuff and macros (totally me) which should be tastefully and hopefully smoothly intergrated into a cohesive, relevant whole.
Hopefully.
I am also (thinking of the above "try sth new" bit) hoping to put some more spontaneous shots in; something I don't do so much with the more archi-abtract shadows and graphic world I live in so often, so looking to develop that idea; some happy spontaneities?; happenstance without being totally irrelevant to the brief/task/objectives.


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Pre-task observations (Idea 3)

Moping around the house doing household chores struck me as a ridiculously bland idea to try and capture. However, on second thoughts it seems like a perfect introduction to me, myself and my photography (apart from the fact that it fits the criteria of "trying something new" and not "sticking with what you think you are most successful at" too).
So, I tried it.
Would like to give this mini project a weird crescendo colour effect – I’m thinking starting off with BW emphasizing the fact that I am still half asleep and then slowly (exponentially?) growing in vibrancy. Seems to be ok so far…
No, not actually going with the faded shot to full colour. It's one or the other for me: B/W or colour.
I'm going with the colour (although I am looking forward to seeing how it looks in BW too). I am also thinking that this would be more striking visually using a square crop on the final shots and then presenting them (printed) in a large square composition. Yeah, ok, I do seem ever so slightly biased towards the divine equilateral and equiangular parallelagram. Is that a hindrance? A limitation? Would be with landscapes, or rather, could be, I suppose. Maybe I should stop thinking of the purely compositional aspect of my photography? Possibly.
I am getting a distinctly cramped or claustrophobic feel from these preliminary shots, should I try a nice wide angle (which I haven't really got) for the night shot (shot 11), or final picture (shot 12)? Open the view a little?

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My Gear

Olympus OM-D E-M10 (MkI)
Olympus Zuiko 50mm F/1.8 (with OM-M4/3 adaptor; Eq 100m)
Olympus 14-42mm (28-85mm Eq) and 40-150mm zooms (80-300mm Eq)
Fujian 25mm F/1.4 with C-mount to M4/3 adaptor

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Preliminary shots


Shot 1

Toast (probably call it 09.28, or something). 50mm at F/1.8
Nice morning light on the kitchen table, thought that it would look good through the Olympus 50mm (100mm on the E-M10), thanks to the shallow Dof. I think it does. (Would really like to use a blurry half asleep shot here…nice macro even?)



Shot 2
Shaver (50mm)
Nice tidy shot of the lead hanging down from the plug in the socket: practical, slightly rigid (tight?) framing. Didn’t really like the wonkier (more natural?) version as it seemed too slack (and was rudely underexposed); Maybe what I should go with seeing as this is supposed to be slightly experimental, right? Maybe.
Maybe not.






Shot 3 

Dustpan and Brush (50mm)

Did a couple of shots of this one (contact sheet); firstly focused on the handle, but found it to be too lost in the bokeh, so to speak; preferred the shot focused on the base of the pan (and broom head) as it captures the whole point of the shot which for me was showing that I was routinely cleaning up. Liked the broom head angle bringing some dynamics into the shot, and challenging the strong curve of the blue pan; the blurred handle made this less of a claustrophobic shot: a little splash of blur to spoil the red and blue dominance here, I reckon. (PS Life is colourful but often dirtry too?)

Shot 4 
Mouse (Raynox 250 macroscopic lense handheld in front of the 50mm Olympus (at F/2.8 – to compensate for the Raynox as it adds more than enough blur) Clean up followed by a browse. A beautifully curvaceous everyday object. One of our many modern day Gods (probably deserves some research and its own project?).

Shot 5 

Studying (Olympus 14-42mm)

Chose the wider angle for this one as I wanted to get more in the shot. However, I actually didn’t: preferred to zoom in to focus. I find this shot different to those I usually do, it seems dull. But that is surely something I need to understand better: what constitutes a “dull” photo? Dull compared to what?

Shot 6

Archi-abstract/kids?  

Not feeling this one just yet. Will scrap it, I think.

Shot  7 
Hanging Out (Olympus 40-150mm)
However sad this may actually sound, I do find some great shots when on the balcony with the clothes horse. This shot seemed to line up nicely which I was putting the washing away. The text, the lines, the peg, the red, and that gorgeous sun.

Shot 8
Carpark shopping (Olympus 40-150mm at 92mm)

What am I trying to say here (or with any of my more abstract square crops)?

I like the way the arrows almost contradict each other by zooming in and cropping out any other contextual clues; also think that the two coloured segments add structure to the shot too (and support to the arrows?). I’ve done pictures like this for years, and I still haven’t got bored of doing them yet. And why should I? With these shots I seem to find them everywhere but often don’t always have a camera with me to snap them up. But I do try to make a mental note (or jot down in a book cover which I then forget which!) and then go back to try and capture it. The harsh Mediterranean light works so well for these shots (although this particular part of the morning the light was softer thanks to cloud cover).

Shot 9

Zooming Through Some Books
I have seen this zooming in effect on Flickr but had never tried it until now. To be honest it took a a few attempts to get the shot stable and reasonably balanced in terms of lines. Something I definitely would like to try out again. I always try to have a read between chores. Sometimes it can be a bit difficult to read 5 books at a time, but I find that organizing my reading time helps with actually finishing them! (My subconscious need to read quickly, (poorly) seeping out into my photography?)


Shot 10
Students
Nice (candid) shot of my students working away. I'm thinking about a nice 25mm/or 50mm here... Possibly a wide angle shot as mentioned above.

Shot 11
Walk home (night shot – 25mm wide open at F/1.4)

Shot 12
Book at Bedtime 
or too many books to read?

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Post-task observations
(To be copied from notebook)

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Feedback

To come