Saltaire Shoot

Saltaire shoot

These are the two images I selected from my Saltaire shoot. As a class we were asked to go off in groups, and take photos of seven different colour groups from a list of pre selected ideas for images. For example finding seven different colours of a door. The task was constructed so we would have at least five images per colour. I enjoyed being out and taking photos freely and wanted to take photos that were original. I wanted to find images that I found interesting and not limited by the task. Having a task focused my mind and allowed me to fufil the brief. However, as a result I paid less attention to my environment and this curbed my creativety and freedom to capture things that interest me. I found this frustrating so I decided to expand from the brief and explore my environment more thoroughly. I was drawn in by really dark blue stained windows in a courtyard I came across, and by getting closer and exploring the area I discovered grape vines and was excited by this discovery. An aspect of photograpy for me is capturing things which are often bypassed. Capturing the grapevines was like discovering treasure, capturing things that you otherwise you wouldn’t be aware existed.

I didn’t like being constrained to a group, having to decide as a group where we shoot photos. I felt panicked and more pressure than usual to take pictures. I was worried that I wouldn’t get everything done on the task sheet. However, in the end I took photos by what I was drawn to. I found Magenta and Cyan particularly hard to locate. Where as, reds, yellows, blues, greens and blacks were much easy to come across. I had my camera set on manual so I could adjust my settings to enhance the colour of the images I would be taking.

I learned that if my camera settings of contrast and vivdness become too high the colour magenta becomes more of red in colour. I took one picture on auto setting and one on manual mode so you can see the difference.

Manual Mode

Auto Mode

After making a contact sheet out of my Saltaire shoot, I realised that I need to focus on the specific images I have been asked to collect rather than the images that interest me. I also need to diversify myself when taking images, to make sure I don’t have multipal shots of the same photo. 

This is a photograph of my friend Michelle’s cyan coloured socks. There is a nice contrast between the green and cyan. The dark shadows within the green background make the cyan stand out more. The curvatures of the feet draw the eyes down towards the centre of the image. There is a sadness to this image, for me it has connotations of death and murder. The imperfection’s of the socks adds a realness to the image. The scale is difficult to determine which adds a mystery to the subject matter. This gives it a feel of loneliness, cold and vulnerability. The colour of the socks adds to the coldness and suggests that the person may be cold, adding to the idea of death. There is two subject matters nature which is alive, and the socks which are so out of place that it creates a mystery which in turn creates an uncertainty and can become unsettling for the viewer. 

I chose the second image because it coincides with one of the objectives of the task which was to take a picture of a car. I took into consideration the composition of the image by moving around the car and looking at it from different angles. I chose this side of the car as I liked the way the light hit it. I waited for the sun to hit the car at a certain angle in order to bring out the brightness. I like how the light and dark curves within the image give the illusion of speed and power. The lines within the image give it definition and depth. To me this car looks likes it could go really fast.  I like the reflection of the pavement which is empty and to me this links to people becoming reliant on vehicles to transport them and how now pavements are often empty. The colour of the car is so vibrant and reflects how warm it was on the day of the shoot, I think I have captured that warmth of that day in this image.