Morocco-Extended Photo Essay, work in progress

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Extended Photo Essay

Insha'Allah

I went to Morocco having set up some shoots with a group of young Muslim Moroccan men (in their mid 20's). I wasn't exactly sure which locations I was going to shoot in but had plans to photograph in their houses and possibly their work places or where they hung out/spent time. My initial idea for the photo essay(s)was to produce a piece of work which penetrated beneath the surface of Morocco and engaged with the culture, people and country. I suppose I wanted to come back with something that no one had seen before, avoiding the usual visual stereotypes (which are actually difficult to avoid when you are in such a picturesque country with such amazing natural light). As usual, my preoccupation would be with the 'ordinary person', to make captivating images which attempted to communicate with the audience and portray something remarkable and memorable. I planned to present my 3 subjects with a series of questions designed to help me understand them more and record the answers. The questions would relate to their culture, religion, country, outlook on life amongst other topics which would occur naturally in the conversation. I was influenced by Broomberg and Chanarin's Ghetto project where they asked a series of set questions to different people from a variety of 'Ghettos'. I knew my images would depend on what I found out during my sessions with each of my subjects.






















I felt that there was both a conceptual and journalistic potential with my idea. My strategy was to gather as much information as possible and shoot in a variety of situations. One of my interests lies in exploring the language of documentary photography. I felt that the voices I would record would form part of the final work. I have some voice recordings but am unsure whether they are good enough to use. At this stage the options I am thinking of are re-record the voices, use transcripts as text quotes or use a 'sound track' to accompany a slide show.

Mini Photo Essays

"I am teaching myself English, everyday I get better. Here in the bookshop I can read in peace. One day it will be my turn"

Husnu is Kurdish & lives in the UK. For the past seven years Husnu has repeatedly put his asylum case forward to the Home Office through his solicitor and the local MP without success. The process is long-winded, complex and frustrating. When a local MP contacts the Home Office on behalf of an asylum seeker they are obliged to reply within three weeks. As Husnu has no 'new evidence', the response each time is always the same...

"It was decided to maintain our original decision that Mr Koluman's case is not of a sufficiently compelling compassionate nature as to warrant expedition..."

And so he waits. Waits for a decision for which he has already waited for for seven years. To fight his feelings of powerlessness and being in a state of terminal limbo Husnu has been concentrating on teaching himself English for the past 6-12 months. He tries to study for 6,7 or 8 hours each day. He hopes to become a Turkish/Kurdish translator for other Kurdish nationals or a journalist.

Mini Photo Essay 1:

Photo Essay 2-B&W Final Edit - Images by Amelia Shepherd

Mini Photo Essay 2:

Photo Essay 1-Final Edit - Images by Amelia Shepherd

Mini Photo Essay 3:

Photo Essay 3 Edit - Images by Amelia Shepherd

Portraits and other thoughts

I haven't been on here for a few weeks and it feels like a lot has happened. Not only have I been shooting assignments for the MA but I have also been away, shooting a bit of other stuff and then last weekend I was at a conference about War Imagery at the Imperial War Museum-very interesting, met some interesting people and lots of ideas were banging around the room.

MA Portraits assignment (It feels like ages ago that I shot this now)

Looking at these with John last night made me reflect more positively on them that I had initially. I tried to challenge myself by using a lighting kit as well as shooting each set in numerous locations with numerous angles-close-up, mid and environmental shots.

Portraits 1-Sean Ryan

Positives-It was a "pretty good set". Contemporary lighting and good use of shadow in some of the outside shots. Simple background can work v. well so don't be afraid of that and over complicate.

Going forward-find a way of lighting a room (to get context of what was clearly an interesting flat). Think about natural light sources in the room and try to replicate this with the lights. Balance the light more so that when there is light in the background it is not drowned out by too much subject light. Try using just tungsten for interior portraits (forgot what I would normally have tried if I wasn't using a lighting kit!)

Portraits 2-Emma Major

Positives-Great variety. Good use of space (as Homer would say!) in some images. Interesting crops, intensity. Pastel portraits v. contemporary and quite fashiony with muted colours. Extracts her femininity well. A certain style emerges with a sensitivity to subject. Good set

Going forward-photograph lighting set up to remember it. Crop out of the frame unnecessary objects (bathroom mirror). Try straight on portraits-art directors love it. Outside shots-could have used soft light to light her face.

So here are some images from the second portrait I shot of Emma, a long distance runner:

I thought I would take a look at what some of my bathroom series looked like cropped. Here's the results:

Summary

I am pleased with these sets of images although recognise the mistakes as well as the strengths. As with anything of this nature it is practice which will improve my portraiture. I think these images all show a good control and relationship of/with the subject and there are signs of my own style and creativity emerging. The overall weakness for me is lack of ultimate technical control of the situation in some instances. I was so thankful to be shooting on digital so that I could get an idea of the lighting as I went along. As I said to John in my tutorial I don't feel 100% confident using a lighting kit but I could work my waay through a situation and have plenty of creative and visual ideas which ultimately will be a great strength once the technical issues are sorted. There is so much to deal with when shooting portraits you can become absorbed in one aspect and forget others so it's important to try and stand back during the picture making process...

Human Relationships Shoot 3

For the 3rd and final Human Relationships shoot I really wanted to choose 'older' people. I think that I felt it would help me position myself as more of an outsider, more removed, quite simply because I was further away in age from my subjects. I find old people fascinating and I suppose I wanted to try and put myself in a position where I was learning something about them by being with them and hoped to convey some of this in the shoot. Perhaps a little ambitious in a quick 70 frame shoot but I believe these were my underlying intentions in choosing this subject matter.

Human Relationships Shoots 1 & 2

This has been a tricky one to organise and get access. I have been pursuing quite a few options that were pending so in the end I went with 2 subjects I could shoot over the weekend and one I am shooting tomorrow-hopefully!

The first one I shot was a band preparing for a gig...really glad I could push to 1600ASA as it was barely lit, hence sticking to B&W and the grainy effect I have ended up with. In colour there are so many colours due to the colour temperatures of the light sources in the venue. They were interesting but I felt B&W gave them that documentary edge and removed them once step away from 'gig shots' and more into the realm of reportage...

Second shoot wasn't so demanding technically but time wise it was. I was asked to return the favour where I was shooting (teaching English to Migrants, Asylum Seekers and Refugees) and shoot some 'urgent' shots for them for an event they are holding this Saturday. Of course, I did some that I thought they could use as well but I had to be quite strict and impress the point that I wasn't going to just keep coming back and shoot for free! I didn't explain it in those terms but hopefully that's what came across...

Colour shoot-Migrant English Project

B&W shoot-Band