Subjects

[aghastpumpkin]

Myself and "Arty" are doing prep work for our Photography exam.

I'm having a little difficutly though. We have to stick to a theme of "Viewpoints", which in my opinion is far too vague and broad, as every picture is a viewpoint in some sort of way.
So I decided to take pictures of artificial man-made viewpoints, such as Windows, open doors, mirrors etc, and combine that with depictions of human instinct, such as love, passion, defence.

However, although the viewpoint side of thnigs is easy, nobody is willing to pose for a picture and because the Centon camera I'm using lacks a timer, annoyingly, I cannot pose myself.
So I've had to abandon that and now my exam pictures are flimsically based on objects such as gates.
I've taken my final pictures, which I am not allowed to take prints from. These are better, I have pictures of vairous subjects viewed through railings, gaps in fences, chain link fences etc.

Do you have problems getting people to pose as subjects? Does anyone have a friend who they rely upon? How do you find someone to pose fo you?
I just wondered.
Also, if anyone knows any techniques I can use, apart from the obvious, in the darkroom to make the pictures more interesting that would be great.

What really annoys me is people acting like having a picture taken of them is some sort of crime. Why are people so against it?

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Exam questions are made purposely vague. It's to see how you interpret and develop your ideas. If the questions were made more specific then it would restrict the answers that students could submit and would narrow the spread between A and G. A lot more is marked than technical ability, you know. Refer to the marking scheme.

As for people not liking having their pictures taken - there are more and more high profile cases of intrusion of privacy getting into the papers. It therefore seeps into Society at a subconcious level that any attempt to take photo's is an attempt to intrude into someone's privacy. If you point a camera you are obviously an agressor and 'up to no good'. Don't look for rationality in people - they are generally pretty dumb animals.

As for making your pictures more interesting - I'm afraid that if they aren't interesting to start with there is little that can be done to improve the situation. But don't worry about it. If you look at the marking scheme originality is not in there - and being interesting isn't that important either.

 

[aghastpumpkin]

I know their supposed to be vague, but Viewpoints essentially means nothing.
Every single picture ever taken, is a viewpoint.

I guess its to get you thinking in the right direction.

My pictures are interesting, they just don't contain the human element I originally hoped for.
After the exam I will scan my best ones in and show them here.

 

[KevinR]

Why does human elements need to be there to be interesting?

Take a minute and think about your shots. One of the things that I see in shots is that if it where closer. And I mean get alot closer, details will then appear that you may have not seen before. just a few 2 cents.

 

[Lensmeister]

hi aghastpumpkin,

Just a idea .... if there are any protests or marches they can be thought of as a viewpoint.

Or

if you are in London there is a part of Hyde Park that has an area called Speakers Corner. If there is something locally t=like that near you that can work as it too.


As I said just ideas. I have them from time to time - Admittedly not good ones !

 

[Rob]

People are scared and therefore need careful handling. You need to develop the skills of a salesman (or a conman!) and be smooth with your approach.

Fear is your biggest enemy with people and you need to answer the paranoid questions first - generally they are along the lines of "why are you taking photos?", "what of?", "why me?", "where will they be published?" If you've got answers prepared and a cute smile, you'll probably always win.

I would think that an effective line to open with is "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me, I'm doing A-Level photography and I need to take pictures of people for my school project, it's on viewpoints and it's really difficult because no-one will help me" Then do puppy-dog eyes and smile.

 

[ksmattfish]

Approach people who are already putting themselves out in front of people: actors, musicians, politicians, debaters, class clowns, and so on. These folks may be more comfortable in front of the camera, and may even want or need to have their photo taken.

My musician friends who do live shows are some of my favorite subjects. For them getting their photo taken is just another performance.

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Politicians usually hate being in front of the camera. It gives them lots of trouble....


I've never had trouble getting subjects... I even have more than I can shoot actually.

Go to some place where people come to rest/have fun. You'll find lots of people idling with no purpose. Then just approach them and explain what you're doing.

Some can say no, but a lot will say yes.

cheers