Evaluation

Looking back on my work i have covered a wide range of research and i have come up with many ideas. But i found that i was begging to stray from my main aim. My original aim was to show the actors personality and the person they are within the mirror without seeing the actual person within the image, on a face to face value.I was branching into the actual live performance's and i even began to venture into the actors expressions and the audiences reaction to what just happened. I think yes it was good that i was comming up with all theses ideas it shows my learning process and thinking, but it was straying from my original idea to show the actors getting ready and there reflection. I was wanting to go behind the scenes and show everyday people what happens, you may imagine that they play games or listen to music and even like in some of my images which i researched into have a smoke before the show but i think at the end of the day and you can see by my final images, that they are like you or I and do exactly the same as us. I like the images i have produced and i think they have displayed my aim well. The image i have put on the front of my dvd's and dvd cover was the darlington civic theatre the main place where all this happened i found it important to include this because it sets the scene.

Costing

Rite so overall here are my costings over this term:
books:£50.00
petrol:£180.00
prints:£35.00
print box and sleeves:£53.00
paper print outs:£4.00
Total:£322.00-overall I think this worked out cheaper than last year

Bibliography

Books:
*photoshop CS3 essential skills by mark Galer and Philip Andrews
*Collins Digital SLR handbook by John Freeman
*The photography Bible By Daniel Lezano
*Three persepctives on Photography by Paul Hill
Websites:
http://www.silverprint.co.uk/ProductByGroup.asp?PrGrp=724
-23/9/09
http://http://www.arrowfile.com/
-24-9/09
http://www.durhamweb.org.uk/fourclocks/what.htm
-1/10/09
http://www.justingrantphotography.com/#/fashion/
-7/10/09
http://www.jamesnader.com/fashion_2009.html
-7/10/09
http://www.darlington.gov.uk/Culture/arts/
-7/10/09
http://www.justin/grantphotography.com/#/fashion/
-13/10/09
http://www.darlington.gov.uk/Culture/Arts/
-13/10/09
http://www.darlington.gov.uk/Culture/Event+Information.htm?EventID=158794
-15/10/09
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
-15/10/09
http://www.pjjphotography.co.uk/photo_4796541.html
-21/10/09
http://www.nickroylance.com/reportage.html
-22/10/09
http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/
-28/10/09
http://www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk/shows/1/1754/The-Tart-and-the-Vicar-s-Wife.htm
-11/11/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_g9kiIAT78
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REll3OCahcI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfDSWzIIVoM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t18GgtPsjY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph6bCtx6U4s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME3rai0yUF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WBhdy2cu04
All on- 5/11/09
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/zone_system.shtml
-29/11/09
Contact numbers:
Duty Manager Peter Tate on (01325) 387731 Darlington Civic theater duty manager

So now i have everything sorted where am i going to get my prints done at?

Well i have decided to be adventurous this time rather than sticking to my usual and just getting them printed at uni i have decided to get them printed at RGB labs this time.I have heard mixed reviews from rgb and i find that the majority of my class friends get them done there, Ive heard they are good so long as you tell them exactly what you want and expect which is what i will be doing. If they come out wrong i know my customers rights i know i dont have to pay for them if I'm not happy and i will be getting them printed again so hopefully fingers crossed nothing will go wrong.

The zone system

The zone system
A couple of weeks ago we watched a video on Ansel adams, and we learnt about a bit more information. Within this video I learnt about the zone system, now I have heard of it before but to be honest I really didn’t make a point of researching into it until a couple of weeks ago. The best way to describe the zone system is:
*You camera reads in different tones of gray but the majority of the time only reads a mid gray. Which causes a lack of tones within you’re images you’re blacks are not black and you’re white are not perfect white.
*I learnt that Ansel Adams uses the zone system whilst photographing his subjects to make sure he achieves his black, being black. Here is a little research on him which I did and the zone system:

*Ansel Adams developed the zone system to cope with this situation. His technique was to carefully study a scene, visualize the final print, then determine the correspondence between portions of the scene and tones in the print. He would then meter, expose and develop the negative accordingly. His basic rule was,
"Expose for the shadows; develop for the highlights”.















Click on images to enlarge and read details
The zone system chart and description of zones:
I think this technique is a really good technique within my images I usually darken down the black because I find they are usually not a natural black so in future reference I may try this method.

My final presentation.

After much research looking for presentation i was originally deciding on presenting my work in a leather portfolio. After talking to the teacher we found that we did not immediately have to get a leather portfolio but it would be best for our professional studies hand in. So now that i know i don't have to buy a portfolio i have decided to present my work in polyester sleeves as usual in my black print box, and i will later towards the professional studies hand in ,will buy a leather portfolio. Bellow are the products that i will be presenting my work in:

My final ten Images

After whittling through my images I finally decided on my final 10. I found this editing really difficult. Within editing which I have done in the past the images have been so different and opposites where-as theses images were really hard to edit because they were all so similar but I pursued with the editing and came out with 10 below you will find my final 10 images:

lighting diagrams

Within the guidelines surrounding what we had to enter into our journal is said to include lighting diagrams. With my Final 10 images I was working on location without a set up lighting situation so it wasn’t possible for me to produce a diagram. But I will still verbally explain the processes I went through. Because I didn’t know what lighting situations would be waiting for me I took a:
*Canon speed lite flash
Every visit I did I didn’t need to use the flash head unless photographing practice runs before the shows. The reason for this was because each actor, which I photographed, had a continuous line of lights above their mirror so they could get their makeup perfect. Which I found set the scene in the images perfectly and offered a lot of light upon the subject.

Hartlepool Calender competition

A couple of weeks ago I entered into the Hartlepool calendar competition, I really wasn’t expecting to win anything but it would have been nice in the end I won £500 for the main winning image and then I got another 3 images into the calendar and won £75 per image so overall I won £750 so I was really chuffed. The money that I won I have decided to put towards a car because I am going to start to learn to drive. Below you will find my winning images:
































And the main winning image was this one which i named silhouettes by the sea(below):

Tips from books and you tube-Photoshop top 40 by Deke MCClelland

When starting this course I had never used Adobe Photoshop before so it was all new to me, and even in year 2 my skills on adobe are a lot less skillful than other members in the class. I would watch other members in my class and the things they did and try to learn from them, but as soon as they ventured into the complex system of layers I got lost very very easily. To be honest I didn’t want to be badgering people for help when there busy getting there assignment ready to hand in, because I have been in that situation and its rather annoying.  I mentioned to Phill a lad on my course about how little I know and how did he learnt these skills and he introduced me to you tube.

 Before the 6 weeks previously I had bought several books on adobe Photoshop and books with advice in which I found useful these books being:

*Photoshop CS3 essential skills by Philip Andrews and Mark Galer

*Collins Digital SLR Handbook by John Freeman

*The Photography Bible By Daniel Lezano.

And yes they did help me but some of the sections were far to long and were step by step but it didn’t tell you where to find the tools (which for a numpty like me was rather hard)

 So I Gave you tube a try and entered the details in you tube them being:

*Photoshop top 40 by Deke MCClelland.

I found this very useful because he shows the views what to do by filming his computer screen; he directs you to the tools and shows you how to use them. His demonstrations are done on adobe Photoshop CS4 but he shows the viewers where these tools can be found on CS3 (the software I have) which are usually the same as the same as CS4.

I have learnt a lot from these demonstrations and I am now writing them when I get free time down in a book in step--step instructions where I can find the tools etc. With an index in the front of book so I can look up a skill I have forgotten and go to that page which for me was rather a good idea if I do say so myself.

Here are the links to the certain video's i found useful, i tried to attach the you tube to my blog but it was unsuccessful.

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_g9kiIAT78

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REll3OCahcI 

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfDSWzIIVoM

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t18GgtPsjY

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph6bCtx6U4s

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME3rai0yUF4

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WBhdy2cu04

Choosing my Final 10 Images and explanation

After reflecting on the tutorial, which I had with Richard, and looking at my images I finally whittled them down to my final 10 prints. With none of them containing the live performances that I photographed. Don’t get me wrong I did have some good images within the onstage shots, but I found that yes I had lots of ideas and research from them, I was straying a lot from what I was wanting to show. I though adding on screen photography with behind the scenes was a bit of a mixture and was straying from the main subject matter of capturing the persons personality within the mirrors and  they did before hand to get themselves ready for a show. I think I have gone out on a limb with this decision and yes I may lose marks for this decision but it was making my final prints a mixture rather than a pure form.

On the other hand I am glad that I have done the research on photographing live performances because it shows learning and my will to want to learn more. Within my last post I posted that I would be contacting a theatre photographer and including this within my research. With me not including live performance photography I don’t think it is necessary to contact a photographer. But I have the research and information to contact one if I ever do this project again.

Problems experienced within shooting a civic theater show

After doing this project ,when photographing the actors in their dressing rooms. I came up with many problems other than trying to not get myself in the mirrors. But when they allowed me to photograph the actual shows happening from the sidelines, this is when I came up with sum problems.

I found that in a high key act where there are lots of scene changes and props like the full Monty, they were constantly changing the lighting.

A long explanation short:

Aperture?:

Because the lighting was so dark I was having to set my camera to use a very low aperture 3.5. And because I was using such a low aperture my photo’s weren’t as crisp as I would have liked them to be.

Shutter speed?:

Again because there was such little light as explained above I had my aperture set very low and wide to allow as much light in my camera as possible, but yet I was still not getting enough light in my camera so I was having to set my camera to a relatively long exposure (shutter speed). I also found that with the shutter speed I was using because the actors were running around and dancing, they were coming out unfocused and blurry.

Light meter readings?:

Because I was photographing within a theatre obviously the lighting changed rapidly all the time, I kept having to take light meter readings, and constantly adjusting the settings in my camera for my images to come out relatively decent.

ISO?:

Because I wasn’t sure how to change my ISO depending on the lighting situation I kept my ISO set to automatic, because to be honest I didn’t want my images to come out to grainy. But after talking to my teacher I now reflecting on what I did I should have set my ISO to manual on the highest setting possible to allow as much light in my camera as possible.

After having a discussion with my teacher about these problems that arose he suggested some setting I should use:

1/25^th second exposure-So contents come out un-blurry and focused.

ISO 800- to allow as much light in my camera as possible.

And in desperate situations set my camera to shutter speed priority, so all the setting in my camera are fully automatic besides the shutter speed which I control.

 (I must state here that when it got to about half way through the show I did mange to figure the setting and the majority of my images came out fine but the ones with quick movement were a little unfocused)

He also suggested that I contacted the local photographer who shoots the shows that happen in the civic theatre in Darlington, and ask there advice on the settings that they use. So when I went to organise my next trip with Peter Tate( the show the tart and the vicars wife, the show I’ve just shot), I asked him if they had an organised photographer who came and did the shows.

He told me they didn’t have a photographer but they regularly got photographers from the northern echo (in Darlington) to shoot the shows they held, for articles in the northern echo.

So what I haven taken from this is when I am next in town I will visit the northern echo and ask to speak to one of the photographers and ask there advice, and include the information on my blog.

I also noticed when I was doing research on KEZZ they had good images from the performance from a photographer. I think what I am going to do is try to get into contact with this photographer(his name was placed under the images he had taken), ask his advice and include it into my research. 

Description of visit to the tart and the vicars wife

So as I was told I met Peter Tate at the borough road entrance. He took me into the civic theatre and to the dressing rooms as usual. With the show that I visited this time the props on the stage were brilliant. They had set the whole stage up to look like the interiors of a vintage old cottage. After checking out the stage I went back to the dressing rooms. I found that with this show there wasn’t as many actors as there was in the full Monty and all the scenes from what I saw they were all sat around a table drinking coffee and having a chat.

Over all I took as many images of the actors getting ready as possible, and I took images during the show, although there were no changes to the scenes and props. But reflecting on this show I went to try to yes get some more work although I have lots already, but mainly went for the experience and practice. What I mean by that last sentence is that it is very difficult to photograph in a theatre. In my next post I will explain the problems that I experienced.(this trip the tart and the vicars wife was to perfect my ability of photographing in the theatre with the problems that arise)

Here is some information i wanted to include about the show this explains what the show is about:

Ian Dickens Productions presents the revival of the smash-hit comedy The Tart and the Vicar’s Wife which has not been on tour since the 80s. Starring Linda Armstrong (The Royal), Matt Healy (the bad boy of Emmerdale), Marcus Hutton(Brookside) and Sarah Jane Buckley (HollyOaks) The Tart & The Vicar’s Wife is an hilarious evening’s entertainment intertwined with a topical ‘credit-crunch’ theme that will strike a chord everybody.

Glenda and her husband Robert Parry were the archetypal successful couple; him an affluent businessman, her the glam ‘exec’ wife with all the trappings of wealth, until Robert decides to devote his life to God and become a vicar after being delivered unscathed from an horrendous car crash. Glenda consequently finds herself thrust into a complete transformation, struggling to make ends meet and dealing with her new identity crisis.

When Robert leaves for a four-week seminar, Glenda turns to her friends for support, all of whom are in similar financial distress. Whilst Robert is away the action is constantly interrupted by the appearance of the vicar’s curate, Henry, to great comic effect. When a millionaire lottery winner turns up to seek the reverend’s help in exorcising his haunted manor house, he meets Glenda and her friends who end up baring their souls to him and discovering just how far they will go for money!

Organization for Visit to photograph tart and the vicars wife.

After going thought my images we concluded that I needed one more visit to the civic theatre . So as soon as I get home after discussing if I could photograph the audience, I organised another visit. Later on a couple days later Peter Tate rang on the 19/11/09 and asked me to meet him on the borough road entrance to photograph, the tart and the vicars wife. In the next post I will describe the visit.

Another Idea for my work!

After whittling thought the Images which I had edited through with Richard. We came up with the idea of approaching my work with another view. We came up with the idea of also including images into my final set of the audience’s response to the acts which they see. So after the discussion I went home and rang Peter Tate and asked him if this was possible.

 He told me he would not be able to allow me permission to photograph the audience because of copyright. He told me that if a member of the public within the audience did not want there image taken I would have to exclude the people who didn’t want to participate and take the image from another angle making sure they weren’t in the shot, but then I would come up with the problem of children in the audience and there parents permission.

 So both me and peter Tate agreed this idea would not be possible, but on the other hand I found it important to include this information into my blog because it shows evidence of learning and organisation. So from this situation I have learnt that when photographing public places you have to get copyright permission from every person and child unless you make there faces unrecognisable.

The full Monty shoot explained

After having a frantic last week and the week before, i can finally get down to work again. It just feels like Ive been run off my feet for the past 2 weeks with finding out i won the calendar competition ringing about trying to find the ice cream man(who was within one of my images entered into the calendar competition). Visiting areas i thought he may have been in. Photographing the full Monty then preparing to visit the lakes the next day to photograph waterfalls with friends on my course hoping i may get some more images to put towards my exhibition. Rushing to get the images (full Monty images) edited for the crew of the full Monty on the Friday night and saturday morning(they were leaving saturday). Visiting hartlepool within my weekend to get the model release form signed, so its been a bit chaotic recently to say the least.
Soooooo explanation as to why there's been no work done on my blog in the past two weeks over now onto the full Monty.
So i turned up to the civic theatre on the time arranged at 6.15 straight after uni, and was allowed into the civic theatre this time to wait. Again peter tate was not due to be working the time i was meant to be visiting, but i got told "jeff" had give me the go ahead. So i was met by different man who wasn't jeff! who i found rather intrusive and rude to be honest. I think he saw me coming a mile of he saw me as a student and thought i was easy to push about and tell what to do. I understand that in a civic theatre behind the scenes you have to be on the ball because there are people running in and out of the sides with props and you have to know where to stand when to move and get out of the way and i did that. But he got to the point where because he had done photography he was telling me about problems i would experience, which yes i found useful(and didn't experience any of the problems he mentioned like lens flair)but then he went on to tell me what images i should be taking and compositions. He was very much go there, come here take and picture of this and that, and to be honest I'm my own person a like to do my own work and have a wander and see what i can find providing it doesn't pass the boundrylines which they set for me, which to be honest he really got up my nose from the word go.

I went to the full Monty not knowing what to expect,as seen earlier in my blog i did research and I found that the full Monty was based in "New York" but whether they had dramatic makeup and costumes i didn't have the slightest clue,so i went slightly preserved about going and not knowing what to expect. After escaping from that annoying member of the crew who did organising, he let me go along the routes of what i wanted to do and let me wander off into the actors dressing rooms and photographing them with there permission(after an explanation that a photographer I.E me was meant to be coming around photographing). And i found the actors really warm and friendly and helpful, and there was many actors within the show so i had a wide range in choice. The makeup was dramatic just like i wanted and the costumes were great just like what i wanted in kezz but didn't get.

To be honest i found that i got a much better result from the full Monty than i did kezz,and it was the show i was most least looking forward to shooting surprisingly.So after getting some great shoots in the dressing rooms. I was then allowed to shoot at the sidelines of the theatre whilst the show was going on providing i didn't go to far on stage and didn't use my flash. I got some really great outcomes from doing this. After about 9.00 it was getting a bit tiring with the man bossing me around,but i finally got to meet jeff who turned out to be an old man who was in about 2 of the scenes from the show.By 9.00 i thought i had plenty of work to use and was thinking of heading off because I'd been and uni all day then went to the civic theatre as soon as i got home and wanted so tea. But the annoying man wanted me to wait another hour so i could take a picture of the sideline crew, so i reluctantly did. so yes that was my long story, but throughout my complaining i did get lots of work to use and thinking back i regret not taking one image.

When walking through the actors rooms i came across this old lady who looked in her late 80's, after over hearing her conversation i found that she was a makeup artist in the civic theatre when she was younger,and she was also part of the shows sometimes.she was dramatic with a turban on, although she had white hair she still painted her eyebrows brown and remembered to put her eyeliner on.he sat there in her little knitted jumper with a medal attached to her jumper and looking across the room, she had her old and i mean old makeup laid out (in old Victorian tins they were almost like face paints) with her old programs from shows she had been in and the photo's from them.

Now at the time i picked up the courage to say please could i take a picture of you and she said yes for me the first shot was perfect and i think expressed the person she was.The picture to be honest gets me a little stewed every time i see.And because i liked the first shot i took i listened to her story looked at her programs said thank you then left.Looking back i really wish i had taken time o take and image of her old makeup laid out with her programs and i could of linked the 2 images within my final prints but i didn't sooo i know for next time.

From the shoot with the full Monty after taking the image the annoying man asked me to burn the images onto DVD for them and he would edit my work and he said he would use it in the brochures.I thought nothing of it at the time thinking great my work will be used within a brochure and advertising,but when i got home i started to stew over what he said. I was really not happy with him editing my work,and basically claiming glory for my work and doing what ever with them as he wanted. I spoke to Richard and he said ask john he had the same problem. So i did so in the end i decided on burning the majority of the images with my copyright info in the metadad with my watermark throughout the centre of the image very slight so it couldnt be taken out. After doing that i burnt 40 images on the DVD and it took me 4 hours to do all of them. But looking back I'm glad i did it because it means my work is safe and the "annoying man cant claim my work as him own". :)

The full monty

After persisting with peter Tate ,ringing him i finally managed to organize a day to go and photograph the full Monty. the date was set for tuesday the 3rd of November at 6.15 again i had to meet them at the borough road entrance. Within my next post I will explain what happened and the process.

James Nachtwey

After having a lesson of watching a video about a photographer called James Nachtwey, i came away feeling very morbid a slightly upset. His work is beautiful and his compositions are amazing but i also found his work rather upsetting and intrusive.From watching the video i found his approach in situations of mourning far too much and very intrusive getting in the subjects face whilst they are crying over the death of there loved ones.

I also found the contents of his work rather upsetting, and i think these days we try our hardest to block out the starving of children and adults in Africa and the war issues and deaths in Iran and Iraq and the problems of the world. We block these issues out and try to get on with our day to day life by blocking or selectively ignoring the ugly upsetting side of the world out, to save our conscience.

With James Nachtwey he bring these issues to our eyes whilst were sat comfortably and safe in our homes and we find our selves not wanting to look at these images and issues but the good person in your personalty makes you want to stay and watch his video and images so you almost seem to feel trapped within these images, sat feeling the need that you must keep watching these images in a rough sense to learn these rough lessons,that good,everyday people suffer simply because they get caught up within a war or simply because they live in a certain country.

And that is why i love his work although i find it rather intrusive. I think in a way you have to have people like this in a our world otherwise many important dates and occasions and catastrophic losses go unnoticed and ignored. Say for instance world war 2:camp Auschwitz and the holocaust if people did not photographically document it out of "respect" would we know about the terrible suffering and deaths these poor innocent people had to go through today?

So yes although his work is intrusive but we need people like this so historic landmarks are reported. I also think that his compositions are very skillful. I think the majority of his work being black and white gives his images a sense of emotion and drama. But also his colour images set the scene i find.I LOVE how his work is not always placed within the centre of the image but off set.
There's nothing more than i hate when people are so narrow minded that they think that for a image to be good that the subject has to be slap bang in the centre(like the debate i got into with Jane in our group crit the other day, i think you can see which side i was fighting) and i think that james's work demonstrates these factors of the image being offset but yet his work being exquisite and well composed, bellow you will find some images of James Nachtwey which enroll these factors that i have just explained and images that i find interesting and beautiful (in a morbid sense).

Second show Organisation -The full Monty

Right, now that Kez has been documented and they have moved on to Edinburgh, i am now looking at making a start on organising my second shoot (which makes me feel rather far behind compared to other people in my class, due to the circumstances of having to wait for permission). So I am going to again go and pester Peter Tate and try get some organisation on a roll to go and photographically document The full Monty wish me look I shall go and ring him now.

Result of Visit to Civic theater Trip 1 :KEZ

Right so i went and Visited the Civic theater for my first organised trip. I was told to visit there at 1.00 and a member of staff would meet me and take me to the house manager who would then take me to the dressing rooms. Well i turned up at 1.00 with all my equipment ready and sorted went to the door they told me to and knocked, a lady answered and told me they couldn't let people in until 2.00 (bearing in mind the show starts at 2.30) so i started panicking and told her i was a photographer (student) who was coming to photograph the actors getting ready and she said she didn't know the person i was meant to be meeting and she hadn't been told about me.

I told her i would go ask at the ticket office they mite know more. So i went to the ticket office explained again, but Peter Tate apparently had not told them i was coming. Eventually after about 20 minutes of the staff racing after people asking if they knew i was allowed in they let me in. I was met by a man called Chris who led me to the actors rooms. I met 2 friendly ladies (main actors)who didn't mind getting the pictures taken so i made a start. I then asked if i could go to the men's changing rooms they for me seemed more photogenic for me and natural and laid back.

After half an hour of going to the actors rooms,men's and women's they told me i could photograph them practicing "the fight" a section within the performance there is an act which is practiced because it is rough and if its not done properly people can get hurt so they practiced that to make sure they just got it right.

The problems which i found were the practicing was took, although i took a flash with me it was hard reflecting the flash off objects because the roof was so high and the walls were to distant.(and i found front on flash too burnt out and vivid which spoilt the image) i did get some images of the practice which because it was slow, dark hence the slow shutter speed i think i captured a sense of movement within some of the images.

Over all i think the trip went well. I found the images of the actors getting ready much more successful than the practices on the stage.Although some are usable but i would like feedback on the images before i edit them.

Image wise i took a lot of images that day so i had plenty to choose from the problem is i now have to many to choose from. My method to this problem is keep looking through them all the image i spend more time over and get a little excited at are the ones worth editing so far I have 2 definite.

The problem i have found is that realistically i only have a choice of about 2-3 shows coming up at the civic theater. And i dont want it to look like i have resorted to only entering my first lot of images. From KEZ (which show lack of effort and organisation)when we are allowed a minimum of 7 . So right now I'm thinking 2,3 images per show i shoot.

I just need to think how i will link the images within a portfolio with them being from different shows, having them run smoothly and to not stop and start like this is one show this is another show etc. I think to get clarification in my head i need to have a word with the teacher on how to have them flow smoothly rather than grinding.

Brian Griffin

During a lesson we were shown a video about certain photographers who focused there imaging on portraits. within this video they included a section upon Brian griffin. the image which took me aback you can find bellow:




















I had great difficulty finding this image. I had a look on Brian griffin's website:
http://www.briangriffin.co.uk/ -( I really didn't like Brian Griffin's website it was really distracting and unorganised "havoc" basically so Ive learnt from his website to keep it simple and easily direction-ed.)
And because this image was taken so long ago in 1977 this image was not on his website, I had a look in the library they had one book specifically on his work but did not contain the right image. I stumbled across this image simply by accident on a book which devoted sections to photographers, this book was:Three perspectives on photography.
this image consists of George Cole an actor popular for his time i liked this image and found it relevant to include within my research because it linked to a previous image which i found taken by Nick Roylance and also in a way linked to peter Jackson's fashion photography. I loved how within this picture you are unable to see the actors face because it has been burnt out but yet you can see him within his reflection. I think this image defined, how i am wanting to portray my images and the subject matter. I wanted to not look at the face value (how the face was burnt out)but how they are reflected and how you read into there expression or personality simply by the reflection within the mirror.

A date has finally been planned for KEZ

After a good few days of ringing peter Tate the house manager of my local civic theater and pestering him (3 times today!) he finally had a word with the company manager and I was given the go ahead to shoot with the KEZ actors.
The plan is:
Tomorrow at 1 pm. I go and call on the actors door a member of staff will lead me to the house manager who will then take me to the actors dressing room. I then have to ask the actors permission to shoot them. After visiting the dressing room and hopefully capturing work of good quality i can use, they will then gave me the option to go and shoot the actors having there rehearsal.
So i have to say i am a lot less stressed now that i have a date and time set.
I have made sure my camera battery is charged. I will be taking the canon speed lite flash head that is compatible with my camera plus extra batteries!(just in case). I will be taking plenty of storage space SD cards and i have practiced my techniques tonight so hopefully i will have it mastered tomorrow wish me luck

Nick Roylance photographer and film maker

When researching into reportage fashion photographers i came across Nick Roylance who also was present at the backstage of the London fashion week. I really like some of his work because it isn't the typical model, in one shot he took an image of a girl's legs with converse on (american baseball shoes) stood next to high heals.which as I interpreted it that she was to change into them.

I also found and image of his which inspired me to want to achieve a certain style of images.this image consisted of a model looking within the mirror i found this image a beautiful image, and i wanted to develop this idea further, with interaction, different activities reflected within the mirror connecting the viewer upon "my image" to the person reflected within the image.

Peter Jackson-Reportage London fashion week photographer.

This main photographers work which you are about to see influenced me massively whilst deciding to do my theater project. The main photo's which influenced me where the male models getting ready behind the scenes sat on the sofa, and the women having their hair and makeup done. This photographer Peter Jackson was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go and document london fashion week and the making bellow you will find the images he produced as his outcome. This lead me on to think what does really go on behind the scenes of the civic theater. So i have set this as my main outcome and aim to report to going-ons behind the scenes, to a high quality. Peter Jacksons work can be found at:

http://www.pjjphotography.co.uk/photo_4796541.html

 his main website can also be found in my links to the right of my page in the "links to websites i found useful"

Arts centre Theater Organisation.

After organising with Peter Tate, he said he would get back to me on the Monday and give me a ring to tell me if i had the permission to go in a photographically report KEZ. Today is wednesday and still no sign of Peter Tate giving me a ring so i rang him again today asking him if i had permission?. I also realized that over the weekend simply depending on the civic theater was cutting my nose of slightly and cutting my ideas short. Whilst looking at the darlington borough council website i also noticed that there were theater performances happening at my local art's centre. So on the weekend i went up and got the number for a man called Neil drew he is the Venue manager for the arts centre who deals with the theater performance so if all fails with the civic theater i have a back up plan in store ready to give him a ring if my time starts running out.

Definition of reportage

reportage [rɪˈpɔːtɪdʒ ˌrəpɔːˈtɑːʒ]
n
1. the act or process of reporting news or other events of general interest
2. (Communication Arts / Journalism & Publishing) a journalist's style of reporting
3. (Communication Arts / Journalism & Publishing) a technique of documentary film or photo journalism that tells a story entirely through pictures
Info from:http://www.thefreedictionary.com/reportage
For me Reportage is to report a subject being people and object etc. I will be trying to achieve this through the form of photography. Explaining and demonstrating within images, of behind the scenes of a theater.

Style of photography

Now that i have decided on my subject i think it is now time to decide what photographic style i was wanting my work to achieve.here are the choices of styles we were given:
*Photo journalism
*Reportage
*Social Documentary
*or a social wedding.
Over the past few weeks we have been given our project Ive been seriously thinking about what style i was wanting to achieve.
I have finally decided that i want to go along the style of reportage(all though i know the meaning of it i will still include a definition of it to show understand). I thought this to be a good idea because within the theater you always see what is on face value and never behind the scenes. I also thought a reportage style would be best with the actors having limited time to get ready for their performances so a reportage"fly on the wall approach would be best". I have also been doing lots of research on reportage photographers his information will be included after the definition.

Civic theater act-Andrams-full monty

after doing some research here's some information i found out about andrams-full monty

Drop everything and grab yourself a piece of the action! Everyone knows the story behind The Full Monty - a group of unemployed steelworkers looking for a way to make some money, quick. The award winning musical transports the action over to Buffalo, New York but the story remains true to the original film. Jerry Lukowski is behind on his child support payments and may lose his son as a result. When a touring male strip show is a hit with the steelworkers' wives, Jerry comes up with the idea of earning quick cash by putting on a similar show with himself and his buddies as the star attraction. So why would anyone come to see a bunch of out-of-shape local guys strip? Jerry has the answer: they'll go all the way, The Full Monty! Darlington OS Ticket Hotline 01325 244659 or visit www.darlingtonoperaticsociety.org.uk Warning: contains strong language and some nudity - not suitable for children under 14 years of age
















I think to do this for my project would be rather untasteful, but rather than singling it out i shall still go along providing i get the permission and see if it tasteful and suitable to shoot.

Info can be found at:http://www.darlington.gov.uk/Culture/Event+Information.htm?EventID=158794

Civic theater act- KEZ

After doing some resarch here is some information i found out about KEZ-

The Touring Consortium is a company that must be treasured Cambridge Evening News They beat him. They deprived him. They ridiculed him. They broke his heart. But they couldn't break his spirit. Billy Casper's father disappeared when he was six and his mother is always going out, leaving him to fend for himself. Jud, his bullying older brother, works in the local coalmine and Billy is expected to follow in his footsteps. Billy finds a kestrel chick and teaches himself how to raise and train it with the aid of a library book. With Kes he discovers a mutual respect and passion that helps him escape from the harsh reality of his life. Marking 40 years since the acclaimed novel became a classic of British cinema, this new production brings Barry Hines haunting story of adolescence to the stage. The cast includes Katherine Dow Blyton (Hollyoaks), David Crellin (Emmerdale), Mike Burnside (The Bill) and Daniel Casey (Midsomer Murders). Post show talk and captioned performance: Wed 21 October Plus FREE Open Day on Saturday 24 October 10am-12noon, available for Kes ticket bookers only. Includes falconry demonstrations, talks, workshops and more. Although this is a free event, to attend you must have a ticket as there is a limited capacity, contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555 for further details.

Infor can be found at:http://www.darlington.gov.uk/Culture/Arts/

Results of Organisation

Rite just received a ring from Peter Tate about 20 minutes ago permission wise what i can and cant photograph is as follows:

Dancing on the street-a 70's based act(would have been ideal) when asked if i could was a No unfortunately they only come to town for 1 week so i wouldn't be able to do that.
Kez- Again he needs to ask Richie next week (any day besides Tuesday)- but i was told was a probable yes (with them being proper actors but we shall wait and see)
Andrams- full Monty- based in new york peter said that he very much doubts that they will say no- the following week (two weeks time)

I was a bit gutted to be honest with not being able to photograph Dancing on the streets- sounded ideal but with no permission it doesn't happen unfortunately. I shall now go on and research the possibles i may be able to shoot being:
Kez
Andrams

Organisation-organising of going to do a shoot and shows coming up.

After talking to richard about my idea i went home and rang the civic theater straight away to see what i could if i could get access to:
I initially rang the ticket office who directed me to a lady who dealt with enquiry calls, she then directed me to a lady who was very helpful and gave me the house managers number to ring up and organise something with him.After ringing him a couple of times that night i kept getting his answer machine to i left a message and hoped he would get back to me baring in mind this was Tuesday i rang him. I left it on the wednesday to see if he would get back to me in the end he didn't, so i gave him another ring today and left another message on his answer machine explaining:
that my name was claire Harman i am a student studying at Cleveland college of art and design. that i am doing a foundation degree in photography and i said that my module for this project at the present moment in time i was wanting to photograph the models getting ready in a reportage and documentary approach. Photographing them putting there makeup on getting there hair ready there costumes etc.

well tonight after a bit of persistence peter Tate the house manager of the civic theater rang me back tonight. He asked me to explain what i was wanting to do, so i explained it all again. And he said that i will probably be able to go take images i just need the actors permission if i take them. He also said he was going to talk to a man called richie who I'm taking a gesue deals with the actors themselves.

After a long discussion he gave me the opportunities of course after talking to Richie to see if i have the permission to go in and photograph certain shows coming up soon. He explained that i might be able to go in and photograph a show starting tomorrow, so I'm going to make sure i have plenty of clear cards ready to use. I'm going to get a flash out of the store tomorrow so if the lighting is not all that great i have another light source.
bellow I have the shows that are coming up soon that i MAY be Abel to go and photographically document:
Next Tuesday-Show called KEZ- based around a man and a hawk
tomorrow night- Dancing in the streets-starts at 7.30 so was advised to turn up for 6.00
Next week Andrams-full monty
i am now going to go and do a bit of research on these shows which he has told me about if i do get the permission to shoot them, so i have a good idea of what to expect on the day.