Task 1 - Research
In narrative photography, you don't have to have more than one image. You can have a series telling a story and something is happening in each image. Or you cam have one image telling one story. Below there are different ways you can show your story.
Keith Arnatt - Self Burial
Elliott Erwitt - Figure in motion
Cindy Sherman
Cartier Bresson
Robert Frank
Ideas for narrative image making
- A day in the life of (take pictures from when I wake up until when I go to sleep)
- Baking or making a meal
- Photographing an event
Test narrative image making
This is a narrative of me developing my film
This narrative piece was originally taken for a different assignment to show me developing my film. But I thought I would include it here too because it works as a narrative. It was taken using my iPhone so I didn't use any specific settings.
This is a test narrative of my journey from Leeds train station to where I'm staying that night. I chose moments to take a picture of the different things I see on my journey (on the train, the stops on the train, getting off the train, the bridge I walk over etc)
I thought about framing and composition, I didn't want it to look like I was just taking random pictures of whatever I see in front of me. I stopped and framed it the best I could. I also thought about differential focus, especially on the first photograph of the train seats and the one of the padlock on the green bridge. I wanted the front in focus and the back out of focus.
My camera settings:
After doing this narrative, I came up with an idea for my final narrative piece. I want to photograph my whole day from when I wake up to when I go to sleep. I want to do this because it's not something really difficult for me to do, I obviously have easy access to what I'm photographing and I think I'll be able to get some well composed images.
Planning for shoots
I started to think about what I could take pictures of for the narrative I wanted to do. If I'm wanting to photograph my whole day/week I need to pick key points instead of photographing everything I'm doing. Waking up, brushing my teeth, having breakfast and getting ready are some of my photo ideas.
Shoot 1
For this shoot, I didn't plan any photographs I just had a day out and took some on my way around. I just took some photographs of getting ready (brushing my teeth, washing my face, doing my makeup etc.)
Camera settings
I am overall happy with this shoot and think I will definitely use some for my final book. I think they're well composed photographs even though they're just meant to document what I'm doing.
Shoot 2
For this shoot, I didn't take many photographs because I didn't really like the lighting. I didn't want too many of my images to have the yellow glow in them, so I only took some of what I was doing.
Camera settings
The photoshop camera settings tab wouldn't work for these images, but I think for this shoot I used:
M, 200 ISO
I think this shoot went well because I got a range of images that I think I needed to add into my book. I just don't like the white sky in the outdoor photographs that I took. They look really dull, I think they would look a lot more picturesque if the sky was blue.
Shoot 5
I wanted to try something different with this shoot, so I used a wide angle lens for all these photographs. I also thought it was a good opportunity to try and get good, well composed images with this lens because it was such a bright warm day and the sky brightens up my images. There's also a lens flare in a couple of these which I think looks really effective.
Camera settings
I think this shoot went well purely because of the weather, these images wouldn't look nice without the blue sky. I think my favourite image is the first one on the contact sheet, I really like how the tree frames the top of the image and you can just see blocks of colour.
My final book
I then created a book using InDesign that I will hand in separately from my blog. I chose images that I thought represented narrative well, that I thought stood out to the ones I've taken and the ones I thought were more picturesque and well composed.
My smaller narrative
My plan for doing the 1-5 image narrative is to do something similar to what I've done in a previous assignment. I did a 35mm film shoot with the theme '60's Mod' and I want to do kind of the same thing but putting a modern twist on it. I'm going to make it modern by shooting it digital rather than film like I did before, this will make a huge difference because the quality of the image will drastically change making it look modern.
How I'm going to make it a narrative:
My idea is to think of it like the same person has gone from the 60's to modern times (being now). I'll be using the same person because this will make more sense. I want to do similar photographs to the original 60's Mod theme I did before. I took a photograph of the model standing in front of an old Land Rover so I want to try find a modern Land Rover to take a picture with to show how times have changed. I also did a photograph of the model holding a 60's Kodak camera, so to make this modern I want to photograph him holding a modern camera (Canon 600D) or taking a photograph from his iPhone. I think this will represent modern times well and create a narrative of how a Mod would by nowadays. I also want it to look like the general lifestyle of the model. I'll do this by visiting places like shops and taking photographs of him there.
Shoot 1
For this shoot I just practised some shots in areas I think look modern. We went to the Royal Armouries area and stood by a modern looking statue. I just took some lifestyle photographs of him on his phone and looking out onto the river.
Camera settings:
Contact sheets
Shoot 2
For this shoot, I thought it would be a good idea to stay in the bedroom and just show what people get up to nowadays. We used things like the 'Guitar Hero' Xbox 360 game, a Apple Macbook laptop and modern clothing to really get that feel of modern times.
Camera settings:
These are some of my favourite images from this photo shoot. I took a lot of inspiration from the 60's themed images I did on film. Especially the one in front of the mirror. I tried to do a modern take on the photographs though by adding modern clothing and I think making my images a lot brighter also made it look more modern and fresh. I also did differential focus on these images which I think draws more attention to the sections of the photographs that I want people to be attracted to (the modern items).
- A day in the life of (take pictures from when I wake up until when I go to sleep)
- Baking or making a meal
- Photographing an event
Test narrative image making
This is a narrative of me developing my film
This narrative piece was originally taken for a different assignment to show me developing my film. But I thought I would include it here too because it works as a narrative. It was taken using my iPhone so I didn't use any specific settings.
This is a test narrative of my journey from Leeds train station to where I'm staying that night. I chose moments to take a picture of the different things I see on my journey (on the train, the stops on the train, getting off the train, the bridge I walk over etc)
I thought about framing and composition, I didn't want it to look like I was just taking random pictures of whatever I see in front of me. I stopped and framed it the best I could. I also thought about differential focus, especially on the first photograph of the train seats and the one of the padlock on the green bridge. I wanted the front in focus and the back out of focus.
My camera settings:
After doing this narrative, I came up with an idea for my final narrative piece. I want to photograph my whole day from when I wake up to when I go to sleep. I want to do this because it's not something really difficult for me to do, I obviously have easy access to what I'm photographing and I think I'll be able to get some well composed images.
Planning for shoots
I started to think about what I could take pictures of for the narrative I wanted to do. If I'm wanting to photograph my whole day/week I need to pick key points instead of photographing everything I'm doing. Waking up, brushing my teeth, having breakfast and getting ready are some of my photo ideas.
Shoot 1
For this shoot, I didn't plan any photographs I just had a day out and took some on my way around. I just took some photographs of getting ready (brushing my teeth, washing my face, doing my makeup etc.)
Camera settings
Shoot 2
For this shoot, I didn't take many photographs because I didn't really like the lighting. I didn't want too many of my images to have the yellow glow in them, so I only took some of what I was doing.
Camera settings
The photoshop camera settings tab wouldn't work for these images, but I think for this shoot I used:
M, 200 ISO
I am happy with a couple of the images I got on this shoot, but I just didn't like how the lighting looked. I prefer getting as many images as possible in natural lighting. But if I'm documenting what I'm doing, some are going to have to be taken in the dark using just the bedroom light.
Shoot 3
I enjoyed this shoot because I did quite a lot of things that would work well for narrative image making. I took photographs of the drive to Nottingham, eating and working from home, the weather and babysitting. So I had a lot of opportunities for photographs.
Camera settings
I'm happy with this shoot, I do think I should have taken a lot more photographs though because there was so much opportunity for them, especially on my drive to Nottingham. But I found it hard to photograph from a moving car. I do think I'll be using some of these in my final book though, I think they represent narrative really well.
Shoot 4
I tried to get some different photographs on this shoot because I didn't think I had enough of outside and where I'm going. So I had a trip round the park and close to where I live and took some of the buildings and around the park. I also took one of my uniform to show narrative of going to work.
Camera settings
Shoot 5
I wanted to try something different with this shoot, so I used a wide angle lens for all these photographs. I also thought it was a good opportunity to try and get good, well composed images with this lens because it was such a bright warm day and the sky brightens up my images. There's also a lens flare in a couple of these which I think looks really effective.
Camera settings
I think this shoot went well purely because of the weather, these images wouldn't look nice without the blue sky. I think my favourite image is the first one on the contact sheet, I really like how the tree frames the top of the image and you can just see blocks of colour.
My final book
I then created a book using InDesign that I will hand in separately from my blog. I chose images that I thought represented narrative well, that I thought stood out to the ones I've taken and the ones I thought were more picturesque and well composed.
My smaller narrative
My plan for doing the 1-5 image narrative is to do something similar to what I've done in a previous assignment. I did a 35mm film shoot with the theme '60's Mod' and I want to do kind of the same thing but putting a modern twist on it. I'm going to make it modern by shooting it digital rather than film like I did before, this will make a huge difference because the quality of the image will drastically change making it look modern.
How I'm going to make it a narrative:
My idea is to think of it like the same person has gone from the 60's to modern times (being now). I'll be using the same person because this will make more sense. I want to do similar photographs to the original 60's Mod theme I did before. I took a photograph of the model standing in front of an old Land Rover so I want to try find a modern Land Rover to take a picture with to show how times have changed. I also did a photograph of the model holding a 60's Kodak camera, so to make this modern I want to photograph him holding a modern camera (Canon 600D) or taking a photograph from his iPhone. I think this will represent modern times well and create a narrative of how a Mod would by nowadays. I also want it to look like the general lifestyle of the model. I'll do this by visiting places like shops and taking photographs of him there.
Shoot 1
For this shoot I just practised some shots in areas I think look modern. We went to the Royal Armouries area and stood by a modern looking statue. I just took some lifestyle photographs of him on his phone and looking out onto the river.
Camera settings:
These are some of my favourite images from this shoot. I edited them a little by lowering the curves an contrast. I think these represent more of the lifestyle side of the plan I was originally wanting to do, but I've shown the iPhone in one of the photographs which portrays the modern twist I also was originally planning on.
I think these images have good composition and are correctly exposed, but if I was going to do this shoot again I would take a lore more photographs because when I came back to looking through them I didn't have as many as I had thought. But I like these for my first practise shoot and maybe a couple of these could be final images.
What other people like about these images:
- the angle on the first image
- I like the differential focus on some of the photographs
- first one is my favourite
- like the location, fits with modern them
What they think I should do to improve this and future shoots:
- more locations
- maybe another modern prop
For this shoot, I thought it would be a good idea to stay in the bedroom and just show what people get up to nowadays. We used things like the 'Guitar Hero' Xbox 360 game, a Apple Macbook laptop and modern clothing to really get that feel of modern times.
Camera settings:
These are some of my favourite images from this photo shoot. I took a lot of inspiration from the 60's themed images I did on film. Especially the one in front of the mirror. I tried to do a modern take on the photographs though by adding modern clothing and I think making my images a lot brighter also made it look more modern and fresh. I also did differential focus on these images which I think draws more attention to the sections of the photographs that I want people to be attracted to (the modern items).
What other people like about these images:
- The modern twist on these photographs compared to the film ones
- The focus
- The angles on the photographs are effective
- The bottom two are my favourite
What they thing I should do to improve this and future shoots:
- More images in this style
- Try more locations with the modern items
- Better backgrounds
- Maybe set the laptop on a desk instead of the bed
Contact sheet
Shoot 3
For this shoot I wanted to try out an idea with a guitar in a garden, I brought back the Parka coat but added Adidas trainers for the modern twist. I used a typical modern acoustic too.
Camera settings:
These are some of the images I took for this shoot. I tried to include modern concepts into my photographs. I included coins, a guitar and modern clothing like Adidas trainers.
I like these photographs because I just think they show a bit of personality and definitely match the theme I was going for.
What other people like about these images:
- I like the background and colours on the second photo, the composition is good
- I like the guitar ones, they look modern but could work as well in film as they do in digital
- The piercings in the first photograph fits well with the modern theme
- I like the Fred Perry Polo in the first and second photo because the brand is well connected with both retro and modern subcultures
What they think I should do to improve this and future shoots:
- More photographs to be taken
- Try more locations
- Add more modern items into photographs
- More stuff going on in the background so it's not as focused at the one person in the picture
Contact Sheets
Choosing my final images & Evaluation
These are the photographs that I think looked the best, were well framed and correctly exposed. I also think these represent my theme really well. The modern things I included like the phone, the laptop, the guitar and the clothing make it seem like these photographs contrast to my film assignment where I did this theme but tried to make it look like it was taken in the 60's. I like how I did both these assignments a few months apart but it looks like it was from two different time periods, I think that shows how much developing your images in the dark room can really change how you look at the photograph compared to the ones taken in digital.
I really like how these turned out, I enjoyed trying to set this narrative around the one I did on a film camera. Trying to make photographs look from a certain culture can be really difficult when the 60's 'Mod' person doesn't really exist anymore so I had to put in the images what I thought they would be like nowadays if that culture had continued.
If I was to re-shoot this assignment, I would definitely do more shoots and try to include modern vehicles, buildings and modern businesses to use as locations. I would also liked to have tried to include modern clothing brands too.
For my longer narrative piece, I really enjoyed taking the opportunity to document my week. I tried to make my photographs look a lot more photogenic and framed well rather than just randomly taking a photograph of what I'm doing. I used inDesign to create my book and arrange my photographs which I found was the best way to lay out my images to document myself.
Overall I have enjoyed this assignment, I liked to document my life which is something I've not done before. So for my first attempt, I'm really happy with how my images and narrative pieces turned out.
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