Started on portraits

Well, I've decided on 3 of my subjects, two women and one man so far.  All are camera club members but Pat is more a social member than a picture taker.  Jane takes pictures, enjoys line dancing and is a volunteer at the local heritage centre.  Chris, a man, is the chairman of the club.  I hadn't realised he'd lived in the Lyme area for over 30 years as he only joined the camera club a couple of years' ago.  He's just learning the job of chairman, the retiring chairman having held the job for over 9 years as no one else would stand. 

So far, we have Chris, Pat and Jane.  Several of the members who have part of the club since its inception over 30 years' ago come along each week but only take an occasional picture.  I know they have lives outside the club but it would be good to link photography in somehow.

Jane is working in the Axminster Heritage Centre organising all the photographic items including posters, post cards and portraits of local dignitaries.  Chris is a straight out and out Leica man having several cameras including one that only takes black and white pictures.  Pat is a social member who organises the tea at break times and is the social secretary for any outings we may plan.

Now, who could be my 4th member to feature.

insight into the character and nature of four individual sitters

Produce a series of 12 portraits that give insight into the character and nature of four individual sitters chosen from a particular group. Choose an organisation or group that has a broad membership in terms of age and appearance, e.g. a pilates or Zumba group, a ramblers’ association, a local political party, charity or pressure group. 

My thought was to approach members of the local Heritage Coast U3A (University of the 3rd Age) but I don't really know many of the main group and again, they tend to be 50+ years old.  Most of the groups of people I know in Lyme are those who are of retirement age or above.  I don't tend to mix with the younger social scene.  There is a dearth of people between the ages of 25-45 as there is little work for this age group and they tend to have to move away to find full time work.

I think an alternative is to approach members of my local photographic society as it has quite a wider age group, that of 40+ so perhaps I can find more of a choice there.  They all have the same hobby of taking pictures but many also enjoy other pursuits around the town.  On reflection I think my chosen subjects will be Chris Sellers club chairman, Pat Chambers social secretary and Dougie Young and Sylvia Adams who are both members who joined the society within the past 12 months but who seem to live interesting and varied lives.

Pat Chambers

Pat has already featured in assignment 2 when she posed as a Red Hat club member in image number 7 sitting at a bus stop using a laptop.  She is a very busy, enthusiastic person and never does anything slowly.  I took some practice pictures of her when she was organising drinks and snacks at the main U3A meeting today.  It was hard to catch her still so firstly I used a fast shutter speed then a slow one to show her speedy movements whilst she was organising everything.

Pat has various interests where she volunteers her time and efforts as well as belonging to the photographic society.  Her main interests are the Red Hats (a female social group) the U3A and linked through them she is also keen on pottery. 

Christopher Sellers (Chris)

Chris took over the chairmanship of the Photographic Society at the last AGM and has brought new life to the club with his enthusiasm.  He lives a little way out of Lyme and looks the gentleman farmer in his corduroy trousers and green wellington boots. He also has a new baby (approximately 3-4 months old) and absolutely dotes on her. She might well provide some images that show his softer side.

Jane Pennington

Jane is in her early 70s and has been a photographer for many years using both film and digital cameras.  She achieved her Licentiateship of the Royal Photographic Society approximately 6/7 years ago and mostly enjoys taking landscapes and still life being very meticulous in her planning.  She has been a member of the local camera club for about 5 years and took over the responsibility for PR 2-3 years ago, sending in reports on the club’s activities to the local press to encourage new members to join.

Over the past two years Jane has spent increasing amounts of time at her local museum which was, after receiving a large lottery grant, moving to a more conducive building, the old museum not having any disabled access or facilities.  She has helped in packing up the many photographic items including photographs, postcards and related items.  Now she has the job along with two or three other volunteers of unpacking it all and putting it all on display or archiving it in the large storage facilities the museum has inherited.

Once everything has been unpacked it will be Jane’s responsibility to photograph and register all the items so there is a comprehensive list of every item.  Jane has done this type of work before when she and some other volunteers did the same thing at the Lyme Regis museum. 

Dougie Young

Dougie has only been a member of the society for approximately 9 months but is keen to join in with competitions and workshops and even organised his own creative art workshop using the Cobb harbour recently. 

Dougie was in the air force for many years and is now a maintenance engineer at a local old people's home.  There could be some good pictures there as he would have to interact with the residents on a daily basis. 

I've approached Pat Chambers and Chris Sellers already and they are keen to help me in my project.  I just need to contact Dougie and Janeto get their permission to go complete this assignment.

Assignment 3 Statement of Intent

Statement of intent

Most of the people I know in Lyme are those who are of retirement age or above, as I don't tend to mix with younger age groups.  There is a dearth of people between the ages of 25-45 here as there is very little work for them and they tend to move to bigger towns and cities find work before returning home in their 40s and 50s. The town is made up of many volunteers who give their time to run events and societies in the town. 

My first idea was to take pictures of my local U3A (University of the 3rd Age) pottery group but that would be difficult to cover the criteria of "Choose an organisation or group that has a broad membership in terms of age and appearance" as the group mainly tends to be ladies over retirement age.” 

My next thought was to approach members of the main Heritage Coast U3A itself but I don't really know many of them and again, they tend to be over 50.

I think an alternative is to approach members of my local photographic society as it has a wider age group, that of 40+ so perhaps I can find more of a choice there.  They all have the same hobby of taking pictures but many also enjoy other, wider pursuits around the town. 

Assignment three: Similar but different

Produce a series of 12 portraits that give insight into the character and nature of four individual sitters chosen from a particular group. Choose an organisation or group that has a broad membership in terms of age and appearance, e.g. a pilates or Zumba group, a ramblers’ association, a local political party, charity or pressure group. 

Interview your four chosen subjects and make a written record of how they see themselves and how they feel about their involvement in the organisation or pastime. 

As a photographer you may have your own ideas about how you would like to portray them. Make a written record of this and analyse the areas of commonality and difference between each subject’s view and your own. 

Decide on some possible locations. These may be indoor or outdoor settings but photograph each sitter in one location only. The locations you choose and the composition of the images must reflect the group’s common interest in some way but also reflect the differences between each sitter within this overall area of interest. You may work in colour or black and white. 

Offer each sitter/client a choice from your three best images of them. You should end up with 12 images, three of each sitter. 

Your final image for each sitter will be the one that they choose, printed at A4. Include in your submission the image that you would have chosen and the image that neither of you picked. These should be smaller images (5x4”). 

Write a brief account of this experience. For each sitter, note down why they chose the image they did, why you chose the image you did and why the third unchosen image was, in terms of this exercise, unsuccessful. 

Before you start shooting, produce a statement of intent of up to 250 words and email this to your tutor. 



  
 

Starting new section

I've had positive feedback for Assignment 2 - Finding your voice and am happy to carry on with Assignment 3 - Portrait photography.  My main problem at the moment is to find four people who are connected in some way with a variety of interests and take 4 portraits of them.  Not difficult, no way!

Assignment 3 Similar but different

This is my third assignment in the Gesture & Meaning module.  I've fallen behind quite a bit and should really complete all 6 assignments by mid-June, which I can't see happening.  I originally started on the level 2 Landscape module in June 2014 but really couldn't progress with it.  I changed to G&M in October 2014 and found it to be much more my cup of tea.

Unfortunately, I had to take 8 months sabbatical and only got back on track in October last year.  I've just sent assignment 2 - finding your voice -  to my tutor, Katrina Whitehead and am now about to start work on the project exercises and assignment 3.  I had to refrain from reading section 3 as I knew it would take me over and I wouldn't finish section 2 properly.

So, here we go and I'm really keen to get back to it.  As we only have a small cottage in Lyme Regis I've hired a room at the local Internet Business Centre for a 3-hour session twice a week and as it is a really boring room, find I can really concentrate on working.