Much like Assignment 1, I am once again late in my submission for assignment 2, Elements of Design. On completion of my first assignment which was a month late, I was certain the next submission would not be so delayed. I was wrong. Spending more than a total of 3 months total away from home with work didn’t help, and in many areas I was not allowed to have a camera with me, giving me no option to even attempt to take shots towards this assignment. Taking local leave again was the only option to catch up and get myself back on schedule, or at least a little closer to it. My tutor kindly agreed to my delay for which I am very grateful.
So enough of the sob story, and more of moving ahead with what I’ve learned during this second OCA instalment which will take me out into the streets of Dubai.
While working through the exercises, I was finding ways my mind would start to see subject matter in a different light. By that I mean in my minds eye, and yes thinking about it a different light from a photographic point of view also. I found some subjects harder than others (as I’m sure we all do) but this proved to be a good base to work from when I finally found myself out on the streets with my camera for the assignment work.
During my preparation I ordered a book from Amazon called ‘Street Photography Now’ (see below)
Street Photography
The book takes us through given projects from some of the best in the business for this genre, and we are shown the full process’s during given assignments on the streets. However due to time constraints and the fact my assignment is late for submission, I have not completed the book as I write as it took a long time to arrive from the U.K. A full review will be given in my Books, Reading & Reviews column once complete. But for anyone interested or about to embark on assignment 2 and opt for the street photography option I would recommend it.
But back to Elements of Design. When thinking of the subjects I wanted to photograph, I thought hard about what route I wanted to take. Given the options to choose from, Flowers and Plants, Landscapes, Street Details, Raw Food, or one choice of my own, I was drawn to street photography and in specific that of Dubai. This sounds easy at first, but not so. Dubai is quite diverse, from modern to old. Ok. So this gives me a good choice of subject matter to chew on, but Dubai is also a country full of many cultures and religions, and moving around pointing a camera into someones face or property could prove difficult. So I need to achieve street photography as per the criteria without ending up eating prison food for a week!
Landscapes was an option, but here in Dubai right now the average temperature is in the 40+ centigrade with humidity around 80%. Very, very hot and uncomfortable. Two basic types of landscapes exist in Dubai, Urban or Desert. Option two would send the temperature up another 5 degrees at least with no option for much shade. No thanks. Plus the weather and visibility here is pretty poor due to high humidity and dust which didn’t help option one either.
Once again prior to my ventures outside I prepared by reading my ‘go to book’ which I think most of the OCA students refer to, Michael Freeman’s The Photographers Eye, 2007. Re reading chapter 2, the Gestalt perception, dynamic tension, rhythm all help to refresh my mind, as well as chapter 3 which covers most of the points from this second assignment. In addition a lot of reading was done on black and white, as I knew this was the way I wanted to submit my final images, taking away any possible distraction of colour and allowing the dynamics, lines, curves and composition to create the final impact of the image.
Another recent book called Within the Frame – A Journey of Photographic Vision was also an excellent book on how we can slow down and really ‘see’ a photo and make an impact of our feelings at the time of taking the photo. See my review here
So time for my submission for Assignment 2 – Elements of Design.
O.C.A. BA (hons) Photography Degree Course 