As part of our trip to Bristol for a Martin Parr talk, we were given different areas to photograph in. My group was told to stay near park street. I managed o get a few shots as part of my trial in experimenting with potential street photography styles and approach. I am pleased with my first attempt in shooting street. Next time I will stay in the same place, after picking a good background and pre-focus waiting for subjects to walk into the frame, as this seems to be a better way of approaching street.
This shot is okay. I waited in this area for a while and photographed people coming towards me. After being here for about 10 minutes a young boy spotted the puddle and began jumping in it. This is the best shot I got. I exposed for the highlights so the image is quite dark.
I felt like shooting people opposite me at a crossing was a good way to capture people face on, so took the opporunity. This is the best frame from this opportunity and I chose it as the motion blur of the car adds more interest to the image and also frames the subjects quite well. Perhaps the image would be better if the subjects were more brightly coloured or their body language more interesting.
This was a grab shot of someone walking past in the wind. The image holds motion blur as I didn’t have time to focus, but I quite like the result of it- maybe a happy accident? It would definetley look better without the woman in the background and if I had pulled back a bit to get all the subjects hair in the frame.
I quite like this shot. This was a grap shot of people walking towards me, as I walked towards them, so I took a secretive shot. The flowers add colour and interest and the woman to the rights facial expression kind of makes the shot.
This was also a grabshot. I like how the subject fills the frame and the effect of her hair in the wind. There is motion blur so perhaps it would have been better at a faster shutter speed?
Another attempt of shooting from across a crossing. I wanted to capture some youths who constantly look at their phones at any given opportunity- in this case whilst waiting 20 seconds for the green man.
I found the better photo opportunity in this case at the crossing came from my side rather than the opposite. This teaches me to constantly be aware of my surroundings, rather than assuming where the opportunity might arise.
In this image I included the person next to me and made sure they were out of focus, but made sure the leopard print was visible, to co-ordinate with the main subjects bag.
Overall I learned how to use grab shots and when to pre focus. I feel more confident in my approach and I will plan my technique more before attempting my next shoot.
Jodie Tovey PJD blog 