Photography.

Mind Map
I created a mind map in Microsoft Word, which I could use to brainstorm ideas and think of an interesting way to capture Teesside for the brief.

Past Work

For the purpose of this blog, I have collated some of my personal favourite street photos that I've taken over the past year:

I approached this man on the coast near Saltburn, when I noticed him across the road as he was sitting on a wall reading a book. He looked like he was in his own world and I really wanted to capture it on the camera. I took one without his permission, which is the image of him reading his book and then I approached him and asked if I could take a portrait of him, which he was happy with. After my shots, I thanked him and he went back to reading.

This was taken in York.

These last images were all taken in Middlesbrough.

Inspiration
I actually just found these images on Google, but I really liked them. I find the simplicity within these photos interesting and intriguing to look at. I wanted to create an image similar to these, however I also wanted to involve portraits as I love taking them.

Influences
I've always loved and been involved with photograph. I spend a lot of my time watching documentaries about famous or interesting photographers and scanning through their previous work for inspiration. Don McCullin is one of my favourite photographers, as he's been through so much physically and mentally to get some of the shots he has. His style of work is amazing and attitude to photography is respected. He has previously taken photos of many wars, but as a teenager, he also used to focus on street photography a lot as London was a very interesting place in the 50's and 60's.

Location
The shoot location was in a small area of Middlesbrough.

Equipment
The only equipment I used was my personal DLSR Camera. I also used only natural light so no need for hiring any out.

Final Images
Occasionally, I'm picked up from college and driven home and on one day, I noticed a large area of council houses being knocked down for re-construction and improvement and I really wanted to check it out. The next day, I walked over to the site after college with a friend and my camera in hand. When we got there, I saw that the construction site was a bit of a mess.

I walked around the site snapping photos and looking for a good shot. It was strange to observe, as people who obviously lived in the local area walked through this demolition site as if everything was normal. It really got me thinking about how the majority of people take even the most basic things for granted, such as houses and a nice neighborhood. This little section of houses were tucked away from everything, out of view. I'm calling this series of photos 'Change' as I believe it's what we need for the people who live in these areas.

I was taking photos of the houses and I noticed a young child in a red coat staring at me, intrigued. I asked if he would like to be in a photo and he said yes, so I positioned him on the pavement and took a few photos of him with the backdrop, being the abandoned houses. I thanked him and he walked back up the street.

Here are some more photos I took around the demolition site, showing the continuous life of the people in this area. I personally think the shot of the man pushing his child in a pram, with the destroyed houses as a backdrop is the most powerful.

I currently don't have Adobe Lightroom as it ran out and is yet to be renewed, so instead I emailed the photos from my camera to my phone and used an app called VSCO Cam to edit and colour correct and then I used another app called Snapseed to sharpen and tweak before emailing the images back to my computer to upload.

I didn't want to adjust the images too much, as I quite like the roughness of the photos and makes the photos look more raw.

Below, I have posted my un-edited trial shots.