This shoot is inspired by both the work of Sophe Gerrard and Duane Michals. I shot these images in the documentary style of Gerrard and wanted them to have the narrative of my journey to college in the style of Michals.
I wanted to shoot my journey to college on a day where I wouldn’t be pressured for time so that I could think more carefully about aspects of my images such as composition and subject matter. I chose to shoot my images on a Friday morning as my first lesson starts at 13:50 so I knew that I had plenty of time. However, this limited me slightly as I knew that I had to complete my shoot on this day, and so checked the weather forecast in order to be prepared for bad conditions. I planned to leave home at 11am and knew that it wasn’t supposed to rain but took an umbrella in case the rain came early and I had to continue shooting, and luckily so as the rain did indeed arrive earlier than was forecast and I had to shoot under an umbrella.
Image One shows the very beginning of my journey, where I lock my door and leave my building. I chose to compose the image using the rule of thirds, with my hand being at the lock in the leftmost third, as I think this is an effective way of drawing the viewer’s eye into my image. The leading line created by my arm also contributes to this. Despite the fact that this image was shot inside, it was lit from above using a skylight and I think this is more true to the documentary style of photography. I only edited this image ever so slightly in Photoshop as I wanted it to be as representative of the documentary style, so chose only to adjust my Levels slightly. I shot these images in RAW format and so this gave me more Levels to work with.
Image Two represents the next phase of my journey as I travel on a bus for 10 minutes before walking the rest of the way to college and I chose this location carefully in order to represent this part of my journey as I am aware that shooting on public transport is not advisable. Again, I chose to use a combination of the rule of thirds and leading lines to compose this image, this time in homage to Gerrard’s work. I like that the bus stop breaks up the diagonal lines of the road as I think it makes the viewer stop to notice the subject of the image, almost as if they’re following the command ‘stop’ painted on the road for the bus stop which I think adds an element of quirkiness to the image.
Image Three represents the walking element of my journey as I spend an average of 30 minutes walking from the bus stop to college. I chose this location to represent this part of my journey because I wanted to make it obvious to the viewer that I was on foot rather than in a vehicle, and I thought that having a pedestrian crossing light as the focus of my image would do so. I increased my shutter speed slightly when shooting this image as the light is very bright and I wanted the viewer to still be able to make out the shape of the ‘do not cross’ light, which would be more difficult if the light were brighter. I was conscious of the fact that I was shooting outdoors and so set my ISO to 100, although I feel I could have increased this slightly as it was a dark, rainy day.
Image Four represents the final stage of my journey as I arrive at college. I chose this image to represent my arrival as I think the natural backdrop of the tree and its’ leaves is more aesthetically pleasing than some of the signs outside of the college building. I composed the image using the rule of thirds both in homage to Gerrard’s work and in order to include more of the tree in the background. I increased my ISO to 200 when shooting this image as the tree blocked out some of the light provided by the sky and so I wanted to increase my camera’s sensitivity to light slightly to balance this out.
Individual Identity 
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