Work Diary - Shoot 4: London Hyde Park

Evaluation 

For this London shoot, my camera was set to F22, ISO 200 and a shutter speed of 1/125, set out to compare the scenarios between a quieter place in London - such as Hyde Park, with a much busier place - such as Oxford Street or Westfield. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to shoot in the busier sets of London, but still think this shoot in Hyde Park is valid for my project anyway. During this shoot, I focused on the people surrounding me. For instance, I shot photos of a lady feeding squirrels, and a little girl feeding pigeons as well as people riding past me on their bicycles. This shoot felt really relaxed, which I like because it shows a different side to a stereotypically busy London. I enjoyed this shoot, and particularly liked practicing with my focus ranges so that I could capture fast cyclists riding past, as well as birds flying past. My favourite shots in particular are those involving the gigantic lake in Hyde Park, as it expresses the relaxed and calm setting of the place. Comparatively, I also shot photos of people sitting at the restaurant that was a lot busier, which potentially shows the difference without the extra shoot added.

This shot was taken nearing the end of the shoot where I caught the moment of a little girl feeding pigeons, whilst her mum took photos of her. I really think this shot captures the moment, as well as emulates how refreshing and relaxing Hyde Park is. Hyde Park is a gigantic place so everybody is always spread out, where is in places like Oxford Street it seems busier because the pathways are so narrow. I like this a lot because the mother is using her phone to capture the moment, and my shot shows this happening. This demonstrates modern society and how people use their phones a lot more now, and this style of shot was influenced by Martin Parr as in a lot of his images he has shot people using their phones as cameras and just generally. 

This is a shot I captured of a cyclist riding past me. This was a spontaneous shot but I still believe it works rather well. I like that the background of the image is in focus and clear, whereas the cyclist is pretty much completely blurred. This shows his fast motion of cycling past. I like this style of shot as it compares still to movement, as well as contrasts between a calm places like Hyde Park to a fast paced cyclist. I cropped this image quite a bit as I wanted the cyclist to be the main focus, and by having him on the left side of the image, I have created a lot of space for the background to be clearly shown, such as the lake, trees and pathway. 

Progression

For my next shoot, I plan to continue using Martin Parr's influence, but at a beach, showing a lot of people, high saturation and holiday orientated images. Martin Parr is a big influence in these shoots as his high saturated beach photographs inspired me in Brighton and Spain, as well as his shots of people using their phones to express the modern day.