Fifth Photoshoot
16th of December
Greenwich Peninsula
The Greenwich Peninsula was once known as the Greenwich Marshes, it used to be full of wildlife, but it lacked good places to farm as the peninsula flooded a lot. Once barriers were built around the peninsula so it wouldn't flood anymore, a bunch of factories were built.
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Then in 2000, a tube station was build called "North Greenwich" which changed how the area would be called for the years to come. Then the Millennium Dome/The O2 was built, these two developments made the area stop being an industrial area and started to become a highly residential area.
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Nowadays, the Greenwich Peninsula is being developed by a company that is making a 20 year long construction of new residences for the area.
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The area thrives in it's avant-garde style set against the backdrop of a once industrial area.
Story
Shooting Plan
When? From the 10th till the 15th of December.
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Where? I'll walk around the Peninsula, contrasting the residential life to the entertainment side of the Peninsula.
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Equipment? My Canon 750D/Rebel T6i with an 18 to 55mm lens.
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Intention? I want to showcase the style of North Greenwich and see how the "Peninsulists" percieve this area-- Yes, that's what we're apparently called according to all the marketing in this area. Moreover, I will contrast my photography against the commercial photography of Paul Galver (left).
Photoshoot Images
Evaluation
More Images
(in order of preference)
Overall, this shoot was really successful and it was a great way of looking back at how my photography has improved during this module of the course as we did the same shoot at the beginning of the year.
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The technical side of things went pretty smooth, I shot in Aperture mode, something that would have been impossible for me at the beginning of the year. On a more personal side note, this shoot was more successful than the last when it comes to shooting people and asking them to pose and also getting to know them. I took a much personal approach to people, asking them about the area and why they liked it and so on, it made taking the pictures much better and also a less awkward experience. I feel like I have improved a lot upon this area of street photography.
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The shooting itself went really well, I made the choice of stretching it out for a while, instead of doing it all in one day, that way I could shoot a larger array of pictures with different weather conditions and also different types of subjects. I believed this improved my shoot as I had a much wider variety of pictures to choose from to select my best.
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If I were to re-do this shoot, I would probably attempt again to shoot my subjects from multiple angles and making sure I'm not shaking whilst taking the picture.
This is my favourite out of all the pictures because it shows the area's character. As we had to take a photojournalistic approach to this task, I chose this picture as my favourite because it showcases what North Greenwich is about, the vibrant style and colours, the modern architecture and the constant events in the area. The vibrant style and colours are seen in the clothing and also in the saturated colours. The modern architecture is the backdrop of our subject. And finally, the constant events of the area are seen in the little sheds (they were closed at the time), those were part of the Christmas celebration; also, North Greenwich is home to The O2, so there is always a constant stream of events and interesting people crossing by which is showcased in this image.
What I did to emphasise the vibrance of the area, was to play a bit with the saturation of the image, making the colours pop more and also subsequently, make the reflections be more vibrant.
The only problem I have with this image, is that it's a bit shaky - noticeable on the top of the image. This is one of the issues I have with candid street photography and I will definitely try to improve outside of this course.
I edited a lot this picture's exposure, colours and curves to achieve the silhouetted look of the Emirates cable car. I really like this picture because of it's leading lines that go from the top to the bottom of the image. I also really like it because of the texture in the sky.
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I selected this picture because I feel like the cable car is an unappreciated part of the area for the "Peninsulists". I asked the few people who I interviewed and took portraits of and none of them had been on the cable car before. I also think it's an interesting fact, because none of Galver's pictures contain the cable car as a main subject.
Obviously I had to include the Thames, the peninsula has three of it's sides surrounded by it.
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What I like about this shot is that North Greenwich is a fairly modern area without many vegetation, even though that is what the peninsula. So I shot a picture that showcases that North Greenwich still has some of that vegetation. I mean, it's dying, but it's still there.
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I only edited the colours in this picture to again showcase the vibrance of North Greenwich.
Out of all the pictures I took of the buildings, I chose this one as my favourite. Mainly because it is a direct contrast to what Galver's photography show of the area. Galver shows it as this perfect finished modern community, which it clearly isn't. It is still in construction, both as a residency but also as a community (to be fair, the sense of community no longer exists in most cities).
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In it's technical aspects, I like that it's a low angle shot that creates an interesting pattern with the scaffolding. It also has an interesting division caused by three leading lines, there is the finished side, the brown scaffolding and then the green one.
The thing that drew me to select this picture were all the angles and leading lines, it creates a very interesting view that draws the viewer to the subject in the middle of the picture. Moreover, the colour palette is quite dull with mainly whites and pale colours, which makes the subject be more accentuated. To achieve this, I also played with the vibrance of the colours.
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This image also follows the rule of thirds for it's division and makes it have an interesting composition.
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From a photojournalist point of view, this image says that people are at the center of this community and it also showcases the modern architecture of the area.
This picture made the cut because of it's intention, which is to show that there is still some nature in this "urban jungle". Also, because it has buildings that are in construction in the background which shows that the area is unfinished, again, in direct contrast to what Galver was trying to portray with his photography.
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The only problem I've got with this image is that it's a bit underexposed.
This was the only portrait I took that came out well, most of them came out underexposed or they were not interesting like the subject in this image.
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I took a similar approach to Brandon Stanton's technique when taking posed pictures of people in the street. I approached her by complimenting her scarf and hair and subsequently asking for the picture, I got a body shot first, and then slowly got closer to a close-up.
I asked her about the area and what she liked about it, she said it was living beside the Thames was what she liked the most. I also asked her to describe North Greenwich in three words: "Artsy, modern and secluded".
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What I also really enjoy about this image is that a few months ago, I would not have been able to have taken a portrait like this of a stranger and then also having the courage to ask the subject a few questions. So it shows that I'm constantly improving my confidence when being out in the streets with a camera.
The best part of this image is it's weight, it feels balanced and this is due to there being a white line in the clouds that separates the nature side of North Greenwich to the modern urbanistic area.
The most intriguing part of this image are the leading lines, that lead the viewer towards Canary Wharf. You might be wondering why there is a picture of Canary Wharf in a selection of pictures from North Greenwich, this is because three out of the seven people I interviewed said they liked the area because it was close to their work in Canary Wharf.
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I also really like the sunset colours of this image.