On 25/09/18 I ventured into Hanley town centre with one of my fellow students to embark on our first photoshoot for these assignments. The main purpose of this trip was to experiment and get used to our cameras, look for some initial ideas and create some initial images. It was very sunny on this day which was particularly perfect for the Light and Shadow assignment. We began our photographic journey at the old abandoned bus station; this area had a mysterious ‘urban’ atmosphere which intrigued me, and the buildings and railings casted many shadows that attracted my photographic eye. Some of the graffiti was also very eye-catching and I enjoyed experimenting and capturing this artwork with my camera. Next, we walked around the town centre and captured more interesting shadows; I also spotted many different geometric shapes that inspired me for the Everyday Geometry assignment, and so I took the opportunity to photograph these for some initial ideas. I was surprised how many geometric shapes and patterns can be found in everyday places and situations (e.g. the brick road in ‘Hanley_31.jpg’ and the windows on the office building in ‘Hanley_42.jpg.’ I feel that this has really opened my eyes to the possibilities for this assignment.

Below is a slideshow of the contact sheets I produced for this photoshoot:

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UPDATE: 25/10/18

After completing a computer workshop with Mark, I decided to put the editing techniques I had learnt into practice. I chose my favourite images from this shoot, and opened them up in Camera Raw to adjust them. This can be done by altering the Histogram in the top right corner, which gives you a visual indication of the Highlights, Mid-tones and Shadows in the image. I also adjusted the sliders on the right hand side to adjust elements of the images such as Temperature, Tint, Exposure and Contrast. I chose to change the Treatment to Black and White for most of the images, as I feel that this effectively brings out the areas of light and shadow and draws the viewer’s attention to these areas, which is important for the Light and Shadow assignment.

 

Below is a contact sheet of the final edited images from this shoot:

(Light and Shadow assignment)