Workshop Experience : Semester B Week 6 Documentary Portraiture
This week was all about street portraiture and getting out there amongst it and trying to capture both posed and unposed street portraits.
Melbourne Australia is a funny place to shoot street. Most of the time people are more than happy to pose or get captured unawares. Obviously you need to pick your subjects as some people simply do not want the intrusion which is absolutely fine. But given that even our busiest streets are pretty empty by global big city standards, you really cant help but get noticed by people when taking photos on the street - no matter how small and discrete your gear is.
And I find at night that it is always the more edgy, drunk and or messed up people that spot you first and then have to know what is going on, even when you have not shown any interest in getting their image ! Its quite funny.
Then you get the people that are just dying for some interaction and attention, and would gladly pose for any amount of time to help you get a shot.
Having shot some street in a number of cities around the region, it is easier in the highly populated ones to stay hidden and discrete rather than the less populated areas, but Melbourne is also good too because at least its home and you can get a better general insight in to what may be going on around you and choose accordingly.
After some on deck time out and about shooting some street portraiture, in our lab class this week we were going through how to prepare our photos for print. This side of the learning is really interesting - how to interface with external capabilities such as printers, the naming conventions used, the ways in which they like to receive their orders, etc. We also learnt how to set up the right templates in PS to enable a proof run first, then we can check the images, then press the big go button for full scale printing. All good stuff.
I actually just got some 1m by 1m prints done of some aerial abstracts and I am really happy with the results - and the cost. I used CPL Digital in South Melbourne and can't recommend them enough. Very helpful and supportive team that work there, great online process to upload and request your print jobs, and a real hands on customer interaction which I enjoy.
The weekend just passed was also an extra part of the course - a weekend spent focussed on using off camera flash both outside and in a studio. PSC do this well - and so they should as it is an extra cost - but you get two teachers hands on for the weekend and access to all their expertise and experience. Its really very unique and a great learning environment and experience.
This one we spent day 1 out in the streets and lanes of Melbourne using off camera flash and reflectors to get a more sophisticated style of portrait (hopefully!). Day two was spent all in doors and in the PSC studio - playing with off camera flash, flash compensation, umbrella spill, and backdrops. Learnt so much, and realised again how much there is still to learn. The two teachers ability to analyse and problem solve a lighting situation and get it setup in next to no time was great to watch and be around... will get there in a decade or so hopefully!