Street & Documentary Photography: People and Place

1. Introduction: Hi and welcome. I'm glad you're here. In this course, we'll look at how street and documentary photography combine, and we'll use it to explore a community. This is a tool to help you develop your practice. It'll help you grow your street and your documentary projects into something more meaningful. We'll look at how you can explore a community using both photographs and your own personal reflection. So I'm sucky, and I've been working as a professional photographer for over 20 years. At the heart of it, it's about people, and I have themes of home, community, and country. This is the basis of my practice, and I'll share many of the techniques that I've learned here in this course. My work has received recognition. It's found an audience, and some of that audience has led to a claim. I've won the Sony World photo. I've featured in the Taylor WestingEhibition, and have won portrait of Britain twice. The techniques that I've learned over the years actually do matter. They do lead to success. On top of that, I have taught and worked with over 3,000 people. I've done that in the form of workshops and in online courses. This means that all the information that I present to you in this course, it's tried and tested. It's absolutely bulletproof. I know it works. And if you try and really embrace it, it'll work for you. 2. Your project and Interview: Over to you. It's now time for your turn. I want to see your project. What I'd like you to do is make a short project where you've gone into a community, you've written about it beforehand. You've then done some reflection on the photographs that you've made. Revisited the community and you've pushed the boundaries. You've explored further. I'd like this project to be no more than six to eight pictures. I will respond to every single project that is posted. So please if you want to have some expert advice, now's your opportunity. My approach to photography is about curiosity, care, and compassion. And that, for me, is the beginning and end. It all starts with that. Yeah, it's interesting. So most people in photography in the creative field have perfect color vision, and they've gone to art school or they've studied photography. I'm basically the opposite of that. By being colorblind, I think firstly I feel colors rather than see them. So my approach to color is a little bit different to other people's. And in terms of being self taught and very much results driven, I teach quite a lot, and find that a lot of people in photography who've gone through the traditional method, they can often get quite caught up in theory. So I think if I sum it up, I'm very much a practical photographer, and I believe in getting the work done. I think empathy and care are paramount in photography. Photography, if we think about it, has quite a bad reputation. It's been kind of bad actor over the years. If we just think about the language that's often associated with photography, it's a language of violence, often we'll use words like shoot. And that, to me, is kind of the opposite of how I want to behave. The achievements or A awesome. The achievements are awesome. I feel really honored to have received quite a lot of peer recognition. But to me, they're not the B. They're not the B all and end all. For me, I don't create the work for awards, even though I've been extremely fortunate in receiving some of the biggest awards around. So awards mean a lot more than others, and that's not generally because they're more widely recognized. It's because they have some form of a personal connection. So for example, the Taylor Wessing Awards meant that my work was shown in the National Portrait Gallery. Years ago, when I was really broke, I used to volunteer helping people with disabilities, see the art. And I used to always volunteer to go to the National Portrait Gallery, because no matter how bad my day was, I always felt just wonderful by the end of it. So having a picture in the National Portrait Gallery just meant so much to me. I find it immensely gratifying, helping others. I think it's I think it's hugely important that photography should be more diverse and it should be more accessible. The traditional models of people training in photography are evaporating, and it's only available to the lucky few who can afford to go to university and spend thousands on education. For me, I think it's hugely important that all our stories are told, and we can do that using photography. Often, people are looking for perfect conditions. They want the perfect circumstances or the right camera. And I guess what matters most is what's in front of you and just making stories using whatever equipment that you have. You don't need to travel to exotic length in order to make stories. Use your phone, use the environment around you. 3. Preparation and research: So let's begin and it doesn't begin with a camera. It actually begins with a pen and some paper. Now we can think of a community that we want to document. Where do we start? Where do we begin? Now it's best to choose a community which you have some form of a personal connection with. That's where this works best. I've chosen Southall to start as this new area that I want to learn more about. I'm looking to explore it. Now I chose this place because it's commonly known as Little Punjab or Little India, and my heritage, my parents are from that region of India. They're from Punjab. Now, I have always lived away from Indian communities. I've always lived in areas in the northwest of England, areas such as Liverpool. Now, there's not a huge amount of Indians there. So personally, I've always felt this kind of disconnect between who I am, what I look like, what my heritage is, and what my knowledge is at. So there's a gap. And I want to explore this knowledge gap. That's why I've chosen Southall. Now, people often ask what makes a good area? Now, a good area depends on how much of a bond you have or a connection you have to this particular community. Now, for me, because I chose South Hall, there are all sorts of strands to it. There are all sorts of layers. I could look at Britishness. I could look at food, cuisine. My parents used to run small businesses, so I could look at the community in South Hall. Through the lens of what are the small businesses doing? How are they? What are the lives for the people who work there? So what makes a good place to choose and a good community to start documenting, it's one that you have a connection with. And now we start some research. Now the real fun begins. So on your piece of paper and with your pen, I want you to write the name of the community in the middle of the piece of paper. Start writing words, which spring to mind when you think of that community. So in my case, where I was writing about Southall, I mentioned I could write about small businesses. I could write about food. I could talk about how I have this disconnect with my heritage. There's language. There are so many things that come that spring to mind when I think of what this area could mean to me. And I'd like you to do that now. Think about all of your senses, so don't just think about visual aspects. Think about sound, think about color. So in my case, in terms of Southall, there are colors which are very much synonymous with this little Punjab, with my heritage. And I want to write down what those colors are it's really important that we know these things. So once you've written all these elements down on your piece of paper, I'd like you to go into some form of map software. So I personally use Google Maps. I then start looking around the area. I look for things which kind of spring to mind. And I look to research some of the things that I've written down. So in my research when I'm exploring South hall, one of the things I wrote down was Britishness and what British means in this day and age. And so this is something I'm keen to explore in the project. So I'm looking around Google Street View, and I found a pub. So outside this pub, there was a flag of the St. George's Cross, which is the flag of England. But next to this flag, they had a flag of India. A this juxtaposition of British and Indian. It's something that I'm very keen to explore. Also, think about maybe some of the colors you've written down. Use Google street view as a way of just noting areas down. What I tend to do is pin certain points on the map. So when I'm out there on location, I'm trying to use these as jumping off points for my photos. 4. Gear and Mindset: Now let's talk about the equipment that we'll be using. Now, often when we're working, we need to be able to think fast and act fast. And that, to me, is by keeping our gear simple. We don't want to pack many camera bodies, many lenses. That's almost too much choice. Personally, what I find works best is to pick one camera, one lens. Now, for me, that's a medium format film camera. I use the equivalent of a 50 millimeter lens. Now, what that enables me to do is to make environmental pictures, so pictures of scenes, objects, but it also enables me to take photographs of people and make portraits and particularly portraits of people in the environment. So, as well as gear, we need to think about our mindset. I tried to go in curious, and I tried to go in really humble. This isn't just about me. It's not just about my story. I'm looking to make work, which is a platform for other people, the people who I come across, the people I meet. I also try not to have very set expectations. So I may have seen something on Google Street view, and I might have a photograph that springs to mind, and it can be easy to get carried away with that. And then if we don't achieve what we preconceived, we almost feel disappointed. And that comes at a cost. What we're doing is we're neglecting to adapt to what's already in the environment. So just try and let yourself go. Do this preparation, but then be open to chance. So the next step for you is now to pick your equipment, pick your camera, pick your lens, make sure that your memory cards are formatted and completely clear that your batteries are fully charged, and you're ready to go. Or that might mean if you're working on film like myself, that you have enough film for the day, and that is all packed and ready to go. 5. On location: We are now arriving at Settle. Let's make some pictures. Hello. Hello. How are you? I'm getting photo bombed. Yeah. So you've arrived at your destination, and it's worth just taking a little bit of time now. Try and find somewhere where you can just sit and relax, find a cafe and a calm space. Have a look at the notes that you made about the area. Then just take a few moments. Try and soak in the atmosphere. Try and watch, try and listen. What sounds do you hear? Start thinking about how you can start photographing this. I noticed this stop. When I was a kid, my family would take me to these places. We begin talking. I make some photographs, and he's a really lovely, nice warm chap. Well, you have a nice Saturday, alright? Look after yourself, my brother, yeah. Now, people at this stage, they often ask me about settings. What setting should they use on their camera? Now, that's very much dependent on your skill level and what you're comfortable with. If you're a beginner, use full auto. Use whatever settings that you feel comfortable with. There is no shame at that. We have all been there. So if you're intermediate in terms of your skill level, I'd like you to use aperture priority. That way you can control what depth of field that you use in your photographs, depth of field means that how much is in focus. But if you're advanced, you want to go for something that's fully manual, that allows you to take complete control of your camera. No. Alright. Okay, let me It takes me a minute to get set, right? So can you come forward a bit? Perfect. Yeah, and just maybe leap, yeah. Nice and, like, relax, yeah? And if you look at me, sir. Alright. Just Yeah, the, yeah, that's it. Sit still. Don't smile. Don't smile. Just relax. Natural. Yeah, keep stay there. 321. So this is the pub I mentioned earlier, where I'd done my research on Google Maps, looking at street Vew and outside, it had this St. George's cross flag, and it also had the flag of India. So I had this already planned on my route, I will go and visit this pub. When I get there, I notice a few things. One, the flags have been taken down. They're gone now. Secondly, I noticed that there is the name of the pub. The pub is called the Scotsman. Obviously, a very British name, which kind of ties in to one of the things I wrote down in my note. But it also had this sign, and it had this sign, which was the Scotsman pub, and it was made out like a road sign, and underneath it said, Haharbor. And Hharbur is a city. It's a district within the Punjab area of India. Now, again, this kind of marriage of British and Indian, that was something I was keen to explore. So having noticed outside that the flags had gone, I still went into the pub. I just took it as an opportunity to maybe explore, maybe have a chat with some of the people there. Which I did, and I ended up taking a photograph with the owner of this pub. And he was a little bit nervous at first. But then we got talking. At one point, my camera ran out of film. So I just sat with him, and we just were talking, we're talking about the pub, his life, the history. Now, these moments are there to help us build, to deepen the connection, and it's something that we shouldn't shy away from. In fact, it's something that we should almost encourage. H in my notes, I wrote down colors. I wrote down various elements, which I thought was synonymous with the Punjabi and Indian community. Do I look for these details. So, for example, in this photograph, these are people who were preparing for a street parade, for a religious festival that was happening the following weekend by photographing some of the atmosphere, the preparations of the street parade, gain colors, clotheshop, ways of just drawing the viewer in, letting them know what it feels like. Livervio, right? Ian Liver my son born here, this what Liverpool but I lived nearby. I always like to share photos. The photos that I might have made of people along the way. I think it's the only right thing to do. So I do that in a number of ways. I'll either share something. Digitally that might be if they're a little bit younger via Instagram, or I might share it via email. And in this case, in Surinder's case, I made a small print, and here I am revisiting the area, and here I'm dropping off a print to Serna. Now he really kindly offered for me to come in to have a cup of tea to have a chat. We ended up having this long conversation. He told me about his life. He told me about his experiences in the country, his history of working in a factory. My parents worked in a factory when they first moved to this country. And so, again, this kind of connection, this depth. And by having these conversations, we can push how we document a community and make it go even deeper. It's commonly been asked, how do you remain present when you're photographing, when you have so many things to think about, there's just so much stuff going on in your head. So there are a number of ways. One, know your tools. Make sure you know your camera, your lens, know how your equipment works, and learn to master it. Two, when you arrive at a scene, do what I call a light scan and a color scan. That means do a complete turn around yourself, do a complete 360. Have a look where the light is. Where is the direction of the light? What color is the light? Where is the light bouncing off? Where are you getting reflections? Plan. Every time you get to a scene, you're doing this light scan. Next, do the same thing, do a complete 360, but then you're looking specifically at color. What color is in the scene around you are some of those colors the ones that you wrote down initially in your written research, and that will then provoke almost prompt of Okay, I might be able to make this photo, I might be able to include this color here and so on. Three, reflecting and writing will help improve how you behave in the moment. You might have a situation that quite often when you photograph, you make pictures of people blinking. So their eyes are closed at that crucial moment when you hit the shutter. I used to do this a lot, and what I do now is I tell the person. I ask them, please don't blink when I'm ready to make the picture, and I'll let them know. I'll signal that by counting down. I'll go three, two, one, and then I'll make the picture. That highly improved my success rate. So if you find that you want to improve, take some time away from the camera, write about it, reflect on it. But don't be too hard on yourself. It's always important to remember to be kind to yourself. We're often such harsh critics on ourselves. Just try and show a little bit of empathy to yourself and when you're making pictures. Doing something complicated. We're doing something that requires practice, you wouldn't expect to pick up a football or soccer ball and just know how to bend it around some players and plant it in the top corner of a goal. That takes practice. This takes practice. I know it can be tricky, but I promise you, the more you do it, the more you write and reflect on your actions, the easier it'll become. You so, I'd love to make a picture of you just where the sun's too strong. I don't want you to, like, squint your eyes. So it's okay if I come in this side. So maybe if you could stand here, does that look okay, sir? Sorry, sir. I didn't mean to make you stand up. So take one step forward. Yeah, that's cool. Man, you got my share when you got height. I'm like, little man, you know? So I'm using a 50-year-old camera, right? So it's film. So this tells me what settings to use. That would be about 80th of a second. Okay, I might not be able to get as far back as No too but let's see. We'll Okay, take a step this way. And turn your head towards me. Yeah, that's the one. Okay. Now, what I'll do? I'll get focused and then I'll go 32 if you could keep looking here. Okay, when I go three, two, one, please don't blink. Three, two, one. H. Into your baby, right? Yeah. I know. Like, me and my camera, they're my babies now, beautiful. Now, three, two, one, don't blink. That's the one. Come bit this way, this way. Yeah, that's the one, brother. Three, two, one. That was the best you want send it to you. 6. Reflect and review: We're back now, and we have our photographs from this first shoot. I'd encourage you to slowly go through your photos, look at them, try and ask yourself some questions about what were you interested in? What really got you excited, and you were like, I really want to explore more of this. These are the signs that you're looking for. Now, with this, I want you to start writing about what you've noticed in your pictures, what possible themes might have come up from your photos. Were you surprised? Did you find that you were resisting things? For example, maybe you felt uncomfortable approaching people. Now, that's okay. That's completely fine. But just think about why are you resisting things? I'd like you to think about, also, what are you resisting? What are the things that you know will make the project better that will make the project sing? But you just are struggling to put yourself there to kind of push forward. I want you to use writing as a way of exploring these things. It will reveal a great deal about what your true interests are, what you have written down initially. That will change and it will grow, and it will lead into all sorts of unexpected directions. That's the amazing part of this. It's a way of feeling like an explorer. It's a wonderful feeling. 7. Final thoughts: These tools of writing and photographing, they can be used again and again. And if you use it correctly, your projects will go from here to here. Your photographs will have so much more depth to them and your work will sing. The more you return to a place, the more you use the tools of writing and photographing, the more your knowledge will grow. The more the place will reveal itself. This is where the gold is. This is where the really special photographs so remember, think of time as a character in your work. So a place may have people change, communities might change, we might change, but that's okay. That is part of the story. And if you want to, if that's part of the story, you want to tell, you can make this an ongoing project, a way of showing how communities and people change over time. Thanks so much for watching. You can find out more about me in the notes below. Please go and check out my blog. I have lots of free resources in there, ways to kind of really push your photography forward. I'm so excited to see what projects you're going to deliver, and I can't wait to see them. Best of luck and buy for now.