So far, I have talked about some areas of my practice such as my project ‘Truest Friends’ and the gear that I use when photographing. However In this post I want to talk about some of the other things I have photographed including types of photography such as documentary style and pet portraiture, aswell as some of the workhops I have been involved in during my time at university in Huddersfield. So to begin…

Out and About/Documentary style.

The type of photography I gravitate to most by far is documentary style. It can be described as shooting while ‘out and about’ or street photography but whichever way you put it, I enjoy it. The reason I enjoy it so much is likely down to how my brain works, I like to stay on the move and keep engaged in different things rather than one thing for prolonged periods of time. Being on the move constantly and shooting as I go allows me to capture raw and unfiltered moments that happen out of my control. This is something that has always interested me ever since I started out in my photography journey at around 12 years old. Of course my skills and practice have come a long way since then but the interest in capturing those candid moments in everyday life remains. 

The image above was taken for a project called ‘Our Diary’ in 2020, a project involving myself as part of a group called The Merrie Collective, documenting our lives during the Covid 19 lockdowns. As terrible a time this was, being restricted and kept indoors for months on end, it was a great opportunity for me to go and capture some moments with my camera that may not ever happen again. The entire shoot was just me and one friend (as per lockdown restrictions at the time) walking around a park. Of course this is nothing out of the ordinary now but the context of the time gives the image much more depth in terms of what it is i am documenting. That said, I always try to make the images as good visually as possible so that even without context, it can be seen as a visually pleasing image.

Below are some more examples from the shoot.

Pet Photography.

Pet photography is something I am very new to in terms of doing it for my proffessional photographic practice. During my final year of university, I began working on a project which eventually became ‘Truest Friends’. However, before the eventual outcome of a book of dogs, the project took on a few different forms. Starting out, I wanted to photograph stuffed exotic animals for awareness towards animal rights and maltreatment but soon after I had to narrow down my project. Wanting to stick to animals, pets became my focus and thus my journey into pet photography began. Immediately I found a great enjoyment in pet photography as it combined two of my favourite things. Photography and pets! It sounds somewhat silly but it is just that simple. Looking back at some of my previous images, before university, I have come to realise that photographing animals like cats and dogs has actually been something I have always gravitated towards. Take the images below for example, taken in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

For me, photographing animals is so captivating because oftentimes you just don’t have any control over them. As I said with the documentary style photos, I love just capturing moments in time that are raw and unique. With animals, thats all you ever get unless you happen to be working with an extremely well trained dog. I find it rewarding to photograph animals because of their usually unpredictable nature, meaning that when I do get that great shot it is all the more rewarding.

University Workshops.

Throughout my time at university, we have taken part in several workshops with each teaching a new photographic skill. These workshops not only provide new learned skills but also add an element of fun into learning. The image above is taken from a workshop in which we were taught how to light and prepare a product for photographing in a commercial setting. Personally, I have no interest in doing this type of practice for a lving however I did have alot of fun learning the process that goes into the advertisements that we see every day. From sprayiing glycerin to create an illusion of condensation, to the lighting that brings that illusion and the rest of the product to life, the entire process was alot of fun for me and it may come in handy one day if I decide to change my career path.

The second image here is an example from a high shutter speed workshop. The aim was to drop a fake ice cube into a glass of water and use a continuous shutter to capture the outcome. With some colour added in through lighting, It provided some dramatic and visually stunning effects. Once again, this isn’t something I would use for my own proffessional practice, nor is it likely to be relevant in many cases within commercial photography. However, it is another skill learned that can be used for creative purposes too. The aim of the workshop was to get to grips with using fast shutter speeds and to understand what speeds were needed for different contexts, strengthening my overall skill as a photographer in the process.

The last two images here are from a lighting workshoop. The aim was to light the object as well as possible, swapping and changing lights as we went to find the best results. The reason for the cheese grater being chosen was that it is an incredibly hard object to light well due to its shiny surface and texture. By having to light such a difficult image, it meant that it accelerated my lighting skills beyond what is usually required and gave me the knowledge needed for any other difficult to light objects I may come across in the future.