John Ingledew: Photography key notes

One of the key readings that I have done in preparation for this course is from John Ingledew. Ingledew explains how photography is a potent and powerful force, able to tell huge stories through single images. He states that the key to creating great pictures is not through the equipment used;its about finding your own way of seeing things using photography. The reading highlights how photographs have the power to stop time preserving moments that have passed by and that particular moments that are caught'conjure up' memories and emotions for people. Ingledew also looks at the technical side of photography and a key point that I drew from this reading is the fact that cameras can register events or objects that the eye cannot by using exposures of fractions of a second, minutes or hours. This reading has made a few things clear for me; I need to tell a story through my images and to make great images I need to make the story in a way that I see something.

Idea 5: The negatives of pub culture

For my fifth and final idea I have chosen to use the negatives of pub culture as my main focus. Like my fourth idea, it uses social context as its key focus but with this idea it is used to highlight the negative views towards pub culture.

Positives of this idea:
-It is easy to highlight the message behind this idea
-There are a range of individuals who could be the main subject of the photos
Negatives of this idea:
-The photographs would be repetitive because the negatives of pub culture are very similar
-It is a sensitive topic and some people may not want to be the main focus of the photographs

Below are examples of shots that relate to this idea:

Idea 4: The positives of pub culture

For my fourth idea I have chosen to focus on the positives of pub culture, for example to socialise with friends. This idea uses social context as the key focus to portray pub culture in a positive light.

Positives of this idea:
-It is easy to highlight the message behind this idea
-There is a range of different people who can be the subject of the photographs
Negatives of this idea:
-The story/message of this idea isn't very interesting to me
-In order to present the message this idea, the photographs are likely to seem very repetitive as there aren't many more positives of pub culture other than socialising

Below are examples of shots that relate to this idea:

Idea 3: The staff

For my third idea I have chosen to use individuals as the main focus, in this case the staff that work in pubs, most likely bar staff. I aim to show the ups and downs of bar work, for example, where staff actually enjoy serving pleasant customers and when they don't enjoy serving those who aren't as pleasant, even though they have to still put on a smile.

Positives of this idea:
-This idea has a clear story that I can show quite well through my photographs
-I have done bar work myself and therefore know exactly what kind of images I want to capture
Negatives of this idea:
-It will be hard to take good quality photographs of staff without getting in the way too much

Below are examples of shots that relate to this idea:

Idea 2: The customers

For my second idea I have chosen to focus on the different types of people that go to pubs and explore the reasons for why they do so. This idea uses social context as the main subject and is explored through shots of various individuals.

Positives of this idea:
-Using this idea will allow me to clearly make a link between each picture whilst getting across a message/story
-Only need permission from one venue to take the pictures
-There are a range of individuals who are able to be the subject of one of the photographs
Negatives of this idea:
-As there will be a lot of individuals used as the focus of the shots, it will be difficult to get permission from each person that I may want to have in the pictures.

Below are examples of shots that relate to this idea:

Idea 1: Different types of pubs

For my first idea I have chosen to explore the various types of pubs that exist and what atmosphere is given just by the look of each one. This is the only idea where I have chosen to focus on location instead of using people or social context as the main subject.

Positives of this idea:
-It depicts more than one location and therefore can explore how the difference in location can change the mood of each photograph
Negatives of this idea:
-It is difficult to make all the photos relate in a way that doesn't just show various pubs(no story is being told)
-It is less likely for me to get permission to take pictures in various pubs as opposed to just one
-It is difficult to capture a single image that reflects a whole location

Below are examples of shots that relate to this idea:

Breakdown of main idea

As described in a previous post, I have chosen pub culture as the main focus of my photography essay. However, there are many different routes which I could take with this idea and therefore I have broken it down into more specific ideas of how I may approach it. I will experiment with each of my ideas and choose which one I believe to be the best whilst doing so. My ideas for what I may use as the main focus for my photographs are;
-Different types of Pubs(Location is the subject)
-Different people who go to pubs and why(Social context is the subject)
-The staff that work in pubs(Individuals are the subject)
-The positives view towards pubs(Social context is the subject)
-The negative view towards pubs(social context is the subject)