Honestly, I was initially quite disappointed and deflated about the feedback to this assignment but after a second read, it's not quite as bad as I thought. Here is the feedback I received:
"Amanda, again this is a good choice of subject and the wedding day has a narrative structure to it, although to be honest you could have done a similar thing with the idea of photographing the gig, possibly from either the fans or the actual bands perspective. A series of shots of someone getting ready could have worked alongside images of the band in their van, at the sound check, during the show and after the event. Narratives are present in most events it is just down to the photographer how best to interpret them.
The first shot of the bride getting ready is a good introduction to the assignment although the focus is more on the lady applying the make up that the bride, you really need to be behind the make up lady to keep the attention on the bride. The eye follows the hand and up to her face as this is more interesting than looking at the side of someone’s head, its just the natural way that the eye and brain function together when reading an image.
The second image of the bride getting into the car works well from a kind of snapshot aesthetic, but again your positioning needs to be thought about as there is too much of the car roof/windscreen in the frame. Using the standard focal length is fine for portraits and more formal shots, but for these style of images you really need a wider angle and be much closer to the people you are photographing. No one likes having a lens pushed into their face but you can be discreet about it, Cartier-Bresson had the technique mastered and the secret is to work quickly and keep your finger on the shutter button.
The third shot I’m not sure about, I’ve been to these kind of weddings before, punk, biker, metal, travelers etc, where there is an interesting mix of the traditional and the couple’s own lifestyle thrown into the mix. Some of the best photographs from these weddings are ones of the couple or guests in locations and situations which you would not expect due to their lifestyle. This image could be seen as a bit of cliché, an alternative could have been of the group looking very formal in a kind of Richard Avedon style.
The shot of the couple signing the register is a fairly standard image but an important one nevertheless. Also I think that the choice to work in black and white helps to keep the set of images together but I would have liked to see the shots in colour too. The shot of the couple is a good idea, but the image itself is let down because the groom has his eyes shut, here you need to shoot quickly and fire off as many shots as is possible to increase the odds of getting a decent image.
The intimacy of the moment between the bride and the bridesmaids is good, (although for me this is just crying out to be a colour shot!) and the image comes across really well. These kind of shots are often a mix between the photographers determination and being in the right place at the right time, and this has a good quality of outcome whilst also demonstrating strong visual and technical skills.
The following image of the groom and others captures a good moment, although would this have been taken before the actual wedding service or signing of the register? It just seems that the structure of the narrative becomes a little lost at this point and the viewer is not sure about the sequence of the images. Narratives do not necessarily have to have a beginning, middle and end, have a look at Tracy Moffatt’s series of images Up In The Sky for a great example of this, but if the narrative is structured then it can be difficult to incorporate an overall sense of the event.
The longer focal length the you have used in this shot of the bride works well, the flatter perspective and general content of the photograph is more focused and captures the joy of the day. You have used a mix of styles throughout and that’s good and needs to be done, but there are a couple of shots that stand out and this is one of them. Your own style will develop as you gain more confidence and experience at events such as this but if you can keep working with the strongest images then this will come through a lot quicker.
The final two shots concentrate on the bride and groom being together at the party and go back to the snapshot aesthetic, I’m not saying they are bad shots but I do think you could worked a little more creatively. A softer portrait shot of both of them could have been interesting as well as some shots of the guests as well. Weddings are difficult events to get a decent balance of images together, as a photographer you want to take some good shots for the bride and groom but also you are trying to put your own mark on the shots too, your own style and ideas are coming through and I can only encourage you to keep working with that in mind.
Your learning log/blog is coming together well, you are looking at other photographers work and not just music/gig photographers so I think having this mix of interests is good. Do you like Glen E Friedman’s work? He is one of my favourite photographers because he manages to get great live shots and more formal posed portraits that show the viewer a different side of the artist/musician."
I will now try to address the different points my tutor has picked up on.
I can understand what my tutor has mentioned about choosing what best to narrate. The only reason I did not choose to photograph the gig in the end was purely due to feeling I would not have enough different shots to make a narrative from the crowd only. Most gigs I attend, I would need a photo pass to get any kind of decent shots instead of just basic shots from the crowd. As I stated in my original submission, this is something that I cant get unless I work for a publication, which I no longer do. And even with a photo pass, I would not be able to get in to the gig beforehand to photo the band in their van or setting up or doing the sound check, as I would only be allowed entry when the venue opens its doors and therefore these were shots I was not able to get and therefore, would not have given much diversity to narrating the gig. With all this in mind, this is why I chose to abandon the gig idea and concentrate on the wedding idea.
I chose this first shot as I thought at the time that it shows the bride being pampered while getting ready but I can see now that it doesn't really focus on the bride herself but more on the bridesmaid applying the brides makeup. I have decided to replace the original submission with the following image:
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| Enhancing beauty... |
This image is more centered around the bride and getting herself ready. I cropped the image slightly to draw more focus to her applying the make up. I think this works better than the original submission.
The comments for the second image are relevant and I understand about my positioning as a photographer. However, at this position I need to include the top of the car for the viewer to get any sense of what is happening here and that is why I didn't crop more of it out of shot.
I disagree with the comments on the this image and I really do like this shot. Weddings always have a hint of tradition, no matter what lifestyle the couple have. As a viewer looking through this set of images without knowing any background behind the couple, you could pass this event off as a completely traditional occasion. I added this is as a personal touch to hint that they are in fact 'metalheads' in a fun and quirky moment by the groom and his family.
The forth image is pretty standard and there isn't really any comment here that I need to address at this point.
I agree with the comments on the fifth image. I looked through my library and found an alternative shot, I know that this image also looks like the groom has his eyes shut again but looking closely, I think he is just squinting as the bright sun was behind me here. I will alter my original submission for the following image:
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| Presenting... |
I think this image is better overall as the groom now has his eyes open more and I am disappointed that I didn't pick this one out in the first instance.
There is nothing to really comment on with regards to the feedback for the next image however I will note on the remark for this needing to be a colour shot. As I stated in my original submission, I used black and white to create more of a narrative to set the images together. I stayed away from mixing colour and black and white images in reference to my first assignment of this course where my tutor said
"I would tend to keep to either colour or black and white for the rest of the assignments, mixing both in one assignment can be problematic because both mediums have different values that rarely combine well together"
Here is the shot in colour just for the record but I am not replacing the original submission shot here:
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| Intimate moment... |
Again, the following shot has no immediate points for me to address except to comment that this is a structured narrative and this moment happened in the same sequence as is does in the set of images. The moment was captured as the groom and his groomsmen were dispersing from having their 'official' photographs taken outside.
The remainder of the comments are pretty satisfactory and I dont have anything that I really need to address. However, I did try to be creative with dancing shot because the room was beautiful and I really wanted to show off the venue, as well as the dance, and the scale of the couple dancing among the room and their guests.
I appreciate the comments and feedback that I get from my tutor and think I have addressed his comments fairly. I am also very happy that he can see my style and ideas coming through in my images and will continue to take his advice on board and work with it all in mind.
