I’ve been very slow in getting this project done as I couldn’t think of an event to attend around my working week or a person to follow to get interesting enough pictures to use. I’ve therefore chosen to photograph at the 2011 St Patrick’s Day parade in London as I was able to make the trip there on a Sunday in March.
Parade day was rainy and cold for the most part and I didn’t need to worry about where the sun was as the sky was an overall flat grey. I had to position myself in one spot and had to stay there due to the crowds along the road. If I had moved then I would have been behind people so I had to stay put and hope for the best. Whilst I was able to shoot with no heads getting in the way, the downside was the lack of change of position. I did see some people breaking ranks and walking in front of the parade to take shots head on but they were being moved by the police and stewards fairly quickly.
What was I hoping to achieve:
I wanted to include shots that would make it obvious without words what the celebration was and I think this is achieved with a number of shots – shamrocks, leprechaun mascots, Celtic dancers and pipers. I also wanted to show that the parade includes (for no reason that I could think of) firemen and a flavour of the Caribbean. I think overall I have managed to capture an essence of the event from the point of view of a spectator.
I wanted a variety of head and full body shots and have achieved this.
What wasn’t good:
I was a little hindered by not being able to move around but given people were themselves moving in front of me it was manageable but not ideal as I was always side on. It also meant that I wasn’t positioned to take shots of the spectators.
I didn’t have time to consider each shot individually and kept missing shots due to stopping and looking at what I had taken instead of just keep going and review at the end.
The speed of the parade meant that often I wasn’t quick enough – although I was shooting on auto I think I should have tried the sports setting in order to get more shots of the people before they passed by. It was frustrating to be missing fleeting moments such as the Hari Krishna’s passing by in leprechaun hats and beards. I should have also tried my other camera in order to use the longer lens and try and separate a person from their background more. I was concentrating so much on trying to take what was coming towards me that I didn’t really shoot once the individual floats and sections had passed by – I may have got something worthwhile by shooting the backs of the participants.
I also found that despite being on auto, a number of the shots aren’t as sharp as I would have liked.
A side effect:
I have rarely cropped pictures – I either don’t think of it or I am in a situation where there is time to position myself, or wait for someone to move in/out of shot. As I was trying to get as many shots as I could during the parade, I often had things at the outer edges of the photo that were unnecessary so I have cropped just about all of this submission in some way as noted against each picture. I also thought it necessary to crop given I was stationary and so the background would have been the same from shot to shot. I thought this was a useful exercise as it has made me more conscious of finding a picture within a picture.
I was pleased that I had eye contact with some of the subjects - rather than look away when a stranger points a camera directly at them, they have looked directly at me.
Overall, I think I have shown the parade clearly, keeping the emphasis on the people given the course I am studying and the assignment being submitted. Despite the missed opportunities a parade proved to be an effective way of capturing an event with people not known to me, of being obvious that I was taking pictures directly of people but in a friendly and unintimidating atmosphere and them not taking issue with it, and of me not being able to direct people to look or behave in a particular way.
These pictures show people caught at a particular moment, at a particular event. It’s questionable as to whether they show “the real person” as I’m sure one would have to know a person first in order to be able to judge how a photograph reflects them.
If I had been to the parade before and known what to expect then I would have hoped to have thought of some unusual compositions or tried to move towards something more unconventional or ambiguous whereas my assignment is a more obvious and straightforward way of capturing a moment.
No flash or tripod used. All on automatic setting.
St Patrick's Day, London
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It was a little hard for these girls to dance and move forward in the parade so most of their companions seemed to be walking so I was pleased that I caught them in mid jump and have a sense of movement in the shot. |
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I like the side view – the peak on helmet, his nose and his chin strap all pointing in the same direction. From the side his face, complete with its large moustache, is almost like a cartoon caricature. There is something jolly about him in the photograph but who knows if that is really a person once the costume has gone if you are photographing someone that you don’t actually know. Cropped slightly at the outer edges. |
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This would have worked better if the central figure had been in step with the other two but like the absence of the whole person. The outfits and the hint of instruments tell the viewer everything they need to know to fill in the rest. Cropped very slightly. |
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In what I thought was going to be a traditional parade this was an untraditional girl in an untraditional costume. I think she has an open face and was enjoying the moment. I have cropped out the left hand side and she was about to disappear from the right hand side of the shot so I only just caught her. I could have cropped this into more of a square format but wanted to keep her costume in. |
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I think he is a contradiction – a serious face yet wearing a shamrock hat. He was very self-contained in the midst of the parade – I think concentrating on his flag holding duties but looked rather melancholic and alone in a crowd. I’ve cropped everything else out to focus on him. |
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He turned and “looked” at me so I had to take his picture. The background was very busy with people so I have cropped everything out in order to keep the attention on the mascot. |
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Capturing a stationary moment but still conveys the energy of the performer. It’s a joyful moment and I like the people captured in the halfmoon space in the costume. I haven’t cropped this picture – I think it works to let the whole costume show to give an idea of its size and show where she is moving into by having her slightly off centre. |
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I have no idea as to the significance of the costumes to an Irish parade other than the colours matching in but the circles caught the eye and drew it to the centre of each where the performer’s heads appeared enclosed. Cropped slightly at either side. |
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Making a frame within a frame. Although there was some interest in the rest of the shot given by these people driving a car covered in grass, the shot worked better by cropping everything out and leaving a hint of the car around its window and making a frame of it around their exuberant faces. |
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He wasn’t part of the parade but was waiting to cross at the lights. I have no idea what kind of Irish superhero he was but a few tourists stopped him to have their photo taken with him….and then he crossed the road and disappeared into a church – surreal. Have cropped either side and would have preferred to have been standing further away in order to get a shot of him standing on his own waiting to cross. |
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I have used this shot to show pattern and rhythm – there is a subtle linear perspective moving backwards through the rows of pipers. I think the colours work well – a bank of black across the middle with the red kilts and red shop signs either side, and the colour of the socks matching the beige of the buildings. Uncropped. |
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A sideways glance and a strong and dignified face. I’ve cropped in at either side to keep the focus on his face but would have preferred not to have the pipe on the left hand side appearing out of his shoulder. |
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I was trying to use diagonals and catch the reflections in the puddle. Not entirely successful as I think there should have been more of the legs and more reflection. I’ve cropped it into a square in order to take out a person left hand side and also try and match up the size of area of feet and puddle to similar size. |
