As a notional client I have decided on a magazine. For the location I have chosen a location an alternative campsite in Wales with accommodation made up of 5 forms of tipi and yurt from across the nomadic world.
The purpose of assignment was:
- to be promotional
- to be informative
- to show an alternative holiday idea
- to show the accommodation
- to show something of the area surrounding the accommodation
- to give a feel for the people responsible for the business and give a feel for the type of person who would choose to stay there
- to see how much can be done and built upon with imagination from relatively little
- to show how small parts give a feeling of the whole
I think I have been successful in:
- having a range of shots to choose from
- giving a feeling of the place to the viewer
- give a feeling of the people who own the place without needing to see them – the location, the accommodation and the surrounding area all give a feel of them
- I have balanced the limited woodland palette with occasional bursts of colour from flowers, textiles and sky
- I have frozen a couple of days in time to give an impression to the viewer of “this is what you will find here” whilst remembering that a change of season will give a different impression
- Planning – there has been time with this assignment to consider the options, make a list of possible shots and make plans
Where I struggled:
- I had so many shots that it became hard to narrow the selection
- Given my history of not having people in my shots generally, I struggled to want to include them – or selected shots for the final series that didn’t include them as I liked the shots better without and with just having a feeling of the people. Obviously if this were a paid assignment my personal preferences should have been kept to myself.
- I selected only the daytime shots for the final series as the odd night time one didn’t sit well for me (see above comment on personal preferences again)
- The shots are very "traditional" but given the brief I didn't think anything else would suit. I spent a lot of time looking at magazines prior to taking the photos (e.g Coast, Country Living) to see what they do to show holiday locations and the shots are always straightforward - but they do include more people than I do.
- It’s also difficult with an area you know well to remember that your final series is to be informative to someone not familiar with the area and so I tried to ensure that I didn’t select more intimate landscape type of shots as I felt a new viewer would need to understand the area from a distance.
1. Tipi
I had shots taken nearer the tipi and I had shots of close-up parts of the tipi such as the stitching along the door flap. Whilst they were preferable to me, I didn’t feel they fit the brief and believed that a shot of the tipi in its setting would be a more fitting shot as both an opening picture for an article and for a viewer not familiar with the location or this type of accommodation. I wish I had paid more attention to my positioning as I think that the tree on the horizon line could do with being further away from the top of the tipi.
2. Hut
I think the communal kitchen/dining hut gives a flavour of the campsite without you needing to see it all. It has a grass roof for insulation, a fire pit in the centre of a meeting area with benches made up from tree stumps and old toilets and if you follow the stepping stone path, you can make out one of the accommodations hidden in the woods.
3. Inside
A kitchen, dining, sitting area with a large range at its heart – on first viewing it appears chaotic but it is filled with information and art, books about the area, about the making of tipis, camping cookery. The eye darts all over the picture picking up the individual elements.
4. Kitchen
I liked how the kitchen was filled with crockery and equipment - none of it matching and all of it amassed over the years. This kitchen was better equipped than my own at home and I wanted to try and give an indication of this but also keep the ramshackle feel.
5. Tongue
The gardens and woodland were filled with chainsaw sculptures for people to come across if they take the time to explore. I wanted to try and show something that, if someone had read an article and went there, they would need to discover these things themselves as they are not obviously on display.
6. Sitting
I liked the bench surrounded by bamboo. It had a lovely curving shape that fit in with the swaying bamboo – given my reluctance to include people in shot, I thought I ought to – even though I personally preferred the shot without him!
7. Hand
As with the Tongue sculpture. The sculptor fashioned this based on his own hand. He is a part of the wood even when he isn’t actually there.
8. Flowers
The area around the accommodations varies from woodland, to planted gardens to meadow areas. I wanted to include a burst of colour as overall there is a monochrome feel to the set of pictures due to all of the green and woody colours.
9. Pots
Cropped slightly to remove a pot and greenery on the left hand side as I felt it looked better by focussing on the concentrated area.
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10. Alachigh
As with the tipi, I wanted to show the Alachigh in its setting as this would be of more interest to someone looking to stay here than a close up shot of a smaller aspect – which would have been my preference. I wanted to give an idea as to the privacy and the shape of the structure.
11. Beds
If I were looking at the photos with a view to staying, I would want an idea as to the inside of the tents. Rather than fill up the quota with shots of a number of inside views of the different structures, I selected this one as I liked the colours of the textiles and the curve of the tent.
12. Map
I thought this one would fit well the idea of this being in a slightly remote location and I have left the glass to give a hint of a person but with hindsight this would have worked better if it contained a drink.
13. Flags
I thought that including this one would help give a sense of the place – or of the people who own it. In the woods there are many statues of Buddha hidden for discovery but given I was already selecting the chainsaw sculptures I didn’t want to include more in the same vein so thought this shot worked better. This is a very simple shot and I think the composition of the diagonal with one flag in each 1/3rd works well and the bright sunlight enhances the colour and boosts the contrast.
An illustration as to a magazine layout:
Also rans:
I took a huge number of photos, a number of which I preferred or found more interesting to those that made the final cut but left out in order to keep personal preferences (based on already knowing the area) to one side.
