Week 4 - Working to my Brief.
CLIENT:
Theoretically, the Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust (LRWT) Non-Profit Organisation.
LOCATION:
LRWT Charnwood Lodge. This nature reserve includes an ancient woodland and dilapidated estate, alongside 600-million y/o Precambrian rock outcrops, protruding through surrounding marshes.
BRIEF:
To produce a collection of 6 images introducing the public and existing members to the offerings of Charnwood Lodge. The shoot will be in all 3 genres of Week 4, presenting the reserve as an 'exploration' and with essence of 'calm'. Focus will be on the 'offerings': wildlife, former estate, ancient rocks.
SHOTS:
3 (1 each) of the 'offerings'. Remaining 3 shots are Photographer's interpretation.
MODELS:
One model present, who may be used in any of the above shots (Photographer's discretion). The model will dress in typical bird-spotting gear: muted clothing, binoculars. No release form necessary.
ACCESS:
The shoot will occur morning to early afternoon on 20th April. The reserve will be accessed legally as both are members of the trust with the code for the padlocked gate. The Trust has been notified of our visit, by confirming the code.
DELIVERY:
To Behance on 21st April with consistent crop.
Reflection on my Brief.
I wrote and set my brief on Friday afternoon, before taking my photos the following day - Saturday morning. I felt it was important that I stick to the brief throughout my visit, even though I found myself straying off topic a little. The brief gave me a guide.
This was especially evident when it came to choosing my 6 images and cropping. I wanted to be consistent with my crop and went through a couple of iterations before deciding on a 4x3 crop in portrait, which leant itself well to 4 of the images. Of the other two, one was better with a thinner landscape crop and one a square. However, I stuck to the brief.
With choosing my 6 images I enjoyed the constraint of brief as it has given me a reason to be ruthless, and I did not want to include too many of the same type of image. However I do feel the quality of some is better than others. I did not get any good bird shots and I used the wide angle 24mm for the macro shots, which was feedback I gave myself after the previous genre tasks.
I have ordered the images logically (to me): Greeting by resident of the lodge, followed by the widest view and narrowing down to the smallest view. After the Week 3 task, it felt important that there was some sort of logic to the set.
I used a 24mm lens and a 100-400mm zoom lens. The flexibility of the zoom was much appreciated. I didn't like using the 24mm, I felt a bit too wide with it, however 4 of my 6 shots were using that lens, so it turned out okay after all! I did not take a 50mm with me - that would have been much more comfortable.
I rarely use a tripod, but I had a great time getting to know it and trying out a variety of positions and learning where it comes in usefulness. I tried slow shutter speed water shots and a lot of model moving along path shots from a variety of positions. This came in use because my model was unable to attend, so I had to use myself as model. The remote shutter with continuous interval shots was fantastic.
In the end I spent 4 hours doing photography there, and I didn't manage to make the complete circuit I had hoped to do. I had to turn back and go home as I was too hungry. In future, a packed lunch would have been good foresight and a bottle of water too.
The weather was as I had hoped and I got a couple of shots I had hoped to get. I did think I would get a bird shot, alas no.
