The place I have chosen is the Neston market, which is not far from where I live. Every Friday they run a local market selling a variety of products. The event has run for a long time, dating back to 1728 when King George II granted a Royal Charter for a weekly market to be held on a Friday around the Neston Cross. This was the perfect place to complete my shoots.
As of now, I have completed my shoots using my new 85mm 1.8 lens (which I love!). I now need to select the best shots and edit them, ready for printing. This will take a few weeks due to other commitments.
In the mean time, I will go through the visual research I have used to inspire me.
These are a selection of images I have taken at Tom Wood's exhibition Landscapes. I'll be honest I was not overwhelmed by the photographs on their own but learning about the idea behind them I could understand the purpose of the pictures and from that, I was able to appreciate them. This has given me the knowledge that it is not essential to take stunning images every time, it is more about why I photographed that scene.
I then moved onto Marketa Luskacova. I absolutely adored researching her pictures of Brick Lane in London. The history and extraordinary scenes she captured are amazing to see and give me a lot inspiration in photographing my local market. I definitely know to shoot the unordinary scenes and areas you normally would not see on the high street.
To find further inspiration, I looked at Magnum photographers. What I have noticed about Chris Steele-Perkins' set of images from Myanmar and Japan are that he has managed to capture the atmosphere and how busy these markets are. Instead of just focusing on certain items, he's captured the crowd and their involvement. I also love his sunrise shots; it is a shame that I am not able to photograph something similar at my local market. Despite this, his work has given me tips for my upcoming shoots.
What I have observed with Ian Berry's photographs is that they are not staged and appear natural. This gives me confidence in not having to prepare the scene before I take the picture. I can also see he has focused on certain people that are unique, like the bearded man. I shall be keeping my eye out for individuals like that. I will also aim to picture the interaction between the buyers and sellers as that is a significant part of the market atmosphere.
It was interesting to see that Susan Meiselas did not just photograph the people of the local market in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She does capture the scenes and atmosphere of the market well with the signs and the items on sale. I shall take note of this when I photograph my local market, along with looking out for rare stalls that are different in comparison to the presentation of a supermarket isle.
I really like the wide angle shots Bruno Barbey has achieved as he managed to capture a broad selection of this local market. It was also great that he captured musicians performing at the market; hopefully something similar may happen at the upcoming events I am photographing. On the other hand, I do not have a wide angle lens so I will aim to capture the variety of the market in smaller chunks.
I can see with Thomas Dworzak that he taken advantage of using the open space to emphasise the bareness of this Russian town. I can also see he has been quite arty with the bottom right picture by using the shadows to suggest the lack of interest in the stall. At the moment, my main focus is on photographing the buyers and sellers but if any of these opportunities arise I will aim to take advantage of them.
Again, similar to Bruno Barbey, Patrick Zachmann has used the wide angle shots effectively to capture the busy scenes at this local market in Katmandu. I can also determine that his shots are not prepared before-hand as there is not a structure in place. I feel this suits the presence of a market as I will not have time to create a scene. The local market is a busy place and I shall be showcasing this through my imagery.
As I am photographing an English market, Martin Parr has been beneficial for my research. I can clearly see he has captured the moment customers are analysing the products they want to buy, suggesting to me they are looking in-depth for a bargain. This is an absolute must for the upcoming shoots as these pictures do tell a story.
As well as looking at Magnum photographers images, I also researched some videos by them. This one by Susan Meiselas (seen here) was shocking yet educational in increasing my knowledge of how these older people make such an effort just to earn a wage and pick tomatoes. To an extent, this links in with my theme as I want to see the various deals the sellers have on show and how far they go to strike a deal.
It was intriguing to see how Alex and Rebecca Webb captured these scenes in Cuba (seen here). I am especially interested in the animals as those photos inspire me to look out for interesting objects in the local market as they can tell a story and increase the differentiation to the presentation of a supermarket.
A weak point for me on this project is having the confidence to interact with the people I am photographing and to not be afraid of coming up to them. To see Bruce Gilden photograph these hard men (seen here) puts my mind to ease knowing that I am only photographing local market sellers, so what is there to be afraid of?
I absolutely enjoyed watching this video of Bruce Gilden in action (seen here). It gave me a great insight into ways of interacting with the people I am photographing, make them feel at ease (not appear as a threat) and be chatty with them. I find these tips very beneficial if I am doing events/reportage photography as I would need to interact with people, so Bruce Gilden has been a huge influence for me.
Overall, the research has been beneficial to me and I did apply the tips I gathered into my shoots. I shall be posting the final pictures in the coming weeks... So watch this space!
Mike
References:
Marketa Luskacova - http://spitalfieldslife.com/2012/05/25/marketa-luskacovas-brick-lane/
Chris Steele-Perkins - http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBFQNUL&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775#/SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBFGK8S&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775
References:
Marketa Luskacova - http://spitalfieldslife.com/2012/05/25/marketa-luskacovas-brick-lane/
Chris Steele-Perkins - http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBFQNUL&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775#/SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBFGK8S&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775
Ian Berry - http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBFQNUL&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775#/SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBR34NB&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775
Susan Meiselas - http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBFQNUL&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775#/SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBR8ECO&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775
Bruno Barbey - http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBR8ECO&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775#/SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBR9X7W&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775
Thomas Dworzak - http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBR8ECO&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775#/SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBR9TEP&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775
Martin Parr - http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBR8ECO&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775#/SearchResult&VBID=2K1HZOQXBRHRHR&SMLS=1&RW=1600&RH=775
Susan Meiselas, A Harvest Out Of Reach - http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/harvest-out-reach
Alex and Rebecca Webb, Violet Isle - http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/violet-isle
Bruce Gilden, Gangster Types And Tough Guys - http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/gangster-types-and-tough-guys
Bruce Gilden, Bruce Has a Ball - http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/bruce-has-ball
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