Final Shoot Analysis

In my final shoot I took heavy inspiration from "shot at dawn" by Chloe Dewe Matthews in the way i styaliezed the grim subject matter, using late evening light and more open framing than in my previous shoots. this gave a better sense of calm to the images and I'm very happy with how it came out.

 In this image I had to brighten it up before putting it on the newspaper article, I like how it's quite soft in it's framing and there's a sense of "wildness" to it. These things frame the death of the subject more respectfully than the previous shoots.

 This shot was meant to display the quietness of some of the places the murders can happen, so I delibrately waited for the scene to be empty until I took it, I also made sure it was taken in the corner, with the bike looking abandoned adding to the sense of quietness. the light is bright but flat, I hope this gave a somewhat calming feeling to the image.

 this image was meant to be the most "open" of all the pictures, which I did by taking it in the most open space. The light is soft and slightly dark, I wanted the late evening light to make it look "mournfull". The empty bench with branches from the tree above it implies a sense of lonelyness with the branches adding to a sense of "overbearingness".

I wanted this picture to look as "bleak" as possible as the subject matter of this one spesifically was so dark and disturbing. I did this by once again making the image as flat as possible colour wise, the angle makes the block of flats look more imposing too, adding to the sense of almost dystopian horror.

I'm extremely happy with how these came out, the images are a lot more nuanced than previous ones which I would like to belive shows a growth in my process from the early days of this project. where before I was making images to be "scary" in the past while now my images are more true to the feel of what the places are really like. This contributes to my original aim which was to show how awful things can happen in unassuming places, the images are not imediately offputting, meaning that the viewer learning that a murder happened there has more impact.

Notes on McCullin

Notes on McCullin 

• - He feels responsible in some way for the things he stands by and photographs 
• - When he was younger, he watched a public execution and vividly remembers one of the other photographers saying “that was great stuff did you get it”, he didn’t get the picture and is glad he didn’t, this implies that he wasn't as excited about capturing human suffering as his peers were.
• - He says at some point about photographing people in bad situations that “empathy is something you can’t fake” 
• - The punctum of one of the images is a dog sitting next to some soldiers, it stood out to him as something out of place, as the dog was quite well groomed  
  - At some point he explains that he feels dirty, like a voyeur. It's a source of deep shame, likening himself to a mercenary.  
  - When he was younger he said on film that he “hates the thought of going a year without a war” and that these things are “a great adventure” to him. At his current age he never mentions that he ever felt this way, this is another possible source of shame for him. Even though he mentions beforehand that he “went to do what needs to be done”  
  - McCullin says that he avoids “indulging” further contributing to the idea that he really does enjoy what he did, bringing into question his true nature and how he struggles with that.

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First shoot

I went to three locations, each of which was the site of an unsolved murder that I wanted to feature in my piece.

I experimented with a few different settings before settling on the darkest possible configuration while maintaining the maximum detail. I believe this works best for the mood of the piece which is to give off a sense of "danger" as the victim was

This shoot was quite hard as the details in the news report were quite vague. the man was killed as he was leaving his job in templemeads station, but it didn't say where this actually happened, leaving me to guess at what happened, I still don't know which image I will use. but I think either of the last two would work best. to either imply he stumbled onto a bench or that he wandered out of the back of the station. I cannot decide partly because I'm not sure how intellectually honest this would be to the representation of a real person who died.

This shoot I found especially hard to do as there was no information on the person who was killed's location beyond "the Bristol downs". I wanted to emphasise a sense of "loss" in these images as the victim was a young student nurse, which stuck out to me because of the loss of potential of the person involved.

this entire project has made me feel uncomfortable and I almost regret doing it. for reasons similar to how I felt during my project in "cultural and photographical context" while photographing homeless people. I feel unequipped to properly portray these people and their stories. especially doing it with this dark over current, I feel like I'm making these people's suffering and stories a sort of cheap horror story for my own amusement. I will be re-examining my own process during my next shoot.

Plans for the shoot

I have decided to take pictures of the sites of unsolved murders in bristol, in preperation for this I have picked the five based on the news articles associated with them. this lets me know where I should take the pictures.

I felt deeply uncomfotable doing this research and I only hope that I can do something worthwhile with this project.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/nurse-susan-donoghue-bristol-murder-4300

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8579024.stm

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jo-yeates-murder-bears-similarities-272313

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9267309/postcards-clue-sex-murder-1984-woods/

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/st-pauls-pensioner-tied-up-8185

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/mystery-bloodstained-car-man-dumped-13931

Shot at dawn analysis

http://www.chloedewemathews.com/shot-at-dawn/

"shot at dawn" is a photography series by Chloe Dewe Matthews examinging the places that deserters were executed during the first world war in europe. the images are taken as close as possible to the time of day and season that the shootings actually happened. Matthews claims in her writings that she is trying to "reinsert the individual" back into these places were these traumatic events have happened, so that the people are not forgotten.

 The thing that sticks out the most about these pictures is the sense of serenity in them, there is no performative sense of horror or an attempt to portray these places as scary or sinister.

 they at first seem like normal images of rural towns/villages. This adds a layer of surprise factor when you learn what happened in these places, which gives the images more impact.

 I especially enjoy the use of mist in a lot of these pictures, they are taken at dawn (as the title implies) but this is not used to add a sense of dread but instead to add a sense of mystery or other wolrldyness. I prefer this to other image series on similar topics, which can sometimes feel like they are trying too hard.

lastly there is a real sense of "serenity" to this image in particular, it is quiet and sombre, which makes finding out why it was photographed all the more shocking. however in it's quietness it maintains its sense of dignity. this is something I will be trying to add to my process moving forward.

Martin Parr photographer analysis

Martin Parr (at least recently) tends to take pictures of people on holiday, spesifically at beaches. this means often they will be images of people in swimwear. these people are often less than idealized versions of the human form, there's a stark reality behind it all, no one is a super model, people are funny shapes and sizes. however the pictues don't feel like they are framed in a way to make these people look bad, in fact Martin Parr seems to want to capture the comradery of these people. A more cynical take might be that he is trying to portray them as masses, or as ugly, however I do not think this is his intention.