Final Idea...

The final idea is a substitution picture

influenced by 'The Son Of Man' by Magritte

However instead of covering the face with an apple, i will use cameras to reinforce the idea that we are continually being watched.

Ive drawn a quick story board to demonstrate my ideas for my final collection of images

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I feel story boarding my ideas is a good way to plan as i have had previous experience in creating story boards. Although my drawing leaves a lot to the imagination, written details can be added for reference.

The first shot is set on the high street, its a crowd of people all looking at the camera with cameras covering their eyes. The idea is to include a wide audience of people to show it doesn't matter who you are or where you are, you're always being watched.

The second shot is set in a restaurant. The picture shows two people conversing and eating in whilst people surrounding them are watching again with cameras covering their eyes.

The third shot is situated on a park bench. It displays a few people sat on a bench. On the right hand side of the frame you see a woman walk past. The people on the bench watch her as she walks past using the cameras as vision equipment.

The last planned shot is in a supermarket. The model will be casually food shopping adding items to their trolley whilst bystanders are watching.

All of the shots will be long or mid shots purely because its the best way to include the extras which are pretending to take pictures.

Trying New Ideas...

One idea that came from my initial ideas was a exposure of the girls toilets. A realistic insight as to what women really get up to on a Friday night. The fights, the tears and the inevitable throwing up. The photographs are taken in the toilets of 53 degrees, which is a popular venue. I think i would produce a lot of material by taking the photographs here. The problem with this idea is that fact I'm taking the pictures without anyone consent, as i don't want the pictures to be too staged i wanted to use a guerrilla style. The images are quite successful but because of the colour scheme, i think they look bland and boring.

People Watching...

Friday I went people watching from a top secret location on Fishergate armed with only a camera and a window...

My results were successful, i got a few images but it was a rainy day so Preston wasn't very busy. The difficulty with taking the shots was really the fact i couldn't open the window to create a bigger space to capture. I was limited with the space i could photograph. 

Using a high angle shot makes the subject appear vulnerable and naive to whats really happening around them, something that CCTV does. The people in the pictures had no idea i was taking their picture and it just re iterates the point that someone really is watching you everywhere you go.

Photography Research...

"Peeping Tom" by James Hill

Self portrait work.

A photography collection all shot in the same bathroom, the reflections are created in the editing stage. To see how its done click on this: http://vimeo.com/3424613

This photographers work really inspires me because it relates to one of my initial ideas but it has a clever and funny approach, using a different reflection makes the picture comical. Great effort has been put into the continuity of each picture.

 

Matt Stuart 'Exposes Everything'



Matt Stuarts photography is interesting because its not always obvious to the eye what the picture is about. His photographs are humerous, which i think is what makes him a popular photographer.

The black and white photographs are my favourites because i like the clash between dark and light. His collection of images are shot at mid or long shots, not from high angles which i think makes them very realistic.

David Dunnico 'Reality TV'

An exhibition in the Mezzanine Gallery in the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. The exhibiton was held from 24 February to 27 March 2010.

Read an interview about the exhibition here: http://manchestermule.com/article/interview-david-dunnico

Tate Modern Exhibition...

The 'Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera' Exhibition held at the Tate Modern, London.

Since its invention, the camera has been used to make images surreptitiously and satisfy the desire to see what is hidden. Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera examines photography's role in voyeuristic looking from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present day. It includes pictures taken by professional photographers and artists, but also images made without our knowledge on a daily basis through the proliferation of CCTV.

The exhibition is divided into five thematic sections:
The Unseen Photographer
Celebrity and the Public Gaze
Voyeurism and Desire
Witnessing Violence
Surveillance
In each case, the nature and character of invasive looking is evident not only in the images themselves, but also in the ways in which the viewer is implicated in acts of voyeurism. Rather than blame the camera for showing illicit or forbidden material, Exposed explores the uneasy relationship between making and viewing images that deliberately cross lines of privacy and propriety.  Exhibition Introduction from Tate Modern.



Images from the exhibition that have inspired me:

Arthur Fellig, 1943

Voyeuristic and invasive of privacy: is that photography today? When does photography tip over the line into surveillance?

An interesting article i found online about the Tate Modern exhibition that relates to this project.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/photoblog/2010/05/voyeurism_surveillance_and_the_camera.html

Initial Ideas...

I have three initial ideas:

The first is a more literal sense of the word exposure looking more at camera technique rather than subject matter. This series of pictures will show the difference in exposure and other techniques. I do feel that this idea will be quite difficult for me as i have no real photography skills and i also think it doesn't give me very much scope for a fashion angle.

The second idea is to expose the 'friday night in town' idea. Using the girls toilets as my base, taking pictures from inside and outside the toilet cubicles exposing the tears, tantrums and the inevitable throwing up. This could potentially have more of a fashion angle as all the models could be styled.

The third idea is 'smile for the camera'. As i previously lived near London i know the statistic that we are caught on CCTV on average 300 times a day - which is scary. So for this shoot i want to use people in everyday locations, doing everyday tasks but being watched by onlookers. Instead of watching with their own eyes they are watching using cameras. This i think will have quite a frightening effect.

CCTV - The Facts...

CCTV in the uk

According to statistics, the average citizen is caught on CCTV cameras 300 times a day.

Throughout the country are an estimated five million CCTV cameras; that's one for every 12 citizens.

We have more than 20 per cent of the world's CCTV cameras.

Roughly 1,800 cameras watch over London's railway stations and another 6,000 permanently peer at commuters on the Underground and London buses.

In other major city centres, including Manchester and Edinburgh, residents can expect to be sighted on between roughly 50 and 100 cameras a day.

The borough of Wandsworth has the highest number of CCTV cameras in London, with just under four cameras per 1,000 people. Its total number of cameras - 1,113 - is more than the police departments of Boston [USA], Johannesburg and Dublin City Council combined.