shutter speed assignment 2

The following set of images are my completed shutter speed assignment:

1

2

3

4

5

6

Shot 1 - 'Off to work'
With this first image I wanted it to represent heading off to work at the start of the day. I shot it early in the morning to get the long shadow at the right angle on the grass. The doll lying discarded in the corner is meant to establish and place the man at his home and by seeing it there we can guess that there are children somewhere nearby. I chose a fast shutter speed to capture the movement of a brisk walk at it's most purposeful point in the stride.

Shot 2 - 'Watching daddy'
This image is more mysterious. The child is watching something in the distance. There are a few dark shapes and we are not quite sure what they are. Is one of them the man? I chose a narrow depth of field and a fast shutter speed to capture the wind blowing her hair and playing off the light. It almost looks electric and alive and so beautiful in it's messiness. The hint of bare shoulder is also intriguing. What is this child looking at and why is she there?

Shot 3 - 'At work'
With this image I wanted the screen to be filled with wood chips all frozen mid flight in a frenzy of action and activity. This is the true 'work' shot. I used the fastest shutter speed I could with enough depth of field to have the man's eyes and some of the chips in focus but not the background. I love the fact that we are drawn to his eyes and that he is looking off to the side like he has noticed something or someone. Is it the girl? I like the tension it might create in the viewer to see he is obviously not paying attention when using a chainsaw! What might happen?! I wanted the expression on his face to lead the viewer to try and guess if he was either going to be be angry to be interrupted by the child or glad to see her?

Shot 4 - 'The spin'
The mystery and tension from the previous shots is relieved. All is well. The girl and the man obviously know each other and are now engaged in a fantastic moment of play. I love the oddity and all the opposites of a little pale white small girl in a soft tutu being spun around by a tall dirty hairy gruff man in work clothes in the middle of a paddock surrounded by wood and wood chips. I chose a fast shutter speed here to capture the moment and their connection together clearly. The depth of field is also opened up to include the surroundings so we get a sense of placement and focus on the interaction between them. There is no need for mystery here, just to simply observe this wonderful moment of connection and love between a father and her daughter.

Shot 5 - 'The pleasure'
This is the true 'play' shot. Here we clearly see the childs reaction is one of pure pleasure and ecstasy. The angle is wonderful and shot against the background of the sky showcases the child and her emotions in a dreamy childhood memory style.  By choosing a slower shutter speed it has given a real sense of the spinning movement across the frame. I chose this particular shot as it has both her face and the grip of hands so we can see the strong connection between the two, which also represents to me the strong emotional connection and trust you develop with your child when you engage in play with them or indeed just being 'present' with them.

Shot 6 - 'Back to work'
The narrative resolves when we learn the moment of play has ended and work has again resumed. The clear disappointment on the childs face and resigned walk out of frame is sad to see and hopefully thought evoking. When we are children we don't care about work; we only want to be with our parents and for them to truly BE with us. However that is not always possible and so the reality is to me an important place to end this narrative on. The fast shutter speed captures her sad slow walk out of frame  with enough depth of field to see Daddy has resumed work in the background......and life goes on.

Summary:
I'm really quite pleased with this set of final shots. I realise I'm very lucky to have such a beautiful little girl to capture who seems to be oblivious to camera shyness at her young age, along with a very helpful and obliging family. I have really enjoyed the process from conception through to final product and I'm relieved and a tiny bit proud that my earliest narrative intentions have been realised much better than I anticipated despite my amateur technical skills. I actually learnt a huge amount about using my camera and thinking about shutter speed and how it relates to both aperture and ISO from doing this assignment along with the technical exercise. My confidence is definitely growing and I'm thinking a lot now about all the different options available to me with my newly found skills. I'm really excited about the next assignment now.

Notes about processing:
Initially I had thought to process these images with a deep contrast of blacks and bright whites but I'm glad I had feedback from Ruth to avoid this if possible and think ahead to when images will need to be printed. I then spent quite a few hours re-working these images again on the calibrated monitor to come out with the above results, which I feel have a much better sense of capturing the emotion in the narrative and observing the images quietly without becoming distracted by the more 'fantastical' & harsh processing. It helps make the story they tell much more accessible to the viewer and in turn more likely to capture the viewers imagination.

To border or not to border:
I played around with giving all the images either a white or black border as some images (like Shot 3) worked well with it. However in the end I decided on no borders - as image 5 didn't suit having a edge (in either black or white) and it distracted me away from the image itself. So in order for there to be continuity throughout I decided to leave a border off all of them which I think still works well.