Photography is where my journey in multimedia began, and since then visual composition and cinematography has always been a key part of my work.
Photojournalism is the act of capturing a scene or action that in some way describes a story, either literally or metaphorically. As a profession, photojournalism is mostly used for news stories or entertainment magazines – but essentially anything can become photojournalism if it tells us something more than what we can literally see.
Photojournalism was birthed in Germany, 1925, by the introduction of the Leica camera – which was a lot smaller than previous cameras thus enabling practical and discreet use of photography. As photojournalism passed through the ages from practitioner to practitioner, it was developed further with technological advancements but also social application.
I took a long-exposure timelapse of a roundabout to try and capture the busy traffic in contrast with the lovely still statue in front and building behind – framed symmetrically. It’s such a beautifully designed and well-kept roundabout, but I wondered how many drivers pass through and notice it on their daily commute. The fact that I managed to capture three red buses in almost perfect symmetry seems to be very pleasing to the eye, and compliments rather well the design of the roundabout and buildings – as if the repetitive traffic had become synonymous with the architecture of the Capital.
In contrast, this long exposure shot captures a couple of young travelers, perhaps exploring the city. At this point of the day, the clouds had opened up some more which meant I had to up my ND filter to level 4, as I wanted to keep the shutter open for longer so that I could get rid of walking pedestrians and only keep the still ones. It was a busy day with lots of people walking around, but I knew that if I left it long enough I would get a nice picture of somebody standing still amidst the chaos.
This is a photo of a small paddle boat, tucked away on the river running through the fabulously gritty Camden town. The focus is through a gap in the overpassing bridge and to me, speaks of mystery and adventure. I wanted to know who owned the boat and how often they used it, where do they go and why? The boat knew all the answers, but unfortunately it couldn’t tell me.
This photo was taken in the decisive moment as I saw a bus slowly turning a corner. This picture speaks of tourism and commerce in London. The point-one location through the window shows us the only clear shot of somebody’s face, with lots going on all around her. You can see clutter through the other window, and indeed even more in the reflection. The tight frame around the woman gives off a slight claustrophobic feeling as she is surrounded by consumers and advertising on the busy streets of London city.
I love the sense of family and protection that this photo portrays, with the two parents looking out for their little goslings while they curiously peek through the fence bars at the river. I gave the image deep blacks so that the fallen tree above would appear more ominous, reflecting the dark nature of life and future. The goslings are protected for now, sheltered behind a metal fence and guarded by the geese behind them, but one day they will assume that role.
I really like the simplicity of this photo as it says a lot without doing much. This picture resembles glorious freedom with the clean, deep-blue sky giving off a trouble-free vibe and the bird of prey representing majesty and glory, wings spread wide embracing the joy of freedom.
This photo was taken of my way out of the city after a long day of shooting, but this man was still hard at work. The fact that you can’t see the man’s face in the reflection of the window speaks to me of the many hidden ordinary hard-workers that help maintain our great cities.
This is a vertical shot straight up through a tall London building, showing off the interesting architecture that you would otherwise dismiss walking by. I quite like the obscure angle from which this photo was taken as you don’t see something like that very often. I feel that the layers and layers of design following the line of perspective reflect the many people that helped build this structure, and also the many people that now work in the offices, with each layer further away from the ants on the ground.
This is another photo of the same geese as before, but this time I chose to focus on the goslings with a broken edge of the mother goose. In contrast, this photo is from the perspective of the goslings, as everything is bright, clean and out of focus. The obscuring bokeh reflects the vulnerable development of the young ones, and the space in the top represents the unknown world. The presence of the mother goose and her support is felt in this shot without drawing focus away from the goslings – she can see something we cannot, but that is her concern.
This photo really summarises the experience of a London pedestrian – crossing busy roads as a chaotic flock where the majority are led by the one brave jaywalker. I like how almost the entire frame is filled with pedestrians, cropped at the top to break off the edge and keep the impersonal mood that London is famous for.
This is a shot of another photographer I saw in London. This image intrigues me as it makes me wonder what his story was and how his style might have differed to mine. The bridge appears to represent the journey of the photographer, as his gaze stretches out into the future to see what ideas he could capture. I think if spoke to him we could have an interesting conversation, but I appreciate the mystery just as much.
