Thoughts on Assignment 2

Well its getting near that time where I have to complete assignment 2,  I have thought about the subjects listed in the course notes, and I think the one topic that springs out to me is street details, the more exercises I complete for this course, the more I like getting out in the street and having the confidence to photograph what is around me.

I did a small amount of urban photography as part of my course with the Photography Institute, which ignited the spark for it. Since that time I have looked at books by Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), and recently purchased his book 'The Modern Century' (ISBN 978-0-500-54391-7).

Having only recently purchased the books i've not had an opportunity to fully take in this all of what this book contains, however I have scanned a few of his images and applied the techniques I have learnt about in the previous exercises and it doesn't come as a surprise that a high number of the images I have so far viewed comply with this structure.

Having been credited with the accolade of being the father of modern photojournalism, there is no one better to study in this area and take inspiration from. I like the way his used a small Leica 35mm camera, fitted most of the time with a 50mm lens, and took most of his photographs by stealth. This enabled him to capture life and actions as they happened and not staged.

His belief that photographs should be composed in the viewfinder, not in the darkroom, nowadays on the computer, is a skill every photographer should strive for, and I certainly trying to achieve exactly that.