STATEMENT OF INTENT - STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

NAPOLI STREET LIFE - EVERY STREET A STAGE

Intention & professional application

For this project I intend to produce at least 10 images of street life captured in Naples, Italy and the surrounding area.  These will form the basis of a portfolio,  which can be used to illustrate Social Documentary comment for the media industry, be that on the internet, papers, magazines and books or televised.  They could also be used by the travel industry to illustrate and advertise Naples and Italy as a destination.

Stimulus & Influences

My stimulus for this project has been  my desire to capture the essence of street life, in a vibrant and exciting Italian city, which was first founded by the Greeks and has seen and absorbed  many cultures since ancient times.

My influences come mainly from photographers such as Martin Parr,  who is a master at capturing the comedy of life and turning everyday events into a pictorial history of life, making the mundane interesting and arresting.

I am also familiar with the work of  Brassai who photographed street life in Paris between the first and second world wars and Henri Cartier-Bresson whose protographs from locations all over the world, before travel was available to everyone, shaped  our idea of life abroad.

Going further back than this I remember searching intently, paintings by Peiter Bruegel, particularly 'The Hunters in the Snow' and 'Winter Landscape',  printed on Christmas cards, for people carrying out everyday tasks, which seemed fascinating.

Equipment & Media

Since I want the versatility to take portrait and landscape shots as well as street and travel photography whilst I am in Italy, I will be using the following equipment;

Canon EOS 5D MK2 with 24 - 70mm lens and circular polarising filter

This is not the ideal camera for street photography since it is rather bulky and noticeable, but I am unable to carry my Lumix Panasonic G1, due to luggage weight restrictions, which would have been much smaller and more discreet.

I will be publishing my finished photographs on the internet, since this type of media will reach a wider audience than prints.  I have yet to decide what form this will take, it may be on my blog or a dedicated website, or on one of the photosharing sites available to everyone.

Techniques

I intend to capture everyday scenes of street life and will therefore try to capture images that best illustrate the daily life and surroundings of Neopolitans.  It is an ancient city with most of its inhabitants living in tenement buildings with no outside space, but usually a balcony.  It has many grand buildings of all styles but the Neopolitans go about their daily business with insouciance taking these and the many camera weilding tourist in their stride.

I will have to be quick to capture the scenes as I see them, before the players move on, and hope to be discreet, so I do not influence their actions.  Apart from this I do not intend to use zone focusing or shooting without using the viewfinder since I am not practised enough at this and cannot be sure of getting the image I want.

It may be best to stay in one position for a time and set up the required F stop, so I am ready to take my shot as events happen, but due to the limited time I will be able to spend in Naples, I will also have to move about to see something of the city.

Lighting conditions

Since we will be in the city late morning and early afternoon I am expecting the sun to be very high and bright,  this should give good light in the back streets between the high tenements, but since they run on a grid pattern and I will be moving about to explore, I will have to be careful to obtain the correct exposure and avoid flare.

I may be able to get some dramatic shots since the bright sun and high buildings should lead to some high contrast conditions.  I will be able to use a fast shutter speed, to halt the action and help avoid camera shake.

Health & Safety

Since I will be using my camera in a public place, I will not need any special permissions, however, it is only natural curtesy, if I am taking pictures of people, to be aware of their right to carry out their daily lives in dignity.  I do not intend therefore to use anything that could offend and if someone objects to having their picture taken I will move on.

As far as my own safety is concerned, I will have a companion with me who will be taking care of my equipment bag and we will both be very aware of our surroundings.  We will be careful of anyone taking an interest in what we are doing and carrying and be aware of the movement of traffic, trip and slip hazards and will not put ourselves at risk in any way.