Major Practical Project - The first shoot...

Here is the outcome of shooting 3 films worth of images at home over the Christmas break. I used only natural light, and shot on 400ISO colour film with a Hasselblad medium format camera. I wanted to shoot 6x6 in order for the images to be square, as opposed to 6x7. I also wanted a good amount of detail in each frame, and to keep images sharp and crisp, even if only printed relatively small.
I will post all 36 images, then talk about the ones I feel are most successful, and those I like, but could be improved. The images on the left are those that I feel work as they are, the ones on the right I would need to re-shoot.

Here, I really feel that the pops of colour from the teapot and cafetiere add interest to the image, although if I were to print it myself I might tone the reds down slightly - they do dominate a bit. I also like the subtle reflections in the worktop. Lines in the tiles in the background are not straight, but I might be able to fix this at the printing stage. Also, the focus appears to be slightly soft, which could be down to my scanning of the image - something to address.

Again, this lines in this image are not quite straight, which I hope can be rectified because I feel that the subject matter is strong. The Christmas turkey is an image that has all the connotations of home and family, and the fact that the carcass has just been left on the side relates specifically to MY home and MY family. It's a shame I can't shoot this image again, but because of that fact I will spend plenty of time trying to improve the framing whilst editing/printing.

In this image, I feel that the simplicity of the scene is really effective. The muted greeny-brown tones just stop the image from becoming boring in my eyes. This photograph communicates both my parents' taste, and also the kind of homely, slightly worn look of this area of the house. Being the hallway, it doesn't really get as much attention paid to it, and hasn't been redecorated in years. The lines in the composition are straight, and not being able to see what the framed picture is of leaves a little bit to the imagination of the viewer.

I feel that this is probably the strongest image I have produced so far. Our family's tradition of drinking an abundance of cups of tea is communicated. I didn't touch the set-up of the items at all, and that makes it feel so much more genuine for me. I feel the lighting, focus and composition pretty much hit all my aims of how I wanted my images to look.

Again, here I focussed on our taste in decoration, with someone having bought these coasters as a present. I also like the subtlety of the slightly grimy coffee machine, cleaning not being high on my list of priorities. The neutral style of lighting has been continued. I feel that the papers in the foreground could be slightly distracting, I might have to look at slightly cropping this area of the image.

Looking at this area of our lounge brings back nostalgic memories for me - playing hide and seek as a child and crawling down here to hide behind the sofa. The parallel lines of the pipes lead our eye through the image, but again, this area appears to be in slightly soft focus, which needs some attention. The cobweb in the corner and the dark wood of the bookcase again provide subtle nods to the realities of a well-lived-in home.

Here, I feel that the subject matter is right, but the way I have composed the image is wrong. The lines are not straight, and I don't feel that the damaged light switch should be in that area of the frame. In my opinion, the lighting is fine as it is, but I might need to look at how I can compose the image better to make the viewer's attention go to the light switch as opposed to the calendar. Also, the switch is in soft focus, so I definitely need to re-shoot here.

I really wanted to document our fridge, mainly because having home cooked family meals is one of the main things i associate with going home. However, the composition of this image doesn't work at all, and I feel that I have gone in too close. If i were to re-shoot this image I would focus on the whole fridge rather than just a small section - this might have more effect.

Again, this bit of curtain is a little eccentricity of my home, and something which I wanted to document. However, the yellow cast caused by the ceiling light makes it stand out too much from the other images in the series so far.

Here is another nostalgic item from my childhood - a children's coat hook hung just at the height for when I was about 4 or 5. The fact that it is still there fifteen years later is interesting to me. Again though, I need to work on my composition and framing to communicate these ideas properly.

Here is another example of a bit of unfinished DIY from our home. Once again, I need to work on composition, but the lighting and colours are fine. The top of the cabinet in the right hand corner is distracting - maybe I should have moved the frame to the left to make the line of the switch fall on a third.

I realised I had not shot many photographs in our lounge, and I wanted to photograph the slightly sagging sofa where people have so often fallen asleep in front of the TV. If I were to re-shoot this image I would need to consider my composition, focus and lighting more carefully.


I'll be heading home again in about a weeks time, so I will be re-shooting the last 6 images and also looking out for any more bits and pieces that signify coming home for me.