Exercise 10: Moment and gesture

For this exercise my comfortable situation was a round of pitch and putt with a few of my mates (first one I lost in a while as well, must be because of my attention was focussed on the photography and not the golf!). I thought this was the ideal situation to both capture people's emotions (we do get quite competitive) and the sense of timing with the ball being in the right position etc.

The above image I thought was a good capture. It shows the concentration of the player lining up his putt, but also the interest of his fellow competitors in the background. I think this image is succesful due to the position of the various points of interest in the frame.
I liked this shot which was actually taken on the final hole of the course. The player shown was putting for the win, and you can see in his face, him trying to exert his will on the ball to make it go in the hole. I thought this was a great shot that summed up the tension and competitive nature of the moment

Above we have the key moment in the game. Up to this hole (the 6th of 9) there was 1 shot between the four competitors, but above Tom sinks the putt to gain 2 shots on everyone else and the emotion showed. I think the timing and the framing of this shot were successful being able to capture the height of the celebration, but also the disgruntled opponent in the background

This was the final hole and the final shot of our round. The player taking the shot already new he could only finish second, but I thought the shot itself was good timing, with the ball just dropping into the hole, not the only shot I got like this, but certainly the best as each of the competitors is looking at the ball as it drops into the hole.

I enjoyed this exercise, it was a good way to notice the opportunites for interesting shots, practice the timing, and learn to read where there is the potential for emotion, action, and drama to occur, and be ready with the camera to capture the moment as and when it occurs

Exercise 9: A comfortable situation

I thought I would try this exercise at a cricket match I was playing in for my local club. I often photograph the players as they are batting, whilst I myself am waiting to bat, so I thought I would try and capture a bit of the atmosphere too. I got three photographs below that I feel capture some of the atmosphere of the local cricket club.

Above is a picture of our groundsman, he was looking just past me. I was a bit uncomfortable with this photograph as although I was around people that are used to me being with a camera, I was not used to photographing them in close proximity. This I felt led to a bit awkward framing of the shot, and I haven't quite managed to get the groundsman, his pint, and his pipe in quite the right positions for my liking, as I really wanted these to be the focus of the image, and the end result is a little bit messy. However I quite like the personal connection within the photograph as it appears he is looking at the camera, and hence the viewer of the image.

Now having spent a bit more time in the situation, with my camera I was feeling more comfortable, and so were my teammates, allowing me to capture this moment, the classic batsman waiting for his innings, slightly nervous, and trying to relax, hence the cigarette in hand. I also like the way the man padded up is looking out towards the action, obviously taking a keen interest, whereas his teammate is playing with his fingers, looking away from the action, obviously not with so much of a personal involvment yet. I think this is a much better capture, once I had settled into the situation better and relaxed, and my teammates relaxing more helped as well.

This I was even more comfortable taking, being more distance between me and the action, and the photograph being taken would not even be noticed. This is the same batsman as who was padded up just returning to the pavilion after getting out. This is the contrast of emotions in a cricket match, the outgoing batsmen, downbeat after his innings has come to a premature end, and the new batsman, full of nerves and anticipation, yet trying not to show any of it as he heads out towards the pitch. I think my timing is good here, getting the two batsmen as they passed, but my position could have been further to my left, to seperate the batsmen heading to the crease, from the celebrating fielders in the background