One Woman Camera Club

The Play - Photo Essay. Term 1. final project

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:57:00 +0100

For the final project during Easter we were set to do a fully captioned photo essay. I went back home to Iceland to do a project that I’d had in my mind for a while about the lives of youths in one of Iceland’s remote fishing villages.

Things didn’t quite go as planned once I was there, but I managed to find a different angle to my story through an event that took place while I was there and I think it came together in the end.

The Play

All around Iceland there are villages and towns scattered along the jagged coastline. As is often the case in remote locations, many of them have a dwindling population and are slowly deteriorating due to industry leaving and shutting down. Despite the aging population of these places and growing dereliction there are still those who decide to stay and raise families.

Raufarhöfn is a small village on the northeast coast of Iceland, 670 km from the capital area on the opposite south-west corner. It underwent a period of prosperity and fast growth in the 1960’s when it’s fishing industry was booming. But in recent years its name has become synonymous with the depopulation problem that faces many of Iceland’s small and remote fishing villages.

The remaining 200 inhabitants in this northernmost settlement of the country find it increasingly difficult to stay positive within this sprawled, half empty village.

The schools’ future is at a precarious point with less pupils every year but once a year, during Easter, the Raufarhöfn kids become the centre of attention as they join forces to put on the school’s biggest event that even draws in crowds from the neighbouring villages; the play.

Fishing at Þistilfjörður, northeast Iceland.

Raufarhöfn on a clear and cold morning.

Almost half of Raufarhöfn’s houses are left empty after a devastating 45% drop in population over the past 10 years.

Dagný Ríkharðsdóttir (13) is one of the Raufarhöfn school’s 14 pupils ranging from 6 to 15 year olds. At 16 most of them go to boarding schools, a prospect that the five older students between 13-15 both anticipate and dread.

The temperature around Easter usually hovers around -10 degrees, so the 200 inhabitants that are left tend to stay indoors and drive around the sprawled village.

During Easter, the community hall is the home of Raufarhöfn’s teens and children as they prepare and rehearse for the biggest happening on the school calendar; a play to fund their school trip to Denmark.

The drowsy teenagers and kids gather in the community hall before rehearsal one morning. With Raufarhöfn’s diminishing youth population the teens and younger children are used to each other’s constant company.

This years play “Óvitar” is a well known Icelandic piece where the roles of adults and children are switched, allowing all age groups of the school to participate. They have spent weeks preparing the set and designs as well as rehearsing.

Sandra Elísabet (13) watches as the others run through a scene with a newly installed set.

The fifteen year olds, Birgir, Birkir, Ágústa and Hákon spend much of their time in the hall waiting as the younger ones need more rehearsing. Both Birgir and Birkir have many friends outside of Raufarhöfn that they keep in touch with online.

Two days until the show and Brynja Dögg (14) arranges the hall’s chairs for the audience.

The big day has arrived and María (7) waits with her mother backstage to have her make-up done.

Arndís (8) is ready to perform as a mother. When she grows up she also wants to be a mum.

Hákon (15) prepares for the role of a 6 year old.

Teacher Heiða Ingunn consoles one of the main actors who has a touch of stage fright for the big night.

The big moment has arrived. Ágústa and Birkir welcome an audience of about 40 people, a little less than anticipated.

Relatives from neighbouring farms and villages attend the show to support the small community.

All of Raufarhöfn’s school’s pupils take a bow after a successfull show.

The stars of the play are greeted by their young fans. Both Friðrik Dór and Hákon plan to return after boarding school and work as fishermen alongside their fathers.

Hákon gets a warm greeting from a realive as the other guests queue for after show hot dogs.

With fewer children growing up in Raufarhöfn every year, the future of the school itself is uncertain, the optimistic tradition of the school play in Raufarhöfn is therefore likely to be in it’s last year.

Week 6/7 - Photo Essay This last part of the weekly...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 12:56:00 +0000

*Week 6/7 - Photo Essay*

This last part of the weekly assignments is dedicated to the photo essay, somewhat combining all the elements from previous weeks. I decided to revisit my local garage where I shot in week 1 and try to capture the relaxed and quirky atmosphere of the place.

The guys there are extremely welcoming and didn’t mind in the least to have a photographer hanging around them all the time. In fact there are people constantly dropping by for a chat (for example Derek who is making a cup of tea in the third image doesn’t even work there, he just hangs around there all the time!)

It’s also worth mentioning that this was my first go with my new Fuji X-Pro1 camera and I absolutely love it! So these are my favourite shots from my days with the lovely guys at the Cremer Street Garage.

* Week 5 - Environmental Portraits * This assignment was all...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:10:00 +0000

* Week 5 - Environmental Portraits *

This assignment was all about making portraits of 3 different people within a certain environment as opposed to a neutral studio-like background. Essentially the environment becomes a descriptive part of the portrait or lends a bit extra to the character of the sitter.

First is Vijay, a stylish young man who works in a very cool Mod shop on Carnaby Street that his father started in the early 70’s.

Second is James Gardner who is the fourth generation running a Market supply store near Old Spitalfields Market, a store that’s wonderful maze of bags, tags and scales.

I meant to carry on the theme of family businesses that have been running through generation but when a couple of shoots fell through last minute I was forced to go down a different route with my third portrait. That one is of a Northern Irish busker who I’ve seen playing the harmonica around Hampstead and Camden a few times, he’s been busking in London for 27 years and always plays a very cheery tune.

All of my sitters were extremely friendly and obliging and although I perhaps didn’t go as planned I’m very glad to have spent some time with them.

*For best viewing quality, please enlarge the images in the gallery by clicking on them.

* Week 4 - Formal Portraits - Part 2 * As well as shooting...

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 18:05:00 +0000

* Week 4 - Formal Portraits - Part 2 *

As well as shooting classic style medium format pictures I decided shoot a cross processed chrome film with a very simple Canon Prima Mini analogue compact camera for a more saturated and gritty “behind the scenes” type of thing.

Just for fun!

*For best viewing quality, please enlarge the images in the gallery by clicking.

* Week 4 - Formal Portraits - Part 1 * The fourth assignment was...

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 18:01:00 +0000

* Week 4 - Formal Portraits - Part 1 *

The fourth assignment was about formal portraiture (that is portraits within something similar to a studio setup as opposed to environmental portraits).

Here we have two shoots using medium format b&w and colour films, featuring the lovely Max and best friends Signy and Halla.

(p.s. I would have killed to get the DOF in that last one right, contemplating a reshoot just for that)

*For best viewing quality, please enlarge the images in the gallery by clicking.

Week 3 - Human Relationships - Part two For the other parts of...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 14:28:16 +0000

Week 3 - Human Relationships - Part two

For the other parts of the human relationship assignment I went to a craft club meetup, a friends electro-band practice and a choir practice. Some of these situations were slightly tricky to shoot but these are my favourites.

Week 3 - Human Relationships - Part one For the third week we...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:50:00 +0000

Week 3 - Human Relationships - Part one

For the third week we had to capture human relationships, moments of emotion or interaction between two or more people.

I spent an afternoon with the lovely friends Disa & James, they had lots to talk about and were terrifically animated.

Week 2 - Street Photography Assignment

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 00:56:00 +0000

Brief: Shoot about 300 images of street photography or candid moments in the city.

Technical Criteria: Use a fixed lens, either a 28mm, 35mm or 50mm. B&W, 400 iso, Manual focus, manual exposure. No cropping or photoshopping. Don’t worry if a lot of street images don’t work; a few will, and will work very well (…hmmm)

I was pretty exited for this assignment since I generally love doing street photography, but the tricky bit was the time limit. Less than a week to shoot a load of presentable street shots with a manual film camera is quite a challenge, especially when it’s freezing, grey and snowing during most of it!

But I still enjoyed it despite these obstacles and was happy with a few of my shots from this assignment and they seemed to get better as I went along. So here is last week of wandering around the streets of London in chronological order.

Hyde Park

Hackney Road

Hackney city Farm

Broadway Market

Kingsland Road

The Barbican Centre

Columbia road flower market

Liverpool Street station

Bank (with foggy lens)

Waterloo - Had a camera-off with this cab driver who was lined up in a taxi rank, hurriedly took some shots in the middle of the road with the rank moving up. Some were out of focus…

… one in focus

…and then out of focus again. A very brief but friendly encounter.

Southbank

Tate Modern

Revolving door in Saint Paul’s cathedral

Stray cat in Hackney

National Theatre, Southbank

Week 1 - Person at Work Assignment

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:31:00 +0000

The brief: Complete the assignment with 3 different subjects in different locations in a week. Make a series of images that show clearly the job or activity that they are doing, and something about the nature of that job and the relationship of the individual to their job. Shoot roughly the equivalent of 3 rolls of film per subject. The photos need to be natural and no direction is allowed.

Technical Criteria: B&W, 400 iso, either a 50mm or a 35mm lens. No zoom lenses. Use manual exposure and manual focus only. No cropping or photoshopping.

We got this assignment on our first day and it was due in a week’s time. It was strongly encouraged that we try to seek out people that we didn’t know already since part of the assignment is gaining access and spending a few hours with the them in order for them to relax around the camera. This was obviously a challenge to complete in a week but a very good one.

Because of my analogue background and more importantly, lack of money, I only had a film camera to shoot with which made me a tad more nervous and gave me some more time constraints what with processing and scanning. Plus when shooting film, there’s the present dreaded nightmare of the films coming out blank… or just plain shit.

My three chosen subjects were: a local car mechanic, a bookbinder and a cycle courier.

First was Francis the car mechanic who works in a quite a jumbled up and picturesque garage around the corner from my house. I spend a few hours with him and got to know the friendly people that frequent there.

Next up was Amelie the bookbinder. She works at Wyvern bindery in Clerkenwell, a place that’s always caught my attention when cycling past.

Again I spent a few hours with her at the bindery which is a very cluttered place and a bit difficult to maneuver without getting in people’s way. She was mostly doing the same thing at her desk facing the wall throughout the session which was a bit tricky, but the place itself was still very inspiring and atmospheric.

Last was Barry the cycle courier. Now this one was tough. I was somehow exited about a cycle courier as a subject sine I really enjoy cycling in London. I thought this would be quite an interesting angle to this assignment but as I set off I realized this was going to be very hard to pull off.

I basically followed Barry on my bicycle and because he was leading the way I really only got successful riding shots of him from behind with my slr strapped around my neck whilst trying to focus via distance, haphazardly framing and manually winding. On my second roll I overzealously wound on my film, not realizing I was at the end of the roll and broke it which put an abrupt stop to our journey as I needed to extract the film in a dark-bag.

So unfortunately I didn’t manage to get the shots I wanted to complete the assignment to my standards. I was however pleasantly surprised that I got some shots in decent enough focus considering the conditions.

So happy with two out of three, live and learn. Also found out that using film for these kinds of assignments puts a lot more time related stress into the mix so will definitely try to get a digital camera for the next weekly projects.

One Woman Camera Club has undergone a bit of a change in...

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 23:08:00 +0000

One Woman Camera Club has undergone a bit of a change in direction. I’ve started an MA course in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography so instead of the odd Lomo shot on here now and again, One Woman Camera Club is going to follow my journey through the course as a tool to share my experience with everyone and learn from it myself.

I hope you’ll enjoy finding out about my (hopefully many) triumphs and (hopefully less) failures.

Over and out!

Svala

Ingibjörg Þorbergs Since an early age, singer and songwriter...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:58:00 +0000

Ingibjörg Þorbergs

Since an early age, singer and songwriter Ingibjörg Þorbergs has been a well-loved figure in Icelandic music. Her songs and lyrics have become starndard nursery rhymes that have melted into the collective memory of generations of Icelandic children. Despite a frail physique and waning eyesight at the age of 85, Ingibjörg still writes music and lyrics with a remarkably youthful spirit and tenderness.

A while ago I spent an afternoon with Ingibjörg at her home in Keflavík where she gave me coffee and cakes, told me stories and played a couple of songs. Magical woman.

Dec 2011 - Sun mist

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:54:16 +0000

Dec 2011 - Sun mist

July 2012 - Spire

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 13:43:09 +0000

July 2012 - Spire

March 2012 - Nightride

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 10:42:04 +0000

March 2012 - Nightride

July 2012 - On The Road

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:06:23 +0000

July 2012 - On The Road

Aug 2012 - Missing Summer

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 09:22:12 +0000

Aug 2012 - Missing Summer

Jul 2012 - Homesick

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:23:07 +0100

Jul 2012 - Homesick

August 2012 - Vertigo

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:51:47 +0100

August 2012 - Vertigo

July 2012 - Shake & Flare

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 13:33:29 +0100

July 2012 - Shake & Flare

July 2012 - Paths

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:12:00 +0100

July 2012 - Paths

One Woman Camera Club

The Play - Photo Essay. Term 1. final project

*Week 6/7 - Photo Essay* This last part of the weekly...

* Week 5 - Environmental Portraits * This assignment was all...

* Week 4 - Formal Portraits - Part 2 * As well as shooting...

* Week 4 - Formal Portraits - Part 1 * The fourth assignment was...

Week 3 - Human Relationships - Part two For the other parts of...

Week 3 - Human Relationships - Part one For the third week we...

Week 2 - Street Photography Assignment

Week 1 - Person at Work Assignment

One Woman Camera Club has undergone a bit of a change in...

Ingibjörg Þorbergs Since an early age, singer and songwriter...

Dec 2011 - Sun mist

July 2012 - Spire

March 2012 - Nightride

July 2012 - On The Road

Aug 2012 - Missing Summer

Jul 2012 - Homesick

August 2012 - Vertigo

July 2012 - Shake & Flare

July 2012 - Paths

Week 6/7 - Photo Essay This last part of the weekly...