Fragile

This first picture was shot in the sitting room of Captin John Styles before he took his days medication.

I think frame I included 2 main aspects to show fragility. Firstly being the pills showing that his body cannot fully function without the help of something else and secondly the old wrinkly skin on his hands.

I shot this image very tightly to emphasise these two aspects and to reduce distractions from the surroundings. I don't think the impact of the old wrinkly skin would have been as strong if it wasn't so tightly framed.

I kept this image in colour to show the blemishes in his skin (again showing fragility) and the aesthetic contrast of the white and coloured boxes.

I used a high aperture partly due to very low light in the sitting room and partly to drop the background completely out of focus in order to reduce the distractions of the green cushions and sofa in the top of the frame.

This image is of John walking through his garden aided by his walking stick before doing some gardening. The way in which he is walking shows he is fragile and this is emphasised by his walking stick.

I chose to use a slightly lower aperture in this image in order to gain a larger depth of field in order to show his vast garden. This gives us more information about the area he has to maintain day to day and the full shot of him showing that he shouldn't be capable of this task.

This image was shot just a couple of minutes after the photograph above. John has enjoyed gardening for 50 years and does not let his age determine when he gives it up. He told me he takes far longer to do the same tasks but the same enjoyment is still there.

In this shot he was turning over the dry soil in order to make the bed ready for planting potatoes.

I really liked this image because I incorporated an action shot into a shoot regarding fragility but i think that in this case they work well together. In a way, Johns character and determination to not let old age stop him from doing things is shown from the digging but the rest of the frame showing his full body shows the fragility.

This image shows John looking through the images from his 50th Wedding Anniversary. This was shot in his 'Palace' which is a glorified shed at the side of his garden.

The lighting in the 'Palace' was very bad meaning a high ISO had to be used, therefore reducing the overall quality of the image.

The reason I chose this shot for my final 5 was because I felt that it really showed his true character and personality. Although it doesn't show fragility aswell, I think it is still just as informative and has a valuable place in this 5 picture story giving a more rounded and informative look into Johns life which I think is important.



This is the final image from the 5 picture story of John leaning against his 28 year old Volvo 240 estate that he has had from new and done 250,000 miles in. This car is his pride and joy and I shot it because I felt it showed fragility in two ways on being in John and the other his very old car.

I shot several images of him and the car and some where the vechile was more visible but I felt that this one really showed the connection he had with it and also emphasised fragility from where he is leaning on it.

Fragile - 5 Picture Story

For my 5 picture story related to "Fragile" I have chosen to shoot an elderly couple in their home in the New Forest. I want to portray the struggle and extra effort that has to go into everyday activities such as walking and gardening and use these tasks to show the fragility that comes with old age.

Below is a mind map of some ideas for images from the shoot.