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.

Surfers - Final 3 - Relationship

I took this shot whilst James and Brieuc were jogging down from the car park to the surf. The pat on the back was a very short but informative moment showing the closeness of the 2 surfers relationship.

The lighting wasn't the best due to it being failing natural light on a dull overcast day. Also, the path they are running along had fairly large trees either side blocking out even more of the already low light. I was shooting with a large zoom lens due to the nature of the sport and therefore it was difficult to compensate for the low light with a high aperture which is what I would usually do.

Despite this photograph not being technically strong, I think, looking at it from a relationship perspective, it is very unique and information, therefore making it a strong image.










I wasn't sure about this image at first, but with a strong caption I think it could work very well to show relationship. The spot they were surfing, Porthcurno, was big, powerful, with a strong current and at high tide, making it very dangerous. Not to mention there being no one around to help if they got in trouble.

This image shows the 2 surfers as they come over the rise seeing the surf for the first time that day. They are both feeling the same excitement and fear and I think that unique connection makes this a good relationship image.

This lighting in this image is still not strong but better than the previous since they are more exposed to the low amount of natural light available.





What I really like about this last image is that the 2 surfers are the only clear subjects in the photograph. I shot it from the top of the path leading down to the beach to show the vast sand and the two small surfers running down to the water, one behind another.

The reason I converted this image into black and white is because I really wanted to emphasise the contrast between my subjects and the background. In the colour version, I think the deeper meaning of relationship between the two surfers being very isolated in a very natural environment was less clear. The colours in a way were a distraction.

Relationship - Married Couple - Research

Photographer, Jordon Matter made a series of photographs showing professional athletes go about their everyday lives with the same drive as they have for their sport. The series was called 'Athletes Amoung Us'.

This image is of professional NFL player, Erik Coleman on Valentines day showing a different approach to romance in the bedroom. I chose this image because it shows what would usually be seen as a very intimate private moment in an amusing way combining the relationship Coleman has with his sport combined with the relationship he has with his wife.

The intimacy and closeness of the relationship is still clearly shown from the physical connection of the pair along with the clothes they are wearing and the environment they are in. Matter has carefully framed the image using a fair wide angle lens in the room so he can clearly show the environment they are in whilst ensuring that the couple are his main focus.






Photographer, Murad Osmann has become very well known recently for his extremely unique project which involves him following his girlfriend, Nataly Zakharova around the world taking photographs from the same position behind her, holding her hand in exotic locations.

This particular image shows the couple at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Each of Osmann's images appear to have a very 'HDR look' which makes them look quite cartoony in a way. Normally, I do not like this in a photograph because I think there should be a clear line between a completely computer made image and one taken in a camera. Having said this, in this series of images (such as the two I have shown here), it works well to show the magic and adventure in the couples relationship.

Another couple of small aspects that trend throughout the set is that the couple always hold the same hand and that Zakharova always has the same ring on the same finger. This gives us more information about their relationship, showing a small intimate detail about them.













I am unsure of the photographer of this image. The couple (Chantelle and Nick), had been dating since 2001 (year 10 in high school, USA) but had left it this long to get married to ensure they were both ready for the commitment.

This image is very similar to my final image for my 'married couple relationship' photo. As I did, the photographer has shot the image with a very high aperture in order to drop everything out of the acceptable point of focus other than the ring. This is to clearly show the relationship between the two people. The single hand of the man and woman are also in the photo but not in focus because they still offer important information to the frame, emphasising that the relationship is between 2 people.

The image is very simple with extremely bland colours to ensure the focus is kept on the very subtle detail in the centre of the frame (the ring) which gives us the most important information in the photograph.

Relationship - Couple - Final 3

I chose this image for my final 3 because it shows the two important aspects of this shoot clearly, the marriage of 2 people and the closeness of their relationship. The closeness is shown by the hands touching and that they are both wearing their wedding rings and the marriage being shown in background by the folder of pictures from their wedding.

Since the wedding and engagement rings are so small and could be overlooked, I decided to shoot this image as a close up in order to make them the main point of focus. I also used a very high aperture of f/2.8 in order to reduce the point of focus even more.

I chose the background to be a portrait of Richard and Penelope shown in the folder of their wedding photographs. I felt this gave us more information about their relationship. I dropped it out of focus for the reason above, ensuring the attention was drawn to the rings. Having said this, I did want the portrait to be in my photograph so framed it accordingly.

I found it difficult to decided between the image at the top and the one to the right. Although they are very similar, I decided to go for the to one. This is because I think the lighting and framing is better and it shows the photo in the background far better giving more information. Also, I think there too much of Penelope's wrist in the foreground of the one to the right which is distracting as does not give any more relevant information.

This image shows Richard and Penelope enjoying looking through their photo album of their wedding in their home in the New Forest. One of my favorite parts of this image is the fact that their happiness and relationship seems natural and not forced due to the presence of the camera. Although this image is not technically brilliant, the reason above is why I have chosen it for my final 3.

This shot also clearly displays all of the necessary information, the couple, their environment, what kind of relationship they are in and something that gives us a rough idea on how long the relationship has lasted so far.




I was going to try and include a more diverse final 3 images for this shoot. Having said this, I planned before the shoot the images I really wanted to shoot. I was fairly sure that the top one was going to be my final but knew I should try some other angles and include other information in order to gather a series of images to choose from. The last image would be good for an establishing image because it shows the couple and relationship very clearly.

Relationship - Couple - Contact Sheet

I did this shoot of a locally known couple Mr Richard and Penelope Styles in their home in Cadnam, New Forset, Hampshire. The couple have been happily married since 19 (24 years) and were looking through their wedding photos for the first time in 10 years. The relationship in this case is very clearly love and the couple wanted an image of them showing their rings which they ensure I knew they both never took off.

The lighting was very bad in their home and the shoot was done when it was dark outside, therefore I used a flash throughout the shoot.

Relationship - Fire - Research

I could not find which photographer took this image or where it was taken but I found it on getty images and thought it was a great example of friendship (relationship) using difficult light in an interesting way.

The only light source apparent in the image is the fire right in the centre of the frame. As in my photographs of the friends around a fire in Dorset, the fire aesthetically lights up the subjects sitting around it and fades gradually the further from the centre of the frame you go. This also helps to portray the closeness of the group and show the small area they are all within.

One of the aspects of this photo I do not like is the angle at which is shot at. I would have shot this image at an angle which would make the horizon more horizontal. Also, some of the subjects head are not completely in the frame. I think this definitely makes the image weaker because it feels as though they have been cut off and I feel that it really distracts me from the meaning of the photograph.




This photograph was taken by Ed Longdon of a group of friends around a fire at night. What I really liked about this image is the effect use of thirds. The fire is clearly the main point of focus but the silhouettes of the girl and boy in the foreground taking up the left and right thirds along with the people dropped out in the background in the left and right of the shot show the relationship in the image.

The people in the background of the image almost seem unnecessary in the image as very little of them can be seen and it looks like the shot may have not been planned well and they weren't initially supposed to be in the frame. Having said this, this changes the meaning of the image quite drastically making the relationship go from being between two people to a group of people.




This image was taken by Sam Thiara in 2012 of children jumping whilst holding hands on a beach and is titled, "A long standing relationship over a very short time". The idea behind this image was to show how friendships and relationships are grown over time and build as you get to know each other more.

The relevance to my work in this image is far less clear than the two above. Having said this, there are several similarities. First of all, this image such as the other two and mine is using low light. In this photograph, the low light (probably sunset) is used to silhouette the children jumping.

I really like this image because it shows next to no detail of each child but shows their close relationship with one another very well. The silhouettes are extremely clear and defined which is helped by the conversion to black and light and angle of the natural light.

Also, there is nothing else in the frame to distract us from the subject. This could have caused a problem due to the lack of detail in the subjects but since the backdrop is completely blank it brings out the children well.

Relationship - Fire - Final

This is the photograph I have chosen for my final from my beach fire shoot.
I struggled with noise in the top half of the image where it is very dark. I had a play with some tools such as contrast and clarity to try and mask this a little. I did this because I didn't want to clone any of the image as that would change the information within in it, so I just tried to hide it slightly but overwhelming the small white dots with black with manipulation tools. Despite this problem, I still feel that this is the strongest of the 3 images and best shows relationship.


One of the reasons I chose this photograph over the 2 was that it shows is very natural. I took the image off to the side and slightly behind a dune so that the 3 friends didn't know it was being taken.

Also, the lighting shed across my subjects and the small amount coming through the grass on the right of the frame add aesthetic appeal.