Person at Work : Rationale

For our first official assignment we have been given the task of creating ‘3 different compelling images of 3 different people at work’. They have to be shot digitally, in ambient light and in RAW, with no cropping to be done in post production. 

When I read the brief I was slightly overwhelmed and felt daunted by the task but I now feel excited as I feel it will be allow me to dive right in and apply myself as a working press photographer would to a shoot. In terms of compiling ideas and research and establishing relationships with my subjects in order to communicate a story with my images. 

As you can see on the sheet of paper shown above I have started brainstorming ideas to do with possible interpretations of the word work, and also what kind of jobs I would be interested in learning more about. As taking photographs of people doing those jobs would feel even more purposeful to me. 

In terms of interpreting the word work I have decided to not limit myself to work that solely suggests employment and also consider work in terms of an act that involves any kind of effort to achieve a result. This could be in the form of a creative pursuit of some kind or project that helps the community. I am however yet to research into these particular ideas.

So far as you can see after looking at lists of different sectors and job roles I have narrowed down areas of employment that interest me down to three key areas that I have made small mind maps from above. They are those involved in food, arts and ‘animals, plants and land’. I find myself particularly interested in possibly photographing a fisherman or someone who cooks seafood locally in a restaurant, a pasty or fudge maker, a florist or a local artist or curator.

My next goal is to look more into local projects and artists and to find potential subjects in the local community who fit the job roles I am interested in. I think it will be a lot easier to find artists and those who run small businesses online and I should be able to contact them by email or telephone. Otherwise I will have to pop into the premises of where they are based and ask if I can pop back, which if they say yes will help show my interest and build a repport with them more easily beforehand.

I also plan to research some photographers who have photographed people working to learn more about how I can go about photographing this kind of subject matter. As at this stage I’m really unsure about how to achieve consistency with a series of this nature and also how to effectively communicate well the context of the work these people do, through the three pictures I will have to narrow my shots down to in order to be assessed.