Exercise 40: A narrative picture essay

For this exercise I was to plan and photograph a picture essay to tell a story in as et of pictures numbering between 5 and 15.  The brief suggested an event that could be researched or something closer to home like the preparation of food.

As it was November 5th the local scout group were holding their annual fireworks display.  I thought this would be quite challenging to shoot (as it would all happen at night) but relatively easy to plan and organise as I knew the venue well and dates and times are published.

I made a brief note of what might be quite interesting and help tell the story:

• Photo of tickets being sold
• Photo of people arriving 
• Photo of the bonfire
• Photo of the children playing with the glow sticks (safer than sparklers)
• Photo of people queuing for refreshments (shot of the crowd)
• Fireworks themselves (with people watching)

The reality was that this was a much harder assignment than I had imagined.  It was far too dark to get good shots without really long exposures and therefore resulted in blurred images of people moving.  However the fireworks themselves were much easier to shoot then I first thought.

Photograph 1: Waiting for customers!

Canon 5DMk II, Canon EF24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens, 45mm, f/4.5, 0.6s, ISO 1000

Photograph 2: More waiting (come on fireworks!!)

Canon 5DMk II, Canon EF24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens, 24mm, f/4.5, 20s, ISO 160

Photograph 3: Let's have a mulled wine while we wait

Canon 5DMk II, Canon EF24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens, 60mm, f/5.0, 1/5s, ISO 3200

Photograph 4: The kids playing with the glow sticks (much safer than sparklers)

Canon 5DMk II, Canon EF24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens, 24mm, f/4.5, 15s, ISO 200

Photograph 5: Fireworks 

Canon 5DMk II, Canon EF24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens, 24mm, f/5.6, 10s, ISO 100

Photograph 6: More fireworks

Canon 5DMk II, Canon EF24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens, 24mm, f/5.0, 5s, ISO 100

Photograph 7: Bonfire nearly out, time to go home

Canon 5DMk II, Canon EF24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens, 24mm, f/4.0, 1.3s, ISO 1250

The second part of the brief was to display the finished photographs in a way that shows the pictures in different sizes in such a way that they tell a story in a visually interesting way.

Final poster presentation