Assignment Plan Theme 1 - People and Portraits

We are now more than half way through level 2 and I should by now have lots of photographs to start choosing my final 10 images. I do have a few images which I really like and could be included in my final 10 but my original plan seems to have been changed by research and changes in the environment as we go into the spring and summer months. 

Originally I was planning to shoot a selection of images inside the warehouse at work and the images to be based around music as music is always around me in everyday life.  As my research has progressed particularly when researching Annie Liebovitz and particularly her collection American Music which is mostly shot outdoors I now plan to shoot outdoors using the summer as a focus as well as the subjects in the shot. 

I know that this theme is on people and portraits but my research has led me into a kind of staged reportage which includes people.  Whilst researching Robert Doisneau I came across a style which is basically staged reportage or street photography.  This is a style of photography which is reportage, but instead of the candid image which is what I believe to be reportage or street photography it is staged for that particular shot.  He also set up situations and waited for candid shots of people which then is yet again another style of photography.

My original plan was to base the shots with a 60s, 70s look which would have made the shots more interesting if only using a warehouse to shoot in but planning to use the environment has reduced the need to emphasise a more interesting look to shooting in a dusty, low light warehouse.  I also planned to produce all these shots in black and white as I really love this style but as the spring has progressed and the environment has become colourful this has become less appealing as my research has progressed.  I am not ruling out black and white and if I think it suits the image then I would convert using the methods researched in my previous blogs about black and white photography.

I have been out into the countryside looking for places to shoot and have a few subjects and situations lined up.  I plan on using my Nikon D90 camera with my 18-105mm F3.5-5.6 lens   I also have the Nikon Nikkor macro lens AF-S 105mm F2.8 G which is an excellent lens for portraiture so if any close up situations should arise a may use that.  I will also be using my tripod to frame the picture if necessary.  I have just purchased a spare battery to carry and always carry a spare memory card.

I am hoping that the use of light is beneficial in my images as I cannot ask my subjects to get up at sunrise and as we live in a world where everyone is so busy the sun set is probably not a possibility either but it would be nice to use that magic hour at the end of the day when the use of light can be really nice.  I am not planning on shooting any images at midday when the sun is high in the sky as this is when shadows and reflections are not used to their best.  I also do not need the sky to be bright and blue as I really like cloud in photography especially dark moody cloud on landscape images.