Final photos

 

For my final photos I knew I wanted to use a public swimming pool due to the look which they have and so I could use a massive amount of water which just wouldn’t have been possible anywhere else. I did think about using an inflatable swimming pool in my garden but I didn’t feel it gave the same familiar feeling of a public swimming pool and also felt it could give a childish feel to the serious photos.

So I started my search by looking at different swimming pools and looking for ones with deep ends and that had lots of natural light. I wanted a deep end so that when my model ‘fell’ in he wouldn’t have the danger of hitting the floor. I also wanted lots of natural light as using fast shutting speeds makes the photos very dark if there isn’t a large amount of light. After searching for swimming pools to use I found 2 which seemed suitable for my photo shoot so I sent them both an email explaining what I wanted to do and if it would be possible to use their swimming pool. Straight away I got a response from one saying that they were too busy and a day later I got a response from the other saying that they could possibly help. I rang them and spoke to them about the details and they said that they could do it that day whilst they were setting up for a party, giving me only 15 mins to set up and take the photos. I accepted their offer and arrived with all my gear and my model and they were very helpful and couldn’t wait to see someone fall into the swimming pool fully clothed. I did four takes and each time got my model to put dry clothes on so that it would look like it was the real thing each time. This meant we had to work quickly but I soon got the hang of it and was getting a good selection of strong photos. I did at first have problems with starting the burst too soon and my camera stopping taking photos before he even hit the water but I soon got the timing right and got the complete sequence on the last take. I wanted to have 12 photos as I’d planned that I could take that many and I’d worked my zoetrope out to fit 12 photos perfectly. I think I want to edit them possibly but I’m not sure what would look good for the theme that I’m working in.

Here is my last take which got the whole series of photos:

I’m really pleased with the different stages of the movement that I captured and how it progresses a little bit more from photo to photo. My favourite photo from the take is the photo just before he hits the water and looks like he is balancing on the side above the water level. In some ways it looks like he’s trying to save himself and balance but it also looks like an elegance dance in midair. I also love the way the water reacts to his flat body hitting it and spraying up around him as if it swallows him. The splashes at the end are showing his struggles and him finding it difficult to get out of the water and the splashes slowing down show he’s not swimming any more but instead is drowning.

I feel that the photos turned out really well and that they possibly need editing to make them better and to give them a stronger main subject. I do really like the sign behind on the wall as it’s warning him that the water is there and it’s deep but he didn’t listen and fell in still showing that it’s his fault and he could have prevented it. I think that the angle from straight ahead works really well as it gives a better look at him struggling and his reaction to falling in. I think that all my test shots of things hitting water really helped me to know that the water would splash the correct way and give the look I’d planned. It meant that I could plan how my model would have to fall to get the correct splash and to make it look the most like they aren’t jumping but instead falling. It’s meant to feel like he’s looking over the water and then he falls in, showing that he could have prevented it from happening if he’d just read the signs and not been so close but this also tells the deeper story. He never listens to people warning him not to do things so he does it anyway and this is the last straw and it’s all catching up on him in a way that makes him feel like he’s drowning because he has so much stress.

I really feel that the paintings by Pedro Covo were a big inspiration for the way I wanted the boy to fall and hit the water and then disappear under it just like the people do in Covo’s paintings. I liked the way you could see the splashes go out in response to the way the person hit it and how all the attention is on the person. I also felt that they were very delicate just like dancers so I really tried to capture this. I tried to make all of those things in my photos and capture the feel of the photos. I really feel the elegance when the boy is falling before hitting the water with his arms out and just balancing on one leg just like a ballet dancer.

I would have liked to be more zoomed in so that when it’s in the zoetrope you can clearly see the subject and the small details that change but I wanted to try and capture all of the splashes created by him falling in which meant I had to be zoomed out as the splashes were bigger than expected.