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Exercise 3: Standing back (Test shoot 1)

Lee Harrison
Jan 12, 2016
2 min read

Using my 50mm prime lens I stood back from the crowd and tried to capture groups of people together to fill the frame more. Focusing on more people was that little bit more difficult because you were trying to capture two or more people unaware of you than one. But it also had the added benefit of they were engaging with each other rather than the surroundings. I took inspiration from Vivian maier when focusing on this exercise she used a Rolleiflex Twin lens which was used to shoot from the waist. I placed my Canon 60d with vari angle clear view LCD in the same posistion as Vivian held her camera by my waist and used the screen to capture people. As I was looking at the screen and not pointing the camera at them they were less aware of me photographing them, which made me feel more comfortable about this project.

Vivian maier self portrait and an image captured on the street standing back which I used as inspiration for my work on this exercise. The two self portraits are used to show how I shot my images walking on the street.

I believe I have captured the style of Vivian Maier within my photographs. I dont know as the photographer if you can tell mine is the more modern image I know it is but to someone who didnt could they tell the difference. I have tried to frame it exactly even using the rails as a guidline to compose.

This image is to show how I shot my photos instead of the viewfinder being on the top of the rollieflex I used the same principle turning the screen to my direction.

Here is an image I captured on my phone that is similar to Vivian Maier, capturing a family going about there everyday life. Because this was captured on my phone the resolution and quality is very low but still useable but not for a final print.