I tried to approach this assignment with an impartiality to the subject that I did not necessarily feel and I think this has come across well in my photographs. Whilst researching the issues relating to the traffic in Sudbury I learned a great deal about both sides of the argument and had the opportunity to explore which of these were valid whilst I was out and about taking photographs.
I think the photographs have good composition and are attractive to look at despite the sometimes dull subject matter and only a couple of them required straightening or cropping to make them look as I wished. I applied a little editing to each, mainly in the form of haze removal and contrast adjustment, which I feel has made the images more striking to look at. Whilst it is not necessary for documentary photography to be attractive to look at, I feel that images which draw people in will be more effective when used as part of an argument.
To help make each set of images as convincing for its side of the debate as possible I presented them differently. I converted the photographs supporting the argument in favour of the bypass in monochrome. This was mainly to give the images a more gritty appearance, which I felt would help make the situation with the HGVs look more dire, but also to make them look more documentary-like and help viewers to focus on the positioning of the vehicles on the road and in relation to the buildings rather than on the buildings themselves. I chose to leave the photographs supporting the argument against the bypass in colour in order to show the landscape which will be affected to its best advantage. I think that this choice has worked well for both sets of images and makes them stand apart from each other whilst gelling the sets together.
As there is already a detailed report about the issues surrounding Sudbury’s traffic, and these photographs are presented as supporting information, I didn’t feel they needed lengthy descriptions and so just I gave each one a short caption. Whilst with some photographs it is more interesting to let the photographs speak for themselves, when a photograph is being presented to inform, a little information helps give it context.
There were some images I would have liked to include – a shot of the land which has been proposed as a site for the new road for example – which I was unable to capture, mainly because I am not tall enough! The countryside in Suffolk is very flat and whilst this looks beautiful to the eye, the camera condenses it all into a narrow band in the centre of the frame and doesn’t show it to its best advantage. There were also some parts of the argument – tourism, for instance, which was mentioned by both sides of the debate – which were difficult to represent, particularly in the set arguing against the new bypass, and so I chose not to include them. Despite these challenges I am happy with the images I have submitted and think that, in the main, I have achieved what I set out to with the photographs.
The links below will take you to the posts I made whilst working through the assignment:
Context & Narrative 