Assignment 5 Personal Project Reflection

Reflection on Personal Project for Assignment 5 Digital Photographic Practice 1

Bridges of the Navigable River Trent (Nottingham to the Humber Estuary)

Is the navigable River Trent recognisable from its bridges beyond Nottingham?

How well does your completed project match your original intentions?

My brief changed slightly as I explored the bridges because accessibility due to the river in flood made “postcard” images unachievable. As I learnt the heritage surrounding each bridge, I found they had unique characters and I needed to highlight individual aspects of the bridge. I discovered it is not necessarily the whole bridge but the detail that makes them recognisable.

Choice – was it a good theme?

Yes, and on rediscovering the bridges it became more about their form and beauty rather than whether I could tell which one is which, as each tells a story and no two are the same.

I explored my feelings towards manipulation as I knew how I wanted to represent the bridge and some did not live up to this. Images are displayed through Google maps, geocaching, geographical and historical sites. Watching Dan Snow journey along the Grand Canyon (Operation Grand Canyon, January 2014) to find old landmarks, I understood that recreating manipulated scenes posed questions. Although my image contains metadata with a date and place, one would have to consult other pictures taken at the time to find I had removed a pylon, streetlight or altered the perspective in the search of a balanced image.

This theme became topical. I noted BBC East Midlands News (12/2/14) reported George Stephenson’s Midland Mainline Railway bridges in Derbyshire were becoming Grade 2 listed because electrification of the line meant Network Rail must consider conservation before altering bridges.

What went well?

This project brought together elements looked at throughout DPP; from workflow, correct exposure, photograph enhancement, manipulation skills and developing my understanding of ethical issues. It was a good consolidation exercise.

What went badly?

• Water levels on the River Trent rose meaning difficult access. Time of year and weather conditions will always be challenging.
• Planned bridge works were not completed limiting certain photographs.
• Football match on a planned photography day meant bridges were very busy.
• Lack of industrial features around the rural bridges.

Did you stick to the original brief or did you depart from it?

I more or less stuck to the original brief but reading material changed due to availability.

Technical problems - how did you solve them?

I handheld the camera more than planned and increased ISO to achieve sharp images. With the train image to be in focus and where I wanted it, I took separate images and combined them in Photoshop. Gunthorpe Bridge (boats and railings) became a combined image giving the effect of the boats being closer.

Are you pleased with your final collection?

I enjoyed planning, research, pilot visits, shoots and reshoots and have a greater understanding and personal opinion regarding the manipulation of photographs to achieve my expectations. With a longer time frame, I would improve images such as the railway viaduct by waiting for overcast weather or develop the learning started at Newark (test shots).                          

I was interested to note that Debenhams’s coffee shop in Nottingham displayed two partial images of bridges similar to mine. I realised that mine were acceptable.

What could you have done differently?

I wouldn’t have done anything differently this time, but in future could use a different time of year or work over a longer period of time.