If you ever find yourself short of things to do on Boxing Day and wishing you could do something different from the usual 'family lunch and walk' set routine, head for Grantchester. I won't be the first person recommending this, the Guardian got there first! Here is a link to their 'Where to go bonkers on Boxing Day' articles where Grantchester Barrel Rolling is mentioned: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2009/dec/20/boxing-day-activities.
Grantchester Boxing Day Barrel Rolling dates back to 60s and is very popular now.The event is well organised and is fun to attend. There are teams from Grantchester and the nearby villages competing for the prices and the day ends with a jolly celebration in the local pubs.
Why not come next year to see for yourself?
This set of images is from the last Barrel Race - all images were shot with my Canon 5D Mark II and a choice of zoom lenses with focal length ranging from 40 mm to 200 mm.
The day was still and overcast but dry providing almost perfect conditions for photographing people at the race (no strong shadows on faces, manageable levels of contrast).
The whole event lasts about 45 minutes so you have to be quick and ready for action. There are also a lot of people attending so it might be hard to work out the best positions. The races happen one after the other in a fast succession so there isn't much time to think and re-adjust.
The event is a great opportunity to catch some good shots of the races but also the people watching the action - Grantchester is a great spot for people watching as it draws in a lot of interesting and eccentric characters.
I took many shots trying to vary the angles and my position. I am including a selection of images below with some commentary.
My aim was to create a series of around 10 images that would work together and narrate the story line of this event. To achieve that, I included some general images to show the activity in the context of the place as well as some close-up shots of participants and the viewers. I tried to follow the sequence of the event as much as possible when organizing my collection. I used some black and white images as a link to the long-standing tradition of this event. Some things never stay the same and other things don't seem to change at all - I think that some of these images look timeless and it might be easy to mistake them for those taken many years ago
Image 1.
Another action shot but this time the focus is on one of the barrel racers and some of the onlookers. The moments when a barrel gets stuck in the straw bales next to the cheering crowds are the most treasured and most remembered episodes of each race. It feels good to be able to catch one of these so close! I used my telephoto lens for this shot (200 mm) and had to open up the diaphragm to 6.7. I tried to frame this image in the way that the background is interesting and engaging - to include as much action as possible without drawing attention to much from the main subject.
Image 5.
I selected this image as it caught the tension of the race quite well. I think it helps to put the image viewer literally in the middle of the race as I was standing in the middle of the street to take this shot. The two lines of straw bales dotted with onlookers and supporters and the road markings help to lead the eye to the epicenter of the race. Any series of narrative images deserve to have a peak point and I see Image 6 as the peak and the turning point of this selection.
This image was taken with a zoom lens set to 105 mm. The exposure setting were: 1/350 sec at f/6.7, 400 ISO.
Image 7.
After all the 'drama' of Image 6, this image is one of the 'victory moments.' From the technical point of view, this was the easiest image to execute. I included it to convey the sense of relaxation, joy and celebration.
Image 8.
Closer to the end of the race, I positioned myself right by the finishing line and was able to capture some of the racers at a closer range. This was the best image I think. My camera suddenly went very slow as it was struggling to keep up with the speed of everything happenning so I almost miss this shot!
Thie image was taken with the exposure set to 1/125 at f/ 6.7.
Image 9.
Another celebration moment and I was glad to catch it in sharp focus. I was relatively close to the girls and used 45 mm focal length at 400 ISO to snatch the moment. It was necessary to increase ISO to 400 to freeze the moment whilst using the available natural light on the day.
I decided to make this image black and white to focus the viewer on the emotions of the moment as I thought that the colours were too bright and would probably have clashed with each other. In post-production, I darkened the corners of the image to draw attention to the centre. I also had to crop the image quite a lot as there were so many different things going on within the image frame.
Mill Road Winter Fair, Cambridge
This image was taken with a 35 mm lens and so was quite challenging. I had to be really close to the girl but still tried to make sure she did not spotted me. Using a wide-angle lens meant that a lot of background and foreground details were still sharp and included in the shot. I like the way the tree is filling the left hand side part of the image - I think it really adds a different feel to the picture.
Image 4
For this image I tried to frame the shot in the way that only green space and the girl were included. The rest of the actual scene was quite busy (apart from the tranquil part of the green lawn that I framed quite carefully) - it is amazing how different from reality the final image looks! I felt that the girl was focussed on her reading that the rest of the busy world did not exist for her at that moment and I wanted to capture that feeling - hence the decision to exclude all the busy details. The image was taken with a telephoto lens.
Lessons learnt:
- Be ready for action to get the best out of these fast moving events. Arrive early to get the best viewpoints and to assess the conditions.
- Change viewpoints to put the viewer into the picture and make the event 'real' to them.
- Remember to vary focal length to get a mixture of close-up and overall shots.
- Try and imagine the sequence and how each image would 'tell the story.'
- Use fast-speed high capacity cards and lenses to get the best shots. There is no waiting time in this game and you will always remember the images that you would have taken but could not because your camera was not ready...
- Be in the right place and the right time. Anticipate where the next right time and place could be...
- Most importantly - enjoy the action and stay relaxed and playful. It's just a game after all! See how many more of the illusive perfect moments you can catch if you are relaxed but vigilant!
Grantchester Boxing Day Barrel Rolling dates back to 60s and is very popular now.The event is well organised and is fun to attend. There are teams from Grantchester and the nearby villages competing for the prices and the day ends with a jolly celebration in the local pubs.
Why not come next year to see for yourself?
This set of images is from the last Barrel Race - all images were shot with my Canon 5D Mark II and a choice of zoom lenses with focal length ranging from 40 mm to 200 mm.
The day was still and overcast but dry providing almost perfect conditions for photographing people at the race (no strong shadows on faces, manageable levels of contrast).
The whole event lasts about 45 minutes so you have to be quick and ready for action. There are also a lot of people attending so it might be hard to work out the best positions. The races happen one after the other in a fast succession so there isn't much time to think and re-adjust.
The event is a great opportunity to catch some good shots of the races but also the people watching the action - Grantchester is a great spot for people watching as it draws in a lot of interesting and eccentric characters.
I took many shots trying to vary the angles and my position. I am including a selection of images below with some commentary.
My aim was to create a series of around 10 images that would work together and narrate the story line of this event. To achieve that, I included some general images to show the activity in the context of the place as well as some close-up shots of participants and the viewers. I tried to follow the sequence of the event as much as possible when organizing my collection. I used some black and white images as a link to the long-standing tradition of this event. Some things never stay the same and other things don't seem to change at all - I think that some of these images look timeless and it might be easy to mistake them for those taken many years ago
Image 1.
This general shot gives a viewer an overview of the place, the event and the people taking part in it. It is amazing how much information can be picked up and understood from a single shot! I like the strong sense of anticipation and suspense that the low angle has created. It was taken with a zoom lens set at 60 mm. I chose 1/250 sec setting at F 8 and 400 ISO to compensate for the movements.
Image 2.
This image brings us right to the 'front-line' and the starting point of the race. Comparing to the first image, it is almost as if you jump from being a viewer to a race participant - the fact that this change is instant helps to convey the sense of the moment when the race starts. To make it real, sharp and active, I chose to keep the colours.
The image was taken with a zoom lens set at 24 mm, then cropped at the post-production stage. I used 1/125 sec exposure at F 8 and 400 ISO to compensate for the movements.
Image 3.
Iamge 4.
Image 5.
Images 4 and 5 captured how differently the participants of different ages enjoy the race. Image 4 works well as a colour image as the red blotches of colour complement each other and bring the image together more. I could not resist de-saturating and toning Image 5 as I think it has some of the 'timeless' qualities, as touched on earlier.
Image 4 was taken with a zoom lens set at 86 mm. I used 1/125 sec exposure at F 5.6 and 400 ISO. For Image 5 I used 1/125 setting at F 8.0. The image was taken with a zoom lens set to 24 mm.
Image 6.
I selected this image as it caught the tension of the race quite well. I think it helps to put the image viewer literally in the middle of the race as I was standing in the middle of the street to take this shot. The two lines of straw bales dotted with onlookers and supporters and the road markings help to lead the eye to the epicenter of the race. Any series of narrative images deserve to have a peak point and I see Image 6 as the peak and the turning point of this selection.
This image was taken with a zoom lens set to 105 mm. The exposure setting were: 1/350 sec at f/6.7, 400 ISO.
Image 7.
After all the 'drama' of Image 6, this image is one of the 'victory moments.' From the technical point of view, this was the easiest image to execute. I included it to convey the sense of relaxation, joy and celebration.
Image 8.
Closer to the end of the race, I positioned myself right by the finishing line and was able to capture some of the racers at a closer range. This was the best image I think. My camera suddenly went very slow as it was struggling to keep up with the speed of everything happenning so I almost miss this shot!
Thie image was taken with the exposure set to 1/125 at f/ 6.7.
Image 9.
I decided to make this image black and white to focus the viewer on the emotions of the moment as I thought that the colours were too bright and would probably have clashed with each other. In post-production, I darkened the corners of the image to draw attention to the centre. I also had to crop the image quite a lot as there were so many different things going on within the image frame.
Mill Road Winter Fair, Cambridge
It so happened that I attended a lot of public events at the time when I was working on my Assignment One. Initially I thought that some of these events would provide me with sufficient photo opportunities to get some suitable material for the Assignment Two. I read the brief for the Assignment Two and thought that one event in particular, the Winter Fair Carnival at Mill Road in Cambridge, would be ideal for this assignment. Following this realisation, I suggested to my tutor submitting both assignments at the same time.
However, when I received my tutor’s feedback on the Assignment One I realised that I would not be able to fully use the existing material for my second assignment. Unfortunately, I did not pay enough attention to the importance of narrating a story which is an important part of the second assignment. As a result, my photos from the Winter Fair event were more focussed on depicting the individual scenes that took place on the day then ‘telling the story.’
So after reading my tutor’s feedback, I decided that there was a real need for me to find another opportunity to practice creating a photo narrative. This became my own personal objective for this assignment.
To practice creating a story using photo images I decided to use a local community art event. I approached an organiser of a local bi-annual art exhibition Grantchester Artists 2014. I wanted to give something back to the people who organised the event so I offered to create a photo slide show and a short video film about it. The exhibition organiser, a local resident and artist, accepted my offer and invited me to come along on the day before the exhibition was opened to see it being set up as well as pop along during the two days it was open to the public.
I spent some time observing and taking photos of the exhibition being set up. I then spend a bit of time at the exhibition hall on both days whilst it was open to the public.
The nature of the event presented certain challenges to fulfilling my assignment brief:
Visitors’ expectations: In comparison to the Winter Fair Carnival where people generally expect to see people with cameras, it was much more challenging to take photos in the exhibition hall.
Space: The event took place in the small village hall where it was simply not possible to conceal my camera. I had to be quite creative in using the available space at the same time paying respect to the visitors’ needs and respecting their private space.
Light: The available light was not great considering that at least some of the time I had to use my telephoto lens to get right close to my subjects. I had to increase my ISO setting to get sufficient light which resulted in some noise.
I decided to include a selection of the images taken at the Winter Fair Carnival in Cambridge in my learning blog to compare them with this selection. I hope this might in some way be a helpful comparison.
A selection of images
It so happened that I attended a lot of public events at the time when I was working on my Assignment One. Initially I thought that some of these events would provide me with sufficient photo opportunities to get some suitable material for the Assignment Two. I read the brief for the Assignment Two and thought that one event in particular, the Winter Fair Carnival at Mill Road in Cambridge, would be ideal for this assignment. Following this realisation, I suggested to my tutor submitting both assignments at the same time.
However, when I received my tutor’s feedback on the Assignment One I realised that I would not be able to fully use the existing material for my second assignment. Unfortunately, I did not pay enough attention to the importance of narrating a story which is an important part of the second assignment. As a result, my photos from the Winter Fair event were more focussed on depicting the individual scenes that took place on the day then ‘telling the story.’
So after reading my tutor’s feedback, I decided that there was a real need for me to find another opportunity to practice creating a photo narrative. This became my own personal objective for this assignment.
To practice creating a story using photo images I decided to use a local community art event. I approached an organiser of a local bi-annual art exhibition Grantchester Artists 2014. I wanted to give something back to the people who organised the event so I offered to create a photo slide show and a short video film about it. The exhibition organiser, a local resident and artist, accepted my offer and invited me to come along on the day before the exhibition was opened to see it being set up as well as pop along during the two days it was open to the public.
I spent some time observing and taking photos of the exhibition being set up. I then spend a bit of time at the exhibition hall on both days whilst it was open to the public.
The nature of the event presented certain challenges to fulfilling my assignment brief:
Visitors’ expectations: In comparison to the Winter Fair Carnival where people generally expect to see people with cameras, it was much more challenging to take photos in the exhibition hall.
Space: The event took place in the small village hall where it was simply not possible to conceal my camera. I had to be quite creative in using the available space at the same time paying respect to the visitors’ needs and respecting their private space.
Light: The available light was not great considering that at least some of the time I had to use my telephoto lens to get right close to my subjects. I had to increase my ISO setting to get sufficient light which resulted in some noise.
I decided to include a selection of the images taken at the Winter Fair Carnival in Cambridge in my learning blog to compare them with this selection. I hope this might in some way be a helpful comparison. A selection of images
Project 'Public events, public spaces': public space
Parks are great places for people watching and people photography.
I was looking for images of people having a quiet moment, relaxing and enjoying the first signs of spring. The challenges were to stay discreet and not to disturb them too much.
Image 1
All of these images was taken with Canon 5D MII.
For Image 1 I chose to stay further away so used 85 mm focal length. The camera settings were 1/125 sec at f /11, ISO 100.
Image 2
I used 180 mm focal length for this image as I felt I needed to keep away - the guy on the bench was dozing off. I tried to allign the two benches so they are both present in the shot. I also wanted to include some of the tree shadow to add some dimension to the foreground. I opted for a low angle to position the bench in the top left quarter of the frame.
Image 3
This image was taken with a 35 mm lens and so was quite challenging. I had to be really close to the girl but still tried to make sure she did not spotted me. Using a wide-angle lens meant that a lot of background and foreground details were still sharp and included in the shot. I like the way the tree is filling the left hand side part of the image - I think it really adds a different feel to the picture.
Image 4
- Be ready for action to get the best out of these fast moving events. Arrive early to get the best viewpoints and to assess the conditions.
- Change viewpoints to put the viewer into the picture and make the event 'real' to them.
- Remember to vary focal length to get a mixture of close-up and overall shots.
- Try and imagine the sequence and how each image would 'tell the story.'
- Use fast-speed high capacity cards and lenses to get the best shots. There is no waiting time in this game and you will always remember the images that you would have taken but could not because your camera was not ready...
- Be in the right place and the right time. Anticipate where the next right time and place could be...
- Most importantly - enjoy the action and stay relaxed and playful. It's just a game after all! See how many more of the illusive perfect moments you can catch if you are relaxed but vigilant!
