Evaluation

Portrait of Montpellier

 

Outline of the project 

 

My goal for this project was to capture a series of portraits in Montpellier and capture the ‘decisive moment’. I wanted to photograph the people who represent this city whether they are, elderly or young, students or merchant, dancing or playing an instrument in the streets... I wanted to capture the soul of the city. 

This project was also for me a way to pay homage to my uncle, Jean Pierre Ortuno, who himself photographed the people of Montpellier back in the 70’s. I wanted to show the differences but also the similarities between now and then, and I realised that a lot hasn’t changed. 

 

Planning and development 

 

As part of my project, I have researched some photographers who have produced, before me, some street photography portraits. This really helped me to expand my knowledge on street photography and portraiture. This also made me realise that to capture the ‘decisive moment’ I don’t necessarily have to capture a scene of someone doing something. I could also capture a very nice portrait of someone posing and making them look into the camera without making it look boring, in other words I could still capture emotions. 

I was particularly influenced and inspired by the following photographers: Jean Pierre Ortuno, my uncle, who was a great photographer for ‘La Gazette’ and really captured great portraits of people in Montpellier. Anil Mistry who took amazing portraits of people in Brighton, his hometown, and I really enjoyed reading his interview with Lomography. Finally, Rinzi Ruiz and his project ‘Captured Souls’ really inspired me and the eye contact we have with the people he photographed in very powerful too. 

Later on in my project I made some research on contact sheets. I discovered this incredible agency, ‘Magnum agency’. Photographers who share ideas, and sometimes create together. The website had a lot of information, but I found the book in the college library and it was even better! I found loads of examples of contact sheets and it really inspired me to make my own. 

 

 

When I went to France, I only had with my Leica m6, 4 rolls of film and a little reflector. I didn’t think I needed much more as my plan was really to just walk around the city and capture whatever caught my eyes. I wanted it to be a real human experience, where I create new relationships, meet people, and make it in a very natural and spontaneous way. As I know the city of Montpellier, I knew places where I could go where something would always be happening but also the little authentic shops (as the record store, or the book shop).

 

Action Plans Changes

 

1.     Getting my negatives back: When I dropped my rolls of film to Gulabi they told me it would take between 8 to 15 days. I dropped them off on the 19^th April and got them back (with scans) on the 28^thApril. In my action plan I thought I would get them back around the 24^th, I had already lost 1 week of darkroom time and workbook updates. I knew I had 3 weeks to complete the rest of my project so I knew that being organised was going to be the key here. 

 

2.     I had my rota from work so I also had to work things out between coming in to college for some darkroom time and going to work on the Wednesday and Weekends.

 

3.     The biggest change for this project was my decision for printing my 5 big prints myself in the darkroom instead of 10 small ones. I just thought it made more sense because I actually had to give 5 Final prints for this graded unit. This was a risk as I had to order only 10 sheets of 12x16 inch paper which cost me 45£ with delivery. This was a real challenge for me.

 

With all these time changings I had to change my timetable for the first 3 weeks of May in order to make sure I will have time to finish this project in time.

Positive Aspects of the Project 

I have really enjoyed this project and have been able to develop many skills. 

To start with, I gained a lot of confidence in terms of going up to people, talking to them about my project, what I’m doing, and asking them if I can take a photo of them. I was always scared before to ask because I didn’t want to disturb them or make them uncomfortable. Turns out, I really enjoyed going up to people, getting to know them and they were also very interested in my project which felt very nice. This was a real experience for me. 

I also gained some experience in the darkroom; I already knew how to pint in the darkroom and felt confident enough to make the 5 prints myself (even though it was hard in terms of decisions making). Now I can say I am really confident in the darkroom, and I know what I’m doing. I learned how to make my own decisions, how many seconds I need to expose my paper for, why would I put the grade up, what parts of my image needs more or less light. Dodging and burning is a tool you can find on photoshop, but it is also something you can do in the darkroom to make your print even better. Dodging is blocking the light from paper in certain areas of the photo that you want lighter (ex : the eyes). Burning is adding more light to certain areas, which makes these areas darker.

 

Practical examples of parts of the project that have been successful

 

1.     Capturing images which, for me, represents the south of France and my hometown. Montpellier is a city in the south of France where a lot happens: the historical centre with all the little authentic shops, the parcs where people play pétanque, the streets where people play an instrument, strikes, cafes and more! I think that my images really represent how I see the city and how other people see it too. I really captured a lifestyle and the atmosphere of the city throughout my portraits.

2.     My favourite portrait: Nicolas from the record store. I think this portrait is the strongest image of my project. I was able to capture a technically good portrait: a shallow depth of field, sharpness. But I also captured the ‘decisive moment’, we were talking, and I said something funny which made him have a little smile on his face and there’s real emotions in his eyes, he doesn’t look bored. 

3.     Fethi: I was very happy when I heard the sound of his guitar, I recognised the way he plays. I was really hoping to get some photos of him, like my uncle did 30 years ago. The contrast between the two photos would be the highlight of my project. 

Opportunities for improvement 

 

As mentioned before this project really helped me to gain confidence with talking to people. It’s only the beginning though, and I think that this was only the first step. If I want to create more images like this (street photography, portrait, documentary), I will have to practice even more, going up to people, staying polite and smiling whatever their response is. 

It is the same for darkroom skills. Before this project I didn’t really bother about going up or down a grade, but now that I understand it more I will be able to take more decisions and bring my future prints to another level.

 

 

Conclusion

 

 Overall, I am really happy of my project, and also proud of it. This is exactly how I imagined it when I first started writing about it and making all my research. This was the first time I had control over a whole project, from the idea, the planning, the process and the final images. It is very satisfying to carry out a whole project on its own and being happy with the results. 

Throughout this project, I have met amazing people who I’m hoping to see again. It was an incredible human experience and it taught me a lot. This is one thing about being a photographer that I love, creating a relation between you and the person you are taking a photo of and letting the world see them through your eyes. 

The main goal of this project was to photograph ‘the decisive moment’ and I think I have been successful. I captured the soul of the city and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.