Cultural Geography Lesson 6: Non-Representational and Affective Geographies
What is a social location? It refers to how we are located in relation to power systems in society like race or class. One’s social location could limit one’s access to certain spaces.
For example, take the Harvard Club in New York. A private social club that is solely for the alumni of Harvard university. Also Muirfield golf club, you weren’t allowed to be a member if you were a woman. The commentator Peter Alliss the ‘voice of golf’ said this when asked about it “If you want to join, get married to a member. The wives can use all the facilities at the club for free. The clubhouse is full of bloody women; they love going there for nothing”
One interesting case study which was mentioned was about being prepared for emergencies. We tend to mention things being pre or post 9/11. This is definitely the case here. Emergency services have a really long history of rehearsing scenarios to enhance their response to emergencies. These were known as drills and they were done so that when there was a real fire, they knew what to do.
However, after that fateful day drills are now known as exercises and they tend to be more based around an event that in the past were considered impossible. It makes you think back to the line from World Trade Centre “We prepared for everything. Not for this. Not for something this size. There’s no plan.” This is seen by the numerous terrorist attack exercises, it’s an event where you don’t want to think will happen, but it’s good to know services are preparing for such an event. However, there will always be events people can’t prepare for, like a plane flying into a tower or the modern attacks of driving a van onto the pavement. Also, we can do test runs, but we still won’t be prepared for the day it actually happens for real, no exercise can prepare for the adrenaline the real event will bring.
In a nutshell, it is all about putting yourself in the environment you want to learn about. It is a form of primary research. Imagine you want to create a movie about an indigenous group like the Maori’s. If you want to create an accurate portrayal of them you have to research them, how are you going to do that? Gonna read about them, interview them or are you going to get involved with them, get an insider perspective. My foundation tutor Tom Hooper had to write a story about someone walking miles for days on end, so he walked across Wales day and night to get a first-hand experience and learn what he needs to portray.
There are many ways you can record your findings, you could conduct interviews, you could make mini notes which can be increased on in a bigger notebook later. You could create audio notes. You could video or photograph your experience. Essentially you are inside something you need to learn about, there is a fantastic resource at your disposal. So document it however you feel best.
In this post, I’m going to summarise my experience from my Saturday Supplement project.
I was impressed with the images that I created in the studio, I wouldn’t exactly extend to saying that I was very happy with them. However, there were definitely some images that stood out. One image in particular I loved was the one where I got Hayden to lie down behind the guitar, I liked the leading lines that led to him.
I felt that I had all the shots covered with half an hour before the end so we decided to spend the rest of the time I decided to experiment with some long exposure images trying to get some motion blur on the hand going up and down the guitar. In the end, this shot didn’t work but I glad that I tried it. This probably would’ve needed a very tough and precise lighting set up.
I’m very happy with my choice of layout, I think there is a very nice flow to my choice of images and this was seemingly echoed by Geraint when he had a sneak peek the day before the deadline. He noted how the first image was just a portrait, so it doesn’t show that he is a guitarist, he also concurred that the eyes pointing towards the article is a good leading line especially considering that the first thing we see in an article is the right-hand page. Then the next image Geraint noticed on how he wasn’t touching the guitar, so the first image we have a man, next image we have a man & a guitar then in the next image the two are being held by one another. There is a connection between the two. 
As mentioned, I was impressed with the images but I wouldn’t extend to saying I was very happy. The reason why is because there doesn’t feel to be much consistency between the images, for example, the image on the left was the only one where the logo of the guitar was sharp, notice how there is minimal light on the background, unlike the other images. It doesn’t really feel that defined. This also happened because of the focus of the image was intended to be the hand. It was only when I looked at the images in Capture One that I saw the sharpness of the logo and I felt that one works better for the article. There was also some images which just felt a tad bit repetitive which Geraint can see why I felt that way but he also thought I’d got a lot out of very little ’cause ultimately a man, a guitar and a white background isn’t really much to work with when you think about it.
One thing I’m gonna need as a freelance sports photographer is public liability insurance. My premium will be dependent on what division I shoot in. If I want to photograph Premier Leauge matches I have to be covered to the value of £5 million if not, I only have to be covered for at £2 million. PLC is something that I won’t have to worry about if I’m employed by someone. But will still need it if I intend on being self-employed.
Well here I am, 15 months later and there is no mention of payment. After a 
In the end I have now officially left the Newshopper. I explained my reasons and apologised if any of them seemed unfair or even self-inflicted. I did say I would probably be up for a chat after 2nd year but I don’t think I will. Deep-down I’m not sure if I will still be shooting sports by then, I think my passion might burn out by then.
Ben Peters Digital Photography 