Work Diary - Holiday Shoot

Evaluation:
This is the shoot I did while I was on holiday in Asia. This is the combined photos from the three countries that I visited which I wanted to portray a single image that sybolisied a key perspective of each country. Those countries being Vietnam, Japan and Cambodia. Each country had an array of photographic scenes but I essentially wanted to select an image that reflected a key competent of the counties landscape and culture. In terms of the choice of photographic terms these are mainly photos that I have taken where I was directly influenced by photographers I have done in the past.

Vietnam although rapidly changing in terms of it economy is still, in many areas totally reliant on either fishing or the farming of rice. This image reflect a different idea from that of beautiful beaches and surf but outline the traditional mainstay of much of the economy in this area. I wanted the  boating village to reflect the traditional and almost unchanged industry of fishing. To strengthen the inference of tradition and age I decided to make the image black and white  then add an orange sepia tint to make it look older. I also decided to shoot the image wide angle and with a lot of depth of field to capture just how many 100's of small fishing boats make up this one fleet.  In fact the boats disappear into infinity.

My overwhelming memory from Cambodia was not on the beautiful temples and tombs but the lack of people over 35 years old.  This was a constant reminder throughout my holiday of the mass killings in the 1960's and 70's by Pol Pot. How a leader of one country can kill so many of his own people and subject so many to what is effectively farm slavery was a shock.  In this image the piling of human skulls provide both a reminder of the amount of the dead and the barbarity of the regime.  In this image we see loads of skulls stacked on top of each other that have appeared from one of the many killing field massacres in Cambodia.I wanted the photo to provide the viewer with the horror of the event by taking a close up. The filling of the frame hopefully evokes the volume of the killing.

Progression:

If I were to continue this I would have taken photos from Japan during spring with Cherry Blossom on the trees. Japan is known world wide for this and the colours and vibrance from these trees is spectacular.  The shot shown is quite wide angle but I would also go in close with a macro lens and show the blossom in detail. I would also like to get some pictures of  Mt Fuji. This iconic volcano is one of the most recognisable landscapes in Japan.

Japan is a very spiritual place and even amongst the hyper modern city's it strives to be at one with nature and the past. I intended this image to reflect the mediative nature ofJapan. Here we see an abundance of dark pink cherry blossom by a lake lit up by dark pink lights. In this image the lights illuminate the blossom and ad an almost magical glow to the trees. I can imagine this being even better to photograph at dusk. Also as you look in the lake we see the cherry blossom reflected in the water where you can see  Koi fish swimming.

This picture shows the the famous white shade of cherry blossom and Mt Fuji in the background and a lake. The photographer has managed to combine a great shot of Mt Fuji and the blossom and the lake all in one.
If I was to take this shot I would like to think that if I waited long enough for a drop in the wind I could also get the mountain reflected in the shot.