UNIT 3 - AO1 - Trent Parke

“I am forever chasing light. Light turns the ordinary into the magical.” – Trent Parke

For my second AO1 piece I shall be looking at the Australian Street Photographer Trent Parke (Aged 44), unlike most of my artists so far he the youngest and probably the only one who shoots digital over film photography.

The reason I have chosen to study his work for this piece is that I want to look at contrast in street photography, specifially high-contrast. Back in the golden age of street (50s/70s) photographers would shoot on high contrast, high grain film to be able to capture the movements. Now with the quality of digital photography only getting better and cheaper. Artists like Trent Parke are now able to recreate the same distinct features of the film photography of the day without having to buy and develop film. One of the most interesting points of Trent Parke though is that his generation of photographers have been brought up with film before digitial photography even existed, so they've been a part of its continung evolution, with some still prefering to shoot film, the majority have now converted to the new medium.(Although I shall point out that overall; FILM IS BETTER THAN DIGITAL)

Here are a few examples of Trent Parkes work:

Fig.1

Gussed settings: 1/200, ISO 400, F/11

Fig.2

Guessed settings: 1/200, ISO 800, F/8

Fig.3

Guessed settings: 1/20, ISO 800, F/8

fig.4

Guessed settings: 1/60, ISO 800, F/5.6

As I was saying in my introduction the photos I have shown definetely show his favouratism towards high contrast techniques. Light is his paintbrush, throughout his work he presents his ability to manipulate light to turn even the most ordinary of stituations into the most spectacular of moments.

Another thing which is now appearing to be a key theme with Trent Parke and Street Photographers in general is the use of high aperture, high ISO/grain/contrast film. Examples of this incude all of the figures shown with the exception of Figs.4/5. due to their location of either being indoor or not looking towards the sky where its much brighter in the frame.

In terms of his framing it appears that most of his subjects have a tendancy to be around the top and lower edges of the center-middle third. This in many ways works well for his images as I've mentioned earlier he prefers for the light to make the image, not necessarily the subjects inside the image.

So for me to replicate some of Trent Parke's techniques in my photographs I am going to:

• Shoot with High Apertures

• Shoot with High ISO's

• Shoot with Subject being on the Edge of the center-middle third

• Focus on High Contrast

• Shoot High shutter speeds when looking towards the sky

• Shoot Low/Low-ish shutter speeds when horizontal

Heres my work that I produced using the techniques featured from Trent Parke's work:

Seaside..

Settings: 4s, ISO 200, F/16

Campfire..

Settings: 30s, ISO 200, F/8

Thought..

Settings: 1/800, ISO 1600, F/8

Take Flight..

Settings: 1/320, ISO 1600, F/16

To start with the ground level work ("Campfire" & "Seaside") inspired by Fig.3 I wanted to try and recreate the the blurred, misty effect of the figures walking along. In "Seaside" I did this by going to Scarborough and setting up a shot with an exposure time of only 4 seconds. I couldn't have an exposure any longer because the results would be over-exposed and you probably wouldn't be able to see the people. I was able to achieve this shooting on my lowest ISO, my Highest aperture and using an ND Filter on the lens to let in less light to give me the slower shutter speed. I really like the contrast on the main silhouette with the smaller blurred figures in the background. Campfire I'm also really pleased with as I've ticked all the boxes for what I was wanting to achieve. The reason

With my last two photos "Thought.." & "Take Flight.." I really wanted to capture that movement, contrast and type of light with Figs 1 & 2. One of the things I really admire about "Take Flight.." is that theres a almost perfect symetric line across the diagonal of the frame with the birds which really supports the contrast and atmosphere of the shot that clearly tells the story of the moment to the audience.

Overall I am really pleased with the results I have managed to replicate for this piece, I believe I have managed to fulfill some of the techniques that make Trent Parke's exquisite works so good.