Passenger Portraits Development: Choices!

Following group feedback, and my own personal opinions, I think that I am going to have to find a more interesting way of portraying my passengers when driving. The posed shots I initially produced aren't working so well, as they just look like snapshots of my fellow students. Although there is a style of photography in which this sort of thing works well, I just feel like this isn't it. However, I feel that the candid style I have begun to explore works much better and will be sticking with this from now on!

In Almost Every Picture: Erik Kessels

Erik Kessels is a German artist who compiles series of 'found' photographs, and one set in particular really caught my eye. Based on assumptions, I guess that the photographs show an elderly woman on her holidays, who is being driven around by a taxi driver. The photographs are clearly taken over quite a lengthy period of time, as the make and model of the car changes as the book progresses. The taxi driver takes the images; landscapes, scenery etc. with the taxi itself being present in the frame at nearly all times.

The book finishes with this final image: the taxi driver who has been taking these photos for so long, photographed out of the window of his own cab. 

I am really inspired by this book, I think the series is so interesting and the final image just sums the whole book. The book relates to my own work because often my van is present in the frame, and is almost the most important past of my journey. The vehicle that the journey is done in becomes part of the trip, and takes on a character of its own.

Fifth Trip - Move into more rural areas and roads

On the last trip, I enjoyed photographing in more rural scenery. Travelling through the Peak District was very inspiring, and I intended to go back there once the snow had cleared. That opportunity came on the way back from a shoot in Brighouse, and I drove back through the mountains to try and find some places to get some landscape images to supplement the others I had already taken.

I think that this shoot has been the most successful so far, and I am very pleased with a number of the images I have produced. As well as photographing as I always have been at rest stops and taking portraits of my passengers I concentrated on getting good landscape images too, documenting the scenery we were driving through.

I am pleased with some of the shots I have taken today, and feel that my project is developing nicely. I am beginning to realise what works, and what doesn't.

Motorway: Colin Ball

As I have decided to move on from the Fosse Way and start photographing on other stretches of road, I feel that it is relevant to look at the work of Colin Ball. Ball's series 'Motorway' depicts the UK's Motorways in all weathers, and from the driver's perspective as well as including the road as part of the landscape.

Although Ball's work could be criticized for lacking variety and merely being snapshots taken whilst driving, I think there is still reason to take influence from it. Ball often shoots in poor weather, and this gives the shots a sense of drama, and this captures the essence of driving on the motorway.

I intend to take influence from this series of work by increasing the amount of images I take whilst driving, on a variety of roads and conditions, and start shooting out of windows and the windscreen more.

Fourth Trip - Moving away from the Fosse Way

This trip was quite an eventful one! I have decided that, although the Fosse Way has provided me with a collection of chequered signs, there is not a huge amount of potential for more subjects to shoot. As a result, I am developing the project onwards and shooting on nearly every journey I go on around the UK. This time, despite bad weather and poor map reading I travelled through the Peak District.

I decided to emulate Coekin's self portraiture ideas, and stood next to the van with my passenger. I also took a more candid approach to photographing my passenger, and photographed whilst driving to try and get a variety of shots and styles. Despite the bad snow I feel that some of the shots were quite successful. I particularly like the shots through the windscreen and windows as they give the photographs a sense of motion and progression.

The other thing this shoot provided me with was the variation of conditions. We hit fog on the way back, and as I am slowly building up and collection of road travel related imagery, a variety of conditions and weathers in the images is important, and fully encompasses my experiences driving around the UK.