Monday, 16 February 2015

On the Terraces - Evaluation


I have been wanting to photograph a long term project about football fans for a long time as it is a social area of Britain that a lot of people can relate to in a number of ways including myself as I continue to watch & play the beautiful game. Starting in the summer of 2014 I began to document friends & strangers with their football gear on Cheltenham high street, this was short lived and I shelved the idea once Uni had started again but once I was required to produce a long term project for Documentary Perspectives I knew this idea could work. I requested to work with local side Gloucester City AFC for the 2014/15 season as a student photographer, which had given me access to a fan base with an interesting story since they don’t play at ‘home’.

I am already aware of previous projects with this subject matter so I enjoyed researching material from photographers such as Martin Parr & Stuart Roy Clarke. These artists have provided their own spin on the way they have documented the British football fan through the use of flash & medium format photography respectively.  I have also been introduced a new wave of photographers through my research for this assignment, with Todd Hido’s ‘Homes at Night’ series highlighting how I could use long exposures to create interesting images of still life subjects, such as a stadium for example. I was introduced to the ‘Crisis of the real’ text from Andy Grunberg early on for this project which highlights the use of images from the past to present ay, how the ‘Documentary Perspective’ of this images has altered through the course of time & photo management.

When I had starting photographing for Gloucester City, I was shooting for them and did not concentrate on the images that this project could benefit from right away, it took time & feedback for me to realise what images I could capture with the access that I have been given. I slowly realised the perspective in which I was aiming for with this Documentary and by Christmas I think the photographs that I was producing represents this. Through viewing Jamie Luke’s ‘Red Sea’ observational documentary series of Arsenal fans, I knew this was the perspective in which I could display my images, so after looking back at the images that I have shot at the numerous matches that I had covered, some re-editing took place and I began representing that perspective in the book designs through Adobe InDesign.

I have had previous experience with using Adobe InDesign for the Photo Story module last year so I used a lot of the same functions available such as Text & using the rectangle frame tool to place my images on the spreads. I wanted the book to appear in a simple fashion so that the photographs can speak for themselves. However I was also open to experiment with certain techniques to display my images, which is clear in version 4 of ‘On the Terraces’ where I have placed images on alternating pages through it’s entirety. Other software used for this project was Adobe Photoshop, the images used are not heavily re-touches but after shooting in some extremely low light situations at the football matches their curves needed to be altered to add some more light. Using the ISSUU was something new for me, and I enjoy the quality in which it displays a PDF online, It is also handy to see the different editions of the book that have been produced side by side to compare & contrast.

Throughout the course of this module I have received informed and critical feedback from classmates and the course tutor, which has been extremely helpful in my creative decision making for this project. In early editions of this book it was clear that I was aiming to have several chapters that didn’t really relate to each other and the general graphic design aspect of my work was poor, but with their regular & constructive criticism I was able to swiftly improve the quality of what I was producing into a publication that made sense and was heading in the right direction.

I am very happy with the final work that I have produced, it share the documentary perspective I set out to shoot,  an internal observation of football fans however if I was to undertake this project again, there are several areas in which I could improve on. Firstly I would have distinguished the perspective I wanted to cover much earlier on, for the first month or so I was confused as to where the publication was heading. I would also change the way in which I approach the subjects, I was somewhat shooting like an outsider and not part of the group, so I would like to get to know these people on a personal level and achieve greater access to their lives, and this would possibly end up in stronger images being produced. 

On the Terraces - final version

I have finally decided upon the final version of my book in which I have made several further changes to the previous version. Starting with the cover, I have used full use of the space available and stretched out the image proportionally so that there is full focus on the fans and they're conflicting emotions. I have also gotten rid of the bold text font (Rockwell extra bold) and changed it to normal Rockwell (50pt), this has also been moved to the top right corner to sit behind the singing fans. Text has now been added to the rear of the book in place of the placeholder text provided by Adobe InDesign. the format of this text has also been altered to be centred in the page. After receiving feedback on the images selected for this book I've decided to leave out the photograph of the Man U fanboy on page 21 as it doesn't really fit into the flow of the book. smaller changes to the back page have also been made with the date removed, text to match the front page but in black centred & sized 18pt.

http://issuu.com/lewismitchell/docs/book_version_6/1

Friday, 13 February 2015

Text

I would like for my pictures in this book to speak for themselves and depict the passion from the fans that attend matches evoke. I also however require text to be included with this project so I would like to highlight attendances with this copy text with come mention of Gloucester City FC and their struggle to draw large crowds, but maintain a small core of die hard fanatics.

'A football match is an event celebrated across the land on a weekly basis by over 13 million in the Premier League alone last season. A wide range of emotions are displayed by these fanatical individuals as they laugh, cry & celebrate along with their heroes on the pitch. Away from the money, fame and television cameras of the Premier League stands non-league football where true lovers of the beautiful game congregate together in simple and often run down grounds to support of their local side no matter what the weather, form or personal matters in the knowledge the pyramid could one day see them as Champions of England.

Gloucester City AFC battle out in the mid table of Conference North, level 6 of the football playing in from of an average gate of 400 fans. Mid week matches are a particular struggle to attract supporters through the turnstiles on a cold Tuesday night when Champions League football can be watched on the television. Numbers significantly increase however in cup matches as local derbies tend take place with the likes of Bath, Worcester & Forest Green playing for the so-called 'Magic of the FA Cup'. The Tigers' fan base endure a tiresome task to support a team that doesn't even play within their city for the time being, commuting to Whaddon Road home of fierce rivals Cheltenham Town while they loyally wait for the development of Meadow Park in Gloucester.'  

Book - Version 5

Following feedback that I have received for version 4 of my book I have acted upon several areas within the project in which it could be improved. Firstly, I have altered the cover photo from the little boy to a group of boisterous away fans. This is a stronger image that hits you and while the previous cover is one of my favourite images from the set, it did not work. Laos on the cover I have changed the font size from 72pt to 50pt. It was large as once again I'd like to create an in your face reaction when reading the cover. The size of my name on the back was also too large by mistake in version 4, and has too been scaled down but further to 20pt. It was nice to experiment with people looking left on the right and vice versa but this has led to the readers eyes jumping across the spread too much, in this version they are all simply on the right hand side of the spread. The centre spread has two similar looking images of home fans celebrating and more laid back. these have been used at full bleed to stand out further. Finally I placed the two darker, clearly night time images towards the back of the book so that they do not disrupt the flow of the brighter daytime images. I hope to get at least one more edit done over the weekend including finished copy ready for the deadline on Monday.

http://issuu.com/lewismitchell/docs/book_version_5

Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Book - 4th Edit

I have finally included a suitable cover image, and radically altered the arrangement of the images so that there is some theme in which they are to be seen. Instead of separating the images into sections, It is just one book with text at the end. and instead of focussing on children supporting the club into adulthood, this book just shows the supporters on a match day, with one photo to a spread, the subjects are always facing the spine of the page. I will await feedback before deciding my next moves, with maybe altering the sequence if needed but I feel I'm finally getting there!

http://issuu.com/lewismitchell/docs/book_version_4/1

Friday, 30 January 2015

Book - 3rd Edit

In this third version of this book, I have removed the cover photo as it does not fit in with the rest of the images, and will be replaced in the upcoming fourth edit. Following the feedback I've revived I have made sure that this version only includes the fans with the title of the book suitably re-named as 'On the Terraces'. I have added a second section however to add something else I noticed whilst editing images. The boisterous away fans are interesting to photograph as they are typically more lively than home support. The images included are strong but are not enough in terms of numbers to include in their own section. Further editing of images shot throughout the season is required since it has been difficult to shoot more photography since Christmas. The sequencing of this edit was to try and start off with younger fans and develop it into the older generations, finishing with the away fans, but this doesn't really workout as there is a sudden jump, so I think sequencing with thought towards the subjects gaze & lighting situations will be required in the next edit. With this thin edit of images it might also be worth only having one image on a double page spread, on the right hand side to pro long this book and less cluttered for the viewer. maybe having portrait images on the far left still in full bleed every few pages.

http://issuu.com/lewismitchell/docs/book_version_3/1

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Book - 2nd Edit

Following on from my first draft of this book, I have changed the font of the front cover & titles in the pages to something more bold, instead of an older and more cursive text. I wanted a text that could be related to sport, and envisaged the bold text used for players' names on the back of football shirts. I have not changed the front cover because I don't think I've found a suitable replacement yet, It will probably be what I deem the strongest image from the set, could an image be used twice? I have kept the place holder text as it is, as I have yet to begin writing copy. I have also kept the simple theme of placing landscape orientated images in the centre of the page, however I think I have improved the appearance of portrait images as they are used full bleed to the left/right of their respective pages. The sequencing of the images can be improved, as the gaze of some of the subjects disrupt the flow for the reader, I will be more careful when editing down for the final photographs. The front cover can also be changed, as it does not accurately reflect what can be found inside the following pages.

In further feedback from class I have learned that the strongest section of this work is the first one, 'On the terraces' and it would probably be best to approach this with that body of work solo, removing the ballboys & grafters as they do not add as much else to the book. I will try and re edit the images to represent the terraces. 

http://issuu.com/lewismitchell/docs/book_version_2/1