IMPORTANT TUTOR'S NOTE TO THIS ASSIGNMENT:
A TUTOR'S VERSION OF THIS ASSIGNMENT COMPRISING A SEVEN PAGE LAYOUT OF PICTURES AND TEXT PUBLISHED AS "CARNIVAL" MAGAZINE HAS BEEN PREPARED IN MS PUBLISHER TO INCORPORATE GRAPHIC DESIGN ASPECTS AND IS PRESENTED AS A TUTOR'S PDF FILE. THIS REPLACES THE MIDDLE PART OF THIS SECTION AND HAS SOME ADDED GRAPHIC DESIGN FEATURES.
In this final assignment, number five, we are asked to illustrate a story for a magazine involving an illustrated cover and several pages inside to create between six and twelve images. The photographs will illustrate the main body of the story with different images dealing with different aspects of the subject. We are asked to introduce some narrative and this should include the elment of time.
For this final assignment I have chosen to shoot the annual Cardiff Carnival which takes place every summer and is the biggest annual carnival event in Wales. I have photographer accreditation for this event giving me access to all aspects of this event from the advanced preparation workshops, the costuming and setting up stage, and then being up close and working within the parade throughout the route.
The cover image is first in this sequence with the other images and narrative following. The hard copy version whas been produced in MS Publisher.
My concept for this project is that I am pretending that I am publishing a new magazine. I am calling it "Carnival" magazine. It is designed as a monthly publication as there is usually a carnival of some sort in the UK during every month of the year. The winter carnivals (such as the Bridgewater carnival) are reported to be great fun.
The idea is that magazine would become the prime monthly magazine for everyone involved in carnival including organisers, participants and manufacturers & suppliers. It would have a low cover price and be supported primarily through advertising. There is a recently launched "Carnival" magazine but it is about fashion. There appears to be nothing out on the UK market at the moment filling this communications gap so this could be a real business idea for someone!
The next section illustrates the carnival photos with text and it is this part that is best viewed in the pdf file produced from MS Publisher. It is important to note that bearing in mind the brief in the course manual, this submission is about 'illustrating a story for a magazine'. Thus it comprises reportage pictures (rather than works of art) and it documents the story of this year's Cardiff Carnival and the thoughts and feelings of some of the people involved. The magazine story is not intended to encompass my own feelings about my relationship with the carnival.
Tutor should refer to pdf file now. Then follow on with reading the Assessment Criteria Points starting with Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills section at the end of the Magazine photos and text.
Welcome to the first edition of "Carnival" magazine, the first magazine of its kind in the UK dedicated to all things carnival. Whether you are a carnival organiser, a participant/performer or a carnival supplier, there is something for everyone in this new magazine. Each month we will be profiling a leading carnival and giving all the latest news of what's happening in the carnival world.
In this first edition we are featuring the Cardiff Carnival which parades throught the streets of the Captial every summer and is the largest carnival held in Wales. But carnivals do not just suddenly appear on the streets - there are months of preparation as we saw when we visited the summer workshops held at Fitzalan High School, Cardiff. A lot of effort goes into measuring up and making the costumes and the props.
In this first edition we are featuring the Cardiff Carnival which parades throught the streets of the Captial every summer and is the largest carnival held in Wales. But carnivals do not just suddenly appear on the streets - there are months of preparation as we saw when we visited the summer workshops held at Fitzalan High School, Cardiff. A lot of effort goes into measuring up and making the costumes and the props.
And the bands and dance teams rehearse throughout the community.
On carnival day several hundred performers and participants prepare. The organisers ensure that all participates or their parents will have signed a form consenting to being photographed and published as the event gets widespread media coverage. Thelma, who has been a regular in the carnival since 2003, is being facepainted. She says, "The carnival means a lot to me and I enjoy the costume sewing, the dancing and being in the parade. This year I am assisting with general support along the parade route."
The carnival turns dreams into reality as Shakira and Renae look in the mirror and think about how they will look in the carnival at one of the carnival summer workshops. Then a few weeks later they look in another mirror in the set up area just before the start of the carnival and they are are ready to dance in the streets of the city.
The final preparations start at The Atrium, University of South Wales as everyone assembles ready for the one and a half hour procession. It's busy time. Sally Maclennan is one of three workshop leaders involved in training and preparing some of the people in this group. Sally says, "We are working with people of all ages and from a variety of different cultures."
The carnival is popular with family performers. Three generations here with mother Katrine, Elizabeth her daughter and Sienna her grand daughter.
Traffic is stopped as Samba Galez heads the parade as it heads out of The Atrium into Churchill Way and towards the main city shopping area. There are over 600 people in costumes and parading musicians this year organised into 15 different sections in the parade with tributes to many cultures inclusing Brazil, Africa and India.
Thousands turn out to see the parade and the rain that has just started does not deter anyone. The show goes on!
Guiding the carnival parade along its route is Steve Fletcher, Artistic Director of South Wales Inter Carnival Arts (SWICA) and founder of the Cardiff Carnival 25 years ago. Heather Brown, is Events Manager of Cardiff Council who work closely with SWICA to plan the route and provide marshalls and security on carnival day.
Wonderbrass is just one of the bands in the carnival parade. One of their members, Johnnie, tells me that he has been with Wonderbrass for some 10 years and that Wonderbrass is as old as the Carnival - 25 years. They are a largely an amateur group and play at events and festivals throughout the area with sounds that include fazz, funk and soul.
Shopping stops in the city streets as people come to view the carnival parade as it winds its way through the shopping centre's square mile with more photographs being taken on this day in Cardiff than any other day in the year. We spoke with some of the spectators who had comments such as "Amazing!", "Very good canrival this year! and "Worth coming to Cardiff to see!"
Just some if the faces in the carnival parade.
As the parade comes to and end, it's time for a 'Selfie' and for the Sambe Galez team, back in The Atrium at the University of South Wales, to capture their own personal memory of the wonderful carnival day celebrating 25 years of Cardiff Carnival!
Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills
In this final part of the course I am trying to use the learning achieved from al the proceeding parts and exercises of the course, and my reading and reflection.
Narrative & Illustration has been a very interesting challenge as I have for a long time been interested in combining words with pictures within a variety of professional and voluntary activities. So could this be the 'dream' assignment? Quantity of experience does not necessarily translate to quality however when addressing a new challenge!
So, to help this challenge I looked at how magazine layouts currently present illustration and narrative and how some of the great former magazines such as "Picture Post" might have handled it. "Picture Post", "Life Magazine" and others were very visual with great photographers like Bert Hardy in action. (PP editor Tom Hopkinson later came to Cardiff to set up the famous University School of Journalism). Today, there is far more text with narrative and illustration I observe. The public want to know more. The assignment brief stated that 'there may be no text but you should write captions...' So in this assignment I decided to place a lot of emphasis on getting facts and writing narrative in order that there was a written story as well as a visual story.
I was fortunate to have the right contacts, access and co-operation as a result of choosing the 2014 Cardiff Carnival Parade for this last assignment and have been involved with this major event for several years so researching, planning and actioning this event was a real pleasure. This is a dynamic and constantly changing and moving event involving people of many different characters ranging from the artistic types to the process & procedures types - as well as multi ethnicity. Generally with regard to materials there is a requirement to travel light - one camera, one lens, perhaps a fill-in flash here and there (and a small umbrella!). The technique in telling this story of this important 25th year of the carnival was to start with the preparation elements, the setting up on the day, the actual parade and the public and finally the successful conclusion. This is the sequence of events being illustrated and described.
The event offered many visual interpretation opportunities. I was pleased with the way I photographed Shakira and Renae looking in the mirror and thinking about how they would look in the carnival and then subsequently photographing them juxtaposition in their carnival dress fulfilling their dream. The best design and compositional opportunities arise more in the more static preparation and setting up stages. On the parade journey is very much about having to try to be creative through confidence, persistence and juggling among three very different parties - the performers themselves, the public (who continually get in the way but for whom the event is designed), and the 'jobs worth' security (who co-operate once you have developed an on-site relationship and wear a fluoresent jacket like theirs!) I have shot panels of carnival characters before and have a panel displayed at carnival HQ of studio shoots but shooting in a moving public context is extremely challenging and it is difficult to get the composition you would really like to achieve all the time. This brought home the comment in the manual about subject versus design. These photos are therefore more reportage type photos.
Quality of Outcome
Despite the day being washed out by rain from the very early stages of the parade, I was pleased with the quality of outcome and feel that the sequence of photographs and narrative really do tell the story and that anyone who did not get to Cardiff to see the carnival this year would understand the full dimension of this important event. My plan of the shoot went to plan and there were no real difficulties. The people I interviewed were expressive and articulate and this gave me some great quotes to go with some of the images. I would have been happy shooting for a magazine such as "City Life" or "Cardiff Life" where I have had words and pictures published previously.
An important note is that putting photographs and narrative in a listed sequence as listed above does not give a real design opportunity and so I decided that my magazine themed presentation would be presented as a separate document in a pdf file produced from MS Publisher and this should be viewed as the actual assignment submission.
Demonstration of Creativity
I am generally happy with the creative side of this assignment although I am not always a very creative person. I was pleased with the way I came up with the 'before & after' costume idea with Shakira and Renae from a photographic aspect and with the idea of using Publisher software to actually produce the seven page magazine feature. I like the idea of featuring the rehearsals element, the organisers and showing the public reaction backed up with actual quotes. I was pleased to find three generations of one family performing in the parade together and to be able to set up a posed shot with them. I feel this is my personal take on the carnival and one which the audience would identify with. I had to think carefully about how I would illustrate the end - exhausted people? A creative and spontaneous opportunity came about when the Samba Galez group all posed for a quick 'selfie' back as base and I was just in the right place at the right time to capture that 'critical moment'.
Context
On reflection, I felt I brought this event to life in words and pictures for those people who were not there - which I suppose is part of the role of a magazine article. I researched the Magazine publishing market and I could not find a monthly magazine (or any magazine) devoted to Carnival. There is a recently launched magazine called Carnival but that is about fashion. With so many carnivals taking place now in the UK throughout the year, more performers and artists than ever before, and more service and product suppliers wanting to tap into this valuable market, there is a real business opportunity for someone to fill this gap. My cover photo above illustrates how this type of magazine could look.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Art of Photography has been an interesting course and whilst a lot of the early exercises confirmed some of what I had already known, even then there was a bench marking opportunity to validate my existing understanding. Undertaking some of the exercises which gave me practical experience of things I thought I knew about but which I had never tried such as colour temperature exercises was particularly useful.
I have received my tutor's feedback on assignment four and have made final changes to this assignment for submission. TAOP Course has been an interesting journey in developing both my technical and creative skills!