Although this is one of the earliest projects, I didn't get around to doing it until February, almost half way through the course. I think the main deterrent was finding a suitable "street" scene. This is increasingly difficult in the UK (presumably in the Western World in general) due to section 44 restrictions over places of travel, which usually provide the greatest source of interesting subjects, particularly in the context of a sequence. Stations and airports for example. This is further compounded by the Digital Economy Bill, which includes clauses to make it illegal to photograph someone if it is likely that they don't want you taking their pictures. I believe it started with J K Rowling, after a photographer took a photo of her son in a public place without her permission. However it seems to be worded so to capture virtually any street photography situation. I will try to let common sense prevail - I have seen a crowd scene posted on flickr whereby the point of focus was a man's overweight torso. Clearly this was derogatory and unflattering to the individual concerned and may constitute such a case when an individual would have legitimate grounds for a grievance if he became aware of such a picture posted in a public forum. Similarly, photos of children are particularly sensitive.
For this project, I eventually settled for a regatta event in which my husband was taking part. I ended up with 70 photos in total, and there was a kind of sequence in a way as it showed all the boats at the end of the race, and then the various activities when they come in. It was raining, so photos were taken under an umbrella which made them a bit of a lucky guess - I was surprised at how many were in focus with straight horizons and unblurred. Despite the grey day and muddy looking river, there was a surprising amount of interesting colour, which stood out against the dull background. I have tried to keep all photos flattering to the subjects in the question, and hope I don't get sued.
Did I eventually end up with the picture I was aiming for? Well, I guess the solitary boat with all the oars just so makes for quite a nice shot, but I don't think any of these will be prizewinners. It was tempting just to shoot the "crowd" but a lot of those shots came out too chaotic with no clear subject or purpose. However it was a good learning experience, if anything just for the surprise colour bursts in the shots which I didn't anticipate when I went to the event. I think it also brought home something I read about Dorothea Lang, where she believed that "to know ahead of time what you're looking for means you're then only photographing your own preconceptions, which is very limiting".
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