FINAL IMAGES

CONTACT SHEETS

A lot of these images were trial and error, I wanted to capture everything that was going on throughout the duration of the parade. This was quite tricky as it lasted a couple of hours and I had to keep changing my camera settings as the light was fading and floats were appearing a lot brighter. In some images I couldn't change the settings correctly and therefore I have some blurry images filled with random shots of light. In some cases I like this effect, in one image there is a clown on the right hand side and the rest of the image is distorted which gives an eerie atmosphere, this seems suitable as the focal point is on the clown. I would have liked to focus more on the crowd and the type of people that I was surrounded by instead of focusing so much on the entertainment in front of me. In future projects I would like to focus on the less obvious public observations - the facial expressions of others while they are distracted by something else.

PETER J NICHOLLS - Bridgwater Carnival

Peter J Nicholls Photography has been taking photographs of Somerset Carnivals since 1977, they have held a contract as Bridgwater's Official Carnival Photographer's since 1988. Bridgwater Carnival has been in existence since 1605 celebrating the failure of Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament. It has evolved over the years to become the spectacular show that it is today with floats up to 100 feet long, 17 feet high and 11 feet wide and some floats containing 20,000 light bulbs. The studio provides the images to the Bridgwater Carnival Committee for the production of the superb Carnival Calendars which have been published for more than 25 years.

1977 - Carnivals look more like a theatre performance, with maximum effort included in outfits, set design and props - these themes are still symbolic today in street carnivals.

1990 - 20 years later the displays are much more elaborate, the carnival progresses to decorative floats driving through the streets, providing more of a performance for the surrounding public.

2005 - 15 years later the floats are much more decorative and illuminate. Thousands more bulbs added to the floats which are also much bigger and extravagant. A far greater display of entertainment than the carnival back in 1977.

PAUL BALDESARE - The Suburban London Village

Paul Baldesare is a London photographer whose work has been regularly published and exhibited and is in public and private collections. He has carried out several long term documentary projects since 1983 and received an Arts Council National Lottery Grant in 1997-8 to continue his English Carnival project.

He writes: 

"Many years ago I came across a book called 'A Day Off' by photographer Tony Ray Jones. One section, 'Summer Carnivals', shot in the 1960s, was a particular favourite. From 1992 I would go out, mostly at weekends, from May to September, photographing an assortment of carnivals from locations as wide afield as the West Country and East Anglia and all destinations in between. 

For me, these events were full of cultural imagination and ritual contradictions. I was soon engrossed in a personal anthropological investigation into the minds and cultural life of a society that I really didn't understand. Having lived in London for most of my life I soon found that the economic and cultural life outside was very different."

Source - http://englishcarnival.org.uk/pb/default.html 

PETER MARSHALL - Notting Hill Carnival

Peter Marshall is a photographer and writer who taught photography for over 30 years. Among the many London events that he photographs, he regularly works for the Notting Hill carnival, which he has been photographing for almost twenty years. He has also photographed other carnivals and is hoping to produce an exhibition and book on London's May Queen festivals.

I find his work intriguing as it captures the realistic essence of carnivals and festivals, without all the glam and glitter of well-decorated floats for amusement. You can see how much they are enjoying themselves without any extreme effort to jazz up the event.

Source - http://englishcarnival.org.uk/pm/default.html 

INITIAL IDEAS

• Strangers in the street - I love photographing people the most. I would like to work on my confidence as a photographer and be able to approach strangers to ask for their portrait. People who blend in to their element, or people who stand out from the environment they are in. I want to capture the identity of people that I pass in my everyday life - also the people I don't usually pass, to expand my horizon and explore new places and photograph unusual faces.

PUBLIC EVENTS PHOTOGRAPHY

Throughout my summer there have been events that have been quite interesting to photograph, one being a parade/carnival in Dawlish where I spent a week on holiday.  While photographing the carnival itself, I also wanted to capture some of the people around me, the expressions of young children as they watch the floats drive by, people selling bunches of balloons as they walk up and down the strip.