After nearly another week of trying to find someone from the evicted Oxford Road Camp that I photographed for my last unit, I finally found a few of the polish group who told me that they were now staying under a bridge a bit further into town. This turned out to be the same camp that Joanne was going to take me to but I haven' seen her since she said that.
I have shown where this small new camp is situated on the map below, which is indicated with a small green marker. As you can see the homeless group only moved a bit down the Oxford from where they used to stay on Sidney Street next to the old Manchester Metropolitan University student union, and now have set up a temporary camp under a railway bridge on Charles Street.
It was very lucky that I saw them begging in one of their old spots under the Oxford road bridge nearest MMU University, because I was about to begin looking at the different angles my project could follow, while still focusing on the housing problem.
After catching up with them for a while, they allowed me to photograph the inside of their tents.
While carrying out this shoot I made sure that I used the same techniques that I had practised when photographing Aarons tent, and also incorporate the inspiration that I had gained from looking into the images and idea's of Andy Palfreyman. I carried on using a wide angle lens which allowed me to capture the complete interior of the tent, and put my camera on a tripod so I could set my f/stop as high as possible meaning my depth of focus was very large. Using a large depth of focus works well to coincide with the work of Jacob Riis, because it allows everything in the image to remain in focus which means the viewer can see it all. As well as using a large f/stop number, I set my ISO as low as possible (100), to make sure that my image isn't grainy and of the sharpest of qualities. The tripod is necessary due to using a large f/stop number and small ISO, and the fact that i'm shooting inside dark tents, it allows me to use very slow shutter speeds to capture the right amount of exposure.
Below are my favourite images from this shoot.
I think the colours and tones in this image make it look colourful and full of life which contrasts the reality of what I'm photographing, due to it being a very difficult time for people who find themselves to be homeless. I think this tent shows the viewer that homeless people do try to make their lifestyle as clean and tidy as possible while living in their tent. As you can see everything is in focus which allows the viewer to study each part of her tent, giving them a full understanding of how this homeless person lives.
I think I prefer this image to the one above because it represents all the same feelings and emotions as the one above, but I have composed the shot from further back which means you can see the top and bottom of the tent which gives one a sense of scale. I think allowing the viewer to see the scale of the tent will show them the tiny amount of room they have for themselves to try and live in and keep clean. You can also see what little possessions they have, which could suggest how empty their life is. Although even though the emptiness can suggest certain ideas to the viewer about loneliness ect, I think tents with more objects in them are more interesting to the eye.
I really like the different colours and shades in this image because it catches your eye. Also when you look closer, you can see that the tent has been repaired on the right hand side which suggests too the viewer how that the inhabitant of this tent is trying to make do with what they've got. Unlike the image before this, the tent is full of different bags which shows how homeless people always need to be ready to pack up everything and move on if the council force them too, like what happened at their last camp.
I think this image is better than the one above, because again I have composed the image from further away which gives the viewer a sense of how small the tent is. Also this image is more in focus than the last, because the wind has stopped blowing which means you can see a message has been written on the side of the tent, which I think adds more character to this tent.
Unlike the two tents before this one, this looks a lot more dark and dirty which completely changes the feel of the image. The lack of colour and cleanliness, shows the conditions of how other homeless people live. This image highlights a very large problem too the viewer, which is how the keep their clothing and bedding clean, which would increase the overall quality of life if they were able to do so. This tent looks like it has been used longer than the other two, and is starting to fall apart. The crisps that you can see by the side of the bed adds more elements of life to the image, and reminds the viewer that some live everyday like this.
This tent didn't work as well as the others because it was a lot smaller, which meant the roof of the tent is a lot lower than the others I've photographed. This means that the viewer can't see the scale of the interior of the tent, but I have still captured certain objects which are interesting to look at including the gloves, bags and Bart Simpson duvet. This has shown me that if I were to carry on with this idea, it would look even more impressive if I were able to photograph much bigger tents than those I have already captured.
This image is very different from those shot inside the tents, even though it uses the exact same technique in terms of camera settings and lenses used. This make-shift bed was put next to all the other tents under the bridge, and you can see that someone has used it to rest on at some point. The fencing makes sure that the mattress isn't on the floor to reduce damp, but it must hard nights sleep.
Paul, photographed above is someone that I hadn't met before, but who was now staying with the Polish group who I had previously met at the old Oxford Road camp. I captured his portrait because he was more than willing to have it captured while he told me about his story. I used my 35mm lens to capture the portrait, instead of using the same wide angle lens that I had been for the tent interiors. The reason for this being it gives a more straight on look to the image, without distorting shapes and sizes which the wide angle can do.
I prefer this image compared to the one above because it includes more references to the way Paul is living. This is because you can see a tent and tent poles in the background, and because tent is set up in an urban environment the viewer will be able to work out he's living there and not just on holiday. While speaking to Paul he told me how he had been part of a homeless documentary in Swansea called 'Living on the Streets' and how he would like to get in contact with the producer to tell him how he was getting on. I told him that I would try to contact the producer and come back to this camp after I had.
I really think the tent interiors work well to show the viewer how these certain homeless people are actually spending each night, which is something they probably haven't ever seen before. Composing my images in a certain way means that all one can see is the inside of the tent, and you begin to forgot that people are actually living in the tent full time, which I think is an interesting effect. I think the different colours and shades that the images show create feelings of life which brings positive feelings to a negative situation. I think the fact you can see the wear and tear on the tents also highlights to the viewer how long they have spent in these tents and that they have to make the best out of what they have. Speaking to the group, they told me that most of their belongings including tents and sleeping bags are donated through charities.