To Master - Research
World Photography Organisation
The World Photography Organisation run this competition sponsored by Sony. They have amassed a large following, for example their 89.6k instagram followers, meaning that winners of the competition get a lot of exposure alongside the other prizes shown below.
Previous Winners
Ioanna Sakellaraki was the winner in 2020 with this series of 9 images. The series documents a Greek island called Tilos the first island in the Mediterranean to run almost entirely by renewable energy.
I like the colour, sharpness and composition of these images which give them a futuristic feeling which ties in with the sustainability theme. However, I would not have known the meaning of the images without reading the description given along with them. This shows the importance that the description has in telling the story alongside the images themselves.
Sergi Villanueva was the winner in 2019 with this series of 10 images. This series documents an orange grove in Valencian, following the full journey the oranges make in the orange grove.
I really like this series as the image tell a lot of the story themselves with the description then adding more detail to the story. The colours of the images are really nice with an element of orange found in all of them. There is a variety of composition but all of the images fit together really nicely.
Having looked at all of the previous examples available on the website, this is actually my personal favourite of all of them as all of the images are strong individually and come together to make a really visually pleasing series.
Building a Better Future
Building a better future is the theme that has been given to the 2020 Sony World Photography Awards student competition. I think this is an interesting theme which has a lot of possibilities.
Brief
This is the brief given by the World Photography Organisation. Reading the first section makes me think that the images should be people focused in order to tell the stories of people or communities that are building a better future.
Initial Ideas
- NHS
Shooting something to document NHS workers came to mind. The NHS has been key during the coronavirus pandemic and I feel it finally got the recognition it deserved so I'd be interested in sharing the hard work that NHS workers face everyday to keep up this recognition. However, I worry that this would be quite cliche and I'm also not sure that I'd be able to get access to shoot in or around a hospital within the timeframe for this brief.
- Architecture
Another initial idea I had is to capture something architecture related as a literal translation of 'building a better future'. I could try and find some futuristic building designs that are striving towards a better future. However, to go down this route could be difficult in the time frame as I would be starting completely from scratch as I don't have any previous experience of where to find this kind of thing. I also imagine it would be difficult to gain official access to these types of buildings.
- Grow Cycling
Grow Cycling are a recently established not for profit who are trying to increase diversity within cycling and make it more easily accessible to everyone. Their first phase is to build a pumptrack in LA but they are looking to expand globally so I may be able to document this issue in the UK.
- Knives Down Bikes Up
Knives down bikes up is a movement that is trying to reduce the knife crime that kids have to face in London. The figures of knife crime in London are staggering and this movement encouraging kids in London to ride bikes to avoid getting involved in these crimes. I think it could make an interesting photo series to document this movement.
- Sustainable bike brands
I think it could be interesting to find and document a sustainable bike brand in the UK. There are companies building bikes out of more sustainable materials such as bamboo. There are also companies making more sustainable cycling clothing using more sustainable materials. If possible, I would love to document the whole process of these products being made starting from the raw materials all the way to the final product - inspired by the orange grove series of photos that I wrote about above.
- Chapter 1 of a photo book
I am considering creating a photo book for my FMP later this year. I think this unit could be a good opportunity to create a potential first chapter to this book. One initial idea for the book is 'the life of a bike' from how it is manufactured to how it's used to how it may end up. Therefore, for this unit I could document the manufacture of a bike which may be used as chapter 1 of the photo book. I could also still tie in the idea above by finding a sustainable bike manufacturing to capture.
Alternatively, I could capture a movement/community/not-for-profit to potentially use as chapter 1 to start documenting the culture that surrounds all different forms of cycling.
Knives Down Bikes Up
I came across this amazing documentary by Matt Dempsey about the Knives Down Bikes Up movement. I really like the artistic approach to the moving image which pairs really well with the voice over from one of the riders featured in the video. The things being said really highlight the importance of this movement.
In this article, Matt talks about how the concept was to capture cycling in a style akin to ballet or cinema. I think Matt executed this really well and it makes the video really enjoyable to watch. This slower paced approach also gives the viewer more time to focus on what is being said during the video.
Matt was commissioned by the Barbican to create this film for a series called The Art of Change.
Temples Cycles are a Bristol based bike manufacturer. They produce vintage style steel frame bikes with modern componentry. This part of their website gives more details about how their bikes are manufactured. It includes videos of the painting process, how their custom headbadge is fabricated and how the steel frames are created.
This instagram post about the painting process also shows how the company is actively trying to improve the sustainability of their manufacturing.
They also offer a lifetime warranty on all their bikes with their slogan being 'built to last'. This encourages customers to purchase one of their bikes to use for life, which is a much more sustainable practice than trying to sell customers a new model every year.
I therefore think this could be a great company to document the manufacturing process of.
Boneshaker magazine is a bike magazine that shares cycling related stories from all over the world.
There are lots of great articles on their website. One of my favourites is this story about 2 cousins that find a lake jump. One of the cousins is a good mountain bike rider and the other a photographer so it makes for a great little story and some cool photos.
Whilst looking at articles on the Boneshaker Magazine website I came across an article about the Bristol Bike Project. The Bristol Bike Project aims to fill the gap of the need for transport for asylum seekers and refugees in Bristol. Many of these people are placed in housing on the outskirts of the city where it can take hours to walk in to attend appointments or see friends. The Bristol Bike Project gives them the opportunity to get an abandoned or donated bike that has been restored in order to travel around faster while also saving bikes from landfill.
The Bristol Bike Project has now been running for 10 years and in that time has evolved a lot from its humble beginnings. They now give people the opportunity to learn how to fix up their own bikes which has lead to them having over 170 volunteers and members as well as working with over 60 organisations including Bristol Refugee Rights, Bristol Drugs Project and Second Step.
The Bristol Bike Project has been run alongside the Boneshaker magazine as it was one of the co founders of the magazine that originally started the organisation. Even though the Boneshaker magazine has now come to and end The Bristol Bike Project is still going strong.
This is another organisation that I would be very interested in shooting. It would be a nice combination of my 2 main ideas so far by being a bike related organisation that is also helping a community.
Final Idea
My final idea is to shoot with the Bristol Bike Project. I think this fits the brief really well and is something that I personally am really interested in and would love to have in my portfolio.
I sent an email to Bristol Bike Project regarding working with them. I included this pdf with the email. I showed a few images to show my previous work as well as some images that I have shot before that relate to this project to give an idea of what I would want to shoot.
However, unfortunately, I received a reply from The Bristol Bike Project saying that they wouldn't be able to do it as they are too restricted with numbers in the workshop.
This was really disappointing as I was looking forward to shooting with them. Hopefully I can still find a way to get involved with them in the future.
The Broken Spoke Bike Co Op
After getting this response from The Bristol Bike Project I contacted some other organisations that are doing a similar thing. The first of these was The Broken Spoke Bike Co Op.
This organisation is based in Oxford and also refurbishes old bikes whilst teaching people to repair their own bikes. There's also more of an emphasis on getting women into the workshop, with it being run by two women.
The Bike Project
The Bike Project are another organisation running the same operation based in London. They appear to be the largest organisation of the three.
However, I didn't hear back from either organisation before the start of the second lockdown and with the introduction of the lockdown I would no longer be able to travel to shoot with these organisations anyway.
