I shot this photograph using my Canon EOS 1DS using a Canon 24mm-105mm lens. I thought to make this more realistic and give it a bigger impact I would dress the model in a school uniform. I used a pram as a prop to symbolise the baby and parenthood. To symbolise the attitude many teenage mums have I had the model put her hand on her hip and look away from the lens. To make this photograph have more impact I added noise and upped the contrast. I felt having the pram slightly outside the frame would make the image less harmonious.

I decided to go with a close-up image purely to symbolise attitude. Again it is shot on the same camera as the previous photograph. It is edited in exactly the same way to add more impact. I had the model chew chewing gum and look away to make the model look to have an attitude. Overall I am happy with this photograph.

Using the exact same equipment I used a different viewpoint. I shot from slightly below to give the subject an element of stature to symbolise the fact many teenage mums' attitude. I cut off where the baby would be in the pram so to focus more on the mother, this could be how many mums treat themselves. I again edited the photo in a way to make it look gritty and have more impact.

Evaluations: Promoting Blackburn

I took this photograph using a Canon 1DS. I used a Canon 24mm-105mm lens. I chose this as many say it has medium format quality. I decided to incorporate some greenery into the photograph so to make the image more appealing. When editing this image I made the colours extremely vivid and sharp by upping the contrast, clarity and vibrance in the photograph. I added a gradient in the sky. I believe making the colours more vivid makes the building look more appealing and brings out the coloured panels. My only qualm with this photograph is the two cranes on the right hand side of the crane.

This image was shot using the exact same equipment as the previous image for the exact same reasons. My favorite part of this photograph is composition. The building looks big and over-whelming, reflecting the size of the club. I also like the colours and shapes in this photograph.

I chose this photograph as it promotes the new mall. I thought it would be different that doing the obvious by photographing the under-construction building. The simple composition is something that appeals to me about this photograph. Ideally I perhaps would have photographed the building had the weather been better.

Before & After: Teen Pregnancies & Teenage Attitudes

Here are the Before & After images of my final Social Issues photographs.

Before

After

For this photograph I desaturated it slightly, upped the vibrance, clarity, and contrast. I then added a little more fill light. I added noise to give the photograph a gritty look.

Before

After

For this photograph I did exactly the same as the previous photograph.

Before

After

This photograph was edited in exactly the same way as the previous two photographs.

Final Images: Promote Blackburn Before & After

Here are the Before & After edits for each of my Promoting Blackburn photographs.

Before

After

For this photograph I made the colours more vivid by upping the clarity and vibrance. I also upped the contrast and sharpened the image.

Before

After

For this photograph I again increased the vibrance, clarity and contrast. I then sharpened the image and added a gradient to the sky.

Before

After

I followed the same drill for this photograph by upping the vibrance, contrast and clarity. I then sharpened the photograph.

Promoting A Place

From what I can see there is a way to promote a place photographically. Images tend to be bright and vivid to draw the viewer in, with very bright colours. They are very pleasing on the eye.

Although not of Blackburn below are some of my favourite promotional photographs for places.

This is a photograph I found to promote Manchester. As you can see the colours are very vivid and its extremely pleasing on the eye to look at. It makes Manchester look like a very nice place to visit.

This is a photograph of the Sydney Opera House. It is shown on a lovely day, in all its glory. Something I tried to re-create in my images.

This is the GoldenGateBridge in San Francisco. Probably photographed in the magic hour, it is made to look very beautiful. The colours are once again very vivid.

One thing I have noticed is the places photographed seem to have been photographed on a whole. The photographers try to fit as much as possible of the place in the frame so to really show it off.

Teenage Pregnancy

I wanted inspiration for my teenage pregnancy photographs so I did a bit of research into it.

The UK has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world with around 20 per 1000 15-19 year olds falling pregnant. The government had pledged to halve the rate in 1998 by this year but is widely expected to miss the target.

Over recent times I had seen many posters around blackburn town centre campaigning against it but can't seem to find these posters anywhere online. These posters were an inspiration to me.

Below are some 'Teenage Pregnancy' photographs that have inspired me.

This is a photograph taken by Joanna Lipper. This reflects my idea perfectly. A pregnant mother with a bit of an attitude. She has a look to the camera as if to say,'.. you're no better than me, I don't care what you think..'.

This again is by Joanna Lipper. It is previous person but with her child. She still seems to have a smug look on her face, this to me makes the image.

This photograph is completely at the other end of the spectrum. It shows a nervous, anxious looking parent. She looks like somebody embarrassed or daunted by being a mother at such a young age.

This mother has a slightly smug look to her face, she looks very protective of her children. I also think she looks physically exhausted, probably from the rigours of parenting.

This subject again looks exhausted and fed-up. It for me reflects just what parenting would be like and shows that teenagers surely aren't ready for it. This along with the previous few was again by Joanna Lipper. They were all taken in the United States, another country with a high rate of teenage pregnancy.

I fiund this photograph on Flickr. It is by somebody called Polina Sergeeva. It shows the dangers of smoking whilst pregnant, something which a lot of young mothers do. I particularly like the editing to this photograph, it has a dark and sinister atmosphere.

This is another anti-teen pregnancy photograph by Polina Sergeeva. I think this shows that it can happen to anybody, the fact the model is holding a bible could suggest this. Could it be warning about complacency? Did the photographer try to create a sense of embarrassment for the subject by making her look away from the lens?

L.A Gangs - www.TIME.com

I found a photoessay on the TIME magazine website about L.A Gangs. I liked how the photographs portrayed what most people would consider the under-side of society. They followed a similar sort of theme to my project.

My favourite thing about these photographs is how the photographer, Terry McCarthy managed to get 'in' with these people. The photographs show a good relationship between photographer and subject. The subjects seem very comfortable and I admire the photographer for getting so close and involved with the subjects lives and daily activities. These photographs are just a few of many in a series. For the rest of the photographs follow the link below.

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/gangs/photo_01.html

Wiley - Wot Do U Call It

I found some inspiration for the social issues side of the brief in a music video of a song that I really like. This video (in parts) shows the younger generation at their worst. It shows them hanging round in gangs and in general causing trouble. It reflects exactly what is wrong with some areas of society. I chose teenage attitude as one of my issues so this video fits in.

Social Issues: Contact Sheet

My idea for the social issues in Blackburn was based around young people. I decided to go with teenage pregnancies and teenage attitudes. I used this as maybe this could be something that, the students (majority young people), could relate to. I had two options for this area of the brief. I could either find somebody who fitted the situation in real life or have someone model for me. Due to the fact I don't know anybody in this situation and the short time-scale I had to complete this brief I decided to have somebody model for me. I decided to shoot this image against a shutter so to symbolise how teenage pregnancies tend to be an urban thing. Below are my contact sheets.

I found this to be a very successful shoot. The model in these photographs is my girlfriend. She was dressed in her old school uniform and a red polo shirt. I felt this to be the best way as it would emphasise the teenage in teenage pregnancy and attitude. I had her apply her foundation really badly and maker her look slightly orange. To look the part even more, I had her wear big hoop ear-rings and put her hair up in a 'chavvy' style. The final touch was an old pram. I did this as I felt it would make her feel more comfortable having her photo taken and so that I could avoid making her have a 'pretend' bump as I thought this might not look very good.

Promoting Blackburn: Final Ideas

After running through all the possible ideas for promoting Blackburn to students I decided to go with, what I thought, to be the 3 major pulling points. The three I went with are,

1. UCBC - I chose this as this is the basic thing a student coming to Blackburn would want, a successful University.
2. The Mall - A big interest of most students is shopping. Blackburn getting a new, multi million pound shopping mall extension would be a brilliant advertisement.
3. Blackburn Rovers FC - Football is the biggest sport in the world and Blackburn is home to a team and a venue from the biggest league in the world; The Barclays Premier League.

Below are the three contact sheets from each of the shoots for the three 'pulling points'.

UCBC

These are my photographs from my shoot of the University Centre. The weather on the day of this shoot was brilliant. The sky had virtually no clouds and was a really nice colour of blue, perfect for including on a promotional photograph. I found the University Centre a particularly challenging building to photograph due to the curvature of the building and the lighting on the different sides of the building. After looking at all the photographs I felt that the first few would be the best option. They showed the front of the building and its surrounding and in general made the building look more appealing. I chose one of the images with the greenery in the foreground for my final image.

Blackburn Rovers FC

My shoot at Blackburn Rovers happened at two locations. I initially took some photographs outside Blackburn Rovers' training ground at Brockhall Village, and then went on to Ewood Park, Blackburn Rovers' home ground. I went to Brockhall Village first as it is in a more rural setting. I thought this might look better on photographs. I only intended taking pictures from the outside due to the privacy put on training by manager Sam Allardyce. The signage was the main focus for me. Once again the weather was fantastic and helped to set the bench mark for the Ewood Park photographs. After I had finished at Brockhall Village I went on to Ewood Park. Once again, because of the short notice, I only took photographs from the outside as I didn't really have time to get permission to photograph inside. The best I could do was in the entrance to the Jack Walker stand where the trophy cabinets are located. I found the best location to be Ewood Park as it seemed to be 'more Blackburn Rovers'. In my view it produced the better photographs.

The Mall

The weather on the day of The Mall shoot was not very good at all. It was very cloudy, with not much cloud detail so the sky wasn't very 'photogenic'. I was then limited to what I could photograph due to the dullness of the sky. I thought then that signs around the work area advertising the new mall would be the best subject.

How Could You Promote Blackburn?

Despite the inevitable bad things that go with Blackburn and many other towns across the country, there are also some very good things and ways to promote Blackburn.

My task is to promote Blackburn to international students. The majority of students are young people, so my task is to find things in Blackburn that appeal to young people. Being young myself will help with this enormously.

My initial thoughts on what Blackburn has to offer to young people are:

• UCBC - The university centre is the obvious thing that springs to mind. With a brand new multi-million pound, modern building Blackburn is an ideal place to study.
• Blackburn Rovers FC - Football is perhaps the number one sport in the world and with Blackburn being home to a Premier League team there is a chance to see some of the worlds best teams and players play every week.
• The Mall - With an already successful shopping centre The Mall is looking further itself by adding a £66m extension. New retailers are coming to The Mall as well as a new continental market. Shopping is definitely something that appeals to young people.
• Night-Life - Blackburn has many pubs and bars and eateries. They are cheap and cheerful, something which definitely appeals to students.
• King Georges Hall - King Georges Hall is a performance venue that holds many events from comedy shows to pantomimes and to concerts. It has played host to many of the country's top comedy and musical acts.
• Sport - Along with Blackburn Rovers Blackburn is also home to many other sporting venues and clubs. Blackburn Hawks & The Lancashire Raptors play their home fixtures at the Blackburn Ice Arena, and arena which seats 3200 spectators. With teams for all ages and abilities young people could also have a go themselves. Another team based in Blackburn is Blackburn Harriers & AC. They are an athletics club celebrating their 100 year anniversary this year. Whether it be Track & Field, Cross Country or Fell Running you are interested in BHAC cater for all ages and abilities. With experience competing for BHAC they are something that somebody interested in Athletics should definitely consider if you are based in the area. Blackburn is also home to a Rugby club and many local cricket teams.
• Parks - Blackburn has several parks and open spaces to enjoy. Blackburn is also on the fringes of Ribble Valley, a place which is said to have inspired J R R Tolkein when writing The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings.
  UCBC (Image from www.blackburn.ac.uk)

Ewood Park; The home of Blackburn Rovers FC

Artists impression of The Mall's £66m extension which is due soon due for completion.

King Georges Hall.

Social Issues In Blackburn

Though Blackburn has its good points there are many problems and social issues that Blackburn is facing.

One major social issue Blackburn is facing, I think, is unemployment. For various reasons there are many unemployed people. For the period of Jan 2008-Dec 2008 there was 34.3% of the working age population unemployed. In June 2009 there were 4.9% of the working age population claiming Job Seekers Allowance.

Another issue Blackburn faces is teen pregnancies. According to figures released early this year, despite a fall, there are still around 42 conceptions per 1000 15-17 year olds.

Another major social issue Blackburn could be facing is crime and behaviour issues in the younger generations. This is the generation in which the future relies on. It is not all young people but there are many that are ruining it for the ones who want to be successful and work hard. The two previous points could, I feel, also be put into this bracket.

About Blackburn

Blackburn is a large town in Lancashire. It is located to the North of the West Pennine Moors and on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, close to the Forest Of Bowland, an area of outstanding national beauty. According to the government census in 2001 Blackburn had a population of 105,085. Along with Darwen and the surrounding countryside it forms the unitary authority area, Blackburn with Darwen.

Blackburn's foundations were built on its strong influence in the textile trade. Blackburn was home to the inventor of the Spinning Jenny, James Hargreaves. Blackburn was a boomtown throughout the industrial revolution and amongst the first industrialised towns in the world. The textile industry in Blackburn irreparable decline in the mid 20th century and fell into economic deprivation and housing issues. Since the 1950's the town has seen a significant increase in the muslim population in the town. Blackburn now reportedly has the 3rd highest proportion of Muslims in the population in England & Wales, with the figure standing at 25%. Over recent years Blackburn has received significant amounts of cash from the Government for regeneration.

Blackburn's main claims to fame are Blackburn Rovers FC, former Premier League Champions and it being the constituency of former home, justice and foreign secretary Jack Straw.

Image from www.wikipedia.org

Blackburn; The Place To Be

My task for this brief is to:

1. Produce 3 photographs that could be used to promote Blackburn to International Students, and,
2. Produce 3 photographs highlighting one of the social issues Blackburn faces.

This should be quite an interesting task as I believe there are both very good things to Blackburn and some quite bad things.