CONCEPTUAL
The immense cultural diversity of Melbourne and its history is quite fascinating and permeates throughout the city. Particularly, this rich legacy is evident in an area such as Fitzroy, one of the most heterogeneous of the city’s suburbs. By strolling through neighbouring areas of Fitzroy and central Melbourne, I wanted to create personal narratives as an outsider looking in. In exploring these inner suburbs, I could connect a demographic of people and their actions reflecting this diversity and yield personal narratives through them so that I could express my interpretation of the city.
AESTHETIC
I chose to shoot at various times of the day around dawn, noon, or golden hour when the light contrasted most with the subjects and their surrounding shadows. The use of black and white emphasised the in-camera settings of the exposures and the light and shadows that fell. The use of split lighting with portraits, juxtaposing shadows with the sunlight emphasised these strong contrasts. The timing was crucial in waiting for the right moment or reacting quickly as these fleeting moments transpired.
TECHNICAL
The use of warm and cold colours in post-processing helped emphasised the natural light shot in the images to build contrast and tonality. I chose black and white to represent the shadows and light of these images. Colour grading was done with the black and white sliders and contrast sliders to create a dynamic of light and shadows. In the field, I used a low ISO and different shutter speeds depending on the motion of the subjects and both 35mm and 24-90mm lenses, experimenting with different angles to build my compositions. I used a shallow depth of field where I wanted to blur out the visual noise of the background and a deep depth of field to capture everything in the frame.
