Photography Assignment help please

mahamageehad

Hi, How are we all doin? Basically I've been given a photography assignment in college. The assignment I've been given is "Urban Area". I have to narrow that down to a smaller theme and write a proposal on that. But Im stuck!!

One of the other lads on the course was given "Sea side environment" And he's doing his on erosion and decay. The only topic i can think of is Litter. But even i think it will be boring to explore litter with a camera!!
Any suggestions?? Thanks very much in advance!!

Dades

Poverty, Graffiti, Construction, Ethnic Diversity, Transport...

If you can't come up with a theme under "urban" you've bigger problems than choosing what lens to use!

Fajitas!

Go for litter then!

Get down on it's level... See where it goes and find out where it accumulates...

Burnt

Urban exploration...

CabanSail

Seems a VERY broad scope, so spoilt for choice.

You could examine Urban Decay or a variation is to cotrast the Old & the New. With all the constuction in the last few years that should be easy.

"There are a Million Stories in the City, these are just two of them."

Covey

A myriad of topics there.

Litter sounds good to me also. It's not run of the mill stuff done to bits and you can put your own stamp on it, with no accusations of copying someone.

Though having said that I remember seeing someone famous doing it in the States, whose name I can't now recall

mahamageehad

Dades wrote: »

Poverty, Graffiti, Construction, Ethnic Diversity, Transport...

If you can't come up with a theme under "urban" you've bigger problems than choosing what lens to use!

Ya dats fine, cept i live in a small little town in Co. Tipperary, that's only got its own tesco in the last year!! Poverty- doesn't really apply in an obvious enough manner. Tried graffiti but there's not enough around to complete the assignment. Construction is kinda finished now (damn global credit crunch crisis!) Ethnic diversity is a possibility alright. Transport?? Haha! no bus station, nearest train station abut 10 mins drive away, has only 4 platforms and 1 vending machine.

See it is harder than it looks!! Thanks anyways!

CabanSail

Harder than it looks?? FFS!!

You don't have to shoot it on your back door.

Travel into a city or two & spend a day there shooting. It will cost you a bus/train fare.

Are you sure you are doing the right course? Maybe Accountancy may be more suited?

DaireQuinlan

mahamageehad wrote: »

Ya dats fine, cept i live in a small little town in Co. Tipperary, that's only got its own tesco in the last year!! Poverty- doesn't really apply in an obvious enough manner. Tried graffiti but there's not enough around to complete the assignment. Construction is kinda finished now (damn global credit crunch crisis!) Ethnic diversity is a possibility alright. Transport?? Haha! no bus station, nearest train station abut 10 mins drive away, has only 4 platforms and 1 vending machine.

See it is harder than it looks!! Thanks anyways!

?!?!? Tell you what, why don't we get together here and decide, then we can shoot the assignment for you aswell, and you can submit it, hows about that :rolleyes:

I'd say the ability to narrow down a theme like this, pick something specific and do a short piece about how you want to express it through your photography, and then get out there and SHOOT it are all part of the whole process. You're falling down badly on the first bit here by being lazy. Put some thought into it and you'll come up with something as opposed to just flaking out and getting other people do the work for you.

Covey

Graffiti ffs.

Why photograph someone elses art, when you can make your own.

How about Housing Estates in all their diversity. Every town or village has some and very few photograph them. ??

Dades

mahamageehad wrote: »

Ya dats fine, cept i live in a small little town in Co. Tipperary.

Well it could have been worse... you could have got the topic the other lad on the course was given: "Seaside environment".

decsramble

The fact that you live in a small town gives you subjects that those of us in Dublin haven’t photographed to death already. How about photos of urban areas intruding on the countryside? Or how the farming community interact with the urban areas? Is there a local mart maybe you could show livestock trucks being transported to and from the mart through the town? Did your town get some new urban redevelopment during the boom? Maybe you could contrast the old and new parts of the town? There are lots of opportunities, you don’t have to slavishly try to reproduce the photographs and subjects you have seen from large cities, just be sure your lecturer knows that you are deliberately trying to show the small town side of your home and aren’t just straying off topic.

Danbo!

mahamageehad wrote: »

Hi, How are we all doin? Basically I've been given a photography assignment in college. The assignment I've been given is "Urban Area". I have to narrow that down to a smaller theme and write a proposal on that. But Im stuck!!

One of the other lads on the course was given "Sea side environment" And he's doing his on erosion and decay. The only topic i can think of is Litter. But even i think it will be boring to explore litter with a camera!!
Any suggestions?? Thanks very much in advance!!

Does it have to be bad? It seems as though your classmate has chosen erosion of sea sides and you're kind of copying the whole degradation thing into your urban theme, using litter. Why not take bus/train to Dublin/Cork/Galway, and try and find something good in one of these urban areas. Surely if you're from a tiny tipperary town, then a visit will make you realise what excites you or depresses you about large cities. Surely you will see lots of characters about that wouldnt appear in small towns. Why not choose something along the lines of the people of dublin and take some street shots.

EDIT: ideas by descramble seem quite good.

CabanSail

According to Wikipedia

An urban area is an area with an increased density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.

So while a small town is within the definition I would say that the idea seems to be to get you out of your own enviroment. The fact that your colleage was given the Seaside seems to add evidence to this.

To shoot on an Urban theme you really should head to a City or two. It can't be that hard to travel to a city. I don't buy the excuses that the Train Station is a short drive away. Get a taxi if you can't arrange a lift or ride a bike.

challengemaster

Sounds like you want everyone here to do your project for you too.

So far, all I've seen is excuses as why you can't do it. How about you spend less time making excuses and more time actually doing something about your assignment?

I bet in the amount of time it took you to think of all these crappy excuses, and reply to posts on here, you could probably be half way to Dublin to photograph one of the many subjects the people here have already suggested to you. You're in College now, I suggest you start doing some growing up and stand on your own two feet, because nobody (especially nobody here) is going to do this assignment for you.

This may seem harsh, but when all I'm seeing are excuses, I'm not exactly in a very helpful mood.

conkeroo

challengemaster wrote: »

Sounds like you want everyone here to do your project for you too.

So far, all I've seen is excuses as why you can't do it. How about you spend less time making excuses and more time actually doing something about your assignment?

I bet in the amount of time it took you to think of all these crappy excuses, and reply to posts on here, you could probably be half way to Dublin to photograph one of the many subjects the people here have already suggested to you. You're in College now, I suggest you start doing some growing up and stand on your own two feet, because nobody (especially nobody here) is going to do this assignment for you.

This may seem harsh, but when all I'm seeing are excuses, I'm not exactly in a very helpful mood.

Jeez, you sound like the ops pissed off parents or something. Talk about venting.

OP, you can obviously make it to college so why not, and you can even get a day off college too , make your way to the nearest big town and I'd suggest do the litter thing. Its a problem that's plagued this country, especially in Dublin (though it is getting better) and try unique ways to take the shots. For example; use a long shutter speed while catching litter been blown along. You could have drab dark colours for those type shots and then you could show a contrast with other shots that show clean areas of the town, making them bright and appealing. I'm not too sure, these ideas are just off the cuff but i'm sure theres plenty of different things you could do. Ive given you an idea, dont expect the bus fair too.....

Peace

I remeber a theme of abandoned ireland knocking about somehwere on boards or flickr. Bar that i'd go for the grafitti theme before i go around photograhing other peoples dirt.

What about homeless-ness <sp?> in urban areas as a theme?

ThOnda

It's so easy! Think about people you know, family and friends, your hobbies and interests. If anything of that happens in "urban area", go down to business. :pac: