For my extended project we had to chose a theme to focus on and take a selection of photographs to analysis and evaluate them of what I liked and didn't like about the photograph. So having said that my theme is environmental photography which will be taken all around the London community but especially staying local around south east London, where i live. You viewers might be asking yourself whats environmental photography? But it's very simple, all it is, is depicting a photograph which was taking in the environment. This can be an event or scene in and around it. But the problem is environmental photography is very broad so I need to narrow it down and chose a topic to focus on in depth. So the topic i chose was football. The reason i chose this is because it takes up most of my life and its what I love. It would make sense because if it's what i'm passionate about and enjoy why wouldn't I document and photograph it. With football theres many different branches you can follow up about and I want to try and document all of them.
One branch is going to be football fans because they are what build a football club. Without the fans the club cant run and they are a fundamental part of what makes football what it is. It's also very interesting because when a team score or get scored against it brings out peoples raw emotions which you don't see very often. A second branch which i'm going to explore is people actually playing football. This is interesting to me because the game can bring so many emotions and feelings, it can make you let go and is stress relieving or its a good way to get fit and healthy but people do it for different reasons. It doesn't matter what the background is they all are linked because of the love for the game. However for children and teenagers its different, the game has a different purpose for most of them and it changes how people view it. The reason it's a lots different is because you have millions of teenagers trying to chase the dream of a professional player one day but very few make it. This means it very competitive and the pressure is increased much more. The game is brutal but yet hundreds of millions of teenagers love the challenge. But also it can be a way out of gangs and to escape the council estates environment. The money is a big part for people and for some people football is all people have got and are so desperate for the dream.
So that brings the question, where will I be photographing? But the simple answer is everywhere, Sunday league pitches to professional stadiums, estate cages to freestyle pitches but the good thing about this is football is all around us and over this time I will have so many opportunities to photograph this. Some specific locations which I will be photographed are my local football stadium which is called The Valley home to Charlton Athletic, my grassroots pitch which I play every weekend at Weigall Road Sports Ground home to London Legends, Hackney Marches which known as the spiritual home of Sunday league football, Marlborough sports ground which has some fabulous views , Powerleague Shoreditch which is one of the best 5 aside pitches in London and anywhere else I stumble upon.
One branch is going to be football fans because they are what build a football club. Without the fans the club cant run and they are a fundamental part of what makes football what it is. It's also very interesting because when a team score or get scored against it brings out peoples raw emotions which you don't see very often. A second branch which i'm going to explore is people actually playing football. This is interesting to me because the game can bring so many emotions and feelings, it can make you let go and is stress relieving or its a good way to get fit and healthy but people do it for different reasons. It doesn't matter what the background is they all are linked because of the love for the game. However for children and teenagers its different, the game has a different purpose for most of them and it changes how people view it. The reason it's a lots different is because you have millions of teenagers trying to chase the dream of a professional player one day but very few make it. This means it very competitive and the pressure is increased much more. The game is brutal but yet hundreds of millions of teenagers love the challenge. But also it can be a way out of gangs and to escape the council estates environment. The money is a big part for people and for some people football is all people have got and are so desperate for the dream.
So that brings the question, where will I be photographing? But the simple answer is everywhere, Sunday league pitches to professional stadiums, estate cages to freestyle pitches but the good thing about this is football is all around us and over this time I will have so many opportunities to photograph this. Some specific locations which I will be photographed are my local football stadium which is called The Valley home to Charlton Athletic, my grassroots pitch which I play every weekend at Weigall Road Sports Ground home to London Legends, Hackney Marches which known as the spiritual home of Sunday league football, Marlborough sports ground which has some fabulous views , Powerleague Shoreditch which is one of the best 5 aside pitches in London and anywhere else I stumble upon.
Other Photos
Charlton Athletic - 25/03/23
The First location i went to on my personal project was The Valley home to the football club Charlton Athletic. Charlton Athletic are the closest professional football team to my home which is a simple 15/20 minute walk away. This particular day was a home game for Charlton and were playing Wycombe Wanderers. The reason I chose to photograph Charlton was because this is more then just a football team, its a way for my community to get together and celebrate what they love which is football. Communities coming together doesn't happen regularly but when it does its special as you get to acknowledge other people around your area which doesn't happen very often, but with football it happens weekly.
When taking these photos I struggled with timings as i was limited to a short time period. I only had a window of about 15/20 minutes to get my photos before the match started. I liked this struggle as it meant I just took photos of anything I liked and didn't really think about them as I didn't have time too. But i think the photos I did take were effective and i liked them a lot. It was important for me to take photos of the community while incorporating it into my theme of football because it's your area which builds you into an adult and I wanted to document it. To add to this with a football match you're not just bringing together your community you're also introduced to another community. This can either be a good thing or a bad thing . If two communities do come together it can either be a learning experience where you discover new people and get to know new fan bases and peoples stories and backgrounds or it can be a violent confrontation and can be a vicious experience or the average person. But thankfully Charlton vs Wycombe was relatively calm and was a lot of respect between the two fan bases which was nice to see.
When taking these photos I struggled with timings as i was limited to a short time period. I only had a window of about 15/20 minutes to get my photos before the match started. I liked this struggle as it meant I just took photos of anything I liked and didn't really think about them as I didn't have time too. But i think the photos I did take were effective and i liked them a lot. It was important for me to take photos of the community while incorporating it into my theme of football because it's your area which builds you into an adult and I wanted to document it. To add to this with a football match you're not just bringing together your community you're also introduced to another community. This can either be a good thing or a bad thing . If two communities do come together it can either be a learning experience where you discover new people and get to know new fan bases and peoples stories and backgrounds or it can be a violent confrontation and can be a vicious experience or the average person. But thankfully Charlton vs Wycombe was relatively calm and was a lot of respect between the two fan bases which was nice to see.
Football time line
Charlton Athletic - 10/04/23
This picture was taken on the forth of April when Charlton my local team were playing Burton Albion. The result after the game was 3-2 to Charlton but this particular photo was taken before the match. The reason i like this photo so much is because it shows a contrast within two scenarios. The first scenario in the one just to the left of the man were there is a crowd of people in a rush to get inside the football stadium. Whereas the man contrasts their stressed emotions by having a calm aura about him. Him having a cigarette to the side of the road while reading a program presents this contrasts and the split in the middle between the two emphasis this difference. Additionally the man in the photograph is the direct centre point of the image which presents him as the focal point of the whole image. This was done to make the audience of photograph look at him and his features first. After we then draw are eyes to the crowd in the back hoarding towards the stadium. Furthermore the way the man has a relaxed manor tells me he has been to many games in his life and is a regular to the match. This loyal feeling presented by this man shows how much he love this game and through the up and downs he's still here supporting his team. Having said this i think what i would have improved about this is the couple people directly behind the man smoking. Unfortunately they ruin the line of crowded vs calm and making the picture look more clunky and clustered. However when theres many people all at one place at once its really hard to get the perfect image sometimes .
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Hackney Marches
The Hackney Marches are home to 88 full sized football pitches and is said to be the home of Sunday league. Many famous players started out here such as David Beckham and Bobby Moore to name a few. However this place isn't about becoming a better player its about being united together for the love of football. These fields reflect how many people people play football and come on the weekend to socialise and hold a community together because thats what football is, a community. With some of the goal posts you can see the rust and duct tape peeling off the metal throughout most of the goals. This really represents how old they've been there for and the many memories produced. This place isn't just a bunch of football pitches its a place where people come to have fun, meet new people and do some exercise. It's not about the business or the money or the compotion its resembles the complete opposite.
Another thing i spotted while walking around the area was that the London stadium, home to West Ham United was just a 5 minute walk away from the Sunday league pitches. This was really interesting to me because it felt like it presented the football hierarchy and pyramid very well. The glorified stadium was just up some stairs and it felt as if it was overshadowing the diminished Sunday league pitches. However it may also be looked at by younger players as their goal to reach. As for many young players playing professional football is their goal but this will only be reached by select few. You could also make connotations to the hierarchy we have in the UK being present through this. The wealthy West Ham stadium looking over the poor grass root pitches and being a sense of hostility there. This is presented through the gradient of the two places.
Another thing i spotted while walking around the area was that the London stadium, home to West Ham United was just a 5 minute walk away from the Sunday league pitches. This was really interesting to me because it felt like it presented the football hierarchy and pyramid very well. The glorified stadium was just up some stairs and it felt as if it was overshadowing the diminished Sunday league pitches. However it may also be looked at by younger players as their goal to reach. As for many young players playing professional football is their goal but this will only be reached by select few. You could also make connotations to the hierarchy we have in the UK being present through this. The wealthy West Ham stadium looking over the poor grass root pitches and being a sense of hostility there. This is presented through the gradient of the two places.
This triplet was taken on the Hackney Marches too and it shows the progress of a runner around the pitches. This triplet was very unexpected and but i managed to catch it while i was looking at the gradient and levels of the field. This photo could have been better if it was more central and would have been more of a focus of the man running and the crow on the opposite side however i was happy that the technique turned out well. Additionally its very unbalanced and it would have come out better if the image was straight but it was an okay first attempt. What I like about it though is the 3 cranes at the back. They act as a staple and also follow the rule of thirds nicely. Overall there is a lot to improve however I think i can learn from this and develop it more if i was to do it again.