The object of this assignment is to plan and execute a set of images of people in some form of meaningful activity. This could be work, sport, a stage performance (music, drama), or at a social event.
You should produce a set of approximately 10 final, selected images, and you can choose between depicting the same person (or small group) at different kinds of activity, or different people at the same single activity or event.
Concentrate especially on two aspects: on telling moments, and on ‘explaining’ the activity (which means choosing viewpoint, framing and timing to make the actions as intelligible as possible).
For this assignment I chose to visit Kato Shrine in Kumamoto in order to document the working day and life of the shrine staff. Kato Shrine is one of the largest Shinto shrines in Kumamoto, and I’ve always found the staff to be very welcoming.
As a little background information from Wikipedia, “Shinto is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the people of Japan. It is a set of practices to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past”. (www.en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto)
Shinto is based upon the belief in kami – divine beings. In Shinto, the kami are not only spiritual beings, but also exist in nature within mountains, rivers and trees. “In this sense, the kami are not like the all-powerful divine beings found in Western religion, but the abstract creative forces in nature. Related to the kami is the understanding that the Shinto followers are supposed to live in harmony and peaceful coexistence with both nature and other human beings. This has enabled Shinto to exist in harmony with other religious traditions”. (www.patheos.com/Library/Shinto.html)
Although the above information isn’t strictly necessary when viewing this assignment, the Japanese spiritual connection with nature through Shinto is something that has long fascinated me, and is something that I hope to expand upon in future OCA studies and my personal projects. I offer it here to show that the work I have done on this assignment is intended to be used as part of a larger piece of work in the future.
I was granted permission by all of the staff to take photographs of them as they went about their daily routines, but was warned to be very careful and considerate when photographing worshippers. I knew that this was a very important issue, especially as I’d like to be welcome back there in the future, so I avoided photographing the worshippers as much as possible, preferring to focus on the miko (shrine maidens) and kannushi (Shinto priests).
This proved to be a wise choice, as one of the worshippers saw me with a camera and became very agitated, thinking I was photographing her. In actual fact, I’d been on the other side of the car park chatting to one of the priests about the different locations in the shrine. I hadn’t even seen this particular lady come in, and certainly hadn’t photographed her, but she was irate. The things she was shouting at me were very racist and extremely offensive. I didn’t even have a chance to explain that I hadn’t photographed her before one of the priests asked to leave as she was causing a commotion.
At this stage, I offered to go home and stop my project, but the priest urged me to continue. So, feeling a little shocked, I went on with this plan for the assignment and hope to build on it in the future.
One of the challenges I had was how to show a good enough cross section of daily life at the shrine inside a small number of images without including many images of the worshippers. I hope I’ve managed to do this, but did feel a little restricted.
Regarding presentation, in my mind’s eye I see the final project based on Japanese culture, of which this assignment is a small piece, as a photo book, and as such created a Word document and PDF in a basic kind of photo book / magazine format with captions on the images. Deciding to present it like this brought a lot of problems as my knowledge in this kind of design area is non-existent; what size and colour should the captions be etc, but I hope that it gives the viewer an idea of what I was looking to create.
This report acts as a companion to the assignment itself, and provides technical detail, camera settings, and any issues that cropped up.
All of the images were taken on a Canon 60D with either a Canon 50mm mkII f/2.8 lens, or a Canon EFS 55-250mm lens. The processing took place in Lightroom 4 and Elements 11, and I tried to keep a theme going in the processing of the images in order to help add to the social documentary feel.
Before reading on, please take a minute to look at the assignment itself in PDF form:
Below you can read on about the images themselves and any issues I faced.
Cover Image
(1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 800, Focal length 50mm)
I decided to use this image on the front cover because it leaves little doubt as to what the point of the assignment is. By this time, I’d been to the shrine several times and the staff were all used to having me around, so when they went to their positions to welcome worshippers and offer assistance, I was able to capture them naturally in their usual poses with hands clasped in front of their bodies and they didn’t really pay me much attention.
Despite this, I was a little worried that that this image and two of the later images in the assignment were perhaps a little static; looking too posed, but seeing as this is how and where she stood as part of her duties, I decided to use it.
I’d earlier asked the miko about the various places she stood during the morning and was glad when she pointed out this location. The most important colour in Shinto is red, which wards of evil spirits and disease. It is also closely associated with birth and fertility and embodies life creating and life sustaining powers, hence the miko’s red hakama. (www.colourlovers.com/blog/2008/06/19)
The vermillion torii (gate) purifies people as they approach. The idea being that when they reach the altar, they are spiritually clean. Behind the miko, you can see the altar itself, and on the right of the frame are the trees which surround the shrine. I wanted to include the greens of the trees in the image, given Shinto’s connection with nature.
Image One
(1/160 sec, f/8, ISO 3200, Focal Length 70mm)
This image was taken in the early morning during a thunderstorm. My intention was to show the domestic side of life at the shrine, but also to give a wide angle view of the front of the shrine while something was happening. Here, two of the priests are dressed up in rain suits and clearing fallen leaves, whilst the miko is cleaning the small gift shop whilst hiding under an umbrella.
Image Two
(1/640 sec, f/4, ISO 800, FL 70mm)
For this image I wanted a closer portrait of the domestic side of things and the broom and bag of leaves explain what’s happening in the image. I captured the priest as he had just stood up from picking up the bag, and is turning to walk back to the shrine, but my original intention for this image was to catch him in action brushing up the leaves. Unfortunately, I don’t think the shots were sharp enough and so I’ve included this one instead.
I think the image works well and has character, but perhaps a little more action would have been better.
Image Three
(1/60 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200, FL 154mm)
This was one of the hardest images to capture. I wanted an image of the priests at prayer, but it was impossible to get anything other that a shot from the back as I wasn’t permitted to go around and shoot from the window in front of him as he was banging the drum.
The light inside the shrine was terrible, hence the high ISO used, but I had to balance this against getting a sharp shot. The exposure was a challenge as he was in the dark, but the bright window is in front of him. In the end I spot metered off his pink kimono in order not to lose the pink colour.
Despite the above issues, I’m glad that I captured the image just as he struck the drum, and it certainly gives a good idea of what’s going on.
Image Four
(1/125 sec, f/5, ISO 4000, FL 96mm)
Again a difficult image to capture due to the darkness inside the shrine. I couldn’t use a tripod where I was, so I had to use an ISO of 4000 to get a fast enough shutter speed to get a hand held shot. As a result the image is very noisy, but it still works as intended; to show the priests at prayer. It’s just a shame that, as with the last shot, I couldn’t capture the image from the front.
Image Five
(1/3200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800, FL 50mm)
This image is probably my favourite of the set. I knew the miko would be going to stand in front of the fortune placards at some point in the morning, so I kept an eye out for it, and then managed to shoot her just as she turned, smiling, to greet some worshippers behind me. Again there is the usual hand position (clasped in front of the body), but I think the background really adds to this image and creates interest.
Perhaps this image could have been improved had a worshipper gone closer to bow, but that didn’t happen. This makes the image a little stationary, but it’s still one I like a great deal.
Image Six
(1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800, FL 90mm)
As I was walking around the shrine looking for opportunities, I spotted this lady giving an offering of sake to the miko. I risked including the lady in the image, as she seemed like a friendly type who wouldn’t have minded even she’d have seen me.
I think the image explains moment here. As a viewer, you’re not entirely sure what has happened if you view this as an individual image. When you view it in the context of the assignment theme however, it becomes a little clearer, especially when you see the next image.
Image Seven
(1/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000, FL 116mm)
Another one of my favourites; the smile, eyes looking at something out of the frame and the bottle of sake cradled in her arms all suggest something happening.
I only had a split second to get the camera up and capture this, and therefore didn’t have time to change the settings on the camera. The ISO of 1000 has created more noise than I’d have liked, but I still like the image.
Image Eight
(1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1000, FL 90mm)
This was the first time I’d seen anybody other than a priest using a haraigushi to purify themselves or another person, and I quickly raised my camera to capture the two ladies in action. The light, even outside, was pretty awful due to the thunder clouds that were threatening to pour down any moment, so again I used a fairly high ISO.
As with the priests at prayer, this was the only angle I could capture this shot from, and it would have been better from the front had that been possible. Having said that, shooting from behind allows us to see more of the background shrine and donation box which help add a little interest to the scene.
Image Nine
(1/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800, FL 208mm)
This was a difficult image to take. Obviously, a more frontal angle would have provided a better image, but that would have put me in her line of sight, and I didn’t want to intrude anymore than necessary. She was deep in prayer, and had she seen me, that would have stopped and the moment would have been lost.
Image Ten
(1/200 sec, f/4, ISO 800, FL 50mm)
This image is another one of my favourites from the assignment. I’d been waiting to capture one of the miko inside the little gift shop to show a different side of their duties and introduce a new location. I wanted to capture some of the items on sale at the shop, as well as catching the miko at work, (in this image she’s making a gift bag for a child).
I think this image works well at showing some activity and context. Placing the miko on the right of the frame may have been better, but there wasn’t enough of the shop on the left of the frame to do that, and I would have had to go for a closer up portrait, therefore losing some of the interesting shop items.
Image Eleven
(1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000, FL 154mm)
At first, I was a little undecided whether to include this image or nor, but I decided that it showed the activities of the miko well, despite being taken from slightly behind. I don’t think the lack of eye contact is a problem, as her eye line directs us down to her hands, where she is putting something in a envelope (again making a gift bag for a child).
This image was taken through the open side door of the gift shop, so moving more to my left and capturing more of her face wasn’t an option as the door frame would have filled most of the frame.
Image Twelve
(1/160 sec, f/4, ISO 400. FL 65mm)
When I was taking this shot, I had to decide whether to go closer or include more of the surroundings. In the end, I took both compositions, but chose this one as I wanted to show the rope above the priest’s head.
On my previous visits to the shrine, I’d noticed that this priest often took up this position at the end of the worshipping day to bid farewell to guests. I had to be quick as he looked pretty tired, and I didn’t want to outstay my welcome, but I wanted an image taken at the end of the working day to finish the set off.
The light from camera left is pretty harsh, and I’d been hoping for a softer, orange light at the end of the day, but I hope it’s not too distracting.
My Thoughts
In this assignment, I took myself back to one of my first interests in photography, and one which I wanted to continue to develop following on from TAOP. Trying to document daily life at the shrine was fairly hard to do in approximately ten images, but I hope I managed to do that with reasonable success.
I really enjoyed doing this assignment as I could inject my own interests into it, and also use it to further my future work. I also got myself known at the shrine, and this will undoubtedly come in handy in the future.
The idea to try and produce a style of narrative which could be used in a photo book came later in the thinking process, and I’m a little apprehensive as to how it will be viewed without the context of a larger piece of work to back it up, but I wanted to try it out, despite my non-existent design skills.
My People and Place Learning Log 
I like the simple structure of the PDF – just enough information for me to understand what was happening. I guess it’s possible to create a more elaborate book in due course – maybe with traditional binding and materials as the cover. If you continue with this theme as you travel through P&P then it will be a wonderful book.
Hi Catherine,
Thanks for the comment. I hope you found it interesting. It’s a theme I’d like to continue with through P&P, but am as yet unsure how to link it all together. I’d certainly like to produce a more elaborate book in the future, and it would be interesting to see how many of these images I’d actually use. I find it an interesting area, but am fully aware that others may not.
Eddy’s work provides an example of how it’s possible to link.
I think that what’s important is that it’s your area of interest and something you want to explore. Your interest shines through and I’m sure it will inform the viewer’s perceptions of it as well.
Thanks Catherine, on a larger level my interests are in the cultural aspects of living in Japan. I should be able to find a way to link assignments, but I don’t want them to all look the same.
I’m coming into section three now, and it looks really challenging, but interesting. It’s going to take a lot of reading for me to get my head around what’s needed !