In my new weekly blog I will give you some inside information explaining how I shot some of my best pictures. The plan is that these posts will help you and inspire you to get out there working on your street photography!
David Cameron pig pinata during demonstration outside Downing Street. Copyright: Mike Kemp
In this situation, the job was to tell the whole story in one frame. That it's a demonstration, the location, and the fact that anti Cameron sentiment was at the heart of this protest.
Compositionally the figure is framed centrally while giving space to show the protesters clearly without obscuring them, whilst also making sure the shape of placards was clear enough. The frame is timed to catch the face and the pig shape as it was swinging around in the wind, while being clearly framed within the confines of Downing Street, home of the Prime Minister.
Additionally I raised myself as high on tiptoes as I could go, with my camera as high up on my face as possible to gain an extra inch in height, to crop out people and other photographers who were below, whilst making sure I cropped them out from left and right too.
With cars and people walking by in a constant stream, I had to time a gap at precisely when the pinata was at the best angle. It was a busy day, and gaps were very few (you can see bottom right, there is the tail end of a car passing, but this doesn't make enough of an impact on the frame to ruin it.
So, we have timing, position, height, angle, location, and subject all coming together to make it work. Fortunately in this case it did work, and was seen by Newsweek Magazine, who ran the picture as a double page. A rare thing indeed, but it was because the picture did the job.
So, when you're out shooting, remember that many elements may need to come together for your picture to be a keeper!
Cheers, Mike.
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Fortunately in this case, the picture was spotted by Newsweek Magazine, and ran as a double page spread. That's a rare thing, but I'm sure it did so because it simply told the whole story.
Newsweek Magazine: Big Shots! News pictures of the week.