Exercise 17: The user's point of view

This exercise is to consider a couple of buildings or spaces from the user's point of view.

1) The first space I wanted to consider was the Scottish Korean War Memorial. Here is the pagoda style building from the outside with Korean Pine trees in the foreground. This is a typical shot that I took last summer and include just to help set the scene:

From OCA People and Place Photos

(And see more of those shots taken for stock)

So for this exercise I revisited this familiar location to get some shots of the interior of the memorial. This presented several problems:

• Sometimes people are in there visiting in which case I did not want to intrude.
• Once inside it is very small so calls for very short focal lengths.
• The lists of names sit behind highly reflective perspex style panels.
• Firing a flash at the panels gives reflections.
• Bouncing a flash off the roof gives very little light as the roof is a very dark wood.
• The daylight at the windows and dark interior make for a range of light and dark that exceeds the cameras dynamic range.

This general view, taken at regular head height, shows the interior revealed as you step through the door (I actually needed some help in having the doors held open for me):

From OCA People and Place Photos

And then a closer shot of the wreaths, a couple of which show the Korean emblem in their centre. The shot has been taken kneeling as you would if reading the wreaths and a flash has been used to help lift the reds a little:

From OCA People and Place Photos

Some flowers and a cross that have been placed in this corner:

From OCA People and Place Photos

And a close up of the names to reveal some detail:

From OCA People and Place Photos

These entries carry a personal significance. My father was in the Korean War but survived so his name does not appear. However his comrade, Gunner Williams, was not so lucky and so upon my father's return to the UK he visited the Williams family to explain the circumstances around his death.

2) On a lighter note I decided to try a simple shot of the interior of a car. For many the preference of driving rather than public transport can be about enjoying a personal space so this is an important area for many. I had seen a car interior shot on Paul Burgess's blog and so I think this is what put it in mind.

From OCA People and Place Photos

I included my legs in the shot, really I should have also had my arms but I was holding the camera so perhaps I should have tried to get one hand on the wheel. I took this with the widest angle lens I have, at 17mm but if I had a fisheye lens I would have liked to try that.

And here are some more driver dashboard views taken earlier:

From Bo'ness

From Astbury

From Astbury