To help decide what I wanted to do for this last assignment, I spent some time looking at online photo essays e.g. http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com ; at some of the Guardian audio slideshows ( Neil Hall's photo of fog collecting in Chile - an example of not needing captions to explain the images) and the daily photos displayed in the online editions of the Times and Guardian websites plus some of the Guardian audio slideshows ( Neil Hall's photo of fog collecting in Chile - an example of not necessarily needing captions to explain the images. I also checked out the Foto 8 website ( www.foto8.com ) where I found Yanina Sherchenko's 'Being Strong' .amongst a number of photo stories ... I wanted to get a feel of what worked for the 'viewer' who came to the subject with little or no idea about it. How did the selection and composition within the images help address that; did the image satisfy or pose further questions? ; did the images need captions or even text to help explain the content or purpose of the 'essay'? At the same time, I mulled over possible subjects. I was drawn to capturing an event rather than a process or self contained task although this would bring the particular challenge of maybe having only one go at taking the photographs ( so vulnerable to weather and activities not under my control ). My experience of taking photographs at the Portsmouth International Kite Festival taught me that even having experience of the event from previous years only helps so far in that you roughly know what to expect in terms of location / layout / type of activities.
That said, I decided to go for a story based on the Pride Parades that are held over the summer each year in different parts of Britain. The reason for this was partly the fun I had in July watching the World Pride Parade held in London and taking photographs to capture the atmosphere and meaning behind the march but also the challenge of taking photographs that have to be taken with little or no time to 'stage manage' the shot. Thinking about this subject further I decided to concentrate on one Pride Event and chose the Brighton and Hove Pride Parade and Park Event as being local enough to reach easily and earlier enough (i.e. before the Parade started so I could capture the assembling aspect of it ) and having local knowledge of the city itself from living just along the coast for many years.
When I started to research the event I found the Pride Brighton & Hove website which not only gave the route and useful background to this year's parade but also details of the Park Event which is where the parade ends up This event was obviously a significant part of the day so I decided to cover both parade and park event. I also checked out local newspapers for references to the parade. This led me to realise that the parade was celebrating 20 years suggetsing that I research its history on internet. I found a useful series of articles on www.brightonourstory.co.uk which led me to think about what I wanted to bring out in my images of the day. The parade has obviously become a huge event for the city over the years ( more than 100,000 people watching the parade last year ) and I felt it would be interesting to see how people responded to the parade from the point of view of being spectators as well as capture what it would like for those participating. This would mean walking the Parade route as it progressed along so that I could see the kerbside spectators from the point of view of a participant as well as being there as people assembled on the seafront for the start of the parade.Bearing this in mind I decided not to take a tripod so that I could move around quickly to take any photo opportunity that might present it self. I anticipated the Park Event would be easier than the parade as it had a fixed location and offered the attraction of entertainment e.g.music in the Calabash Tent and Legends Cabaret Tent, the Fun Fair and market stalls in the Community Village.
In addition, I researched the symbolism and significance of the rainbow flag which I anticipated would be in evidence on the day if the World Pride march was anything to go by.
So, at this stage I had a rough idea of what I was particularly looking for to illustrate / tell the story of the 2012 Brighton & Hove Pride Parade and Event as it unfolded en route from the seafront starting point to the end at Preston Park, host to the 'Pride Event.
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