For Project Brief 3, I was paired with Steph. Steph introduced me to Wakim’s antiques or known now as just Antiques. Steph’s mum, who loves and collects antiques, helped me contact Anthony (the owner). Steph assured me that Anthony is very friendly and welcoming, she was not wrong. As soon as i crossed the very busy Nicholson street, Anthony welcomed me. Communicating with Steph was very easy but setting up a time to do the project brief together was very difficult. I had to borrow a camera from av loans and decided the weekend would be the perfect time to do so. Since I was assured by Steph about Anthony, I was confident going alone and called him the day before just to make sure saturday would be a good time.

While Anthony is the best to talk to, it was very difficult to convince him to take  photos of him. He sat down for a portrait willingly but that was all that he was willing to do. I wanted to take photos of him infront of the store and playing one of the many antique pianos, he very laughingly told me to do it myself. Photographing someone who was unwilling to co operate was interesting, as a result I was able to produce very raw images. I had utilised lynda.com and the instructor for photo essays had recommended waiting, as opportunities would present itself. It was also a slow saturday so I decided waiting around would be my best chance to take action shots. A short while later, a man walked in with his mother to sell an old piece to Anthony. The man with the big red jumper was weirded out by me and not very friendly, so I took sneaky shots of their exchange, making sure not to photograph the customers full faces, as they are not my focus in the essay. They carried the antique piece of furniture into a tiny room where Anthony inspected the piece and decided to keep it. I decided to take the photo showing the door frame, as I wanted to establish myself as the outsider to this deal and the antique store itself.

I have been looking at various works of photojournalism on lensculture and the New York times and tried to imitate what I saw, not looking at one photograph in particular. I noticed how most photojournalists try to show as much of the environment as possible, by focusing on the foreground, background and detail. I tried to do this with my environmental shots, as the antique store has many small pieces and details to it.

I also tried to utilise the mirrors, as I thought the reflections would add dimension to my photographs.

Sequencing the photo essay was easier than I thought. I sequenced the photo essay essentially the way I saw the place and how events unfolded. I walked in and took photos and then while waiting for some customer interaction, took environmental shots and more once he was making a deal and after, his success. This project Brief taught me that I am more capable than I had imagined. Although I love storytelling, I did not think I was good at telling stories without words but this brief taught me otherwise. Strangers are also nicer than I thought and I would be confident in the future to approach a stranger by myself.