Week 1:

This week was a good introduction to the module and gave a nice overview of the sort of standards expected of us. It was great to see examples of past students work, and to hear what sort of marks that they received so I now know more about what I have to make in order to get the grade I like (a first).

The task that was given to us was a little harder than expected as Zach Shepherd and I originally struggled to find anyone that was willing to speak to us. We went to Kirkgate Market as they have a selection of food and clothing stalls that could have appealed as a story. After trying a few stands such as the volunteer booth and the flower shop and getting rejections, we set out to find another story as this wasn’t working. Instead we changed our focus to the new student accommodation that was being built next to the Merrion Centre and asked a few students on the street their thoughts. This time, we were successful in getting someone to speak to us and have been able to write an article on this.

I am now intrigued as to how I can develop my photography skills across this module and look forward to seeing progress in my interviewing skills too.

Week 2

The second week saw us do research into different types of photography and into the specific ones that interest us. For me, sports photography is the one that interests me so it is where I focused my research. In doing this, I have found out how it has developed since its inception and how different technologies and techniques have made the difference and gotten involved. This will help for when it comes to me taking photos for my article as I will be better versed in how the professionals do it.

I found conducting this research really interesting and it is something that I think will become more and more useful as I get more into the making of my final article. It has been great to learn more about how people have captured sports in photos and also how innovative some photographers have been.

Week 3

This week we reviewed the research that we conducted last week to explain to other people about our findings. This was also helpful when trying to better understand what others had found in their own research.

Seeing everyone’s findings has given me a better understanding of what photography is like as an art and highlighted techniques I hadn’t previously heard of before. It was also good to share what I had found as it made sure I had done my research properly and understood what I was talking about.

We also researched other images to find ones that fit certain criteria. For example, images that have disputed meanings, images that affect the story depending on perspective, and images that were scripted.

This task was very effective at understanding the emotion and motives behind photography and got me critically thinking about images in ways that I otherwise wouldn’t have. I did struggle to apply this to sports images which is a slight issue as that is more of my focus with photography. I was able to so this with other types of images I found in the news but if I can apply this the of thinking and find sports images that work then I will be happy with ym development and progress.

Week 4

This week was great at understanding how to better use my phones camera since I don’t currently own a proper one. The workshop mostly looked at f-stop and focusing on objects within images.

The task had us take three images of a person using different f-stops, high, medium and low. This creates more of a blur on background objects when on low and less when on high. This will a great technique for when I am trying to get higher quality images for my article at the end of the module.

We also had an extra credit task to complete if we chose to do so. This involved taking two photos indoors using three objects. The first had to have all objects in focus and the second had to contain only the closest object in focus. This was useful in demonstrating depth of field and how to selectively focus on certain things of our choice.

Week 5

This week we learnt about the effects of different shutter speeds and ISO when taking photographs. It was really interesting to find out about how ISO can be used to improve the brightness of photos in different lighting. I also enjoyed finding out about how to effectively use different shutter speeds depending on what I wanted to achieve in my final photograph.

Phone cameras don’t actually have shutters so cannot truly carry out different types of shutter speeds. However, they can somewhat replicate the same results as we found out in this weeks lecture. When using the burst feature, you can imitate a faster shutter speed and capture clear images. Then when using the Live Photo feature, if you convert captured images into long exposure ones, it copies the same sort of idea as using a slow shutter speed.

The task this week involved taking two different types of photographs, one with a high shutter speed attempting to capture someone jumping with minimal blur and one with a low shutter speed capturing motion in an image.

Using other members of the class, I was successfully able to use the burst feature to capture a clear jumping image. Then following this I used the Live Photo feature to capture motion in an image where the model shook their head back and forth, creating an interesting result.

This week was interesting to learn techniques on my phone camera that, although I already knew about, I had little knowledge of.

Week 6

This week, we focused on how to edit photos using different editing softwares such as Photoshop and Snapseed. Photoshop is the superior software, however when using a phone to do editing, Snapped is a fantastic alternative.

Today’s lecture saw us look into the appropriate image size for online (1920px) and how to change photos appearances to make them more appealing to people and to be more suitable to be published.

I took two images, one from my project and another from last week’s lecture on shutter speed. I chose them as I felt that they were both a little dark and not focusing on the subject enough. This led me to make similar changes to both images but they were effective once applied.

I increased the brightness, increased the vibrance and then cropped the images to create more of a focus on the subjects and to remove unnecessary space and objects that somewhat cluttered the image. This improved them both as it made them more visually appealing and they looked much more publishable due to being more interesting to look at.

I now feel much better at editing photographs in post production and am more confident in the quality of work I can produce.

Week 7

This week we took a look at the differences between RAW photo files and JPEGs. I was previously unaware about how different the two formats were but soon realised that there were positives and negatives to using both types.

JPEG’s are more suitable for using on social media and web pages due to there small size but since they can be up to five times, it has up to five times less image data than a RAW image. RAW images are better in other ways however as they provide great image quality and capture more information. This makes them easier to fix in post production when editing as they have more data to work with, giving them a wider colour and tonal range. With more data comes a larger file size however, so they will take up more space on a SD card.

Knowing these differences will benefit me in the future as I will be able to select the format type I need that best suits the scenario I am in. I will however need a suitable device to shoot RAW photos on as they can only be shot on proper cameras or iPhone Pro Max’s above the iPhone 13.

We also spent the workshop learning about cropping images, this was good to learn the proper ratio that images should be published at. It is also important as we can edit photos taken in portrait and make them into landscape instead as this is a much better format for online publication.

Perspective cropping is also useful if images can’t be taken from straight forward. Being able to make adjustments in post production is beneficial if I can’t get the photo I want when taking it.

Week 8

This week we took a look at how to use different perspectives to change to style and meaning behind images. It was interesting to see how taking shots from higher or lower can alter how a photo can be used and can be interpreted, sometimes making it more abstract.

Another type of perspective we looked at was the differences between close up shots and shots from distance using telescopic lenses. These are both useful in different capacities and are used depending on access to the subject.

Visual subterfuges are also intriguing as they can help tell stories in a different light to how a more simple straightforward photo would. Reflections in bodies of water, windows and mirrors are creative ways to do this.

Following difficulties communicating with Keighley Cougars, I have made a change in the story that I will be covering and writing about for my article. I have moved onto Halifax FC Women and how their manager Rob Mitchell will be leaving the club after managing them since 2013. I will take a look at his impact on the team, players and coaches too and see how they feel about his departure and what he has done for the club.

My plan is to go to their training session on Tuesday 18th March and get some interviews and photos of the players and coaches in action. Then I will follow this up by attending their game against Liverpool Feds on Sunday 23rd March to get some more shots of the team and coaches in a live game environment.

Week 9:

This week I was able to capture some photos on the 23rd March for Halifax’s match vs Liverpool Feds. I rented a Canon EOS 4000D camera out from the library which was extremely useful and much better than my phone camera, especially for live sport. The shutter speed and focus was highly useful for fast paced action and getting attractive photos.

I was also successful in getting an interview with the manager Rob Mitchell, who my story is based around. He gave some interesting quotes that I can include in my article.

I am now in the process of narrowing down the photos that I like and don’t so that I can select the final 8-12 that will make it into the finished piece. I have accomplished some of this as I have selected 13 that I currently like. Since they were RAW photos, I have been able to effectively edit and crop these in photoshop, making them ready for publishing.

I am, however, also going to be going to a training session on Tuesday the 25th March where I will gather some more photos and interviews. I will attempt to get some staged shots as well in order to break up the natural and action shots that I have been able to collate so far.

Week 10

This week I was successful in capturing a staged headshot of manager Rob Mitchell at the training session, which will be great to break up the other shots I have gathered. However, the Assistant Manager Kevin Heetun did not turn up to the training session as he said he would, meaning I was unsuccessful in gathering more photos and interviews like I had intended to do. Additionally, the players that I needed to interview (Danielle Whitham and Annabelle Cass) did not turn up.

This has caused a delay in the production of my piece and I am now in the process of trying to rearrange a time and a place to meet Kevin Heetun and the players in order to carry on with my article.

Other than this, I have been able to narrow down my photos that I will use to tell my story best, leaving room for more staged photos from players and the Assistant Manager too. I will also look into seeing if there are any fan groups that exist for the team to try and get comments of their thoughts on Rob Mitchell’s departure. This, however, will likely prove difficult as the team isn’t very big and lacks a big fan base.

Week 11

I have been unable to make a lot of progress this week as I haven’t yet been able to see any of the players or assistant manager yet. Although, I have arranged to speak with Kev on Thursday 10th April at a training session so I will hopefully be able to gather some more content there such as staged shots and interviews.

I have had a look around on Facebook as it is Halifax’s main social platform and they don’t appear to have any fan groups or ultra supporters that would be able to provide a comment on Mitchell’s departure from the team. I think that I will have to move on without adding this into my article.

I am hoping to get the final pieces of my content at the training session so that I can work towards finalising my article and having the time to polish it off before submission.

Week 12

I have now been able to gather the content that I required for my piece. It wasn’t all able to be captured at the training session on the 10th though as the players that I needed to speak with weren’t there. I did speak to Kevin and gather photos of him to use which I was very happy with. Following up from the interview however, I did arrange to attend their match on the 13th April at the Horsfall Stadium in order to speak with the players.

I was able to interview both of the players and gather photos of them which will massively boost the quality of my article. It has been difficult to speak to the right players about my article as most of the players that knew Rob had left at the start of the season, so there were only a couple that had stayed and could provide a proper comment on Rob before him leaving.

Having captured some more photos, I have edited them in a similar way to how I have already edited other photos that I have, increasing things such as contrast, saturation and vibrance.

I am now satisfied with the content that I have gathered and I am working towards finishing my article. I am however going to the Universities Rugby Union trip to Los Angeles on the as a part of the media team, so I am trying to complete this whilst working around the trip. Since it runs from the 17th to the 28th April, I will have to balance my time very well in order to complete all of my work before the deadlines.

Week 13

I have now returned from the Los Angeles trip and am working on the final article. I am currently incorporating quotes from the interviews that I conducted to best tell the narrative I want to convey.

I have a few more days to polish things off before the deadline, so I feel confident I will hit my deadlines. My main priorities in the remaining days are to ensure that the article is grammatically correct and that the story I am telling reads and flows well. I believe that I am on track to finish everything and also write an effective story that I can tell with the photos I have captured.

After 12 years of managing Halifax FC Women, manager Rob Mitchell has taken the decision to step down from his position. The journey he has had over his time in charge has been full of many ups and downs, but there is no doubt that the impact he has had on the club is overwhelmingly positive.

His tenure has had many successes such as taking the club from tier six to tier three of the women’s football pyramid, alongside winning multiple pieces of silverware and having memorable cup runs too.

The decision to leave wasn’t an easy one for Mitchell, but a multitude of factors came into play that made up his mind.

“We compete against teams who’ve got resources and finances. I just think as a club, it needs to go in a different direction now,” said Mitchell. “I think my own personal aspirations of trying to coach or manage at an elite level feel the longer that I’ve stayed at one club it shows loyalty but at the same time it probably shows safety.”

Looking towards the future, Mitchell is leaving his options open to multiple different pathways that could allow him to achieve his management career goals.

He said, “I think I’ve worked tirelessly over 12 years to try and ensure that we’ve got a team and club, and I’ll continue to do that wherever I go next, whether that’s at another club or another project or however that looks.”

For the next step of his managerial career, he stated that he would move to another club to be a number two or even a first team partner. His ultimate goal is to go to any club that’s got aspirations of progressing and going even higher. 

Since officially announcing his departure though, Mitchell has stated that he believes he should have left the club at the end of last year. His reasoning for staying on was due to circumstances occurring after the conclusion of the 23/24 season.

“We lost nearly every player for various reasons so I felt obliged to stay and help the club rebuild and be in a position where they can complete this season, and to give enough notice to bring someone else (another manager) in,” said Mitchell.

Because the side had lost so many crucial players, it set up a difficult year for the Eagles. A lack of foundations coming into this season has meant that results and points have been hard to come by for Mitchell and his players.

This season Halifax accumulated a total of seven points after 22 games and are sat in 11th place. For context, after 22 games last season they were on 31 points and in sixth, 22 points clear of the relegation zone where they have now finished.

Mitchell said, “This is the first season where we’ve suffered adversity to the point where we’re facing relegation. Before we have suffered adversity and we’ve come back even stronger. It’s been tough.”

The club are set to be relegated as they have finished the season sitting in the bottom two. They have had little to celebrate all year as they have lost 19 games and have accumulated a minus 73 goal difference in the process.

One of the results that summed up the type of season Halifax have had was their 2-1 loss at home to Liverpool Feds. They took the lead early on but the game was level by half time, and then they conceded in the last few minutes to lose the match. It was extremely disappointing for everyone involved with Halifax as despite having a performance worthy of a positive result, they got nothing from the game.

On a more positive note, however, before Mitchell leaves the club have the chance to win one last piece of silverware under his management.

Halifax have reached County Cup final in May, where they will face off against Leeds United after beating Harrogate Town in the semis. If they go that one step further and win the competition, they would have won it an impressive five times in a row and for a second time under the name Halifax FC Women, following their rebrand from Brighouse Town in 2023.

The County Cup has been a favourite competition of Mitchell’s during his tenure, with the first one he won being a particularly memorable one for him.

“I always say that the first County Cup we won, it was a big moment because it was something that I always wanted to achieve as a young manager when we first started out,” said Mitchell. 

Halifax have a recent history with Leeds United in cup competitions after they faced off in the League Cup in 2023. The match was very eventful and heated, ending 4-3 to Halifax, leaving a close match-up in the final a likely outcome.

Another layer of complexion to this fixture is that many of the Halifax players who left at the end of last season such as the previous captain Shauna Legge, twins Darcie and Drew Greene and midfielder Ellie White now play for Leeds. Alongside this, Halifax midfielder Danielle Whitham has also made moves between the two clubs in the past, creating further connections between the sides.

Having worked with Mitchell for many years, Assistant Manager Kevin Heetun knows Mitchell will be a real loss to the club once he leaves at the end of the season.

“When we talk about people defining a club in terms of DNA and identity, I think his fingerprint on the club is massive … he’s really put his heart into the club,” said Heetun.

Mitchell has also had a large impact on Heetun’s career as well, providing him with the opportunity to coach professionally.

“I will be forever grateful for him because he gave me a chance in the National League,” said Heetun.

This impact he’s had on the club is hard to ignore, with achievements such as winning League titles and even achieving unbeaten seasons also being part of his legacy.

Despite being the one to have shaped the modern history of the club, Mitchell wasn’t always the manager that he is today. When looking back on his time when he started, he feels that there is a big difference between that and what he is like as a manager now.

Reflecting on those earlier years, Mitchell felt he was quite “naive” and “inexperienced,” believing he couldn’t give the players the level of coaching they deserved.

“Now obviously I’m doing coaching badges and qualifications and CPD (Continuing Professional Development). So I’ve got to a level where I can maybe deliver the messages a little bit better. I’ve still got a long way to go, I’m learning,” said Mitchell.

Although Mitchell still believes he has room to grow as a manager, he is massively appreciated by current players such as defender Anabelle Cass. She has spent a significant amount of time under Mitchell and spoke about him in high regard.

She said, “He’s an overall lovely person. He’s very kind and he’s all about football. He puts his heart and soul into it.”

Whitham, a player who has also had a notable amount of time being coached by Mitchell, praised him highly too. She made a point to emphasise his passion for the game and expectations he has for his players.

“He’s got high standards. And I have some high standards, too. People think he’s hard work, refs in particular, but he’s just passionate,” she said.

Mitchell is also lauded for the connections he builds with players on a more individual level, with Whitham highlighting this side to his management style too.

“I’ve always had a really good relationship with Rob. I think he knows what he gets from me, and I know what I get from him,” she said, “and as long as you understand that from each other you get along.”

It’s not just gratitude and praise that the departing Halifax manager gets though, with him receiving a high level of admiration too. Heetun especially applauded Mitchell’s ability to manage the club with such a low financial power in comparison to other teams.

“Early in the game he realised that if he had the right environment, despite not having a big budget or anything, he would be able to attract the right players and build (a team) and compete in the league,” he said.

The most impressive side to these achievements is how they have been competing without having the same sort of financial powers that other clubs have. Also, with the club not having a large standing in the game, alongside its rebrand, it hasn’t got the same stature or pull that others might have.

This is arguably one of the best accomplishments he has managed during his time in charge. Having the ability to compete without having the same sort of finances or standing in the game has been one of the biggest challenges he has faced.

Mitchell said, “It speaks volumes and it speaks for itself. How do you take a team from that low (in the divisions) without a name or a backing or a brand or a badge? Doing what we’ve done consistently year after year as a collective, not just me, everyone who’s been involved, the players, the people behind the scenes, the staff, the supporters, it’s incredible.”

Looking at the overall impact he had on the club throughout his tenure, Cass could not have held him in higher regard.

She said, “His legacy will last forever, I don’t think he’ll ever be forgotten at the club. He’s a through and through from Brighouse right to Halifax. He can’t be beaten in my eyes, nobody can take over from Rob. Whoever comes in has got some big boots to fill.”

When taking a look towards the final games of the season, Mitchell was hopeful to end his tenure positively despite the disappointment of relegation.

“That is our objective … finish off with a cup win,” said Mitchell.

With Halifax likely losing their place in tier three bar any late reprieves, it’s possible that additional players leave at the end of the season. Wherever they end up, if that’s remaining at Halifax or elsewhere, Mitchell hopes that they will all go on to achieve greatness in their future careers.

He said, “Hopefully they look back at me as one of their favourite coaches, best coaches, whatever you want to look at it, but with fondness I suppose. That I helped them develop and gave them opportunity on their journey to be, say, pros or (go) as high as they possibly can.”

The club have already started looking for a new manager to replace Mitchell and, with the application window having closed on the 31st March, they will already be well into the selection process.

With next season’s head coach of Halifax being still unknown, Mitchell left a message for any successor coming into the club. He spoke of the importance of falling in love with the project and for the need to continue to lay foundations and build on the ones that are left behind.

Mitchell said, “I think just enjoy the ride and understand that you’re probably not going to get rich coaching Halifax, but you’re going to get richer experience and you’re going to get rich with the people that you meet, it’s more of a family club.”

Whether the new manager will be able to reach the same heights as Mitchell is unknown, but it will definitely be one of the most interesting story lines to follow going into next season.

With Mitchell’s future also being undecided, for the time being he will continue to work with Halifax FC girls and carry on helping their development.

These photos were able to be captured on the 23rd March for Halifax FC Women’s match vs Liverpool Feds. It was a very successful day as I had a long process to narrow it down to these 13. I feel that I have a variety of shots that encapsulates different aspects and emotions that occurred during the game.

I believe that I can tell a story with these images and that they can partner well with the angle that I am going to take.

I will also be gathering more photos at a training session on Tuesday the 25th March, where I will ideally get more interviews and some staged photos too. Staged photos will provide a nice contrast to the natural and action shots that I have already got.

This image has used a low F stop which I achieved on my phone by adjusting the f-stop slider setting. This really softens and blurs the images in the background in a fairly harsh manner. It creates much more attention on Jack in the foreground and emphasises the depth of field. Things in the background like the Rob Burrow mural in is not as visible and can only be recognised because I know the area whereas someone who doesn’t know it as well would fail to do so.

This has a middle F stop setting which slightly blurs the background and creates a subtle softness on anything in the background. It creates a less offensive image than the low F stop whilst also creating a focus on Jack in the foreground. The Rob Burrow in the background is much more visible compared to the first image and so are the people in the background as there is less focus on Jack.

High F stop was able to bring more items and people in the background into focus and has made the image much more clear. This has less focus on Jack in the foreground even though he is still the subject. Everything is much more visible, with it being hard to not recognise the mural for Rob Burrow and people can be clearly seen in the background.

Extra Credit

This image has all three of the objects in focus and we are able to fully see them as there is a high f-stop setting on.

This image only focuses on the chewing gum in the front as there is a low f-stop setting on. It draws much more attention to the things at the forefront of the image and leaves other things in the background more easily ignored as they are blurred out.

On the 23rd March I went out and took some practice shots at a Halifax FC Women’s game vs Liverpool Feds using a Canon EOS 4000D camera. Renting this out from the library has allowed me to capture better photos than I could on my phone. Also, it has let me get RAW photos that I could edit in more detail.

Originally, the photo was a bit more dull and also too wide of a shot. When editing this, I cropped it to a 16:9 ratio and increased things such as the vibrance and saturation which has made the image more visually appealing. I also increased the highlights and contrast as well to make the image pop a bit more.

This image was taken using a faster shutter speed that was replicated on my phone by using burst mode. Faster shutter speeds are able to capture moments in time and reduces blur on images. By taking photos in this way, all objects in the image are in a sharp focus and we can see more details. They are able to show more of reality and are more often used journalistically compared to low shutter speeds.

This image was taken using a low shutter speed that was replicated by using the Live Photo mode on my phone. This increases the blur of an image and is able to show motion in a picture. These types of photos show less detail and objects are usually out of focus if they are in motion. They are often used more artistically than faster shutter speed photos.

Research:

Faster shutter speeds capture snapshots of a moment, this results in the freezing of motion and creates sharp images of fast-moving objects.

Slower shutter speeds allow more light in, creating motion blur as the camera captures the movement of the subject over time. 

Interestingly, by speeding up a camera shutter speeds to incredibly fast rates such as a trillionth of a second, it allows for the study of phenomena at the atomic level.

There are different types of techniques that use different shutter speeds and have different effects.

• Panning: This involves the tracking of a moving subject with a slower shutter speed such as 1/30s. By doing this, the subject will remain relatively sharp but the background will blur, leading to the motion of the subject being emphasised
• Light Trails: This uses long exposures over several seconds and is done at night to capture light trails from cars. This ends up resulting in dynamic elements being added to urban photography
• Freeze Action: This requires a high-speed setting such as 1/2000s and captures crisp details of rapid activities such as a bird in flying or an athlete jumping in midair

Cropping this image makes it more appropriate for online publication and creates more of a focus on the subject.

This is a demonstration of using perspective crop and is useful as it is able to straighten an image that was taken at an angle. Sometimes images can’t be captured in the way we want them so having access to tools like these in post production is very important to allowing us to make images as we would like them to be.

The second image has been cropped to 16:9 ratio which is more appropriate for online publication.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get access to the type of photography I want to take (live sport) so I used a model I have in my house for now to practice. To capture this image, I used the Canon 750D in sport mode, which helps to rapidly capture images and also creates a nice focus on the subject by using a medium to high f-stop. To improve the image, I increased the brightness, contrast, saturation, ambiance, highlights and warmth as they all made the picture more vibrant. I also cropped the image to be 1920 x 1080 pixels to ensure that it was suitable for online publishing.

The software I used to edit this was Snapseed to practice editing on my phone. In future, I need to make sure photoshop works on my laptop so that this isn’t my only option.

There weren’t any inherent problems with the image, it was just a positive that I was able to make it more visually appealing and less bland than the raw photo.