Reflection on Assignment 4

Love Albert Road - worth a visit?

What did I set out to achieve with this assignment?

To outsiders, Albert Road is often portrayed as a place well worth visiting when in Southsea – described by some as ‘exciting, Bohemian, contemporary, highly diverse and unique to Portsmouth. Certainly not many roads can have had their own Facebook page.

But is this the reality? I wanted to convey what Albert Road is like today ..why would you want to visit and what would you find there? 

I set out to visit  Albert Road on a number of occasions spending approximately two hours each time on different days of the week including the day of  the Daisy Chain Festival. I reckoned that this would provide a number of varied opportunities to capture a sense of place – to show the character of the place and the people who live, work and visit the road.

How I see the essential character of Albert Road

I visited Albert Road on a number of occasions spending approx. two hours each time on different days of the week including the day of  the Daisy Chain Festival. 

To my mind Albert Road is a real mix of the Bohemian ( albeit low key )and everyday which seems to work well for both the occasional and purposeful visitor. The ‘street art’ offers  a variety of visual treats amongst a range of independent shops that both mirror the old style high street, the more trendy  bric a brac / clothing emporiums and eateries. Though quiet during the week, it does have a community feel which really seems comes to life at the weekend; and when the weather is sunny allowing people and shops to spill out on to the pavements.

Did I succeed?

P995 F5.6 @ 1/640  18mm  ISO 100

Only partly, I suspect, as I found it difficult at the end of the day to include as wide a variety of scale as I would have liked.

I would have liked to take a shot from higher up that a first floor terrace and had the tower of the Methodist church in mind only to discover the top windows were all blocked up.





I did manage to capture the use of space and the people that make up Albert Road. And I was also pleased at the response when asking people if I could take their picture which gave me some good portraits.

Any lost opportunities?

I missed one photo opportunity at the tailor shop which I couldn’t realise at a later date. When I called in, I came across a political discussion between a local councillor and a previous local election candidate sat together in front of the counter..I only managed to capture the tailor’s side of the conversation ..though animated it would have been better if I had been able to capture both sides of the conversation…These debates were obviously something which happened every now and then when the councillor popped in but not so  regular a fixture that I could manage to coincide with them.

Another lost opportunity was Albert Road by night - a problem of timing. Apparently when the university students are back the whole night scene changes. It would have been good to have been able to see whether that would have thrown up a different take on things…. 

How might I have approached the assignment with no end-result in mind?

I would have tried to embed myself over a period of time within the Albert Road community much like Chris Killip did for his work ‘What Happened –Great Britain 1970 -1990 at LE  BAL, Paris ( 12 May – 19 August 2012 ). He spent several months immersed in several communities, documenting the disintegration of the industrial past with a poetic and highly personal point of view. 

While I managed to strike up a very interesting conversation with one trader  

( on the last day that she was trading ),talked my way onto another trader’s sun terrace above her shop and into a tattoo emporium, with a little more time I think I could have developed a more personal and in depth approach to the ‘trading’ activities within the road and how they contribute to the unique visitor experience. I would also been able to take more advantage of the real community activities that happen in the Road from time to time.