A comfortable situation - planning

I try where possible to take photographs which have some use or interest in themselves, even though my main motive for taking them is to complete this course.

I am hoping that the photographs that I take during this course will contribute to a photo-essay on the lines of the book "Jakarta Inside Out" by Daniel Ziv. This was published towards the end of our time in Jakarta and it impressed me as a great way to portray the daily life of a city. Daniel Ziv in turn confesses that his book imitates an earlier book called "City of Glass: Douglas Coupland's Vancouver". I have ordered Douglas Coupland's book which should be delivered in the next week or so.

As written on the dust jacket, Jakarta Inside Out is "a no-nonsense, humorous, contemporary snapshot of a 21st century Southeast Asian city bursting at the seams.....of ordinary people in their urban landscape, of culture and pop-culture." Each topic is set out on a double page, most of which is used for a single photograph illustrating the topic. The rest of the space contains some text about the topic. There are more double page spreads every 4 or 5 topics. People feature in almost every photograph: the powerful, the poor, the happy and the sad.

Whilst Guildford does not have the vibrancy and excitement of Jakarta, I feel that there are enough events and characters in the town to make an interesting narrative.

• There is the daily life of the town centre, weekly markets, a variety of sports from ice hockey to lawn bowls, a university, various theaters and clubs. There are also various events during the year, including Surrey County Show and Guilfest Music Festival.
• There are many books with contemporary or historic pictures of Guildford, but these focus on the fabric of the town not its inhabitants. There is little material showing the daily lives of Guildford people.
• Local photographers interested in street photography generally go to the well known locations in London, such as Trafalgar Square, South Bank, Brick Lane etc. As I live close to Guildford town centre, photography here will be far more convenient than traveling up to Central London.

Last Saturday morning, Guildford was one of the few towns holding a Public Proclamation of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The High Sheriff, Lord Lieutenant and Mayor and various dignitaries processed from the Guildhall to the steps of Holy Trinity Church where the Proclamation was made. I thought that this would be a suitable event to take some candid portraits.