When assigned to do our photography challenge, one of the portraits we had to take was a portrait of a policeman. When first given this task, we thought that it would be a hard picture to achieve as we assumed that there were either going to be no policemen around or that most policemen would not want to consent to having their picture taken, especially if they were on duty, additionally, we just assumed that overall, policemen would be intimidating.
However, this picture was one of the first pictures we took on that day. We approached him while he was busy interviewing some workers in a Kebab shop and we waited for him outside until he was done, we then quickly asked if we could get a picture of him a college project. When he exited the shop he was holding a contained knife in a protective casing. Already at this point we thought that he did not want to be bothered. But, when we asked him, he was very much the opposite of what we were expecting. He was very friendly and welcoming and let us take his picture, he even made conversation with us by asking what type of camera we were using and informing us he also has a similar camera to the one that we were using.
This was very shocking to us based on our assumptions beforehand, this shows the problem with stereotyping before you really meet someone of a certain profession. In my opinion, this picture represents happiness and someone who is happy in their job. This picture definitely does not come off as intimidating and connotes that strong authoritative figures being are scary and intimidating is simply not true. They are just normal human beings living and working in society like everyone else, therefore, why should they be stripped of their personality? Their job is just a bit more complicated and gives them more authority over other citizens if they are breaking the law.
We took this picture as a portrait as it gives more personality to the shot. It shows who we are taking a picture of and almost what type of person they are. It seems that when people are talking about policemen, they focus on the fact that they find people and lock them up, however what people forget to mention is that policemen help us on a daily basis, without them, the country would be a very unsafe place. They help people get the justice they deserve and find the people who cause problems, misery and pain to a lot of families.
The stereotype surrounding policemen and just stereotypes in general can prove to be very unfair and all round unnecessary.
When editing this picture, I ensured that I brought out the warm tones, by firstly picking a filter that had autumn tones to it. I then adjusted the tint and made it orange; I think that this makes the picture more natural and inviting to the audience.
When people look at this picture, I hope for them to see someone beyond the police work uniform and someone who is naturally friendly and helpful, instead of making any stereotypical assumptions.
Akira's Media Blog 