Exercise Page 18 - Writing a caption.

The text asks that I write two captions for the photograph from the previous exercise. The first should be to a general audience and the second purely about the photographic elements, as if for a photographic magazine.

The main function of the caption is to enhance the photograph, adding detail such as names, locations and other pertinent information. Captions are also used to tie the photography to the wider text in the book and to reinforce major points brought out elsewhere.

There are five questions that need to be answered, although not on every occasion and depend on the type of publication.

Who ?
What ?
Why ?
When ?
Where ?
How ?

If the photograph accompanies a news story it is essential to write the caption for readers who will not read the main text, in which case as much of the WWWWWH should be covered. The words should not be wasted and phrases such as "is pictured" or "is shown" avoided as the photograph already
serves that purpose.

The version above is suitable for an outdoor magazine and is aimed at walkers and ramblers. It fixes where the photograph was taken, and takes account of an international readership then details the specific location. The reader may be familiar with the location, in which case they will recall their own experiences and there will be those who are making plans to visit the area, in which case the caption and image acts as a marketing tool.

The version above makes no reference to its location and the caption deals specifically with image composition, the colour of the light and the diagonal line of the wall. It is likely that the image would be to illustrate are sizable amount of instructional text associated with an article on landscape photography and the various composition tools that can be employed.

References:

Photojournalism - Photography with a Purpose, Robert L Kerns, Prentice Hall International.

Assignment 0ne - Notes on Feedback

The feedback for this was mixed (very few issues technically but concern over my engagement) and there is one phrase that took my attention. "From the images you submitted I do get a sense of your neighbourhood but in quite a detached / almost brochure like way."  Although there is a hint of criticism and disapproval I am not surprised by my tutors reaction. I had taken an approach that would illustrate the area but had not explained my intentions in sufficient detail. I had concentrated on a small part of the town rather than the cliched modern townscape and the struggle to encapsulate nine square miles into 12 images. The results would have been similar to any market town in the UK, showing the result of a five year recession and the increase in urban decay. Illustrating the recession and urban decay would of course be open to interpretation and a number of metaphors are available to portray this.The intention was to show a small area in a style that reconstructed the images of Eugene Atget and his work in the old parts of Paris around 1897 - 1927. Atget's work is nowadays considered with the highest regard but at the time he was not offering his work as Art. It was commissioned by the authorities for record images prior to demolition and development and perhaps considered documentary.  His retail business was selling photographs to artists visiting Paris so that they could on their return home paint the scene he had taken. The sign above the door of his shop did not describe himself as a photographer, instead it read "Documents pour Artistes" and being curious about this Man Ray visited him one day and purchased prints and started a  small collection of work that today is kept in George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.

While considering the implications of the feedback I had time to shoot a few images much closer to home. The village has Common Land where "Commoners" have rights to graze cattle. The common is a mysterious place on the west side of the village and at the edge of the Fenland. It is a wet area that attracts mists and apart from the simplest of maintenance is generally unkempt.

Wild Wood

 

Depression 

   

Abandoned 

 

No Road #1

 

No Road #2

Conclusion

This assignment has not been easy. Following the completion of P2: Landscape I had a year away from The OCA and the result is that I have lost the rhythm and practice of academic photographic study. I have not been able to gauge the pace and the result is trying to work too quickly and get an assignment in, probably ahead of time. I am also finding myself acting too commercially in my thinking. My own business deals with time as a commodity, coupled to resources and a cost. 

My greatest hurdle is to think less literally and be less cautious. I need to experiment more with conceptual ideas and make images that are less predicable. 

Reading List

Quite a few new books and some old favorites that have well thumbed pages.

Photojournalism - Photography with a Purpose - Robert L Kerns - Prentice Hall, England c 1980
Context and Narrative - Maria Short - AVA Publishing
Behind the Image - A Fox and N Caruana - AVA Publishing
The Photography Reader - Liz Wells - Routledge
After Photography - Fred Ritchin - WW Norton and Co
Understanding a Photograph - John Berger - Penguin Books
Ways of Seeing - John Berger - Penguin Books
Photography at the Dock - Abigail Solomon-Godeau - University of Minnisota Press
Paris - Eugene Atget - Taschen
The freelance photographers market handbook 27th edition - BFP Books
Digital Stock Photography, How to shoot and sell - Michal Heron - Allworth Press
Photography A Critical Introduction - Liz Wells - Routledge
Digital capture and Workflow - Tom Lee - Amhurst Media
Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand, - Malcolm Daniel - Yale University Press

In Two Minds (Both my own)

I find myself discussing with myself all aspects of photography. This may appear a little confusing and like playing oneself at chess. An impossible pursuit as one always knows the opponents next move and will result in stalemate on every occasion. These discussions are wide ranging and move from the self doubt of why am engaging with photography to issues relating to technique, style, lack of coherent thoughts and a suspicion that I am a Luddite masquerading with a digital camera when I aught to be basing my work entirely on that of the 19th century. Atget, Strand, Weston, Edwin Smith and others all have made images within a style and genre that attract me and I have the need to make similar work. I am may of course just be caught up in the nostalgia of those times. A simpler way of life where pointing the camera at oneself was called a self portrait and society didn't consider it necessary to invent a new word (Selfie) and were content. So I know the photographers I feel an empathy with but on the other hand I feel I should be having the same feelings for 21st century street photographers and some of the so called modern masters such as Martin Parr, who for instance I find most unremarkable. This irreverence to a member of Magnum is almost heresy but I find it very difficult to engage with his work and the man ( who I have only seen on television) and maybe that will change one day. My question then is should I bother to research work that I have no connection with or to pursue it with a vengeance and make myself enjoy it. Do we have to engage with all photography ?.

Another dichotomy to deal with at the moment is the need to understand how and where PWDP is helping me with professional practice. On the one hand I fully appreciate that there is a need to apply certain academic standards and this requires a body of work that has taken 600+ hours to complete. On the other hand my experience of preparing work for customers is that the amount of time available is much less and after a simple Scope Document (maybe just an email) the work has to be performed very quickly, and by implication to a budget. I add this comment only as a note and fully realise that I will have to spend more time in the future to elaborate on (and publish here) the Ideas and Concepts that I am taking with me when working. They exist and I hope the work I make demonstrates this but without writing it down I am aware of the shortcomings.

44th Eastern Open Exhibition - Radiation Tester

The 44th Eastern Open is the largest Open competition held in the town each year and sees an entry in excess of 700, with 70 or so being selected.

The Arts Centre (Formerly The Guildhall) has three large exhibition spaces and they are all used to show the work in what is a bright airy environment complete with pop up cafe.

I went along twice. The first time I was taken aback by the diversity of the selection. Oils, acrylics, photography etc and the contrasting styles, shapes and sizes. The variation was reflected in the prices ranging from £110 to £10,000. Not being an artist in the generally accepted sense I  know little of how major items in oils or pen and ink are made but one thing was certain: this was all good quality.On this first visit I had not taken a notebook so didnt get any thoughts written down but I had noticed the work of photographer Mike Harding. As you can only enter three pieces he had done very well in getting three hung and had also won best in show and the £2000 prize.

The second visit was to take a closer look at "Radiation Tester", Mike Hardings winning photograph and another called "Mr and Mrs Williams". I have since been in contact with Mike and he has kindly allowed me to include a copy of Radiation Tester" below.

"Radiation Tester" is a 30" x 40" colour print with a simple cream matte mount and a natural wood coloured frame. The catalog doesn't say but I guess its a C type print. The image shows a simple T shaped pole with cross head in a large wilderness of unkempt grassland. Hanging from the two extremities of the cross head are two "fly catcher" like papers dangling in space.
The landscape format image is conventional in many ways. The horizon is one third up from the bottom and the T shape is almost in the centre. There is uniformity and the space around the T is perfectly sized to give the correct sense of space and scale. Even if the viewer had no knowledge of the title there is enough here to bring upon a sense of unease. There is a bleakness that is directed by the reduced gamut. The grass is a pale green, the other vegetation is dead, there is no soil only stone and the sky is an ominous grey. The use of shallow depth of field renders the distance out of focus but there is nothing to see, no buildings or fences and certainly no people or signs of where they have been. The light is flat with the overcast sky and once we read that the simple looking device is for testing radiation a coldness is felt of hidden danger.

Radiation Tester

 Copyright - Mike Harding - Salhouse - Norfolk

Conclusion

At a mixed media exhibition it was encouraging that photography had made it to the top and that is encouraging. It is without doubt that my work is currently no right for showing to selectors at such a show. Again I come back to my lack of conceptual imaging and my constant involvement with technique over content. Further reading and research will hopefully overcome this trait and allow my work to have more narrative and be conceptually braver. 

Part One - Exercise: Describe a photograph.

On page 16 we are asked to take one of our photographs and fully describe it in a few hundred words. The text should be complete with all factual information from beginning to final delivery. On the We are OCA blog recently I had positioned myself in a debate on monochrome as being less interested in colour so to balance my argument I will use a colour image.

Ashness Bridge - Cumbria 

Prior to starting on the degree pathway my photography was overtly commercial and holidays were spent looking for images that would sell or at least stand a chance of being technically correct for stock images at Alamy, a picture stock agency whose only criteria for acceptance is technical excellence. I had been to The Lake District many times in the past and on this occasion we were revisiting some of the well trodden paths and enjoying being a tourist. The road to Watendlath is almost single track and has a small pack horse bridge crossing the stream that runs down to Derwent Water. It is without doubt one of the most photographed vistas and is synonymous with the town of Keswick, Mint Cake and the Northern Lakes. I had never stopped to shoot it before but on this visit I had a new camera so thought why not. The time of year is March, the light was transient with overcast cloud then shafts of bright sunlight. It was fantastic for what I needed and with the 85mm lens, vertical frame (most of my stock is shot portrait for page formating) I moved around with the tripod dodging the three or four others doing the same so I needed patience to exclude them from my shot. 85mm on a full frame DLSR at 100 ISO and the need for full DOF resulted in 1/60 sec at f16. Nikon white balance is very reliable on auto so I saw no need to change from that and I was shooting raw files so any issues of colour casts could be dealt with in post processing. Looking through the unprocessed files now I see there are some taken with the 35mm lens but I have always favoured telephoto lenses for landscape work and this looked better for the composition. I worked at the location for about 30 minutes not varying the viewpoint very much as I knew I wanted the classic Ashness Bridge image, Skiddaw in the background, a hint of Derwent Water and the town of Keswick. The landscape needed scale and when the walkers came along and stopped to look at their map the composition was complete. I knew that all I had done was repeat an image although the light, figures on road etc would be unique.Post Processing for this image was minimal. Capture sharpening applied using the Photokit plugin for Photoshop reduces the softness inherent with the anti alias filter just above the sensor. No cropping as the focal length and viewpoint filled the frame perfectly. The open areas of tone were checked for dust and removal with the clone tool. I cleaned up the image using Selective Colour, paying attention to the white and neutral channels. To make an image "pop" I use 20,60,4 of USM to enhace contrast. There is no output sharpening for Alamy as the client's final output will vary and the USM required for different printing techniques and final size is not known at this stage. An Alamy client bought the image for a whole page illustration in a book with 25,000 print run so the time spent had been worthwhile. It is not fine art but it is an acceptable illustration of a location in Cumbria.

Edit: My tutor has made the remark " When asked to describe a photograph I thought it was a shame that you chose a commercial / technical frame." I agree that it is a commercially driven image, taken with an A4 page in mind and having some dark space at the top where text could be layered. I will add another image in a later posting that is less commercial.

Assignment Two - A photographic book cover

Although a few weeks away yet in its making I am reading "Nineteen Eighty Four" by George Orwell and this will be the subject of the assignment. About 10 years ago I had part read it so there was a need for completeness that made me choose it. I am familiar with some of the other titles and would also have been keen on "Far From The Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy and "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro. I am also finding myself a bit bogged down with essays at the moment and the excuse to read fiction is some relief.

Assignment One - Completed and dispatched.

Further editing down to the 12 used (of the 300 taken) took a while as there is probably 20 or so that would make a larger piece of work sometime in the future. The toning was changed to a tritone that had been used before in Landscape. The tonality is slightly reduced from a normal contemporary monochrome and this is sympathetic with the imagery and the underlying feel of the period. Although the brief ask for digital files I printed onto HP semi gloss with gloss enhancer and sent these at 9.5" square with 2" white borders to my tutor along with a USB stick containing large tiffs and web prepared jpgs. Hard copy and text files of the write up together with a hanging layout were included. This quick piece of work ( well 1 month for an assignment is quick for me) has got me back into OCA photography and as always there is a residual effect that was not evident at the start. I enjoyed it, and the prospect of returning to this area of the town and its architecture is appealing.

Lesson No 1. If it isn't broken don't fix it

Just prior to printing 12 10"x10" for assignment one I ordered some new paper, Canson Baryta Photographique 310g. Also at this time I had started to read some of "The Digital Print" by Jeff Schrewe, in particular anything relating to gamut, rendering intent and black point compensation. My current paper and workflow combination was working fine but one is always curious that something better is hidden around the corner. After a day of changes, many of which were not properly thought through and therefore any difference was not easily attributed to any specific method. I returned to my original paper and settings so that the assignment can proceed and will come back to the new paper in the future. Lesson learnt is dont experiment with assignment output. Carry out experiments at a suitable time, make one change at a time, make contemporaneous records and be methodical. I have a friend who works in science research who's diary (after a day of experiments) often reads "Results: nothing happened, no change". That may happen here.

Assignment 1 - Style change.

I am getting a little concerned with the time I am taking to produce this assignment, which according to the course notes should take zero hours. Two three hour visits have been made to the old quarter of the town and a large number of images taken. A few images have been processed (see previous post) and prints made in a style similar to that of Eugene Atget era in Paris around the turn of the last century. This hasnt worked as I predicted as the toning is not correct. It is too yellow/brown and too close to a clichéd sepia tone although processed with a bespoke process and not from a simply "click here for Sepia" routine. I am looking at two alternatives, both of which are acceptable and the final choice will be made when the portfolio is seen.

Assignment 1

Nikon D3 24mm T/S

Workflow

Current workflow is detailed here as an aide memoir for future use and removes a number of post it notes from the desk.

Workflow for Monochrome - Assignment  1

1. Raw file conversion

1.       Open in ACR

2.       Lens correction

3.       Curve to Linear

4.       No sharpening

5.       Colour Temp - check as this can make difference

6.       Remove clipping

7.       No changes to contrast etc made here

8.       Open in PS

9.       Save Raw in Raw Folder

2. Photoshop basic monochrome conversion

1.       Open in CS5

2.       Save as 16 bit Tiff in Tiff 1 folder

3.       Capture sharpen with Photokit  capture sharp Digital High Res - Medium. Check at 100%.

4.       View at 100% Ctrl +1   Ctrl +0 Fill Screen

5.       Flatten Ctrl +E twice

6.       Save as basic Tiff for use in Tiff 1 folder

7.       Correct perspective.

8.       Crop to new aspect ratio. Removal of part of the file will change histogram, reset  000 and 255

9.       Convert to mono using channel mixer, use a film preset

10.   Save as basic mono Tiff in Mono Tiff folder (with linear curve)

To this point the workflow is a standard technical procedure. From here the workflow will need to provide control and artistry that defines the presence of the image .

3. Photoshop - Diagnose the image.

1.       Always work on new layer.

2.       Add Layer Ctrl + J

3.       Add 10 Gausian Blur, stand well back from screen, 10 feet or so and analyse the tonal range, out of place areas of dark/light, low/high contrast and make note of requirements.

4.       Delete Layer

4. Photoshop - Adjust Tonal Range, add toning, retouch, adjust for printing.

Tone mapping with masks to introduce curves to various areas, some areas low contrast, maybe some high. NB Image has no curve at this stage.

5. Typically

1.       Add Layer Ctrl + J

2.       Work on Layer, Ctrl + L to open curves. Small areas at a time with small amounts of adjustment, say no more than 20% of image is under consideration. Possible with this method to have low contrast and high contrast within the same image.

3.       Alt + add vector mask, Adjustments will disappear behind a black mask

4.       Take a soft brush with 20 - 50 % opacity and set to white.

5.       With tablet pen paint in the adjustment to area under consideration

6.       Error corrections are made by changing brush to black and painting in correction.

7.       On completion, Ctrl +E to flatten or if need to return make next Layer for next area.

With any partial adjustment Layer  using curves (and never touching the endpoints) will result in an image with full tonal range and retained  000 and 255 limits as set in the Raw conversion.

Additional partial contrast can be applied with USM at 20,60,4

6. Additionally

The History Brush is used to make minor adjustments

1.       Multiply - darkens a local area

2.       Screen - lightens a local area

3.       Colour Dodge - lightens extreme small highlights

4.       Colour Burn - darkens extreme small shadows

5.       Soft Light - increases contrast in areas of light and dark

7. Edges

Paint with History Brush  (very small brush)  along edges

1.       Multiply 10-20%

2.       Colour Dodge 7-10%

Save As at any stage in the process to allow retrieval of part completed image.

When complete Save in Mono Tiffs folder with text to describe adjustments.

For this assignment I need a toned image and the Colour Balance method is chosen

8. Photoshop - Add Colour to simulate Albumen print.

1.       Add colour balance Layer

2.       Shadows       +26

3.                           +3

4.                           -31

5.       Highlights        0             

6.                             0

7.                           -15

8.       Delete White layer mask

9.       Add Black Layer mask

10.   Paint colour as required, mostly close too all over at 100%, but mask and opacity allows to lighten if required.

11.   Flatten Image

12.   Add Hue/Saturation Layer

13.   Set Saturation to -23

14.   Levels - set output to 251, not 255 to prevent bleed and paper white in printing.

15.   Flatten Image

16.   Return to adding a layer and changing curve locally to darken/vignette etc.

17.   Flatten Image

18.   Save As Fully Modified Tiff in Tiff Folder

9. Notes:

For printed output activate Soft Proof Ctrl+Y with paper type in custom set up.

For web change profile to sRGB

Image is unsharpened.

For web resize to 1024 on longest side, Photokit output sharp for web, changed to SRGB.

For printing, no change, output through Qimage at 12.

For stock (Alamy) no sharpening. Follow Alamy spec.

Assignment 1 - Style

Spent time today working on the major element of presentation style with a new workflow (which I will detail later) to deliver a feeling for the buildings and streets I am showing in this assignment. Discussed below we know I am only looking at the old areas of the town and I need a style that enhances that.
This is a proof of the style, it is not likely to be in the portfolio.

Nikon D3 24mm T/S 1/125 f8 ISO 640

Assignment 1 - First shoot

Despite my last post I decided to try and do this work with the 24mm T/S lens. I need to consider the architecture, the tight shooting locations and the Atget in me at the moment. So, armed with the D3 and the 24mm I spent an hour in the area just off the Tuesday market place, in alleyways, around the stage door at the arts centre and in Ackemans yard. Forty or so on a day that was too sunny really but I needed to get out there and test some of my theories. The Raw files of course look disappointing, but that is not a problem as they will all undergo thorough post process. The ultra wide focal length of the 24mm is sometimes a nuisance, especially when there is foreground, but the emptiness of the area is part of the overall concept, so I will leave my normal thoughts of filling the foreground alone for this. Atget never photographed anything in Paris that was a landmark. The Eiffel tower is in the distance in one or two and on that basis I am leaving out the touristy landmark buildings. In fact so far it is mostly off the beaten track where people once worked. The occasional sign of life is where boutique styled artisans or small businesses have rented a room and there is a tiny sign. I will PP some tomorrow and if too contrast wait till later in the week when the forecast is for dull and overcast.  

Assignment 1 - Alternative location

It occurred to me that instead of where you live for this assignment I could look at where I would "like to live". If this were the case it is Menorca and the city of Mahon. While there in June I had this assignment in mind and did a few images of the less well known areas. The Mediterranean light is clear and powerful. Predominately white walls act as reflectors on every street corner and there is never any deep shadow to challenge the DR. This is only out of box thinking and as I have processed one I will include it here.

Mahon street corner.

Leica M9P 35mm Summicron 1/1000 f8 iso 200

Assignment 1 Further thoughts.

As I research the locations for this it is becoming clear that the requirement to show/imply a human presence is difficult. The old part of the town isnt really inhabited by anyone, or thats how it seems. This confirms a suspicion that I have had for some time. There is an overwhelming amount of interest in the historic parts of the town but that only comes from academia and its distinct amount of history and architecture. Buildings  receive funding  for restoration as and when required and then just sit there, waiting for the occasional film crew for a Dickens tale or as in 1985 when most of old parts were used for the decidedly unsuccessful film "Revolution". 

Assignment 1 - Your own neighbourhood - Plan

The course notes are always not far away and I have looked through these again. I am familiar with the general requirement having perused them at OCA head office so they hold no surprises. Its temping to rush in and start but in the background I am trying to decide where I want to be with photography and for a while at least be comfortable with my own "style". My preference for monochrome has been discussed before and I am not going justify myself again . This comes at a time when there is a resurgence of monochrome and for some it will be a passing fad and I know I am already well past that.

So, the notes ask for 12-15 photographs of where I live, show a strong sense of place, show my new tutor what I can do with the preparation of a small portfolio, showing good practice, etc etc. In fact its your best effort with a portfolio that hangs together well to deliver a message about the place and the people, whether in a covert or overt way.

Extracts from my notebook as I brainstormed some of the likely ideas.

King's Lynn - Historic market town in North West Norfolk.
Population - 41,000
Monochrome / Reduced Gamut colour
Old Town / New Town, I dont want to mix the two. No cohesion in a 12th century building and anew Tesco.
Topographic features - River Great Ouse - The Wash - A47 - Docks - Historic buildings - Industrial estates, shops.
Choose the old town , all other areas could be anywhere.
Is there enough material in old town for 15 ?
List - Foot ferry both sides, Inshore fishing fleet, Guildhall (did Shakespeare really act there ?), Town Hall and the King John saga, Trues Yard, Cobbled side streets, Railway station, Savages foundry, Red Mount Chapel, South Gate, Corn exchange, Hanseatic warehouse. This is going to be architectural. Use doorways, worn doorsteps, handrails, fixtures, fittings, letter boxes, name plates to deliver human context.

There are enough locations plus when on foot around the town others will be found that are not so obvious.

Previous portfolio errors have included, Too many focal lengths used. Aspect ratio issues, plan to use 5x4, 3x2, 6x6, and shoot as such with minimal cropping in post. Consider the need for left hand and right hand content with some neutral. 

Camera / Format.
Not yet set up to turn around 120 film and scan with solid workflow, leave till later.
Digital Rangefinder. Leica M9 or
DSLR, D3 or D800
Both will shoot Raw.
Not much space in streets so no tripod use unless I want interiors. Tripod would be needed though if bracketing to widen tonal range.

Lens choice. Need to keep to 1 or 2 that are close together so for simplicity this would be 35 summicron or 50 summilux , or 50 Elmar. Elmar is softer. No telephoto required. Extra wide in close spaces has too many issues and can look too contemporary for the overall style.

Or, opt for a more technical style and use 24mm tilt/shift and mimic view camera. 24mm requires careful use in ensuring the foreground is adequate, but would be useful in the smaller side streets. Use shift more than tilt.

Dont try to shoot both. Try one, if dont work, use alternative. May end up with 2 sets.

Time of year will play a part and the softer diffuse light of an overcast day will suite.

Style after processing.

100% monochrome or a split tone/duo tone to reflect the nature of the buildings. Maybe something like Atget in Paris for architectural.

1st shoot. Recce with M9 and 35mm and decide after proofs if suitable or need 24mm T/S.

Art Photography Now - Exhibition

The Greyfriars Art Space is a small gallery in King's Lynn that offers space to artists and photographers to stage exhibitions, run workshops etc. I am on their mailing list and it is my intention one day (at L6) to hold an exhibition there of my work. A recent email from them spoke of an exhibition of work by a small group of photographers aged 13 -19 that would be different so on Friday evening (6th) I went along to have a look. I was met at the door by Phil Barrington who kindly provided me with a glass of wine and a quick resume of what had gone on to get the work onto the walls. Norfolk County Council had asked Phil to run a summer workshops on photography and after initially saying no he ran with the idea providing there was no teaching of a "technical" nature. With limited time together the group needed to work more on concepts and editing than knowing anything about shutter speed, DOF etc. Also they were all using different devices for capture from iphones, tablets and a few cameras of various specifications.

With the studio space having three areas he asked them to work on three themes. Firstly "Fear", secondly an "Emotion" and lastly to provide an image that represents their world, their private space.This would be difficult enough at any level but here we have an age group from 13 to 19 years old with previous experience not known. Phil was only acting as a mentor and not a tutor so the thinking, shooting and final edit was their decision, with help in framing and getting prints made the only technical help of any significance.

As with any exhibition it lifts the work when hung in a gallery and the quality of the execution was stunning. People at this age have none of the preconceived ideas I have and were making images of maturity well above their age group. I have no way at the moment of showing any examples although if I can I will go back and take a few photographs. Edit: Photo added "Left Alone" by Maddy Wicks, her interpretation of "Fear"

The issue here though is how a professional photographer did the right thing by ignoring technical jargon, F stops and the like and just let them make photographs and how they interpreted the single word briefs in such a diverse way and produced narrative in the work that needed no further explanation. 

I came away with two distinct thoughts. Firstly how proud we can be with teenagers who take time to be interesting and secondly how I ought to be so much better at photography than them but I am not.
With age you become secure and know your place in society, their youth gives them the ability to not be constrained by society and gives them the gift of freedom in thought. Good luck to them.