Images and rational part 2 (with images)

List of Images / rationale for taking this particular picture

The pictures I’m featuring in this portfolio attempt to show that there are ‘No Little Old Ladies in Pearls’ working in charity shops these days.  Rather than dash about taking any thing/anywhere I felt there should be some order in the pictures, so I used the rationale of ‘A typical day in a charity shop’ which seemed a more realistic way to gain some order and yet show some of the things that could happen anytime during opening hours.  

1.    Broad Street Panorama

I wanted to show where the shop was in relation to the main shopping street (Broad Street) in Lyme Regis.  It sits half way up a big hill amongst many other typical shops and banks. 

2.    Opening Up

Shop opening hours are from 09.00 – 17.00 hrs Monday to Saturday and 10.00 – 16.00 hrs on Sundays.  The manager arrives about 08.30 and checks the float into the till and unlocks the shop door at 9.00 am.  The volunteer for the morning session arrives about 8.50 am, puts on a tabard and starts sorting the clothing rails into some kind of order after the previous day’s sales.  This image shows a typical start to the day with the cash float being counted into the till.  

I like the movement of the manager’s hands in this picture as this gives a good impression of how Emma spends her day rushing around the shop sorting donations, organising items for sale, adding sale tickets, etc.  It’s one long need to obtain the maximum sales.  This image was taken in natural light, hand held at ISO 400, f8 @ 1/15.

3.    Recycling

I know this image is one of my weaker ones but I wanted to show how it was when the recycle man came and how much recycling there was every week.  The shop isn’t able to sell everything they are given and if they put the majority of the items donated out for sale it would resemble a jumble sale.  Those items thought to be unsaleable, i.e., dirty, smelly, no safety labels, etc, are put aside and sold as rags.  These items bring in a fairly sizeable amount so it’s worth making an effort.  In this picture the face of the collection man is just about in focus but hasn’t received a strong enough burst from the camera flash to illuminate him properly.  This image was taken at ISO 400, f8 @ 1/60. 

4.    First Customers

This is one of the images that I’m really pleased about.  I liked the way the people on the left were all looking in the same direction but the other person on the right was looking in a completely different direction.   Also the juxtaposition of the three people facing left seemed to mirror the woodwork in the bottom right hand corner.  I used the camera flash to highlight the picture as it was in a dark corner of the shop so needed a bit of help to lift it to acceptable levels.  This image was taken in natural light with ISO 400, f5 @ 1/80.

5.    Donations

One of the earliest charity shops was set up in 1899 to sell donations to raise funds for blind people.  Called thrift shops in the USA or Op shops in Australia/New Zealand charity shops are considered as a type of social enterprise to raise money for various causes.  Charity shops in seaside areas are seen as an easy, cheap way to set up holiday lets as most household items can be bought there.  People who rent holiday lets use the charity shops as a way of replacing broken or items they have lost rather than face a charge on departure.

It’s a fairly simple system in that people bring donations into the shop (or leave on the doorstep out of hours) and hand them in to the till operative.  A count is made of how many donations are made each day and tallied up at the end of each week.  Regular donors can sign up for a government scheme called Gift Aid if they are UK taxpayers.  If they have signed up for this scheme the charity can claim an extra 25p for every £1 of goods sold on behalf of that particular taxpayer.  This enables the charity to increase their income significantly without too much extra effort.

This picture shows one of the volunteers, the significance being that it is a man rather than a older woman which seem to be the norm for volunteering.  I like the way that David is leaning towards the woman donor and looks to be discussing her donation.  This image was taken in natural light with ISO 400, f6.3 @ 1/50. 

 

6.    Sorting donations

Sam is the deputy manager and is a person who tries to inject fun into most things.  Here she was sorting donations prior to them being priced and placed in the main shop for sale.  The back area of the shop is always crowded with boxes and bags of goods and sometimes it can be difficult to work your way round the donated goods.  This table was used to sort out donations into saleable and non-saleable items.  Bins and plastic bags are conveniently to hand to easily sort items into recycling or land fill bags. The lines of hanging clothes surrounded Sam leading your eye directly to her.  Both she and the manager, Emma, were constantly on the go and the small movement in the picture was to indicate their ceaseless movement around the shop. This image was taken in natural light as there is a large window directly to the left of the table using ISO 400, f7.1 @ 1/15. 

7.    Steaming

Most of the items that are donated for sale have usually been packed away at some time and need some attention to make them more saleable.  The shop had an industrial quality steamer so that items could be steamed to remove the worst creases.  If an item might be more valuable but has dirty marks on it then one of the members of staff might take it home and wash it. 

I used this image rather another one with more steam surrounding Aaron, the machine operator, as the lad had his eyes open in this picture with a smaller amount of steam whilst in the image with more steam he had his eyes closed.  It was difficult to decide which image to use as I had visualised in my mind’s eye the clouds of steam surrounding Aaron rather than the lesser amount you see here.  This images was taken using ISO 400, f6.3 @ 1/60 using flash as it was in a dark corner of the preparation area.
 

8.    Administration

As in most jobs there are prodigious amounts of administration that go with running a charity shop.  Things have eased up over the past couple of years since the Trust bought a computer system but whilst it was easier to keep a check on the day’s takings, background work has increased due to having to allocate sales to each individual Gift Aid donor.  I like this image as the subject was well placed on the thirds of the image and the pose looked natural.

This shot was taken without flash using ISO 400, f7.1 @ 1/10.  There was a modicum of natural light coming from a window behind me and I was able to lift the image using Photoshop’s Shadows/Highlights and Brightness/Contrast filters.  Overall I was very pleased with it especially as there were fluorescent lights in this dark area and I was able to remove the yellow cast as well.

9.    Staff briefing

I found it very difficult to get images of Emma, the manager, standing still or without her talking as she rushes around the shop all day talking nineteen to the dozen.  When Sam, the deputy manager, comes in for the first time in the working week the manager needs to brief her on what has been discussed at the area meetings which happen once a week.  The volunteer is left in the shop to handle queries whilst this briefing takes place. 

This picture was taken using ISO 400, f6.3 @ 1/60 using flash.  In fact, when I checked this picture again I noticed that there was an area in the middle bottom of it that had a shadow which must have come from my hand where I held the camera but I had managed to block part flash.  It’s the only thing I can think of that would explain the shadow.

10. Stocktaking

Whilst charity shops mainly sell donated goods some do sell new items produced for them directly.  These goods are subject to VAT and must be accounted for.  Accordingly, these new goods must be counted once and week and recorded.  As the only new items on sale at the Lyme Regis shop were calendars and Christmas cards, those were the only items to be regularly checked.  As the manager had put some packets of Christmas cards in the shop window they needed to be counted in situ and I photographed her at an unusual angle whilst she was counting items.  

I liked the way the lines of clothes contained her and led your eye straight to where she stood.  I think she was well framed with the woodwork of the glass barrier as well.  The colours lift the whole image well.  This image was taken using ISO 400, f5 @ 1/100.  I think I could have cropped this image better as I think there is too much foreground carpet.  If I’d taken about 15% off the bottom I think it would have looked better.

11. Shop Cleaning

Emma always seemed to be rushing about doing as much as she could throughout the day.  Even when it came to vacuuming the shop prior to closing at the end of the day she worked in a hurry.   

This image is not sharp in that the head of the cleaning wand is moving and this, to me, gives the impression of movement.  As it was getting dark outside I needed flash to lighten up this area to get a reasonable image.  This image was taken using ISO 400, f6.3 @ 1/60 using flash.

12. Locking up

The last thing to do after working in the shop all day was to lock up after the last customer.  To discourage anyone coming in Emma locked the door at 5.00 pm but unlocked it to let any last customer out.  

I know it wasn’t the done thing in reportage to have the subject look directly at the photographer and smile, but this so epitomized Emma that I couldn’t resist adding it into my portfolio of images.  This picture was taken using ISO 400, f6.3 @ 1/60 using flash.

Conclusion

Overall, I’ve put a great deal of time and effort into this portfolio of work.  On the whole I’m pleased with the results.  I know that there are some areas that I could improve on and some images are not so strong but I feel quite satisfied to send it in as a first effort.  I feel that these pictures show how it is to work in a charity shop and that the images could be used to encourage people to volunteer to work in one or more of the shops.  They could also be used in publicity material showing what goes on to generate funds to keep the hospice going.