Park Run

On Saturday 3rd February, I went to a weekly event in Hanley Park called the Park Run, which despite the bad weather was full of volunteers to run that day, which was surprising. I had to talk to the person in charge to let the people know that I was there and taking pictures for my placement. No one came to me to say that they were not comfortable, so that was fine. By letting everyone know, this was the first time, I felt exposed and known as an artist. I felt coming to this event was important as this was part of the park's community and like it's own tradition.

This was a little new to me because I'm letting a bigger group of people know about me, so I'd have permission to take photographs. I felt more exposed and nervous today, but in a positive light, because no one came to me to say if they were uncomfortable with me taking pictures. Experience in taking photographs is the same to me, only there was more movement which made it more tricky to take clear photos. 

The important things of this event was to experience one of the traditional events of the park, which felt like a friendly and fun environment with lots of people to meet. With these photographs more people will know the public events that happen weekly in Hanley Park.
I walked and jogged the track of the run to take pictures of any runners I could see. I wasn't planning on running but when I got there it looked like fun, I thought "Why not"? But because I was walking, obviously I had to stop and start to take clear photos, so next time, I will be careful to try and not do 2 things at once. I might need to take just a couple of more photos next week because from this first experience I was taking pictures from a perspective of being part of the run, but next week I might want to just take pictures from the side lines, watching the run. These pictures may contribute to my exhibition artworks. Here are some of my photos from today:

After all this, I had fun and felt more athletic and happy after walking and jogging. The atmosphere felt friendly and buzzing. I would like to come back again just for the run some day.