Initial Idea -
Since I have started doing photography, I have been drawn to street photography, due to its unpredictable nature, and due to always having lived in cities, making it one of the best genres of practice. Whilst street photography quires you to be good at few skills, for example, finding compositions and subjects very quickly, adjusting camera settings very quickly, and determining which photo would have an impact on the viewer, in a matter of seconds, it also relies a lot on chance, and for the right things to happen at the right time. This means that often, when I leave the house to do street photography, I take very few photos and sometimes no great ones at all, however, sometimes, I can take many good photos on one day. I found that street photography is also very dependent on the weather. In average overeats weather, it is much harder to get great photos, than on sunny, and warm rainy days, as it is when many people in the city act in a more interesting way, creating interesting street scenes. I also found that equipment doesn't matter in street photography. I mostly use 35mm film, but I also use my DSLR, and my iPhone to take street photos, and some of my favourite photos are taken with my phone. A perfectly clear and sharp photo doesn't always make a photo better and it is often the film grain, or the poor use of manual focus which makes a photo have a lot of character. This differentiates it form studio portraits, fashion and fine art photography, as they all focus on quality, whereas some of the greatest street photographs are grainy and blurry. Recently I have also been interested in somewhat abstracted black and white photos, which emphasise the light in the photo, and the shadows it makes. In these photographs, the shadow can often be the subject. Images such as these have a certain simplicity, and serenity, which is often not present in the city. My initial idea for the project is to attempt to combine street photography, with abstracted shadow phtographs. In January 2020, I took a street photograph with my phone, which I believe is a very good example of this, and is one of my favourite photographs. I want to further explore photographs such as the second one, to create and example of serenity and calm life I the city. Street photography relates to threshold concept 6, as they are highly reliant on chance. However, the abstract photographs relate to threshold concept 2, as the most important aspect of it is capturing light. It is not important what is used to capture it. In the past, I have also tried digital pinhole photography, and the results were very abstract, and atmospheric.
Since I have started doing photography, I have been drawn to street photography, due to its unpredictable nature, and due to always having lived in cities, making it one of the best genres of practice. Whilst street photography quires you to be good at few skills, for example, finding compositions and subjects very quickly, adjusting camera settings very quickly, and determining which photo would have an impact on the viewer, in a matter of seconds, it also relies a lot on chance, and for the right things to happen at the right time. This means that often, when I leave the house to do street photography, I take very few photos and sometimes no great ones at all, however, sometimes, I can take many good photos on one day. I found that street photography is also very dependent on the weather. In average overeats weather, it is much harder to get great photos, than on sunny, and warm rainy days, as it is when many people in the city act in a more interesting way, creating interesting street scenes. I also found that equipment doesn't matter in street photography. I mostly use 35mm film, but I also use my DSLR, and my iPhone to take street photos, and some of my favourite photos are taken with my phone. A perfectly clear and sharp photo doesn't always make a photo better and it is often the film grain, or the poor use of manual focus which makes a photo have a lot of character. This differentiates it form studio portraits, fashion and fine art photography, as they all focus on quality, whereas some of the greatest street photographs are grainy and blurry. Recently I have also been interested in somewhat abstracted black and white photos, which emphasise the light in the photo, and the shadows it makes. In these photographs, the shadow can often be the subject. Images such as these have a certain simplicity, and serenity, which is often not present in the city. My initial idea for the project is to attempt to combine street photography, with abstracted shadow phtographs. In January 2020, I took a street photograph with my phone, which I believe is a very good example of this, and is one of my favourite photographs. I want to further explore photographs such as the second one, to create and example of serenity and calm life I the city. Street photography relates to threshold concept 6, as they are highly reliant on chance. However, the abstract photographs relate to threshold concept 2, as the most important aspect of it is capturing light. It is not important what is used to capture it. In the past, I have also tried digital pinhole photography, and the results were very abstract, and atmospheric.
These three photographs were all taken on an iPhone, and they are a great example, of how I plan to merge street photography and abstracted photos. The photograph on the left, is a normal street photograph, which I took a while ago. The photograph on the right is an abstracted photograph I took in January, depicting the light shining through a lace curtain, under the stairs, in the stairwell of a typical 3 story post war Budapest apartment building. The middle photo, also taken is January, is a combination of my usual street photos, and the high contrast, abstract style of the right photo. It depicts three separate groups of people in the Budapest castle district at night, just after sunset.
- What is "easy" about photography? What is "difficult"? - Photography has become easy to start, especially in recent years. Everybody has a smartphone now, which they can use to take photographs, and they can look at the works of the best photographers on the internet. Social media can also be used help your work get recognised. This means that if people want to start photography, they most likely have everything they need. However, this also makes photography harder, as it is hard to differentiate your work from others work on social media platforms, and therefore difficult to gain recognition.
- What does Paul Graham value about photography? - Paul Graham says that photographs are valuable, due to it being physical evidence of a time, which only lives on in our memory. However, we can forget things, whereas photographs preserve time, even if it is gone forever.
- What advice does Paul Graham offer us about what to photograph? - Paul Graham says that anything can be photographed well. One does not even have to leave their room to take photographs.
- How much planning should we do before getting started? - According to Paul Graham, it is not necessary to do much preparation before getting started with photography. His reason for this is is because some of the greatest photographers of the past, such as Robert Frank and Cindy Sherman, did not full have an idea of what they were doing when starting something new in photography. It is othen the spontaneous nature, which makes their work interesting and unique.
- What makes photography "beautiful"? - It is implied that Paul Graham finds photography beautiful, because it sheds light on some of the more neglected areas of life, which major media outlets, and Hollywood, does not focus on, due to it not being very profitable for them. The work of a photographer can present these areas without, or with much less bias.
Alec Soth interview
In the interview, Soth stated that he did not start photography with the intention of making a living form it, and was interpreting it from a fine art perspective, however, he has been able to make a living from it for 15 years. This could be inspirational, as photography is seen by many, and not a very stable form of employment, and that most people cannot make a living form it, however Soth was able to do this.
Soth also talks about his start in photography, saying that he began working in darkrooms, due to having some darkroom skills. This is rather inspirational to me, as it shows one of the ways one could get into the world of photography. In his case it was darkrooms, which are on the decline due to digital photography, however, it shows that if you are good at a certain skill, it can help you get started in the photography industry.
Alec Soth also talks about how it is often not easy to get a start in your career, when you do not live in a large city. He says it is also very difficult now, to distinguish yourself in the internet, among many other photographers. Whilst the internet can be a great tool for photographers, it can also make it more difficult to make a living in photography. To overcome this issue, Soth says that he because great at one specific skill.
Soth said, 'If you know everything about what you are doing, It can be stale'. I find this inspiring, as it shows that even some of the more accomplished photographers, often don't know what they are doing exactly, and have to figure things out as they go along. This is inspiring to me, as one can often feel like they are the oney ones facing adversity, whereas this is not true. According to Soth, it is important to try to keep going and figure out your problems as you go along, as it is often this callenge which is the fun part of photography.
Soth also talks about his start in photography, saying that he began working in darkrooms, due to having some darkroom skills. This is rather inspirational to me, as it shows one of the ways one could get into the world of photography. In his case it was darkrooms, which are on the decline due to digital photography, however, it shows that if you are good at a certain skill, it can help you get started in the photography industry.
Alec Soth also talks about how it is often not easy to get a start in your career, when you do not live in a large city. He says it is also very difficult now, to distinguish yourself in the internet, among many other photographers. Whilst the internet can be a great tool for photographers, it can also make it more difficult to make a living in photography. To overcome this issue, Soth says that he because great at one specific skill.
Soth said, 'If you know everything about what you are doing, It can be stale'. I find this inspiring, as it shows that even some of the more accomplished photographers, often don't know what they are doing exactly, and have to figure things out as they go along. This is inspiring to me, as one can often feel like they are the oney ones facing adversity, whereas this is not true. According to Soth, it is important to try to keep going and figure out your problems as you go along, as it is often this callenge which is the fun part of photography.
Joel Meyerowitz interview
According to Meyerowitz, Photography, is making something out of the reality that is going by us constantly, and making some of these moments special. For Meyerowitz, it is the identity that everyone has, which is the thing that becomes visible in the frame that the camera places around fluid reality. Meyerowitz suggest that street photography is greta is it helps you get into a state of high alertness, where you notice the small things that are happening, and also the bigger picture. This means that you can anticipate moments on the streets, and how they may happen, before they actually do happen. This can also help you see the streets as a more beautiful place, due to all its events having some sort of order. Meyerowitz wants to be in a state of alertness, that even if he doesn't have a camera, and an interesting moment does occur, he will be able to preserve and remember that memory, or capture it with a camera, if he has one. Meyerowitz says that when one has been doing street photography fo such a long time, it can be harder to find inspiration of going out to shoot again, however he overcomes this by thinking of times he spent on the streets in the past, and reliving the best moments.
Meyerowitz says that smartphones have changed the visual dynamic between people on the street, as there are often no longer as many connections between people, due to people having interactions with their phone instead.
When Meyerowitz started photography, he says he liked following the light, walking down 5th avenue in New York, from early morning, to the evening. This is because he wanted harsh light in his photos, as he believes it is what makes the photographs interesting.
Meyerowitz believes that photography is a search of your identity. His students have asked him when they should know to take a certain photo, and Meyerowitz says that it should be when you have a ghasp reflex, which is when you will truly take photos that you want, and photos that inspire you, and not photos that you tell yourself you should take.
Meyerowitz says that smartphones have changed the visual dynamic between people on the street, as there are often no longer as many connections between people, due to people having interactions with their phone instead.
When Meyerowitz started photography, he says he liked following the light, walking down 5th avenue in New York, from early morning, to the evening. This is because he wanted harsh light in his photos, as he believes it is what makes the photographs interesting.
Meyerowitz believes that photography is a search of your identity. His students have asked him when they should know to take a certain photo, and Meyerowitz says that it should be when you have a ghasp reflex, which is when you will truly take photos that you want, and photos that inspire you, and not photos that you tell yourself you should take.
Josef Koudelka
Koudelka was born in Czechoslovakia. Although he earned a degree in Engineering, and started working in the field, he has always been interested in photography, and has practiced form a young age. However, this remained a hobby for him, until later in his life. It was in 1967 when he gave up his career in engineering to become a full time photographer. He initially worked in a theatre, taking photographs of the stage during performances, however he got his start in conflict photography, when he took photographs during the Prague spring, in 1968. Due to the oppressive Soviet regime, his negatives where smuggled out of the country to the Magnum agency, and the photographs were anonymously published in The Sunday Times. He joined Magnum photos, in 1971, and continued to photograph Europe. Koudelka is most well known for his photographs of the Prague invasion. However, later in his career, he focused more on the rural life of romanis in Romania and Slovakia, though he still worked on covering conflicts, such as the aftermath of the Lebanese civil war, in the 1990s.
Daidō Moriyama
Moriyama was born in Kyoto Japan, and was taught photography by Takeji Iwamiya. He later moved to Tokyo, and became a photography assistant, for three years, for Eikoh Hosoe, who was a professional photographer, specialising high contrast black and white images. Hosoe's work was probably influential for Moriyama, as both their works are primarily black and white, and focus on shapes. Around this time, Moriyama started working on a photography project which was about the darker sides to urban life, which were left behind in development. Moriyama's work is primarily black and white, and it aims to capture the fragmentary nature of modern life, moments which are lost due to the rush we live in. He often does this using tilted horizons, and very high contrast. This contrast means that most of the mid tones are not visible, creating a sense of mystery and confusion in his photographs.
Cameraless Photography; Bolade Banjo-
Bolade Banjo is the artist who created the album cover for Slauson Malone's A Quiet Farwell, 2016 - 2018 album, which is how I found Bolade banjos work. On his website, he has a photography series titled 'Darkroom Paintings' which are a series of coloured Photograms. All of these are are very abstract in nature, only the last image in the series has an object on the page, which appears to be some sort of glass lid. I find this body of work very inspiring, as even though they are abstract, and no objects are depicted in most of them, they all have a very unique atmosphere, mostly created by the colours. Certain images are quite dark in their look, as they use 'aggressive' colours such as red. This could show an abstract take on Dante's depicting of hell. The recurring circle, which is nearly in every image, could symbolise a recurring nightmare of the artist, Whilst the lighter Photograms have a more relaxing and peaceful atmosphere, including some flowing lines, which could possibly symbolise rivers and trees.
Curtis Moffat-
Moffat went to Paris in 1923, and was involved in the Dada, and Surrealist movements. Curtis Moffat moved to London after World War I, with his wife, and this was where he took up abstract photography. On numerous occasions, he worked with Cecil Beaton and Man Ray. It was with Man Ray whom he invented the Rayograph, and other experimental techniques with. He later opened the 'M Studio' in London, where he exhibited his large Black and White portraits of his friends, which influenced Cecil Beaton. Rayographs as well as Photographs can be used to abstract reality, by simplifying the subject of the photographs. The high contrast images this process creates can be used as a way to focus on certain objects, and lights, most of which would not be seen as something of a work of art. Thus, this enables these subjects, which are often deemed as unremarkable, to get recognition for the beauty they can often represent.
Photograms-
Photograms are one of many photography practices, which can be done without a camera. It is done by placing a object on photo paper, and exposing it to light. Due to it being a negative, the areas which were exposed, turn black, and the areas covered by the objects, are white. This means that it is easy to distinguish the subject from the background. Whilst often photograms have clear subjects, with objects that are easy to see and identify, it is also common for artists to make abstract Photograms. Artists such as Anna Atkins used this a similar process for scientific purposes, in order to gain an accurate record of a plant. A print like this is more accurate than drawing, the other primary mode of capturing information at the time Atkins created her prints. Later on, artists such as Man Ray, began to use the Photogram process as more of an art form, than a scientific study. I believe that abstract Photograms can often be more exciting, not only to make, but also to create. This is because when the subject is not easily identifiable, the viewer of the photogram may be tempted to look at it for longer.
My recent work inspired by Daidō Moriyama and Josef Koudelka-
All of the photographs above were taken on an iPhone, I also took a 35mm camera, however, I will have to wait to get the photographs developed. These photographs were edited after I took them, in order to make them Black and White, and to add some contrast. I did this in order to make it look similar to Daido Moriyama's and Josef Koudelka work. Both these artists use human figures in their photographs, and often they are just shadows, and their identity is not revealed. I tried to incorporate this into my own photos, using my own shadow on the road, as well as a pedestrian, in the first photograph.
Most successful image-
I believe that this photograph is the most successful from the series, for a number of reasons. I believe the composition of this photograph is very good, as there is something happening in every corner, the subject, or the dog, is around a 2/3 line, and my shadow leads the eye into the frame. It took a few attempts to get this photograph, initially, I wanted to take a self portrait using my shadow, as I found the shadows of the trees on the road very interesting. I took a few photographs from a few angles, before I saw that the dog, following its owner into the park, was abut to walk into the frame. I quickly took two photographs with the dog in the frame. I chose the second one, as it was more in the light than the first one. After I took these photographs, I was shown Daido Moriyama's self portrait, which is extremely similar to this photo, due to the shadow of Moriyama, the fence, the strong shadows and the dog. Daido Moriyama is one of the artist I did artist research on for this project, yet I have not seen the photo from him until after I took this photograph.
London Black Lives Matter photoshoot-
On Sunday the 7th of June, I attended the Black Lives Matter protest in London, and I took photographs if the people who were all protesting for the same reason. Whilst it is my first time photographing a protest, meaning I was not the most confident, and therefore many of the photographs could be better, I believe that as a whole, many of the photographs are quite successful. I decided to make the photographs Black and White, as it shows the great contrast between the different people who were at the protest, yet were all able to unify, and protest for the same cause. I believe that one of the most successful photographs in the series is the last photo in row 3. I like this, as there is something happening in every corner if the frame, and it shows a stillness in the otherwise somewhat busy and chaotic event. I believe that the third and second to last photos on the 5th row, are successful, as they introduce the viewer to the individuality of the protests, which is important, as the individuals of a large movement are often gone unrecognised, and are just seen as a large crowd. It is supposedly a bad choice to place the subject of the photograph in the centre of the frame, and should rather be placed where the 2/3 lines meet. However I believe in this case, this photographic rule does not have to apply, similar to the protest, as the government, ideally would have full control or people, however people can alter this control, and can take matters into their own hands if necessary, and this lack of constant order is shown in the non conforming framing of the photo. This photo series did not inspire me to reconsider the focus of my project, however, it was good practice, which is always useful in photography. It was also my first time photographing a protest, meaning it was useful in showing me what I could do better next time, such as getting closer to my subjects, and using large apertures, to get everything in focus in the frame, as whilst a shallow aperture accentuates the foreground, a larger aperture can help include the background in the photo, which is sometimes a neglected aspect of photography, even though it provides part of the atmosphere for the photograph. I believe that the next step from here, is to try to create more abstract photographs, which also capture action in the same way as these photos. Whilst I used a fast shutter speed in the series above, to freeze a moment, in my next series, I could try using a long shutter speed, to show the movement in the picture, yet not make the subject clear.
I believe that this is one of the most successful photographs from the series of images I took. The person in the middle of the frame is not in focus, this adds a depth to the image. It is unusual for the foreground to be out of focus and the background to be sharp, and I believe the this makes the photograph more interesting to look at. Despite using f1.8 aperture, I was quite far away, meaning the foreground subject is still fairly visible, and it can be seen that he is wearing a mask and a hat. Furthermore, the feet of the people on the right form an almost perfect line, which draws the viewers eye in from the middle of the frame, as it is most likely what they will see first. As well as this leading line, the banners which are held up in the background also form a line from left to right, which also directs the eye to the rest of the frame.
William Klein
William Klein moved to Paris to study art, and was taught by the cubist, figurative painter, Fernand Leger. Whilst Kleins modernist paintings, used bold colours, the photographs he would create in the future, were Black and White. However, the bold nature of his paintings, are also reflected in his photographs, which often show multiple subjects, very close up. William Klein is considered an innovator in the field of street photography, and is also considered to be responsible for street photography becoming an art form. William Klein is very open to new experiences, which others reject. In the 1960s most photographers did not even want to go to Harlem, let alone interact with people who lived there, however, Klein regularly visited uptown Manhattan, to photograph people who lived there. His Harlem street photography showed the growing community in Harlem, which was different form the rest of New York, due to it being a neglected neighbourhood. Klein usually got very close to his subjects, often including more than one person, who were interacting with each other. This style of street photography later influenced other photographer, such as Daido Moriyama who is one of the photographs who is my inspiration for this project, how also created close up street photographs, which are very high in contrast, as well as phots capturing the gritty urban life. Klein was also involved in fashion photography, where he posed models in busy urban centres, far form the camera, so there would by bystanders in the frame, who did not know they were in the photograph. Klein also became interested in film making, and he created the first ever documentary about Mohammad Al. Another one of his famous films is a comedic film, which criticised the fashion industry, which was unheard of at the time, and was deemed quite disrespectful. Despite his old age, Klein still does photography to this day, using nothing but film, which he views as authentic.
Little Venice Photoshoot
On Sunday, I visited Little Venice in London, and due to the favourable weather conditions, there were strong shadows, which helped with my photography, as I am focussing on creating more abstract photographs than I usually would. In some of these photographs there is a lack of people, which is different to my usual 'street photographs'. Most of these photographs are somewhat abstract in nature, as their monochromatic style, and their high contrast makes it somewhat difficult to see what the subject of the photographs may be. This photoshoot was inspired by Daido Moriyama, and they were specifically edited to have very high contras. Whilst I believe that this photoshoot is successful due to its clear similarity to Moriyama's work, I believe that it also shows success as it shows further examples of Black and White abstract photos which I aim to capture, and have captured in the past. Furthermore, some of these photographs also combine street photography with this abstract look, for example in the second photograph on the last row. Another reason I believe that this photoshoot is successful, is because in most of the photographs, the location is not clear, an it could be in nearly any city. This adds anonymity to the photographs, and makes them seem more abstract than photos with a clear sense of location.
Hans Richer
Hans Richter was born in Berlin, in the German Empire. He was inspired by cubism, and later joined the Dada movement. Whilst he is also known as a painter, he has also made many abstract films, such as this one, titled 'Filmstudie'. Richter believed that an artist should be actively political, and should use their art to covey some sort of message, political or otherwise. This ambition to covey a political message, can be seen in some of his films, such as his short film about the 1923 German hyperinflation. Richter has also made many significant abstract films, whilst he was not the artist who created the first abstract film, which was done by Italian futurists, and a fellow German artist, his film 'Rythmus 21' is considered to be an important early abstract film. Whilst this particular film does not seem to be about anything in particular, however this is quite typical of abstract films, whilst there is no storyline, the visuals are very captivating, and I wanted this to be reflected in my own short film. I am unsure how Richter was able to film the abstract shapes, however, for my own film, I wanted the subjects to be more organic, instead of lifeless geometric shapes, however, I would be interested in trying this one day also. The low quality of the video is also something that interests me, I used this when I created my own video, by reducing the quality on purpose. Hans Richter's work links to threshold concept 8, as it shows how things can be conveyed visually, without the use of language. This is very important, as often, between humans, there are language barriers, which means they are unable to understand each other. However, images and sounds do not require
Abstract Experimental Film
This is a short Abstract, experimental film I made, inspired by the high contrast images of Daido Moriyama, and the 1930s abstract films of the 1930s, by artists such as Hans Richter. This short film has no narrative, and no clear story, however thought the film, we can observe a banana, which is pealed earlier in the film, slowly rotting. I took a photograph of the rotting banana peel about every 10 minutes, and I placed these photographs throughout the video, to show that it is slowly rotting. Between the photographs, I inserted footage of the shadow a plant on my wall. The actual plant is not visible, only its shadow, showing how some of the other plants are still thriving, whereas the banana is rotting. This shows the constant cycle of plants, this being their birth, death and decomposition. I filmed this footage on my DSLR, and edited it in Premiere Pro, which all together took around 1 day. Film making is something I have not previously explored, so in making this film, I have learned a lot about the process. Prior to making this film, I have never used Premiere pro before, and have had only very limited experience with video editing, and as a result, have had to read and watch many tutorials on the internet, on how to do things such as basic editing, and slowing my footage down. Whilst I am still not very confident with my editing, it is far better than it was before this project. Possibly the most surprising aspect of of editing, was how long I had to wait for the video to render. When exporting the video in 4k, with 2 passes, I had to wait for around 2 hours for the whole process, which I was not expecting. I also learned more about film making, and have discovered abstract films, such as Inflation by Hans Richter, which I found very interesting. Inflation, and other short abstract films, were also the inspiration behind the look of my film. Whilst the actual footage was shot as a high quality RAW file, I exported it as both a 4k footage, and as a 240p video quality, I did this as I wanted it to look like 1930s-40s archive films, which have been compressed over the years, and have lost a lot of quality, as perhaps the original film reel was lost of destroyed, and only the digitalised version remains. I believe that overall this short film is quite successful, as I managed to film and edit a somewhat captivating, and interesting to look at video, within quite a short time frame. The hardest aspect of making the film was doing the cinematography by myself. This proved to be particularly difficult, as I used a Super Takumar 50mm 1.8 lens, which does not have auto focus, and as a result, I had to manually focus on the moving subjects. Furthermore, my camera has a fixed lcd which does not fold out, meaning I could not see the video as I was moving the objects. In my opinion, the soundtrack of a film, is just as important as the cinematography, so after editing the video, I began to look for a soung which fits the visuals well. After looking for some time, I remembered Itsuroh Shimoda's song titled 'Everybody Anyone', from the 1973 album 'Love songs and Lamentations', which has a somewhat eerie, yet also mellow, psychedelic rock sound, which I thought would suit the abstract, dark look of my video footage. Due to the slow nature of the song, some of the scenes were too fast, and as a result, I slowed the footage down slightly, to match the song better. If in the future I decided to make another abstract film of similar nature, which I would definitely like to do, one of the only things I would change is the amount of time I have. In this instance I did not have a lot of time, as I wanted it to be finished by Friday, after seeing the suggestion on the tracker, however in the future I would have much more time, which would allow me to leave my house to do some filming elsewhere if necessary, and have more time to compose my shots, and gather exactly what I need for the film. However, in this case, I believe that the spontaneous nature of this film, and it's short production time, gives it a unique atmosphere. Furthermore, if in the future I choose to make another short film, I could try to make the frames from the films look somewhat like my usual street photographs, which is similar to what William Klein did, as many say that stills from his films, looked just like his usual photographs. Whilst this film is somewhat similar to Daido Moriyama's work, my next film could also possibly be more like Josef Koudelka photography, as he is another artist I did research on.
Photography zine
This is a photography zine I made using only Google Street View. All of the photographs in this 72 page zine, are screenshots, taken on Google Street View, and later edited in Lightroom. I first got the idea of using Google street view to do photography I quarantine, when it really began to feel valuable, that with the tool of street view, I could do photography anywhere in the world, without being there. On each spread, there are 2 photos, and I paired them, either for a similar placement of the subject, or a similar atmosphere conveyed by both of the photographs. Doing street photography on a website is very strange in itself, but it raises the question of rights, and how much the photograph is really mine, if I was not there in person. For me, it is still entirely my photograph, as I was the one who decided to change the context of a piece of free information on the internet, to make it considered art. Whilst this zine is not fully finished yet, I believe it is quite successful, as it continues to show my photography so far in the personal investigation 2, and is similar to Daido Moriyama's work due to its high contrast, Black and White nature. Due to having some experience with zines, I am now able to somewhat confidently decide what I want the zine to be like. Similar to American Xerography, I want this zine to have a raw, and personal feel. This feeling is created by the low quality, high contract black and white images. For this reason, I have also decided that I want to use somewhat thick, matt, or recycled paper for the photographs to be printed on, to give it texture.
No Scale, No Time
Often, in urban photographs, the viewer can infer what era a photograph was taken in, from the cars in the frame, as well as the style of clothing worn by people. This means, that urban photographs often lack ambiguity in this regard, as the person viewing the photographs can infer when it was taken. In this series of photographs, which I constructed over lockdown, and the summer holidays, I aim to capture photographs, ambiguous in their date. I refrained from capturing people or cars in these photographs, so they look as though they could have been taken any time during the last 50 years. Photographs which are not bound by their era have a timeless quality, as there is not sense of their age, and therefore, there is no possibility of it losing 'dated'. Grand, natural wonders such as mountains and lakes, as well as steel and concrete structures constructed by humans are not volatile, like other subjects can be. In older street photographs, such as the work of Joel Meyerowitz, some of the people in his subjects may not be alive anymore, however, the large concrete skyscrapers of New York which are also featured in his photographs, are still standing. Well built objects outlive the humans by which it was built by, giving the photographs in this series a strange sense of emptiness, as though they were taken in the future, when the humans who once made the subjects in the frame are not alive anymore. The lack of people in these photographs, or represented only by shadows, gives the structures in the frame emphasis over the residents of the city. Many of the places depicted in these photographs hold sentimental value to me, as they are places where I grew up, and have spent a lot of time in the area. Every resident of a city has places which they consider to be sentimental, and these places will not be the same for any two people. Some of the photographs from these series are representative of my personal experience of my childhood in a cit, and are a personal interpretation of the urban landscape, not a generalised experience, like some of William Egglestons photographs.
Personal Interpretation of the Rural & Urban Landscape 35mm
I wanted to use 35mm film (Kodak Ektar)and (Tri-X 100) in order to document my personal experience of summer holidays, documenting the places which have meaning to me personally, due to memories attached to these places. I wanted these photographs to all have stories of memories behind them, such as memories from my childhood, or more recent memories of visits to various places. I believe that although different in nature, these photographs are similar to the 'No Scale, No Time' photoshoot which I did, as they both document my personal experience of landscapes, and are photographs which, to others, may not mean a lot. Some of these photographs are the embodiment of the changing urban landscape, as they represent the change which spaces may undergo, changing the atmosphere of a place within the city; the only memory that these places were ever different is the memory of the residents, a well as photographs which remain of the place.
Other Street view Photographs
This is a collection of Google Street View Photographs which I have taken throughout the year, documenting both urban and rural spaces, in particular paying attention to shapes, the relation between humans and buildings, as well as colours. Google maps was the perfect tool for street photography during lockdown, as I am able to explore urban areas other than that of my local area virtually. I took photographs in the various cities in North America, such as Vancouver, Greenwood, Las Vegas, New York City, Boston, Chicago among others, where I was able to take street and architectural photographs, focusing on the movement of people within a city, as well as rural areas in states such as Oregon and Wyoming, where I focused on the unchanging landscape. I also took photographs in South American cities such as Quito, Mexico City, Guatemala City, and São Paulo, where I was able to focus on shapes and colours, to a greater extent than when I took photographs in North America, as buildings in South American cities are often more colourful, and less uniform, which means that great juxtaposition between these buildings, and their relation to the residents of them can often occur. I focused primarily on the contrast between the colours and architectural styles of houses on the streets of these cities, as well as the frequently unusual and unique cast iron gates which can often be found on houses, giving each building on the street a different atmosphere. Furthermore, I also created Street View photographs in Asian cities such as Ulaanbataar, Tokyo, Colombo, Saan'a where I also focused primarily on colours, as well as people, and their relations within the urban landscape. In cities such as Tokyo, people, and their attire was my primary focus. I created photographs of people with similar clothing, and their position within the city. I also photographed rural areas in Mongolia and India, where I focused on the vast expanse of the countryside, and the contrast between a country with the lowest, and on the contrary a country with one of the highest population densities. I also took photographs in several European cities, such as Budapest, London and Moscow, where my primary focus was on the relation between the residents of a city, and its architecture, which can often create the illusion of human insignificance, due to the frequency of high rise buildings. I also documented Hungarian villages, as a way to explore the divide of wealth in the country, bu contrasting the capital and rural communities, as well as displaying the differences in urban and rural living.
Budapest Metro
'Budapest Metro' is a photoshoot I decided to in the space of only a few hours in Budapest. I decided to not do this photoshoot during rush hour, as I wanted to isolate some of my subjects, which would have been extremely hard to do among larger crowds. In these photographs, I decided to capture, not only some candid photographs of people, during their everyday activities, but also some of the architecture of the Metro stations. I decided that I would take Metro line 3, the longest line in Budapest, from one end of the line, to the other. Line 3 opened in 1976, during the socialist rule of Hungary, meaning that the soviet architecture, and utilitarian design can still be seen in many stations. During the shoot, there were very few people, both in the stations, and on the trains, as it was around 11am on a work day, and also because of covid. As compared to the usual 1 million people who take the metro daily, it was extremely quiet, and subsequently also somewhat eerie. I found that it is easy to forget about life for a few moments while you wait for the train at a nearly empty station, as there is no natural light anywhere, the only light source being the old neon lights, which seem to help someone disassociate from reality, and forget about the usual busy nature of life in a large city. In my photographs, I aimed to capture people in an unaware, and lonely state, which is hard to capture elsewhere in a city. I used my phone to take these photographs, as it is easier to go unnoticed than with a dslr, or a film camera. I believe it fascinating to explore how a city can change under unique circumstances, which cause people to act differently. As opposed to the usual, there were some minor and some major changes, including the number of people who used to train, the cleanliness of the stations and carriages, as well as how regularly the trains are able to run. These small changes are things which under normal circumstances I hay not have realised, having to experience it during the time of a pandemic, for me to be able to notice these slight changes which can occur in the way a city is run, and how people interact with their surroundings, under different circumstances. Having a phone helped me capture two photographs in particular, these being the photos of the two men fighting in the carriage I was in, which I wouldn't have been able to do with a dslr, without being noticed. This shoot was inspired by a Hungarian small budget film I had watched, called 'Kontroll' which is set entirely in the Budapest Metro. The film has amazing cinematography, and a very unique atmosphere, which is hard to find elsewhere. This film was the reason I wanted to visit the Metro again, and see all the stations where the movie was filmed, as well as some of the benches where the actors sat. If I was to do this photoshoot again, I would probably stay for a longer time than I did, or go back on multiple different days, as I was only there for around 2 hours, which possibly limited the number of good photographs I was able to take. Furthermore, I could also take a series of photographs of the Metro after the pandemic ends, in order to compare the change which occur in the landscape. (Unfortunately this was not possible as due to cover, I was unable to visit Budapest in the winter, so I was unable to take such a series of images.)
Rhetoric of the image
Semiotics- Every photographs has both a denotation and a connotation. Denotation refers to the obvious subjects which can be seen in the photograph. This includes who, or what the subject is, colours, items or products, and the way the subjects were positioned within the frame. Connotation refers to the meaning behind these visuals in the photograph. In Garry Winogrands photograph titled, 'Centre Park zoo', taken in New York city, in 1967, there are a few very obvious visuals in the photograph. The most obvious thing, are the chimpanzees, being held by a white woman, and an African American man. There seems to be a large crowd in the background, and the multi-story building in the background can imply its in a city. These observations are all basic and surface level, and do not offer deeper insight or context about the photograph. Connotation is about the ideas which can be associated with a photograph. In the cat of this photograph, there are a number of connotations. For example, from the clothing of the subjects of the photograph, we can infer that it was taken some time in the 1960s. The implication of this photo having been taken in a city can be expanded, and we can infer that this city is on the east coast, due to the architecture of the multi story building. Furthermore, the varied age group of the crowd can suggest that there is some sort of celebration occurring.
London Photoshoot
During the lesson on Tuesday, we were given the task of writing 12 key words which described the photography I have done for my personal investigation 2 so far. So far I have mostly been interested in high contrast street photographs, such as the ones Josef Koudelka and Daido Moriyama take, as well as 'still' photographs which a similar editing style, yet with a lack of human subjects, however, they still include structures which signal that we live in a civilisation.
The list of key words I wrote were as follows:
1. Contrast
2. Monochrome
3. Shadows
4. Negtive-space
5. Humans
6. Everyday
7. Ordinary
8. Behaviour
9. Society
10. Abstract
11. Decay
12. Light
Thought the week, I looked at the words on the list, meaning they were in my memory went into London in order to do a photoshoot. The photographs I made during this photoshoot are mostly quite similar to the photographs I have taken so far in personal investigation 2, due to their monochromatic, high contrast look. I believe that the primary difference in these photographs as compared to my previous photographs is that they were taken on the south bank, which is one of the tourists attractions of London. Prior to this photoshoot, I was mostly taking photographs in the less wealthy areas of London, such as Brixton, and Southwark, as well as the VIII district of Budapest during the summer. I did this because I wanted to photograph the areas of the city which I believe have the best atmosphere. Often the least gentrified, and wealthy neighbourhoods are the best for seeing the most genuine face of the city. For this photoshoot, I decided to go to an area of London with a lot of glass buildings, due to the sun which I believed would make interesting shadows and reflections. The last photograph of the photoshoot is a clear example of a photograph which takes advantage of the very harsh light.
The list of key words I wrote were as follows:
1. Contrast
2. Monochrome
3. Shadows
4. Negtive-space
5. Humans
6. Everyday
7. Ordinary
8. Behaviour
9. Society
10. Abstract
11. Decay
12. Light
Thought the week, I looked at the words on the list, meaning they were in my memory went into London in order to do a photoshoot. The photographs I made during this photoshoot are mostly quite similar to the photographs I have taken so far in personal investigation 2, due to their monochromatic, high contrast look. I believe that the primary difference in these photographs as compared to my previous photographs is that they were taken on the south bank, which is one of the tourists attractions of London. Prior to this photoshoot, I was mostly taking photographs in the less wealthy areas of London, such as Brixton, and Southwark, as well as the VIII district of Budapest during the summer. I did this because I wanted to photograph the areas of the city which I believe have the best atmosphere. Often the least gentrified, and wealthy neighbourhoods are the best for seeing the most genuine face of the city. For this photoshoot, I decided to go to an area of London with a lot of glass buildings, due to the sun which I believed would make interesting shadows and reflections. The last photograph of the photoshoot is a clear example of a photograph which takes advantage of the very harsh light.
1) Growing up in two large European cities, these being Budapest and London, I have always been more interested in street photography, than landscapes, as in the city, there are never a shortage of streets, whereas for landscapes, I would have to travel quite far to find. Whilst cities all have the same function; to provide people with housing, and a place to work, and spend their time, every city has differences, making each city unique. Upon moving to London, I immediately the noticed how the people, streets, buses, parks and buildings of London, were very different to the ones found in Budapest. The more I travelled between the two cities the more I noticed not only the bigger, obvious differences, but also the smaller, insignificant differences between the cities. I became fascinated with cities, and the relation that people have with the city they live in, and as a result, when I started doing photography, I oriented towards photographing cities. I believe that Budapest has effected my photography more than London, as I find that I take my test photographs there, however, London is undoubtedly much more diverse, which means that my street photography becomes more diverse, including photographs of all races, classes and religions.
2) My work is primarily Black and White and high contrast, due to my subjects often being city scenes. I like to present cities and the people living in them, as accurately as possible, without trying to make it seem idyllic, or perticaulary beautiful. Often , I intentionally photograph the less fortunate areas of a city, where residents don't live wealthy lives, and are faced with adversity. I find this especially interesting, and important to photograph, as especially in this era, media can be very censored, focusing only on things which make certain people look good. This reduces the coverage that the less fortunate in society get, also, in a way, reducing their importance in society. I use B&W, and high contrast in order to make the photograph stand out more, drawing emphasis on certain areas of the frame, which are not in focus. I like to photograph people, as it reminds me, that the life that we live, although it may seem like the only thing of importance at times, are not, as millions of individuals also live a similar life, full of problems, success, pain, and joy. Whilst I do like to shoot in Black and White, I also sometimes use colour, as it often adds a certain atmosphere to the photograph, which B&W cannot. I found that colour film works very well in the summer, whilst monochrome works better in the winter, due to the colder temperatures this time of year, which don't look as good as warm tones on colour film. As well as photography, I also draw inspiration from cinematography, where often, the characters of the film are captured in a way that creates an important visual dynamic on screen, making the overall image stronger. Furthermore I find the use of colour very inspiring, as it is often used to convey very eerie atmospheres.
3) What inspires me is the possibility of being able to take a very good photographs any give day. Photography, especially street photography, is mostly chance, and all of my best photographs were taken on average days, and I didn't leave home with the intention of trying to take a great photograph. Often when I take photographs, Im out for a different reason, but I still have my phone in my pocket, which I can use to take some great photographs, if I see something which I am interested in. I believe that there is little to no planning that one can put into photography, many of my best images were simply take on my phone, not my camera, and often, when I leave my house, I have no idea where I am going to go to take photographs.
4)Whilst I enjoy the convenience of shooting photographs on my phone, which is what I have used to capture some of my best photographs, due to its fats speed, I prefer to take photographs on film, due to not only its unique, dream like, and nostalgic atmosphere, but also its extreme simplicity, which can not be found lots in modern life. I find it fascinating that film cameras have only the most basic camera settings, yet it is all that is needed to take a photograph, making it extremely minimal to operate film cameras.
5)There are many photographers who's work I find very interesting and inspiring. I believe that Daido Moriyama's work can be seen the most in my photography, due to the high contrast, Black and White images I take. I also look to Brassai and Joel Meyerowitz, for their ability to uniquely present the atmostphere of a city, and the lives of its residents. Even though I am not particularly interested in portraiture, I am captivated by Khalik Allah's 125th and Lexington series, which is a series of portraits he took at night in Harlem, NYC. What I find particularly interesting about this series is that they are not high quality, and are quite noisy, they capture emotions which I believe may not have been possible on a high quality digital camera, as it wouldnt capture the urban grittiness of the city.
6)I believe that my photographs capture cities the way they are for the people who live there. I usually like to focus on the less well off and affluent areas of a city, as not only does it have more character, but it also gets less attention from the media, and the tourists that visit a city, even though they often have more interesting residents. I usually take my photographs from an outsiders perspective, without having much knowledge of the subject.
2) My work is primarily Black and White and high contrast, due to my subjects often being city scenes. I like to present cities and the people living in them, as accurately as possible, without trying to make it seem idyllic, or perticaulary beautiful. Often , I intentionally photograph the less fortunate areas of a city, where residents don't live wealthy lives, and are faced with adversity. I find this especially interesting, and important to photograph, as especially in this era, media can be very censored, focusing only on things which make certain people look good. This reduces the coverage that the less fortunate in society get, also, in a way, reducing their importance in society. I use B&W, and high contrast in order to make the photograph stand out more, drawing emphasis on certain areas of the frame, which are not in focus. I like to photograph people, as it reminds me, that the life that we live, although it may seem like the only thing of importance at times, are not, as millions of individuals also live a similar life, full of problems, success, pain, and joy. Whilst I do like to shoot in Black and White, I also sometimes use colour, as it often adds a certain atmosphere to the photograph, which B&W cannot. I found that colour film works very well in the summer, whilst monochrome works better in the winter, due to the colder temperatures this time of year, which don't look as good as warm tones on colour film. As well as photography, I also draw inspiration from cinematography, where often, the characters of the film are captured in a way that creates an important visual dynamic on screen, making the overall image stronger. Furthermore I find the use of colour very inspiring, as it is often used to convey very eerie atmospheres.
3) What inspires me is the possibility of being able to take a very good photographs any give day. Photography, especially street photography, is mostly chance, and all of my best photographs were taken on average days, and I didn't leave home with the intention of trying to take a great photograph. Often when I take photographs, Im out for a different reason, but I still have my phone in my pocket, which I can use to take some great photographs, if I see something which I am interested in. I believe that there is little to no planning that one can put into photography, many of my best images were simply take on my phone, not my camera, and often, when I leave my house, I have no idea where I am going to go to take photographs.
4)Whilst I enjoy the convenience of shooting photographs on my phone, which is what I have used to capture some of my best photographs, due to its fats speed, I prefer to take photographs on film, due to not only its unique, dream like, and nostalgic atmosphere, but also its extreme simplicity, which can not be found lots in modern life. I find it fascinating that film cameras have only the most basic camera settings, yet it is all that is needed to take a photograph, making it extremely minimal to operate film cameras.
5)There are many photographers who's work I find very interesting and inspiring. I believe that Daido Moriyama's work can be seen the most in my photography, due to the high contrast, Black and White images I take. I also look to Brassai and Joel Meyerowitz, for their ability to uniquely present the atmostphere of a city, and the lives of its residents. Even though I am not particularly interested in portraiture, I am captivated by Khalik Allah's 125th and Lexington series, which is a series of portraits he took at night in Harlem, NYC. What I find particularly interesting about this series is that they are not high quality, and are quite noisy, they capture emotions which I believe may not have been possible on a high quality digital camera, as it wouldnt capture the urban grittiness of the city.
6)I believe that my photographs capture cities the way they are for the people who live there. I usually like to focus on the less well off and affluent areas of a city, as not only does it have more character, but it also gets less attention from the media, and the tourists that visit a city, even though they often have more interesting residents. I usually take my photographs from an outsiders perspective, without having much knowledge of the subject.
The photographs I have taken over the course of this week are slightly different from the photographs I usually take. In these photographs, I decided to include strong colours, inspired by Juan Orrantiga's photography. In many of these photographs, I believe that the colour gives it more emphasis, and makes the image more interesting. Despite some colour photographs, the rest is still similar to my photography before, including strong shadows, and high contrasts. I believe that my usual photography style, in certain ways, is incorporated into my colour photographs. I enjoyed photographing and editing in colour, and as a result, I may attempt to take more colour photographs through my personal investigation, inspired by the style of Juan Orrantiga. This style of photography, inspired by Orrantiga proved to be of more use for photographs which I took indoors, as opposed to the photographs I took in my local area, and thus this is of limited usefulness for my project, which documents the changing urban landscape. Nonetheless, it has been valuable to experiment with this style of photography, as it allowed me to gain some inspiration in my photography, in terms of experimenting with colours further, to help improve the point of interest in my images. Furthermore, I took several rolls of Ektar 100 film over the summer, which is a high contrast, and high saturation film stock. Once I get these photographs developed, I may have some interesting colour photos, to use in my personal investigation.
The Studium and the Punctum - Roland Barthes
In Roland Barthes' 1980 book titled 'Camera Lucida', he explains his attempt to find a photograph of his deceased mother, which shows her personality and character, just as he remembers her. He did not look for the newest photograph, or the highest quality one, but the one which stood out to him the most as the person he wants to remember. Barthes believes that each photograph consists of two elements, the first is the studium of the image, and the second is the punctum. To explain these concepts, Barthes used the example of a photograph of the Nicaragua civil war, taken by Koen Wessing in 1979. According to Barthes, the stadium of a photograph, is what we can take away from the photograph using our general knowledge. In the photograph above, the studium can apply to a rebellion, Nicaragua, wretched un-uniformed soldiers, ruined streets, corpses, grief. The latin word 'studium', refers not to the action of studying, but instead a general enthusiastic commitment. The second element of the photograph will break the studium. This is not an element which the viewer of the photograph tries to find, or imply by studying the photograph, but instead the element which rises from the scene, which shoots out of the frame like an arrow, and pierces the viewer. The latin word 'punctum' is used to describe a wound made by a pointed instrument, Barthes designated this word to also mean the second element of the photograph. Most photographs, according to Bathes, include studium, yet they lack the second element of punctum. Most provoke only a general, polite interest, yet they do not prick the viewer, as punctum is supposed to do. It is therefore reasonable to imply that the best photographs are the one which, have punctum, and grab the audience, and make them look at the photograph longer, therefore also thinking about the stadium which is inevitably a part of every photograph. The Photograph above, does not contain a punctum, therefore the photograph just exists, but does not stand out. Although the composition of the photograph, as well as the meaning, and documentation of the photograph is important and impressive, it does not offer punctum, which makes it nothing more than another photograph in the eyes of Barthes. It is also import to note, that the punctum of a photograph is subjective. This suggests that something which Barthes may consider a punctum, may not act the same or everyone else. In the same way, this also means that whilst Barthes does not see a punctum in the Koen Wessing photograph, it does not mean that nobody will see one. Bathes proceeds to find a photograph of his mother which contains an element of punctum, which is completely subjective to him. He wanted to find the photograph, which best reminds him of his deceased mothers character, and personality. Despite here being many better and higher quality photographs of his mother, the one he eventually found was a very old, faded photograph from 1898, taken when his mother was 5 years old. To Barthes, this photograph was the one which best captured his mothers personality. Despite Barthes choosing this image, someone else who also knew her may have chosen a different image of her.
This is a photograph I took recently in London. Using Studium, we can infer from this photograph that it is somewhere in a city, due to the large glass structure in which the subject is located. The woman, smoking a cigarette in the building, appears to be around 40-60 years old, and seems to be making a phone call. The puncture of this image, is the woman, behind the red glass. Her position behind the glass gives her an unnatural colour, which stands out from the frame immediately to me. I believe that the colour of the photograph gives this image a very interesting look, which is unusual, and could not have been achieved if the photograph was black and white. Furthermore, the subject is positioned in the middle of the frame, and is surrounded by mostly dark colours, which make her stand out from the frame further.
Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag's critique of Diane Arbus is that she seems to do photography as a form of voyeurism, and as a way to get some sort of perverse enjoyment out of taking photographs of people with mental and physical disabilities. Sontag accuses Arbus of being somewhat hypocritical, as she photographs people who do not have the same privilege in life as she does, being the daughter of a wealthy department owner, living in the most expensive part of New York. This could also possibly be her attempt to try to differentiate herself from her bourgeoisie parents, and that she does not actually care about the people she photographs. However, this is likely not true, as Diane Arbus describes that she would get very excited on the us, on her way to somebody house to photograph them. This shows that Diane Arbus clearly had, a connection to the people she was photographing, and also a love for photography. Sontag describes Arbus as a 'supertourist' as she was an extension of the anthropologist, visiting 'natives', or in the case of Arbus, 'freaks', and people who look different, and bringing back their exotic doings and strange gear. This is one of Sontag's major critiques of the work of Arbus. She claims that she always took her photographs from an outsiders perspective, often not connecting to her subjects, and othering them. The reason why Sontag believes that Arbus is also unethical, as once she takes the photographs these people she finds different and interesting, she does not do anything in order to help them, she is simply interested in taking the photograph. According to Sontag, Arbus was drawn to subjects which were simply lying around, without any values attached to them. Sontag doesn't like that Arbus took such personal photographs of peoples private life, without having any deeper connection to them, she was simply interested in their life in a perverse way, without showing any real desire to help them.
I would say that my photography is from the point of view of an outsider, looking in to the lives of people I don't know, yet without entering these peoples homes, or personal spaces. I want to capture these random peoples lives, in the context in which they present themselves in on the street. I attempt to use the surroundings of the people on the street in order to match the atmosphere of the overall photograph, to suit the look of the subject. For example, in the photograph above, of the homeless man in the wheelchair, even though I usually shoot in Black & White, I decided to leave this as a colour photograph, due to the good coherence of the colours of the image. I also chose to increase the contrast and sharpness of this photograph, to create a more gritty atmosphere, which I found appropriate, when documenting the gritty street life of the photograph.
This an example of a photograph which I took recently on the Budapest Metro. I believe that this photograph captures the people in the photograph well, even though I took this image with an outsiders perspective, without knowing anything about the people who got in a fight. I captured this photographs using my phone, meaning that nobody noticed that I had a camera. This group of 4 arrived a few stops after I got on. After I took the photograph, I notices the strange dynamic between the people of the group, whilst two members are practicing fighting, the other two people do not seem to be even bothered by this occurrence, suggesting the they do this regularly. Whilst I could have tried taking these photographs from an insiders perspective, by asking them if I can photograph them, and asking them questions, I believe that, whilst not as intimate, this candid image captures the atmosphere of the scene better, as they did not know they were being photographed. I also edited this photograph, making it high contrast, and Black & White, as it created a gritty atmosphere for the photograph, just like the photo of the homeless man, although I decided to not use the colour of the original image, as it was more distracting than the simple monochromatic style I implemented.
Solomon-Godeau
Solomon-Godeau challenges this binaristic view of inside/ outside, which Sontag sees as underpinning much of the ethics or politics of photography. Solomon-Godeau wonders about the relationship between the photograph and the truth. According to Solomon-Godeau we frequently assume authenticity and truth to be located on the inside, and at the same time, we routinely locate and define objectivity in conditions of exteriority, of non complication. Furthermore, Solomon-Godeau asks, if a question is simply the capturing fo surface appearances, how can someone decide if it is really from an insiders perspective, where would the difference between inside and outside lie? And can this be given boundaries? Solomon-Godeau looks at the works of many different artists to help answer these questions. The works of Nan Goldin, and Larry Clark are often considered to be insider works of photography, where instead of the photographer attempting to glimpse into the life of the subject, the subject invites the photographer in. 'The desire for transparency, immediacy, the wish that the viewer might see the other with the photographer's own eyes, is inevitably frustrated by the very mechanisms of the camera, which, despite the best intentions of the photographer, cannot penetrate beyond that which is simply, stupidly there.' shows the limited nature of the photographic medium, which creates a barrier between the subject and the viewer, whether this is desired or not. Solomon-Godeau then goes on to question the 'truth claims' of photography, and the validity of the inside/ outside viewpoint. Whilst photography is often used as evidence, postmodern artists in particular have rejected the idea that photography has any claim to the truth. Whilst the privileged insider view can often be very insightful, the idea of outsideness, can often reward the photographer with more powerful insights, such as the work of Robert Frank, who had no relation or knowledge of the lives of the people he photographed, as this personal relationship between the photographer and the subject can often taint the purity of an image, and the presentation of the subject can often be untruthful.
These are photographs I have taken recently near where I live, they are a mixture of film and digital images, and they also differ a lot in subject matter. For example, the first two, and fourth photographs are urban landscapes, which have no human figures in them. Whilst they are not still life images, the lack of human life creates a melancholy atmosphere for the photographs. As there are no human subjects, it would be hard to argue that they are photographs with an insiders view, as there was nobody there who I who I could have could have gained an insiders view with. these three photographs are similar to Ed Ruschas work about the banality of the American landscape.The third photograph, whilst still mostly an outsider view, as I don't know the people walking by, it could be argued that I fount this particular moment worthy of a photograph, if because it reminded me of the cover art of 'Abbey Road', which is an album that I know, and if I did not, I may not have taken the photograph. The last photograph in this series is one which can be considered an insider photograph, as the man who I took the photograph of was on a moped, on Shooters hill road. As I was walking down, he stopped and asked me about my film camera, and as a result, I got to know him slightly, before taking a photograph of him.
Denotation and Connotation - Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida
Denotations-
Food in a sachet Red background A variety of products including pasta and cheese Vegetables Text at the bottom explains the advert (in French) Connotations- Italian taste and Heritage Good taste due to natural ingredients Italienicity which is hinted by the colours of the packaging In this Panzani advertisement, we can see some packets of pasta, a tin, a sachet, tomatoes, onion, all emerging from a half open string bag. The first aid we receive in the image, about its meaning come in linguistic form, this being the text at the bottom. The only knowledge one would need to understand this message is knowledge of French. Another linguistic clue we are given, is the large Panzani branding on each package food item. This words assonance implies its italianicity. Looking at the image itself, to has a scene which clearly represents a return from the market. This signifies two key values, firstly, t suggests the freshness of the products, and the essentially domestic preparation for which they are destined. the spilling out of the products over the 'table' alludes to a slow paced era, where people would take the time to go to the market, intruder to buy fresh good which they can use to cook lunch with. Whilst this era is long gone, in the fast paced modern world, where people do not have the time or opportunity to buy fresh produce every day, Panzani attempts to capture this desirable aspect of the past, and suggests that Panzani products have the same freshness as buying food from the market. |
This is a photograph I took this summer, in Budapest. I believe that this photograph is a good demonstration of the denotations and connotations of an image. The denotations of this photograph are the following:
woman walks by building
strong shadows cast by the sun
harsh contras between the street and the sheltered are under the columns of building
slightly visible building on the other side of the road indicate that it is in a city
The connotations of the photograph could tell us that it was taken on a sunny day, due to the very strong shadows cast by the sun. From this, we can also connote that it was a hot day, which is also suggested by the lack of warm clothing worn by the woman. The plinths of the building also suggest that the architecture is grandiose, even though it appears very simple and minimal.
woman walks by building
strong shadows cast by the sun
harsh contras between the street and the sheltered are under the columns of building
slightly visible building on the other side of the road indicate that it is in a city
The connotations of the photograph could tell us that it was taken on a sunny day, due to the very strong shadows cast by the sun. From this, we can also connote that it was a hot day, which is also suggested by the lack of warm clothing worn by the woman. The plinths of the building also suggest that the architecture is grandiose, even though it appears very simple and minimal.
I believe that this photoshoot was partially successful, as I managed to take 3 photographs of Harry, using the props which my group chose. I don't think that these are the best photographs I have taken, however I would say that they are not a bad start to portraiture, which I have never attempted before. I used my usual, high contrast style, in both colour and black and white photographs. I believe that the first photograph is the most successful, as it offers a shallow depth of view, which places emphasis on the props we were given, which is unusual of a portrait photograph.
Hicham Benohoud - La salle de classe
1) Benohoud is a photographer from Morocco, who wanted to challenge the education system of his country and do a photoshoot where he opposes the serious tone of education in Morocco, and uses props to take interesting photographs of the children who go to the school, making the school environment seem less serious than it really is.
2) I would say that these photographs would fall under the genre of portraiture, as the school children in the photographs are the subjects, and they are given props in order to make them appear unusual. The most unusual aspect of these photographs are the props which the photographer has decided to pose the students with different props, which can give the illusions of the students having extra limbs, and being dressed in ghost costumes, in the second photograph, giving the photographs a less serious atmosphere than is normally associated with school. The students who are given the props, are contrasted with the students in the background who seem to be getting on with their work, as though there was noting unusual in the photographs. It is unknown whether the students at their desk were were told to look like they were doing their work, or if they were actually focussed on it. Either way, this clearly shows Benohouds aim of capturing photographs which show the contrast between the strict school environment which is presented to these students, which is opposed by the creativity which should be offered to children at a young age, therefore offering a critique to the Moroccan, education system, or possibly education in general. These images make me feel strange, as the strict work environment of school is almost mocked by these photographs, which is unusual to see, however, I also believe that these photographs have an element of nostalgia to them, as it reminds me somewhat of primary school, which was a lot less strict than higher education. Along with the education system, another idea explored in these photographs is creativity, and how it can make the lives of young students better. This is an example of how photography can be used as a way to offer a critique. This, for the most part is different form my photographic practice throughout my personal investigation, as my work serves primarily to document the changing urban landscape, not to provide a critique of it.
John Berger - Ways of Seeing
All the elements of a painting are are presented to be seen simultaneously. Whilst the spectator may need time to inspect every element of the painting the carefully, yet whenever they reach a conclusion, the simultaneity of the whole painting is there to verify this conclusion. This means that a painting maintains its own authority, as it is presented as a whole, with no text to change the meaning which the reader gives it. According to Berger, it is hard to define how text can change the meaning of an image, however, text can make it so that the photograph illustrates the text. Berger also talks about how pieces of art, this being anything, including writing, painting, photographs, can made personal to people. For example, some people own boards, on which they pin these works of art. The different art pieces can give each other contextual meaning, which the individual pieces would not otherwise possess, therefore making this collection of art more personal than a museum for the individual who owns it, meaning logically, these boards should replace museums. Visual arts have always existed within a certain preserve; originally, this was magical or sacred. Later, the preserve of art became a social one, as it entered the culture of the ruling class, and art became something for the nobility to enjoy, and to own as a status symbol, meaning that art was no longer available to average person. The modern preservation of art has removed the authority of art. For the first time, images of art have become ephemeral, valueless, and free. Images not surround us in the same way that text surrounds us, they have entered the mainstream of life, over which they no longer, in themselves have power, therefore relying on text to give them more meaning and context. This can be seen in magazine captions, advertisement and in many other instances, where the image is simply no longer enough to explain a concept, phenomenon, or to sell a product. The art of the past no longer exists as it did, I t has lost its authority. In its place, is a language of image. 'A people or class which is cut off from its own past is far less free to choose and end to act as a people or class than one which has been able to situate itself in history.'
Text on Image
The photograph I decided to use for this experiment is one which I took of Lake Balaton during the summer holidays. I took the image early in the day, meaning the lighting was soft, and the ripples of the water could be seen well. I wanted to contrast this calm and natural image of the water, I used a text, which has a strong political social and ideological message, and was written by somebody, who could be said to have the opposite of the calm outlook of the image, due to the terrorist acts he committed. Ted Kaczynski's 'Industrial society and its future' is a manifesto, which I believe offers perfect juxtaposition to original coming photographs. I used photoshop to add extracts of the manifesto, to the image, in order to change its meaning. Whilst the original image, hence its natural origin, conveys serenity and peace, and certainly doesn't have any political message, however, with the text overlay, it can help the viewer question the meaning of the image, as well as its abstract nature, typical of modern art.
Khalik Allah
Khalik Allah is a New York based photographer, who began photography by photographing members of the Wu-Tang Clan with his parents camera. He later asked for a camera, and has since been photographing people in New York with a film camera. His interest lies in people who are not normally recognised by society, showing their life, which is strange and unfamiliar to many. In a documentary he made, he describes his time photographing a man called 'Frenchie' who was a homeless man, living on the streets. Day by Day, Khalik Allah got closer to Frenchie, and got to know more about him, and his life. To me, his photographs look like film stills, which are characterised by the closeness of the camera, to the face of the subjects, and the coloured hues/ tints of his photographs. His style of photography reminds me a lot of certain films I have seen, such as Taxi Driver, and Blade Runner, the cinematography of which, relies heavily of strong shadows and colours, which are used to set the scene in movies, and as shown by Khalik Allas, also in photographs. Many films, even today, are filmed using film, over digital cameras, due to its characteristic grain, which is not visible in digital footage. I have a roll of portra 800 which expired some time around 2004, which I believe would look great with portraits. I have taken some portraits of strangers in London in the past, however, it was with a digital camera, and it was at daytime. this time, I want to take photographs on the portra 800, at dusk, as it is more atmospheric than daylight, yet still light enough that I don't have to use artificial light on my subject. Upon trying to take these photographs, I will try to look for people who are more interesting than average, and have features which are interesting, such as unusual hair, beard, clothing etc, unlike last time, when I took photographs of random people. furthermore, I will use an automated film camera, as it means I have to make the subject wait a shorter time to take the photographs, and I have more time capturing their unique expressions, rather than adjusting focus and exposure.
*I was unable to create my response to this artist research, due to going into lockdown before I was able to take photographs such a these in central London.
*I was unable to create my response to this artist research, due to going into lockdown before I was able to take photographs such a these in central London.
Cinematography and its relation to Photography
Film stills from 'Taxi Driver', 'Fear and loathing in Las Vegas', 'Blade Runner' and 'Breaking Bad'. All of these films use film which, creates image grain, unlike digital video, which has noise, which is what I want to replicate in my photoshoot, using Kodak Ektar or Portra film.
*I was unable to experiment with creating photography which resembles cinematography due to lockdown.
*I was unable to experiment with creating photography which resembles cinematography due to lockdown.
Aicha Fall
Aicha Falls is a photographer form Ivory Coast, who, overtime, managed to create a link between her identity, her culture, and her traditions, through art. Aicha likes to create big, with little. This practice is shown in her photographs, as she takes her photographs on an iPhone, something which most people own, showing that art can be created even with a lack of professional resources.
Whilst Aicha predominantly photographs people, she also takes images of houses, and the environment these people live in. Her photographs feature high contrast, and deep colours, which, could be a reference to the vibrant colours used in West African traditional clothing, which many of the subjects of her photographs can be seen wearing. Most of her photographs are portrait orientation, which could be to accentuate her subjects. Humans are taller than they are wider, and this is echoed through her choice to shoot in portrait orientation, instead of landscape, which is less representative of the human shape. To a western audience, her photographs, although including many elements which are common with African and European countries, are unusual, as a western audience is not accustomed to seeing cities with such vibrant colours, as the ones portrayed in her photographs. This choice to represent her photographs of Africa with these vibrant colours, shows her interpretation of the art in these places. Aicha shows that art can take various forms, depending on where you are in the word. Her home country of Ivory Coast, to her, represents the beauty found in colour, and this is why her photographs often show mesmerising sunsets, the deep blue mid-day sky, and the light coloured, vast ocean. Aichas photographs are somewhat similar in their nature to Juan Orrantiga's photographs, which also utilises strong light, contrast and vibrant colours. Unlike Orrantigas photographs, Aicha uses only her iPhone, which is a lot more portable than other cameras. This allows her to travel to many different places, photographing people, and focusing on the photographs themselves, instead of the logistics of photographs. This is also a prefect demonstration of how photography, in this age, is available to most people, and that professional photographs can be created with even the most basic equipment. In response to Aicha's photographs, I could take my own set of photographs, relating to what characteristic of my home city, much like she used to strong lighting, and vibrant colours to represent her home city of Abidjan. If I were to choose to make a series of images, in response to hers, in my home city of Budapest, I would need to take photographs which show the character of Budapest accurately. Unlike in Abidjan, which has a warm and sunny climate, in Budapest, the weather changes drastically from season to season, being very hot in the summer, and cold in the winter. As a result, colour photograph may not be the best idea, as in the winter months, the city is not vibrant, or colourful like Abijan. The architecture between the two cities also differs, as opposed to the west African colourful architecture, Budapest is more known for its apartments, instead of houses. The inner city is built up of 4-6 story 19th century apartments, which are usually gray or dark coloured. The lack of trees in the inner city means there is a lack of colour, which could be best represented with Black & White photographs. This practice of using a mobile phone for documentation is something which I also implemented in my personal investigation, as it is a particularly efficient way to document the changing urban landscape, as well as to create street photographs, as due to its small size, and the possibility to use it rapidly mean that it can capture fleeting moments more quickly than a film, or digital slr camera, which will create images which capture the moment. I, like Aicha Fall, used my phone camera to capture many of the photographs I have taken for this project. Largely this is because I took many of my photographs on the way to, and back from school, as a means of documenting the change of my local area. Since it was nonstrategic to carry a dslr to school each day, I used my phone to capture these images.
World through a screen
This is a short experimental slideshow film which I made, in response to Chris Markers' La Jetee, which consists of Black and White photographs at an airport, played in a sequence. Since the lockdown, I had been taking photographs using Google street view, after creating the zine, I had many leftover photographs, which I wanted to use for something, yet I didn't want to create another zine. Inspired by Chris Marker, I wanted to create a short film. Although the photographs were taken in different places, they are related, by their location in cities, or at least somewhat populated areas. Many of these photographs depict industrial areas, and places which are generally not seen as a point of interest for people. These industrial areas, such as power-plants, utility poles, warehouses, as well as trains, trucks, which are used to transport goods around the world. This industry, and the production of consumerist goods are all present in many of the photographs, and I believe, offer a good summary of the modern, industrialised society in which we live.
Festival in a Box
Due to the ongoing pandemic, the photography exhibition were hoping to attend in Brighton was cancelled; instead, I helped curate the festival in a box exhibition. I was given one piece of work, like everyone in class, and it was partly my decision to find a place to exhibit it. The main challenge was being able to find a place for the work of art, which looked good in relation to everyone else's work. Whilst my print was very large, A1, others were much smaller, and had many different prints within one exhibition. Two large dark coloured prints were placed on the wall to first, as well as a shelf between them. Due to these being dominant prints on the wall, I had to try to pace my print in a way that didn't clash with them. My print had both a darker and a lighter side. I tried both sides, in relation to the window, which lit the wall. At fist I places the dark side on the dark side of the wall, however, it was difficult to see the print, and did not look well in relation to the other work. I then tried to flip the print, to see what the light side would look like on the brighter side of the wall. I believed that this looked better, but it was not perfect, and it meant that others also believed it should be moved. In the end, It was exhibited on the floor, due to its large size which wouldn't have looked good with the rest of the exhibition if it was on the wall. After deciding on this placement, I also helped with the placements of two other prints, which were smaller than the one I got. I helped arrange these to make it look cohesive with the rest o the exhibition, and to present it in the best way possible.
John Szarkowski
Szarkowski's theory related to the photographs of William Eggleston, who photographs the everyday, and what some may call mundane. According to Szarkowski, photographs are mere abstractions of reality, due to the photographers ability to manipulate the subject of a photograph, usign the way they frame their image, the angle they take it from, and the exposure they choose to use, meaning that a scene is arbitrary until the photographer makes it unique. Everyone will see the same scene in a different way, and as a result, many 'different' photographs can be taken of the same scene. The scenes and objects which Eggleston chooses to photograph, are things that are seen by many other people, as they are simply things you come across on streets, however, Eggleston chooses to take a photograph, whereas many others who look at the same scene do not. This means, that the photograph of the scene that Eggleston took, is not unique, as it is his vision, as someone else, should they have chosen to take a photograph, may have chosen a different angle, exposure, or framing, making it unique to what they saw the they looked at the said scene. When photographing on medium format film, I choose to capture mostly urban landscapes, devoid of people, and life in general. These compositions can be said to provide accurate documentations of that particular street scene, on the day and time it was taken, for example, the wall next to greenwich park, at around 3-6pm on a Saturday. However, this photograph, is the vision of the artist, me, meaning that what I photographed, could be a distortion of reality, for wanting to achieve a certain look in 'my' composition. This is true, as in my photograph, the scene looks still, with no people or animals in the frame, whereas in real life, there were many people visiting the park that day, therefore walking by the wall, and some birds in the sky. I choose to press the shutter at the specific moment in which I did, to create a flat and still looking image, uncharacteristic of London, and cities in general. To achieve this desired effect, I had to wait for the people and birds to exit the frame which I had already decided, which is not the 'true scene' that initially caught my eye. Furthermore, the urban scene I choose to photograph that day, among others, was one which was specific to me, and my photographic and artistic preferences. The same scene, even if it did get noticed by another photographer, would have meant something different to them, as one scene, or object cannot mean the exact same thing to two different people. Even if his photograph was taken using the same camera, film, angle, shutter and aperture, it would still be different from mine, as his Decisive Moment was different from mine, as well as the meaning of the scene in relation to another persons photographic process.
Nick Waplington
Nick Waplington's book about called 'the indecisive memento' explores the idea of the (in)Decisive moment, a concept made well known by Henri Cartier's book, called the 'decisive moment', which, briefly explained, explores the relationship between the photographer and the scene which they photograph, and the specific moment the author chooses to press the shutter, in order to create their decisive moment, which is different from what another photographer many take, due t their different artistic vision, as also re-enforced by the John Szarowski's photographic theory. Waplingtons book is a documentation of an 8 week journey in South America, as well as the pacific. Unlike the carefully framed and composed of Henri Cartier Version, these photographs are not what would traditionally be referred to as 'good' photographs, as they are taken in order to explore moments during ones travel that are generally taken for granted, such as moments spent waiting at an airport, bus and metro stops, as well as time spent eating, and sleeping at characterless hotel rooms, which could be anywhere in the world. The photographs included in this book are no specific genre, or style, as they are not photographs which he spent a lot o time on, trying to frame, compose, and expose the images perfectly, he simply aimed the camera at someting, and pressed the shutter, which is very unusual of photographers, and more characteristic of tourists, and people who simply do not care about the art of photography. Whist this, ineffectual makes these photographs 'bad', as they are something that a tourist could have taken, Waplinton believe they were photobook worthy. This is likely due to the fact that tourists, and people who have not interest in photography, do not choose to create photobooks, with their photography, at leat not for artistic purposes, which makes Walpingtons book particularly unique, as many photographers would not accept his work as good photography, yet he decided to place them in a book, making it something he professionally presented, in effect, preserving the moments what go unnoticed by people, making the book look somewhat relatable to almost everyone, as it embraces the moment which people experience, yet do not value, until it is turned into art. I want to create my own photobook/ photography zine, which also encapsulates these indecisive memories which are lost among the rush of everyday life. Whilst Waplington travels South America, I would create indecisive photographs from the experience of a Londoner, which perhaps, even more so than Waplingtons photographs, will be recognisable by other residents of London. Whilst I believe that a whole photography book may be excessive especially considering that it os not over a period of 8 week, and its not me travelling to an unknown place, rather re-visiting places where I have likely already been, and for this reason, I think a photography zine may be a better choice. In the past I have designed two zines in InDesign, meaning that I have the necessary skills for creating a new zine, and the production aspect will not be time consuming. In the past, both my zines were professionally printed, however, in this instance, I believe that using a hone/school printer would be a better choice, as the quality of the pages will not matter as much as it did with my previous zines/ photobooks. Furthermore, I like the design of 'American Xerography' which utilises a xerography machine, which makes it look amateur and personal, much like the photographs.
Response to Nick Waplington
This is a series of photographs which I took over the course of a few months. Most are from the summer, and are photographs which I didn't believe were good enough for a professional zine, book, or even as part of a good photoshoot. These are photographs I took with my phone, mostly during travelling, before I have reached my final destination, in places such as bus, train, metro stations, from the car on motorways, and on my daily walk to school, etc. These, much like Nick Waplington's photographs, are photographs that I took, whilst waiting, whilst bored, not of things I found particularly interesting, like with my regular photographs. These photographs are also similar to William Eggleston's work, of the everyday, and banal, scenes which people walk past everyday, without thinking of them as interesting or even notice. The light from streetlights, reflections on water, and shadows on pavements are all things which can be photographed to look particularly beautiful, however, it often goes unnoticed. These photographs weren't given much attention when they were taken, as in many cases, I knew the subject in them was never strong enough to be a particularly good image, as a result, I didn't give things such as framing, and exposure much though, like I do when I photographs something which I think of as a strong subject.These photographs are not particularly strong individually, and none of these photographs are something I would put in my portfolio, however, when in a series, they can be fairly strong, and be a powerful representation of the sights we see everyday. To develop this series further, I could place them in a low quality zine, using a photocopier to print the photographs on normal printer paper. I believe that the style of the zine 'American Xerography' would work well with these photographs, due to their low quality, and insignificance.
William Eggleston
William Egglestons photographs are a reminder of how everybody has slight differences in what they consider normal, and everyday. Scenes which would be photograph worthy for somebody, may be something that others simply neglect and forget about, as they see it often. As John Szarkowski suggested, photography is subjective, and a photograph, in effect, is a representation of the photographer, offering us an insight into the way the photographer works and thinks. This also means that scenes that the photographer considers banal, offer us an insight into aspects of is life, such as age, social class, and interests. Egglestons most famous image, 'The Red Ceiling' is also the one which he considers his most important image. As a result of this, he is very particular about the way it is reproduced, saying "So powerful, in fact, I've never seen it reproduced on the page to my satisfaction", emphasising the importance of particular personal experiences, which are subjective to each individual.
Harry Gruyaert
Harry Gruyaerts work is about the banal, and everyday. The moments of beauty in everyday life, which we often miss due to the rush of life. Gruyaert aims to capture these moments which are lost in everyday life, and frames them in a way that successfully captures its true atmosphere. Many of his photographs have a dream-like quality, such as the third photographs in the top row of images, making the photographs look almost like a painting, similar to that of Edward Hoppers work. I believe that the colour in his photographs are key for being able to capture the atmosphere of the spaced accurately. His work features very vivid, exaggerated colour, and very dark shadows, often helping to frame his images, isolating his subject, helping the subject, which is often person, stand out. Whilst I have not been to any of the places in which he took his photographs, I feel a strange familiarity when looking at them, as if I have been there, perhaps not in real life, but in a dream, even though this is not true. Many of the people in his photographs are in situations which most people find themselves in at some point, such as the man sleeping on the train, people waiting at an airport, or accessing the metro from the street. This familiarity also evokes nostalgia. This is very unusual, as something that people refer to as sentimental, is very personal, as something which I would consider such, would not be sentimental for someone else. Some of these photographs are something I would consider sentimental, even though they are not my experiences, or memories. People often have a tendency to exaggerate their experiences, and often, sentimental places they remember, them as better, than they really were. This clear exaggeration of colour and shadows in Gruyaerts work serve as a reminder of the tendency of nostalgia to destroy the past.
Raymond Depardon
Raymond Depardon is a French documentary photographer, who primarily photographs in Black & White, everyday scenes, which are particularly beautiful. This documentation of everyday beauty is something which fascinates me, as often there are objects of beauty in everyday life which I or others do not notice. This can be due to it being so ordinary that we do not take a second look, or because we are simply used to its beauty due to prolonged exposure to it. It is not often that he slow done to appreciate these aspects of life, especially those who live in the ever-changing city, who simply have no time to slow down between their busy schedule. Something as simple as the movement of people, the simplicity of a road, or the way cars are parked are generally not seen as something which is worthy of a photograph. I want to explore the these moments and objects on the streets of my local area of London, which can have profound beauty. Unlike Raymond Departon, I want to use color in some of my photographs, as it is something which can also be of interest when looking at the beauty of things. This is because cities can often have a great amount of colour, often in unexpected places, which I believe is important capture, as it is partly what brightens the atmosphere of a city, as well as it being what people often notice first about a photographs.
Micheal Christopher Brown
Whilst Brown also photographs using high resolution digital cameras, he also uses a phone camera to capture many photographs around the world, in places such as Cuba, China and Lybia. Brown is a documentary photographer, covering conflict, war as well as other events all around the world. I am particularly interested in his camera phone images, which despite their low quality, convey their subject in the same way as high quality photographs would. Brown's images convey the usefulness of modern technology when it comes to photography, as everyone today, with a phone can be a photographer. Inspired by the word of Brown, I want to photograph in square format using my phone camera. Unlike the work of brown, which conveys a lot of action, I want my photographs to show the simpleness, and peacefulness which city life can also offer. Cities are very dynamic, and are in constant change, thus, I want to convert the side of cities which are less known. The areas of cities which are not regularly visited by tourists, yet is where most residents of the city live. Life outside of the inner city is much slower paced, and it is this near stillness which I want to capture. I want to take a series of photographs which consists of photographs I take on my morning and afternoon walk to school, focusing on aspects of my commute which are less easily noticeable, yet are things which come to my attention some of the time. This includes things such as cars which are parked in a different place, litter which may have been moved my the wind or someone, people who walk to school/work at a similar time to me. The minor changes and routines are which interest me, as they are things which are no glaringly obvious, take a long time to notice, and it only something which can be noticed after spending a long time walking the same route.
Documentation of the changing Urban Landscape
Despite being occupied with schoolwork, I have attempted to take photographs on my way home every day for the past month, in order to document my everyday life, much like William Eggleston. I usually don't take interest in my walk to school in the morning and afternoon, and my aim, especially in the colder winter months, is to get to school as soon as possible. I have tried to capture at least one image every day, on my way home from school, which gets harder every day, as I walk the same route, which doesn't change, and every day, I have less things to photographs. Despite the environment of this walk being mostly the same every day, I have noticed slight differences from week to week, such as cars which are parked in different places, people who I don't normally see, and new litter beside the road, as well as the weather. As well as the slight changes, patterns also become apparent, which include people leaving their house at around the same time and commuters walking/driving by at a similar place each day. Unlike William Eggleson's work, these photographs are not so much of the urban landscape, but rather, certain elements of it, such as the litter on the ground, reflections on windows, and shadows on surfaces. It could be said that the location of these photographs are somewhat ambiguous, as they could have been taken in many cities. The suburbs of London are not what comes to mind when people think the city, as it is not where any of the tourist attractions are located, however, it is where most Londoners live, and could therefore, be considered the most important areas of the city. Despite this importance, the landscape, and the signs of human life in the area are often not documented. I wanted to document the places I see each day, on my walk to school. Due to a lack of humans in most of these photographs, I believe that there is an ominous quality to these photographs, as though something has happened to the people who once lived here. This is a transition from my usual street photographs, in which the subject is a person. For these street photographs, I travel closer to the inner cities, where the population density is higher, and therefore, there are more people in the street. In this are, which is closer to the are in which I live, there are less people, and this means that street photographs are harder to take than photographs of objects. The photographs, due to having all been taken on an iPhone, are similar in nature to the photographs to Michael Christopher Brown. Just like Brown's photographs, all my photographs are 1:1 format. This is due to having used a Medium format film camera, which uses a square format. I have started to like square images, due to their versatility, which makes it suitable, for landscapes, documentary, and even portraits. The purpose of my photography series, much like Brown's work, is to document the changing urban landscape.
Relation to Chance-
My earlier street photographs are a clear visualisation of chance in photography, which can not only be responsible for interesting photographs, but is something which is present in every photograph. In street photography a large part of the image is up to chance, as the subject of the photograph moves, and often the photographer doesn't have time to frame an image adequately before they move from the composition which they saw, and deemed as photographs worthy. In this series of photographs, I have moved away from the clearly chance based street photography to something which is more subtle, yet still very much dependant on chance. This series of photographs was one which I took over the time of multiple days, on my walk to school in the morning/ afternoon, taking at least one photograph per day. The subjects of these photographs are clearly more still than street photographs, and thus I have enough time to take the photograph exactly how I wanted, often I can even experiment by taking more than one photographs of the same scene, and choking the best one later. This may give the illusion of chance playing no role in these kind of photographs, however this is not the case, as the photographs I end up with, are different every day. Before leaving my house in the morning, or school in the afternoon, whilst I have some idea of what I will see, as my route generally doesn't change, I have no clear idea, as each day is different, and my journey hasn't happened yet. There are many aspects os these photographs which are determined by chance, due to many changes occurring within an urban landscape, day to day. The changes can be dependant on the weather, or on human activity. For example, on days when there was fog, I was able to take photographs which wouldn't have been possible on some other days, thus chance affected my photographs that day due to the weather. Human activity can also affect my photographs, for example, I noticed that the position of litter and cars changes day to day, due to the residents of an area interacting with their belongings on the landscape each day. My choices can also affect the outcome of the photographs, as my decision on how to edit the photograph after it is taken may change on how I feel on a given day. Due to my not knowing how I will feel in the future, this is another element of chance which is added to my photographs.
Relation to Chance-
My earlier street photographs are a clear visualisation of chance in photography, which can not only be responsible for interesting photographs, but is something which is present in every photograph. In street photography a large part of the image is up to chance, as the subject of the photograph moves, and often the photographer doesn't have time to frame an image adequately before they move from the composition which they saw, and deemed as photographs worthy. In this series of photographs, I have moved away from the clearly chance based street photography to something which is more subtle, yet still very much dependant on chance. This series of photographs was one which I took over the time of multiple days, on my walk to school in the morning/ afternoon, taking at least one photograph per day. The subjects of these photographs are clearly more still than street photographs, and thus I have enough time to take the photograph exactly how I wanted, often I can even experiment by taking more than one photographs of the same scene, and choking the best one later. This may give the illusion of chance playing no role in these kind of photographs, however this is not the case, as the photographs I end up with, are different every day. Before leaving my house in the morning, or school in the afternoon, whilst I have some idea of what I will see, as my route generally doesn't change, I have no clear idea, as each day is different, and my journey hasn't happened yet. There are many aspects os these photographs which are determined by chance, due to many changes occurring within an urban landscape, day to day. The changes can be dependant on the weather, or on human activity. For example, on days when there was fog, I was able to take photographs which wouldn't have been possible on some other days, thus chance affected my photographs that day due to the weather. Human activity can also affect my photographs, for example, I noticed that the position of litter and cars changes day to day, due to the residents of an area interacting with their belongings on the landscape each day. My choices can also affect the outcome of the photographs, as my decision on how to edit the photograph after it is taken may change on how I feel on a given day. Due to my not knowing how I will feel in the future, this is another element of chance which is added to my photographs.
The Changing Urban Landscape Zine
I decided to create a zine which includes the photographs I took on my daily walks to and from school, to present them in an accessible format. I presented two images on opposite pages, in effect creating a diptych, to emphasise the change between, or rather the lack thereof, between the photographs, in order to suggest that the day to day changes we perceive in a known environment are very limited, presenting itself often in the form pf the weather. The layout of this initial zine mirror that of my earlier Street View zine, except for the aspect ratio, which remains 1:1 throughout the book. I wanted the aspect ration to remain a square for all the images, as I believe it represents a constant, among a series of images on the change of the urban landscape.
Change by Gentrification
Change within an urban environment can also be attributed to the practice of gentrification, whereby old, sometimes derelict buildings are deconstructed, and in their place, new residential and office buildings are built. These new buildings are usually far more expensive to rent than the buildings which they replaced, prompting the previous residents to have to find a new place to live, most likely further from their workplace and family. Gentrification is said to improve the living condition of cities, making way for more jobs, and housing, by transforming previously low income areas, and attracting businesses. Whilst this may seem like an attractive option for the economy of a city, it had numerous downsides, which are often ignored by the developers. The areas which are gentrified are usually neighbourhoods which are high in crime, unemployment, and poverty. This new change seemingly transforms these neighbourhoods, getting rid of the poverty and crime, however in reality, this is simply moved to another part of the city, or country which does not get rid of the underlying problems. Furthermore, it has been said that the gentrification of lower income areas can often lead to the disappearance of cultural movements. From the 2000s and onward, New York city, primarily the borough of Brooklyn, and neighbourhoods in uptown Manhattan have been undergoing rapid gentrification, to a point where there are very few indicators of the 'murder capital' which New York city was in the 1980s. In the last few decades, many cities have been partially gentrified, such as San Francisco, London, New Orleans and New York, however, these cities were mostly transformed before Google Street view coverage was widespread, whereas Budapest's gentrification process can be seen on Street View. Many of the photographs in my series are taken 10 years apart, in 2009 and 2019, using the Google Street view feature which enables me to look at earlier captures. The changes in these photographs, which were taken in the same place, which is astounding, as it shows an extreme transformation in many instances, from low cost housing, or simply an empty urban space, into high cost office spaces or apartments. I wanted to document this, as it is an example of on elf the ways in which urban landscapes can change, often in just a few years. This kind of change will not occur from day to day, however this premise of urban change can also be applied to the last series of photographs which I took, which focus instead on the small changes in the urban landscape, caused either by natural causes or by the intervention of humans.
Known places
This is a series of photographs which I took using google street view, focusing on the mundane aspects of sentimental areas of a city. Cities can often hold sentimental value to people, and this is certainly the case for myself. For this series, I wanted to focus on a certain aspect of two cities in which I spent a lot of time in growing up. Often, we tend to ignore things which are not directly sued by us, this includes lamp posts, government buildings, warehouses, and power lines. Upon re visiting Budapest and Balatonfűzfő on street view, I noticed that both places share a variety of different looking utility poles, and pylons. I too screenshots of the most interesting looking utility poles, in order to show the large variety, and complexity o the things we miss in everyday life. As well as this acting as a showcase of the mundane, it also shows my personal experience of these two places, in a non conventional places. These images showcase an element of these sentimental places, that even I have previously not given any though, making this series of photographs very reflective of myself, and my personal experience of the two cities.
Response
Inspired by the work of Harry Gruyaert and William Eggleston, I decided to document my local area. The photoshoot I conducted was done in order to document my perception of the city in which I live, and thereby, giving the audience an insight into how different people can have different interpretation of the same place. It was pointed out to me that I usually photographed my subject further in my photographs taken in London, compared to my photographs from Budapest, in which I was closer to my subject. As a result, I took a new series of images, also in my local area, in which was closer to my subject, therefore allowing it to fill more of the frame.
Response to Georges Perec
'It would create a familiar space, would give rise to an itinerary (leave home, go and buy the evening paper, a packet of cigarettes, a packet of soap powder, a kilo of cherries, etc.), a pretext for a few limp handshakes (morning Madame Chamissac, morning Monsieur Fernand, morning Mademoiselle Jeanne), but that would only ever be putting a mawkish face on necessity, a way of dressing up commercialism.'
'Recognize that suburbs have a strong tendency not to remain as suburbs.'
'The neighbourhood is what we call the area where we reside, not the area where we work: places of residence and places of work hardly ever coincide.'
'It's the same air, the same earth, but the road is no longer quite the same, the writing on the road signs changes, the baker's shops no longer look altogether like the thing we were calling a baker's shop just a short while earlier, the loaves are no longer the same shape, there are no longer the same cigarette packets lying around on the ground.'
- Georges Perec
This is another series of photographs I have taken over the course of a few weeks, adding to my existing photographs of my local area. Continuing from the use of the 6x6 Yashicamat camera I used, with Black and White Ilford Delta 100 film, I took all these digital photograph in square format. I have began to take square photographs almost exclusively, as a 1:1 ration is easy to fill in a way that leaves no useless negative space in the frame, drawing more attention to the subject. When I took photographs on a sunny day, I was able to use the strong shadows to contrast the negative space in the sky, with some negative space in the foreground, creating a more balanced frame, and at the same time, adding more contrast to the image. In many of these photographs, I toked for repetitions of shapes, and colours, which make the image cohesive, and more visually appealing. The last two images I believe are the best examples of this. The second to last photograph repeats the use of colours. We can see the repetition of blue in the shadow of the car window, the sky, as well as the blue doorway of the shop. These shapes work well with the pink banner of the shop and the white lettering on it, as blue and pin are harmony colours. I also focused on keeping the frame simple, with a lack of distracting elements, leaving some intentional negative space, o using simple elements as contrast, such as clouds. In 'Species of Spaces and other Pieces', the author Georges Perec finds amusement in observing a particular place in a city, and attempting to describe everything which is happening in a hight level of detail. He notes that cities, and everything which makes up a city has the tendency to change, due to the constant evolution of humans, and the changes which are brought about as a result. Whilst this change can occur over a log time, decades, or even centuries, often there are changes which occur in just a few days time. As a result, when we return to a familiar place in the city, it is likely that come level of change has already taken place. Perec describes a habit which people often adopt when they begin to settle down in a neighbourhood of a city 'It would create a familiar space, would give rise to an itinerary (leave home, go and buy the evening paper, a packet of cigarettes, a packet of soap powder, a kilo of cherries, etc.), a pretext for a few limp handshakes (morning Madame Chamissac, morning Monsieur Fernand, morning Mademoiselle Jeanne), but that would only ever be putting a mawkish face on necessity, a way of dressing up commercialism.' This routine which city dwellers adapt to, as a result of having to cater to their schedule, prompted by their place of study or employment, means that people can go through their life in their city, not noticing the very aspects of cities which contain beauty. This fast paced 'commercialist' lifestyle which we have adapted to due to our life in a city, means we disregard aspects of life which do not cater to our schedule, and thus we get absorbed only in our tasks only. Inspired by the writing of George Perec, I wanted to create a series of photographs, similar to another series which I have created previously, focusing primarily on the aspects of by local area, and places which I take photos in usually, attempting to capture new elements of this familiar landscape, the beauty of which I may not have noticed before.
Photoshoot also inspired by Georges Perec
The Palms
The palms is a visual art duo made up of Alec Soth, a fine art photographer and Dave King, a musician. In their performance, they explore the themes of chance, and the relationship between music, and photography. Throughout the performance, Soth stacked photographs on top of each other, which was accompanied by music. This was likely done to explore the relationship between the atmosphere of the photographs, and the the music. The photographs used by Soth were not his own, but rather were neglected photographs which he purchased throughout many years. These photograph have a sense of intimacy, due to most of them being amateur family photographs. Chance was also explored in the performance, through an anecdote which Dave King shares. On his, and his bands regular journeys through midwest America, from the twin cities area to Chicago, the band noticed a mall called Sun Ray. This mall was significant as they saw it as a referent to Sun Ra, one of the musicians which the band members liked. Although this sign was very chose to his real name, it had a Y, which they hoped would one day stop working. During one of their journeys, as if by a miracle, they noticed that the light in the letter Y had gone out. After taking a photograph of this niche reference, Dave King realised that this was a sign to be awake to chance, and any possible epiphanies which make come to people simply by chance. He says that the search and the journey to this can often be the best aspect of chance.
Response to 'The Palms'
'After watching 'The Palms' performance, I was inspired to create a short film, accompanied by music, capturing the city in which I live. Alec Soth chose to show his home city of Minneapolis, MN through old archival photographs taken in the twin cities area, which he collected over a long time. In stead of still images, I decided to take short videos, using my iPhone, and film the Thames embankment area in Greenwich, as it is a place which I like to visit. I, like Soth wanted to create a harmony between the visual aspect of the film, and the music. I initially wanted to use a Charlie Parker live session recording for my music, however after I shot the video, and sequenced them in Premier Pro, I released that it would have been too fast, and would not have been harmonious with the visuals. I chose to use part of the song 'Space Lion' from the soundtrack of Cowboy Bebop, as it is much slower, and fits the visuals much better. I decided to take the videos out of focus, which I did by focusing on my hand, and locking the focus. I wanted to do this to represent the blur which everyday life can often be, due to having to keep to a schedule, enforced by school/ work, which means we often do not register the events of everyday life, as they are more or less the same as every other day. This means that the time we spend without observing our life, and preserving moments, can often go by in what feels like just a moment. This lack of ability to break from our routine can also lead to loneliness, as it cuts away from the time we could spend with the ones closest to us, the lack of focus in the film aims to highlight this detachment. Despite most of the film not being sharp, the first and last videos are sharp, and both show water in them. I wanted to include this to represent a moment in introspection in our life, at moments when we can take a break from structure, at times such as Christmas, or the summer. This is a time which can be used to reflect on ourselves, a time which we can use to figure out which direction we want to take our life. As suggested by the phrase in the description of the video, I referred to this time as a 'moment of clarity'. To help relate this film to the work I have been doing recently in my personal investigation, I wanted to film it in the city, hence the title, 'Life in the Metropolis.' Greenwich, and the surrounding area is one of the places I visit the most in London, making the video my personal interpretation, much like the photographs I have taken recently, in my local area. Whilst this video is more abstract, it still evokes my memories of the place, acting almost as a way of remembering the other memories of the area which I have. If I was to re-make this video, I would definitely use my dslr, and record it in an uncompressed format, as the compression is my main concern with the video. At times I believe this somewhat heavy compression can take away from the experience of the video, as it is somewhat distracting.
Laura El-Tantawy
This video is a response I made to Laura El-Tantawy's video 'In the Shadow of the Pyramids', a video about unrest in her country of Egypt, and her attempt to re-familiarise herself with the culture of the country she was born in, after a decade of living abroad. Her short film consisted of still images which she has taken in Egypt, showing the intimate nature of unrest in Cairo, contrasting this with photographs of her seemingly calm and happy childhood. I wanted to replicate this contrast in my video, using music, and my own still images. Since my project in centered around city life, I took some photographs on my walks during quarantine, one series on a sunny day, and another during blue hour. I wanted to capture the stillness of outer city life, and juxtapose this with a more abrasive song, to represent the dynamic nature of cities, as not only can a city be calm, it can also be hard at work. It was brought to my attention that before my explanation of the music choice, it seemed to not be a good fit. This is due to its clear opposition to the photographs, as well as the beat of the song not fitting the pace the photographs changed. As this is my first draft, I want to prefect the relationship between the sound and the images, and due to this, I may change the focus of the soundtrack from a contrasting nature, to something which compliments the photographs, bringing out their still aspect. In order to do this, I want to revisit the paces where the photographs were taken, which is the Shooters Hill area of London, at blue hour, and record the sound of the street with my phone. This field recording style audio will definitely be more of a compliment to the images, as opposed to a juxtaposition which I was previously going for. Furthermore, I want to experiment with making a short film, using moving image, with also reflects on the stillness of a city, in a more busy area, such as central London. Most of the time, people do not see these areas as the calm and quiet streets they can be, however often there are less people and less traffic at night. I want to show the transformation of these places from the busy urban centers they are at night, to the peaceful, nearly empty streets they can be at night. As a way of juxtaposing this stillness, I could experiment with ling exposure photographs of people, showing their movements, as they go about they day. For this I would need a neutral density filter, which I I could use to extend my shutter speed at night. I want to take the long exposure photographs during the day on a weekend, as it is when the city is most busy.
Response to feedback
In response to the feedback I received in class, I decided to refine the video by changing the sound I used, in an effort to make it fit the video better. Initially I considered changing the music of the video to a different song, however upon looking for a song to use, I released that I had a field recording which I intended to use for a video, yet I did not get the chance to finish it. The sound is a thunder storm which I recorded in the summer of 2020, using a voice recorder. I aimed to capture the relaxing sounds of the summer rain, heard from a balcony. I believe that his sound is better suited to the atmosphere of my video, as it does not oppose the calm atmosphere of the photographs, and is a sound which people can associate with the city. I wanted to provide an experience of what life in the city is like, by providing photographs of buildings and places which can be seen during a walk throughout the city, and the sound of rain which can also occasionally be heard, whether from pithing a home, or from the street. I believe that whilst the music can work with the video, in juxtaposing the calm, and hectic aspect of a city, I believe that the calm sound of the rain can be more fitting for the kind of photographs which are depicted in the film, and is more effective in accurately capturing the atmosphere of a city.
6x6 120 film
Using Ilford Delta 100 and a borrowed Yashica LM, I captured some squat format photographs, attempting to display the vast contrast between an urban landscape which I am familiar with and a rural landscape, which I exposed for the first time. When taking the rural landscapes, I travelled to Dungeness, as well as ash down forest, where I captured the tranquil, and occasionally rugged terrain of rural areas. Unlike in cities, where buildings offer protection from wind and rain, in a rural landscape, one is more exposed, and thus it appears to be a harsher environment than a city. I wanted to explore the vast differences between urban areas which I am accustomed to, and areas, in this case rural areas, which I am not as familiar with. This difference manifested itself in differences between the types of photographs which I took. Photographs which I captured in Greenwich, an area I am familiar with, tend to be a lot closer up, looking at the finer details of a city, instead of the overall topography. This is likely due to the fact that I was less interested in the wider landscape in a place which I am more familiar with, and have become used to over the years, thus instead, I resorted to focusing on the details of the landscape, which I may not have noticed before. On the contrary, when photographing the rural landscapes which I visited, I was more focused on the landscape as a whole, as they are places where I have not yet spent enough time in, to begin to explore the details of. Photographing in an place like Dungeness is extremely different from photographing in a city, as In a rural environment, there is a lot more open space, and is a lot more sparse than a city. This means that even if I has the intention of looking closely at the details of the landscape, there would be less to explore than there would be in a city. Travelling from a city to a ruler environment, regardless of where is tis, there are bound to be changes in the way we look at things. Rural landscapes, due to their lack of buildings, especially compared to a city, are going to be interpreted differently by someone who travelled there from a city, as it is not what they are used to. I believe that this series of photographs successfully captures the differences in the way we see a landscape, depending of our level of familiarity with it, as well as the discrepancies between it and the landscape we are most used to.
Clemens Gritl 'Radiant City'
This video project by Clemens Gritl is inspired by the possibility of 'Plan Voisin' having been built in Paris, in 1925. This is a very radical urban design proposal, designed by Le Corbusier, spanning a total of 3km, which would have meant a demolition of a significant part of the old city of Paris. The projects consist of two videos, one being of the landscape as it is now, and the other depicts how the urban landscape of Paris would look Le Corbuiser's plans had been built. This is a shocking visualisation of how the landscape of a city could have easily been charged forever, showing the great amount of change a city could possibly undergo, providing the circumstances. Other such radial urban planning designs had bee proposed in the past, such as Albert Speer's plans for a new Berlin, which would be the capital of the Third Reich. These plans reflect the past of a city, whilst also reflecting upon how a city could have changed, had things gone differently. This has inspired me to do some research of what was in the place of my house, and the surrounding area before it was built, as well as wanting to explore brutalist structures in London, and what was in their place before their were built, representing the utopian outlook on city planning, and architecture of the 60s. For this, I want to explore buildings such as Robin Hood gardens, Alexandra road estate, and the Barbican, brutalist buildings which were all approved and built, changing the landscape of London. I want to find some historical photographs of what was in place of these developments before they were built, as well as other possible buildings which were proposed instead. I want to explore, through my photography, the details of these structures which were built, reflecting on what life is like in these buildings which represent the future. The last render is an interpretation of Victory mansions from 1984, a dystopian novel which shows the bleak outlook on life in a highly authoritarian state. People are often interested by interpretations of the past which did not come true, ruminating on what life may be like if it did come true. However, there is little speculation on how some attempts at creating a utopia turned out in real life. The futuristic and ambitious brutalist architecture of the 60s, whilst something that has made an impact on cities, is reflected upon little among people, as it is now another element of the present city. Current elements of a city are seldom sought after as something of interest, people instead gravitating towards the past and the future of a particular place. This is the reason I want to photograph these once ultra modern and controversial structures, in their present state. Chance will be an element of these photographs as whilst I have a rough idea of what I will see at my destination, I can not be certain. I am faced with further elements of chance including the journey towards these buildings, as well as the weather as well as human activity at the destination.
Brutalism Photoshoot
These are the photographs I produced based on the research of Brutalism which I conducted. I visited 3 different brutalist buildings in London, all famed for having stood the trial of time, as their bold concrete facades have withstood major change for decades, preserving the vision of the architect. I photographed the Barbican, a building which I have been to many times in the past, Trellick Tower where I have previously done a photoshoot, as well as Ainsworth and Alexandra estate, which are all brutalist structures, famed for their architecture. At these buildings, as well as on the way there, I wanted to take photographs which encompass the imperfections of the city as it currently is. The architects of these structures designed these buildings as the future of living, hoping for it to be a golden standard of urban living, yet after the 1960s, brutalist architecture began to decline in prominence, as city dwellers found its design rough and inhospitable, hardly something which people should live it, due to its alienation of residents. In recent years however, brutalism has began to shed the negative reputation which it gathered, with architects beginning to re-imagine brutalist design, and fixing its weaknesses. I wanted to document the reality of these structures, which are now a far cry from the utopian havens they were once intended to be, presenting through my photography their imperfections, as well as the reality of other areas of the city. I wanted to to this in order to show that often the vision of city planners and architects can disintegrate, leaving an undesirable outcome, yet out of this, the city which we really know is born. It is these changes within the urban landscape, which shape the city in which we live, and make up part of our experience of the city.
John Gossage 'The Pond'
Irony in art is often used to mock, or critique the 'ugliness of man-made juxtapositions', and the societal decisions they bring about, however as Robert Adams remarks, this does little good other than point out the obvious. 'It is the incorporation of darkness into art that initially confirms to us, in our discomfort, the importance of art, and assures us that the hope that the art offers had not been cheaply won' suggests that it is often the reflection of reality which can bring the most comfort through art, as it is something we are most familiar with. Thus a reflection of the familiar through art, is the comfort, often gained through simply photographing life, is what we lack in terms of comfort. This may be an allusion to the idea that the media is interested only in the sensationalised aspects of everyday life, thus disallowing people to find pleasure and interest in day to day life. More simply, it could simply be a suggestion that we often overlook everyday life as something which is boring, which means we forget that it is what makes up an overwhelming majority of our lives.
Memories of Space and time
Memories of Space and Time | Species of Spaces and other Pieces is a short film I created, inspired by the writing of Georges Perec. I captured the videos which make up this short film during the summer of 2020, at Balaton, Hungary, at my grandparents holiday house. Later on the same day that I captured the videos, the windows of the house would be changes, which prompted me to capture the house in its last moments before it would change forever. This was before I read Geroges Perec's book the 'Species of Paces and other Pieces', and thus the inspiration behind the framing, and the atmosphere of these videos was intended to be 'Twin Peaks'. At the time, I was watching the series, and I was inspired by its cinematography and atmosphere, and thus I decided to document the house on a particularly serene summer morning. Although I knew this would not be the same atmosphere as the gloomy skies of the Pacific Northwest, where Twin Peaks is set, I captured the videos anyway, yet afterwards I was discouraged from continuing to make it into a film, due to the vast differences between my captures and the series. Upon reading Perec's book, I was reminded of this morning when I captured the videos, due to the captivating descriptions of Perec about changes in life, which we are usually far too busy to notice. I realised that this was characteristic of my life too, as most of the moments of serenity and change which I could recall were from times of my life when I was not busy, such as in holidays, and Lower school. When I was reminded of this particular moment, and endeavoured to find the videos, and edit them, this time into a short film which shows these tranquil and captivating moments before change. Using Premier Pro, I decided to use long, still frames in order to capture this.
Exhibition Film Experiment
Upon my initial experimentation, I created a film to go along with my Photobook. This film was a simple compilation of some recent videos which I took in London, similar to other videos I have done in the past. Whilst I think this video was satisfactory, it was not a perfect summary of the videography I have done throughout my personal investigation. It contained only videos which I took recently, and did not include any indication of my experimentation. I exported this initial version of the film, however, due to my dissatisfaction, I decided to add to the film. I decided to include some of the videos I have done in the past, as well as some of my google Street View photographs, in order for the video to be able to provide a comprehensive display of my project, and go along with my Photobook.
Exhibition Film
For my second draft of my Exhibition Film, titled 'Known Unknowns : The Changing Urban Landscape', a title it shares with my Final Piece, which is the Photobook which I created, I wanted to incorporate elements of my past work, in order to show the progression of my project. In order to do this, I used some of my Google Street View photographs, as well as some of the videos I made for my Hans Richter Response. Due to the aspect ration, these images and videos appear smaller than the recent ones I made, which I believe to be symbolic of it being older work. I believe that this film is more successful than the original one I made, not only because it is longer and is thus more, interesting, but also because it encompasses my whole personal investigation more successfully, something that I considered to be important, as this film was made to accompany my photobook, and should thus provide an insight into what the rest of the project was like, including my previous experimental which have all led to my final photobook. This film thus serves as an introduction to my final piece, and it more successful in this regard than my initial experiment.
I took screenshots of the making of my final installation video, showing the various stages of its production. I initially started out by creating a compilation of all the recent videos I would use for the installation into a folder. I began to assemble the video, by attempting to create an order I hoped would create a flow between the different video clips. At the end of this, I was left with a final piece which was only around 2 minutes long. I wanted this video to be something which can be played in the background while a viewer takes a look at my final installation piece, that being my photobook, and thus a 2 minute clip would have been too short for this immersive experience to work. Furthermore, the videos I used did not provide a comprehensive overview of my whole personal investigation. As a result of this, I decided to add some photographs and older videos to my film. I inserted a few of my most successful Google Street View photographs, in order to show that videos, as well as the documentation of my local area are not the only works I did for my investigation, and that my experimentation of alternative methods of documentation during lockdown also played a large part in the development and outcome of my project. Furthermore, I also added some of the plant shadow videos which I created for my Hans Richter response video, as I believe that this breaks the video away from its simple nature, adding an element of the Gray area to it, so that the viewer can fabricate a meaning which is subjective for them. I wanted this so that the video doesn't just present my personal interpretation of my project, but rather encourages the viewer to think about what this documentation of change can mean to them, evoking their own personal memories.
Final Installation - Photobook
The inception of my Photobook 'Known Unknowns : The Changing Urban Landscape', (also the title of the film I created to accompany the video), is one which consists of several stages which have allowed me to perfect the book, into the perfect Final Exhibition for my Personal Investigation. Initially I gathered the photographs which I wanted to use for the book, which consisted of photographs which I have taken in my local area over the last months. I used the best photographs from the previous photoshoots which I have done, as well as images which I have taken more recently, primarily on my phone camera. I have experimented with zine layouts in the past with my Google street view zine, as well as my more recent zine, utilising many of the same photographs as the ones which I chose to include in this photobook. I decided to use mostly square format photographs, as it is what I have predominantly used in my photography for the past year, including a few landscape images at the end of the book, which I took last summer in Hungary, due to their close relation to the concept of the photobook. In order to simplify the book in its design and layout, I chose not to include any text, leaving only the images on the pages, acting almost as dyptichs, which create their own narrative, which is left up to the readers interpretation. After knowing the design I would implement for the book, I decided to create the layout in Indesign, using a custom book size of 250mm x 210mm. After I had decided on the layout and order of the photographs, I edited the images a final time, so they would all suit the colour scheme of the book, which consists mostly of greyscale images, as well as abundant red and blue hues. The book was printed by Mixam, a print on demand company which I have used in the past for my photography Extended Project Qualification, thus I was aware of the accurate colour reproduction and high print quality which they offered. Despite the slight loss of saturation of uncoated paper, It is what I close instead of silk paper which I used for my EPQ zine, as silk paper gave the book the appearance of it being low quality and gaudy. Mimicking the appearance of high end photobooks which I have taken inspiration from, I desired to use a thick paper (160 gsm), for a high quality experience. I decided to keep the design for the cover simple, not only because of my hindered knowledge of graphic design, but also because it contribute to the cohesive minimal design of the book. I used Gill Sans light for the cover text. I wanted this photobook to be a final collection of all the photographs I have taken in effort to document my local area, however instead of creating my own narrative, I decided to leave the meaning of the images up to the imagination of the audience, in an effort to allow my work to be a gray area between the desire of a documentary photographer to document accurately their experience, and the conflicting desire to create our own narrative for these images, presenting them not just as a documentation, but as art; something of beauty and passion. Overall, I am satisfied with my final outcome, as the book feels and looks high quality, and I believe that the print quality throughout the book look appealing. I hoped that Mixam would be able to do a canvas cover for the book, as this is what I envisioned, however this was not an option, and thus the cover is simply mat white. I believe that a white/gray canvas would have given it a slightly more interesting design. Furthermore, If I were to make the book again, I would include a quote at the beginning, form Georges Perec, whose writing has been a major influence for the final outcome of my personal investigation. Not only would this be a good way to summarise my project, as well as set the tone for the photographs in the book.