This week I decided to photograph interesting lines and abstract shapes within pieces of architecture in an attempt to show how everyday piece of architecture that people walk past everyday hold interesting and abstract patterns and shapes. I was influenced by the work of photographer David Plowden who photographs architecture and street scenes, his photographs are very well composed and geometric. I was also inspired by the paintings of Mark Rothko and Piet Mondrian who focus on painting shape and pattern. I used 35mm black and white film for the shoot taking photographs over a two day period. The first day was very sunny which meant I could photograph interesting shadow shapes interesting with the landscape, I could also achieve contrasty images which is what I wanted. I found that Deansgate and modern areas of the city made the best subject matter as the architecture is very sharp and contains interesting forms and patterns. Most of the photographs I ended up printing were taken on the first day as the shadows are a key part of the photo. The second day I shot the weather was overcast so the landscape was very flat but I made the most of it. Out of the 36 exposures I printed just 7 photographs but all the photograph I printed I felt were strong. Whilst printing the photographs I made the quite contrasty and tried to make the photographs work as a set as last time a printed in the darkroom the photos were all aesthetically quite different so I tried to match the exposure and contrast in all the photos but obviously not all the images can match perfectly. I think this set of photographs works better than the portrait photos I took last week as the subject matter is less obvious but far more interesting. I think I want to develop this work and more maybe shoot medium format and move back to colour film.
This photograph in particular was inspired by the work of Mark Rothko in terms of composition and using block of texture and tone. I like how the photograph contains many different textures from the flat all the distressed brick work and grid lines on the pavement. I also slightly burned the bottom section of the photograph as the pavement was slightly over exposed and made the image look rather flat, it was the first time I'd burned using the enlarger but it wasn't too difficult as the area was straight so I used a black piece of A4 card. This is one of my favorite photographs from the set.
This is my favorite photograph of the set, the variety of lines in the image work well overlapping is very strong. Sunlight and shadow play a huge part in the photograph in creating contrast and jagged shadows that a key part of the image. The steps have an interesting texture and the sunlight creates contrasting horizontal lines. It took a while to compose the photograph as I wanted the rail to sit comfortably in the frame and lead your eye up the composition. This photograph is evidence that interesting shapes and patterns can appear anywhere in everyday society.
This photograph was taken in Manchester Art Gallery and was the hardest of all the photographs I took to compose as I wanted all the vertical lines to be perfect and there areas on both sides of the photo I wanted to leave out. I found the staircases and hand rails made brilliant subject matter as they're geometric and twist and turn through the composition. I slightly burned the top right area of the image as it was too bright and I wanted the chrome rail to stand out from the background. The photograph sits with the narrative of the set which is that interesting patterns can appear anywhere in society.
