Saturday 29 March 2014

Re-shoot of Yesterdays Photographs

Today I re-shot the photographs I took yesterday that got ruined. I visited the same locations and re-shot the compositions but also shot some new compositions, the main subject matter for the photographs was staircases as I shot in mainly parking structures which typically have geometric architecture. I went out early because I knew it was going to be sunny in the morning and I wanted my outside shots to be took in sunlight. For today I shot in digital colour whereas originally the photographs were black and white 35mm but I feel the photos will work well in colour as a lot of the photos contain contrasting colours.  The first place I went was the parking structure under the Convention Complex and re-shot a composition I took yesterday, I wont be able to upload the image to my bog until Monday as I have to use Photoshop to combine two exposures and I don't have Photoshop on this laptop. I re-shot the same stair set from a different angle and shot it portrait and from a different angle, I feel that the photographs I took today all have strong compositions and I used a tripod and took my time composing each photograph as I want the viewers eye to move around the image flowing with the architecture. I then moved onto a parking structure opposite Beetham tower, I shot the same composition I shot yesterday but shot it from a variety of angles where-as when I was shooting film I only took one exposure of the structure. 

I feel the photographs I took today are all very successful so it has taken the sting out of the fact I lost the 35mm versions. I'm slowly narrowing down my subject matter but still need to take more photographs to find out exactly what I want my gallery pieces to consist of. Tomorrow I plan on photographing flatter 2D structures which I have been meaning to do for a while in an attempt to show how interesting abstract patterns can be found on the simplest of structures and walls. 



This (above) photograph was taken in the parking structure under the Convention Complex. I was drawn to this stair set as it had a very geometric shape like the structures of a Cubist painting. It's white aesthetic and contrasting black hand rails refine the shape. I remember something Alan told me about composing photographs, you have to keep the viewers eye in the frame so this I what I was composing for. I wanted the vertical lines to be parallel with the frame so they fit well in the frame and don't lead the viewers eye out of it. When composing the photographs there we a lot of things I had to keep out like various signs and lights that would have been laid over the frame. I think the photograph works well in conveying that interesting lines can appear in the most mundane structures. 



This is my favorite photograph from the shoot and one of my favorite photographs I've taken for this project so far. I constructed the photograph so your eye would move naturally up the stairs and made sure I included the staircase from the bottom to the top. I think the dark tones of the hand rails contrasts with the bricks brilliantly enhancing the shape and perspective of the structure. The image had natural contrast due to the hard shadows projected by the sunlight which enhance the geometric theme of the photograph. The photograph contains a variety of textures from the rough brick work to the dark hand rails which in themselves contain dark static tones and bright reflections of sunlight. I'm not glad my film was ruined but I feel that this photograph almost makes up for it. 




This is a composition I photographed yesterday and in roughly the same conditions. The main thing that interested me with this staircase was the variety of textures and tones. Although the entire thing is made of steel the grey tones of the staircase contrasts well with the chrome rail and the yellow lines. The sun was in a great position in projecting shadows however the sun was a little dimmed by the clouds when I took the exposure. I feel the subject matter might be a little overwhelming with the amount of lines and rails heading in all directions so I might have to simplify my subject matter.