I started off this morning my going into Uni and editing my photograph from Saturday (in the blog post below). One I done this I wandered around the photography section of the building to see if Alan was about but he wasn't so I went into town and brought the Nikon FM I was saving for, I'm glad I've got a 35mm camera of my own so I haven't got to keep hiring the FM from the AV Store. I also brought it to take to London because I'm going there this weekend and want to shoot film. When I brought the camera I got a free roll of film so I walked around the city shooting, I didn't shoot with a real objective I just wanted to test the camera and explore to find some interesting compositions. I will process the film in the morning before my group seminar. I also completed my research post for Deidi von Schaewen who's book I found yesterday in the library, her work is very inspiring as she is able to photograph wall people see everyday but as the photographs are displayed in a book they work as a narrative very well. Tomorrow I've got my cross group seminar in the morning then I'll go into the city and take some photographs, I want to focus on both 2D and 3D structures then over the Easter break narrow down my subject matter to find what I want my gallery pieces to consist of.
Monday 31 March 2014
Re-shoot Photograph
This is a photograph from my shoot on Saturday taken in the parking structure under the Convention Complex, the white walls have a cubist shape with their sharp jagged corners showing how something as simple as a stair set can contain interesting abstract shapes. I liked this composition as the background is symmetrical emphasizing the jagged shapes of the walls. I post processed this photograph quite a bit to get the aesthetic I wanted. The photograph consists of two exposures, one for the background and one for the white walls. It was impossible to correctly expose that walls and background in one photograph so I used a tripod to to take two different exposures and combined them in Photoshop, I edited each exposure individually to get them how I wanted them and combined them later. I had to use the spot removal tool in Lightroom to patch areas of the white wall as it contained a lot of dark marks and scratches and I wanted the wall to a flat shade of white so it would emphasis its form. I like how the photograph came out and would like to focus on similar geometric subject matter as it makes for an interesting photograph and is also fun to shoot, I have to make sure I keep to the 'Everyday' theme and photograph things that can be seen everyday and not photograph things that are too extravagant.
Deidi von Schaewen 'Walls' Research
I found Schaewen's book 'Walls' in the library and took an instant interest in it. The book links to my work in the way that she has photographed a piece of subject matter that people see everyday but never really take any notice however when you photograph it and present it as a narrative it becomes interesting. There is a quote in the book that reads ''A subject that they look at everyday, but never see'' this represents that fact that although these things are interesting they have become such common place in society that people never notice them. Schaewen documents how nature and weather over time has effected the walls changing the texture of the wall creating new textures and patterns, she if finding new patterns and textures in an already existing piece of subject matter, this is similar to what I am trying to do in finding interesting geometric shapes in architecture and objects. The book contains photographs taken in Berlin, Barcelona, New York, Berlin and many more, the book flows so well you cant even tell which countries the photographs were taken in. The walls have changed from on type of art form to another, they were initially used as a canvas for painted advertisements and over time the wall has been subjected to the elements so the wall has been transformed making new patterns and textures. Each wall contains a different texture and pattern so she is managing to find different versions of the same thing, this is something I've been trying to do especially this last week I have focused on mainly photographing different types of steps and staircases finding how a simple design can be interpreted and presented in different ways.
The 4 photographs above show how the photograph work much better as a set that represent a narrative, individually the photographs don't really convey the message of the work. For the gallery showing I want to present around 6-8 photographs as that will express the narrative of my work far better than an individual photograph.
I chose to show the photograph above (New York, 1970) as it contains interesting lines created by shadows, much of the wall is a consistent texture however the shadows dissect it like the lines of a Piet Mondrian painting. Yesterday I went out photographing walls trying to find interesting lines and contrasting textures however my subject matter is more modern architecture than brick structures.
Schaewen's work has been influential as it has shown me that this type of work works better presented as a set as it successfully displays a narrative, it has also showed me that banal subject matter can become interesting when photographed and presented in narrative form.
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