Post of the Day (19/03/13)

Today I went into the city and started focusing on photographing line, shape and form within architecture and objects in an attempt to create interesting compositions. I wanted to move away from shooting people doing everyday things as that was far too obvious. I was influenced by the work of William Eggleston who photographs to everyday but not the obvious but also the work of Piet Mondrian and Mark Rothko who create basic shapes. Today I photographed things from walls that contained interesting lines to stairs and rails, things that had interesting lines that move your eye around the composition. I walked around Manchester for about 5 hours and only took about 20 photographs, I only photographed things I knew would make an interesting composition and was very picky about what I photographed. Today it was sunny so I was about to use shadow as a key element and photograph shadows that had interesting line and shape. I need to finish my role of film tomorrow morning and see if my darkroom paper get delivered so I can get in the darkroom and print the photographs. I also completed my William Eggleston research then went to the library and borrowed a Cartier Bresson book and a Don McCullin book.  

William Eggleston Research

Eggleston is a photographer that fits into the theme of 'The Everyday' brilliantly as he photographs everyday objects, landscapes and situations in an attempt to heighten their appearance and make them seem more interesting. One way he heightens the subject matter is to use a process called dye-transfer printing which involves using a higher quality of ink to saturate the colours. It work well as he is printing everyday subject matter using the highest quality techniques, for the exhibition I want print my photographs on a high quality paper on a large scale as it will give the photograph a sense of presence. 

The photograph above is a one of Eggleston's that stood out to me immediately. It contains so many everyday elements that represent American culture from the simple wooden construction of the building to the corporate logos and classic gas pumps. Eggleston has photographed everyday subject matter but photographed it in late afternoon light so there are warm tones and long shadows making the image more dramatic and printed it using the dye-transfer method. 

''I am at war with the obvious'' William Eggleston

I was shooting today and refused to photograph anything that was too obvious, I had a conversation with Alan on Monday and he said that when you photograph it needs to be a struggle and you need to only photograph interesting subject matter so today I spent around 5 hours shooting and only took 20 photographs on 35mm film. Today I focused on photographing shape, line and form within pieces of everyday architecture and objects. I was influenced by Egglestone's philosophy of photographing the everyday but not the obvious and the work of fine artists Piet Mondrian and Mark Rothko who use basic shapes to create interesting compositions. From reading Eggleston book and watching a Youtube documentary Ive learned a lot about his work and how he manages to photograph everyday landscapes and situations and heightens them so they become an interesting piece of subject matter. His photographs look like they were created in another world when they were created in this one.     

Post of the Day (18/03/13)

My aims for today were to go out and shoot some more photographs and complete my research for William Eggleston and Martin Parr, I have shot some more photographs and I'm about to do my William Eggleston research but I don't think I will have time to do my Martin Parr research so I will do that tomorrow. I was disappointed I only managed to get three photographs on my shoot today especially due to the fact I walked so far but I'm happy with the tree I did get. 

Tomorrow I plan on going into the city and shooting some more photographs still being quite broad because at the moment I'm struggling to find an interesting subject to photograph so I will experiment until I find something I want to develop further, hopefully by researching more photographers and going more places I will find something and come up with some interesting ideas.    

Todays Shoot (Building Facade Faces)

Today I decided to walk around the city and try and find more faces in objects and buildings and photograph them carrying on from the photographs I had taken last week. I tried to show how the subliminal faces in the buildings show emotion but there is no life behind them just shape.Today I shot digital as I needed to zoom into the buildings so I used my 24-120mm lens. I walked down the Bridgewater Canal up Deansgate then to Northern Quarter and back, I walked for a long time not finding anything then near Deansgate I found a square staircase the winds towards the top, I shot the staircase looking up from bottom to top with the top of the staircase in the center. The staircase didn't have anything to do with what I was aiming to photograph but it was very photogenic and had an interesting form. I walked through Northern Quarter not finding anything then back near Oxford Rd I found two compositions that were very interesting. 

This photograph was taken near Oxford Rd and contains what appears to be a face with the dark windows making up the eyes and the entrance representing a mouth. The windows are very reflective so it looks like its eyes are welling up giving the photograph a sad aesthetic. I'm aiming to show that you don't have to be a living creature to have a living aesthetic but unlike a living create it has no feelings and contains no life. I cropped the original photograph significantly so the photograph only contains the face cropping out everything that didn't contribute to it, I also straightened the photograph making sure the vertical lines were perfect. I learned from my conversation with Alan that you need to keep the viewers eye inside the composition so I cropped it tight just focusing on the bare essential piece of the facade. 

The building facade contains another face however shows a different emotion then the previous photograph. The face looks sad due to its down sloping windows that represent a mouth but the face also looks angry due to the black window frame that look like sharp teeth. Like the last photograph I cropped and straightened the composition so its parallel with the side of the frame. 

I edited the photographs in Photoshop cutting out the facial features so you can see which parts of the facade contribute to the face, I left the background white and then filled it red just to experiment with colour. I like the aesthetic of the photographs and they have an interesting idea behind them but I don't feel that they are strong enough to develop so now I'm going to explore onto something different but maybe still focus so shape.

Post of the Day (17/03/13)

My plan for today was to talk to Alan in the morning the scan my negatives then go into the city and shoot then work on my blog posts for the rest of the day. I learned a lot from my conversation with Alan this morning, we went over my last reflective journal as I need to improve my research. He told me that it needs to be less formal and show my initial thoughts on photographs and make notes on the photographs rather than set the writing out in a completely formal way. I also told him about the work I had done for this project so far and he told me that I need to make the work very individual and not shoot obvious ideas but you have to struggle to come up with new individual ideas. I found the conversation to be a huge help in my practice and getting me inspired to shoot. After that I scanned my negatives then went out to shoot with a few friends walking from Uni to the Etihad Stadium in East Manchester. I only took 2 photographs during the shoot but all I was focused on re-visiting a shoot last week when I was trying to find facial structures in the street, I found a facial shape on the front of a boat on the canal and a building facade. I'm shooting black and white 35mm film and want to get a few more photos for this idea then move onto something new. 

Tomorrow I plan on doing research for William Eggleston and Martin Parr as these are two photographers who shoot everyday society but heighten it using composition colour and printing techniques. I also want to go into the city and shoot more photographs. 

Last Week Shoot(s)

One interesting thing I found was a small structure someone had built to house ducks by the canal then about 10 meters around the corner I found some boxes under a bridge that looked like homeless people would sleep on. I thought it was interesting that people were doing something to make sure ducks had a home whereas homeless people are left to their own devises. I wanted to get a duck in the photograph so it was obvious what the structure was for so I waited for a duck to appear then because I didn't have any food on me at the time I started throwing rocks into the canal so the duck would enter the composition I had chosen then waited for it to turn towards the camera. 

Last Weeks Shoot(s)

For this shoot I decided to focus on shooting people doing daily mundane things such as reading a book or smoking a cigarette. I shot 35mm colour film, the only problem was I had to light meter a location before I took the photograph I so was constantly light metering as I was walking which isn't ideal when you need to be shooting fast so if I shoot people on the streets again I will use digital. I also used out of date film so the photographs are slightly more grainy than I would like them to be so I reduced the grain in post processing, although I've learned I don't really want to use out of date film unless I have to. I scanned the negatives then cropped and edited them in Adobe Lightroom not really manipulating the photograph just correcting the colours, contrast and exposure. 

At the time when I took the photographs I was happy with them however I spoke to Alan this morning and he said that I need to shoot things that are less obvious to the theme and you have to really struggle to find interesting subject matter so your work is more individual and interesting. I've also learned that if I'm shooting subjects on the streets I'm going to use digital so I can shoot faster and don't have constantly light meter the location. 

Last Weeks Shoot(s)

Last Thursday and Friday I decided to wonder around the city and shoot very informally with no objective just to generate ideas and start working. I shot on 35mm film as I want to work with film a lot more for this project as I only experimented with it briefly for the last project. The first interesting thing I photographed was a piece of cardboard on the ground outside the town hall that had holes cut into it that looked like a winking face.

From this point on I decided to photograph things that simply looked like people or things so I was showing the extra ordinary in the ordinary. I walked for a few hours and only found 3 photographs however they were 3 interesting photographs. 

This is a photograph of a of a piece of a large bin I found in an ally, the piece looks like a dogs head especially the dog from 'Wallace and Gromit'. The photograph makes you feel and empathy with the object as it looks like a living creature, you look at it in the same way you look at a wax model or a cartoon, they're not a living organism but they do seem to convey emotion. 

  

 This is a photograph of a ripped poster an a painted wall and contains a silhouette of a shape that looks like a sumo wrestler digging with a spade, different people could re-interpret the shape differently but that I what I see when I look at the shape. I've showed the photograph to other people and asked what they see in the shape and I have had a variety of answers ranging from a horse to a wolf but its up to individual interpretation. 

Salford Quays Shoot

Yesterday I walked to Salford Quays shooting a variety of subject matter to keep my work broad, one thing I did was shoot Beetham Tower documenting how far from the building I walked. I used the tower as a point of reference to document the journey and how far we traveled. I traveled through an area of the city I had never visited walking through the open fields between the city center and Salford, the area was very baron and flat so you could see Beetham tower very clearly, in addition the weather was perfect with a clear blue sky and strong sunlight. I shot the photographs digitally however I've started shooting colour 35mm film because I want to use a variety of format types.     

These are my most successful photographs from the day. 

First Blog Post

For Unit X I chose 'The Everyday' option, I wanted to keep the subject matter quite broad so I could shoot a variety of subject matter including portraits, street, architecture and landscape. For the last few projects I've tended to focus on street and architecture so I wanted to chose an option that I could shoot portraits for. I have a few early ideas I've came up with, the first to take a photograph at a specific time in the day and get lots of other people to do the same then compare all the photographs so you can see what different people are doing at exactly the same time comparing everyone's daily activities. I want to use a lot of different photography formats for the project and shoot medium format as I'm yet to do this and want to improve my film photography skills further. I want to keep the project quite broad at the start and then gradually focus on a few specific ideas until all my attention goes into one idea for the gallery showing.