Project 3 Notes

For this project I have produced multiple pieces of work. I have worked closely to the brief exploring my own theme based on my personal take of two seaside towns; Whitstable & St. Ives.
Although quite different both locations concern me somewhat as they are not what I expected to find out of tourist season. To be frank I expected to find quiet, miserable towns with unemployed locals.

Unexpectedly these working class towns have been infiltrated by professionals from inner cities. How does this effect the local people who have grown up in such towns? These rich kids are coming to visit their second luxury apartments, to sip champagne and enjoying fresh seafood while some locals rely on little savings from the season to survive the winter.

After shooting in both St. Ives and Whit stable the situation became clearer. I'd been advised to step out of my comfort zone, I enjoy working in colour but had little experience in telling a story in my work. It seemed obvious that colour clearly wasn't the way to present such a miserable subject which must be angering some people? I decided for this project I wouldn't hide behind colour or advanced special effects but have instead decided to present in black and white attempting to manipulate my digital work minimally - only to improve the technical quality and to intensify the message behind the shot.

Champagne & Oysters: This shot was taken using a SLR Nikon D40 camera. I kept the boat in the foreground and the dining area and landscape in the background. To draw the eye to tables and benches which are positioned at a deeper depth than the boat I was able to put the boat out of focus and the rest of the image in focus. This is known as DOF, Depths of field; The portion of the image which appears sharp in the shot (a lens can only focus on one distance precisely, the sharpness decreases either side of the focal distance.

I edited the piece in Photo shop paying close attention to light sources within the shot. I added an open champagne bottle to one of the dining benches and added a shadow to blend the new object as smoothly as possible. The idea behind this is to show that in such a traditional and beautiful location modern decking where a champagne drinking demographic visits. Its up to the audience to form their own opinion on the topic and the setting being shown.

Adding objects to a shot was influenced by some of Jonas Bendicksen's work. Bendicksen promotes ideas in some of his work by adding objects like the water-slide in Iceland's mountains. The aim was to add an object which compliment the shot to create an effect and to promote my take and opinion. This is possible by ensuring the added objects are placed and blended properly paying attention to where light hits the object and rest of the shot.

A3 - Obsolete Boat: The shot was taken using a 7mp underwater camera. St. Ives in October 08.

I used a super macro function, focused center shot at the object (boat) immediately in front of me and then changed the angle of my shot to include the landscape behind. This allowed me to get the boat in focus with a blurred landscape. This use of DOF as a part of my work is similar to techniques used in champagne and oysters.

This created a shot showing the viewpoint of someone looking out to see St. Ives from behind an old, obsolete boat. My intention was to show how key objects like boats weather, becoming obsolete introducing my subject on how these traditional towns are changing. I think it is important for my audience to form their own opinion.

Seaweed Beam - A3: This piece of work was the only part of my photographic essay not produced to fit with my theme. Initially I simply changed the contrast of the photograph and printed it using a laser printer. When looking at the print I noticed the white sky of the print had an effect which looked similar to camouflage. I didn't realise this was actually a happy accident on the printer's behalf. I liked the effect so much I decided I'd experiment tying to intensify the effect making it darker and sharper. When I opened the print in photo shop I was surprised to find that the effect was completely invisible on screen, despite changing brightness and contrast.

The Tea Shop: The shot was taken using a 7mp underwater camera in St. Ives Cornwall just following the end of the tourist season.

By reducing the saturation in the shot the old landscape was empathised making it look a lot more aged than it actually appears. I had to stand for a few moments to get the crashing waves, those which only come in the winter months. This piece now had great elements to portray an traditional, aged seaside town in a cold winter.

What stood out to me was the fact that, out of season tea shops and restaurants were still open, rather surprisingly I thought. Who we're their customers? It certainly wasn't the locals spending an hour in the afternoon over a pot of tea and a cream scone, the locals weren't eating out night after night! Maybe they we're just trying to catch the straggling emits as we're known locally.

I decided to add rectangle shapes to resemble a Polaroid picture. Some of the people I showed this to immediately thought my influence was from xxx, it was.

But what's different about this piece is I've not added any other objects apart from the Polaroid rectangle. I added a colour layer within the Polaroid space in order to create the illusion of a second image being placed over the original. My intention is for the audience to momentarily realise the Polaroid shot is indeed part of the larger background shot and surprisingly the piece is a lot more modern than originally thought.

Cross Masts - I consider this a powerful image. The towering sail masts creating strong diagonal lines from edges of the shot drawing the eye in to the traditional overlay Polaroid picture showing the yacht club.

The idea was again influenced from x. My intention was similar to that of The Tea Shop adding a modern twist to what could be mistaken for a shot taken years ago.

In this shot too I used the saturation control to remove colour. As well as creating an unedited layer for the colour within the Polaroid, I created another layer showing a thin yellow coloured rope which runs diagonally down the left side. I thought this was important as the intense colour adds a recent twist to the shot.

Menu: I created a menu to demonstrate not just how my shots can be used in the industry.

I took my shot showing a natural form in a traditional seaside town. I then cropped that shot focusing on a oyster shell, I placed this in a different setting; a modern seaside restaurant selling expensive produce that is unaffordable to the old fashioned British holiday maker and the locals.

To me this peice demonstrates how natural forms which have been around for generations are not being used in a very different way.

Pumpkins:

When taking and manipulating this shot I looked at it from a different perspective in relation to many of my others.

Instead of picking objects apart claiming it was good or bad or exposing and highlighting what was going on I saw something different. Admittedly it is still a rather negative and somewhat fictional take. I thought the pumpkins symbolised a realm of evil, this has quite a surrealist meaning. Does it suggest that modern changes in seaside towns or very negative or does it just show a local's traditional celebration of project one?

Compilations

Wet Wall



Not local produce being consumed - zizi

Magnum Homework

At first I was ignorant I mistook Magnum as an agency/group of photographers who produced great photographs. After some research I learnt that agency was formed two years after the second world by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and David "Chim" Seymour. These individuals who were apparently relieved to have survived the war and motivated by their curiosity to see what still existed. At this point I stopped skimming and decided I'd come back to the history after having a browse through pictures -Frankly, rewording the 'about Magnum' page bored me hugely.

After a look at Jonas Bendicksen's feature my ignorance began to drift as I developed an understanding for what Magnum really is.

Jonas Bendicksen, a Norwegian who's career started when he arrived by boat in a Russian port. Bendicksen then spent a further year in Russia following news stories around the former USSR.

The Former Russian Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The superpower suppressed religion despite having an estimated total population of 293 million with 200 distinct ethnic groups. At the time, the third most populous nation after China!

I think Bendicksen and his career would have been thrown in right at the deep end in such a diverse and hostile environment. His work shows riots, poverty and the environmental injustice caused by Russian Government.

His work today is an extension from these same topics. Benndicken has been focused on Iceland's economic meltdown and the negative externalities of Government intervention. As the country struggles with economic booms and busts the Government's initiative aims to flatten this roller coaster turning to the country's plentiful supply of renewable energy.

I also looked at another photographer and his work; Paolo Pellegrin. This photographer is said to have an artistic eye for his shots and has the ability to incorporate distinct, diverse themes and subjects within his work. His feature on the magnum website, 'Shares slide on wall street' appealed to one of my personal interests and linked to my other AS subjects - economics.

Pellegrin showed behind the scenes at Wall Street and other New York economic land marks. Terrified professionals deal with what some analysts claim to be the worst economic climate for 26 years. He showed current affairs which we read and hear about everyday, but effectively in images.

This reiterated the point that with strong images a story can be told. It also told me that the story didn't necessarily need to be put in chronological order or directly told to the audience. Take pictures of what's there, manipulate them to the theme and then leave the rest to interpretation - the only way to measure success of a photographic essay?

After researching these two phototograhers I revisited the 'about magnum' page. The words suddenly meant something as I already knew myself that magnum is a cooperative of people. Photographers. Who's curiosity and opinions have lead to diverse and inspiring work.

Overdue Deadline

Up to this point I havn't been entirely sure exactly what I was going to do for my assessment, I knew what I was saying but was it good enough and could I present it?

Now I am confident. I have several peices of lightly manipulated work which fit to my theme. Multiple photo montages and lots of work which hasn't been manipulated and won't be since it is unnecessary to spoil the natural shots.

This term I haven't managed to work to the deadline. The fact that other class members haven't either is no excuse but does indicate that some of the factors contributing to this delay have been beyond our control.

For homework I have researched the magnum photo agency - more in another post. A very influential photographer was Jonas Bendiksen. Admittedly lots of my work was complete by the time I researched Jonas but his work overemphasized the fact it was possible to mix unedited work with manipulated work to tell a story.

Never the less the work is almost done. I need to complete my written work, print and mount my images and then I will be ready for assessment - only two weeks after the deadline!

Collected Shots

Whitstable was somewhat how I expected it. I expected to see more and be able to get a wider variety of shots. Used to shooting on the beach in the summer this cold, out of season town came somewhat as a surprise.

When we think about out of season holiday towns, typically we would think of closed Ice Cream Parlours, closed guest houses and a general absence of people as locals sit at home in front of the fire to escape until the 'emmits' return.

But that isn't exactly what I saw. This place is commutable from Central London, as I expected the rich kids in their fast cars did have a part to play in this out of season, and somewhat desolate town. Holiday homes, chain bars, weekend cottages and modern architecture was all built into the coastal line but why? How did this make the locals feel? How would I feel if I grew up in little Whistable and this happened? Would I get rich one day and suddenly take my flash sports car, park it by the beech so I could leisurely sit sipping champagne and eating oysters?

Whitstable

Tommorrow we will be vi sting Whitstable to take photos for our next assessment. One of my my aims for this project is to work to a brief, we need to develop a theme and portray that in our photographic essay.

So what's my theme? Well Whiststable appears to be a working class seaside town in North Kent. We're going there so I suspect it is an easy commute from London, I wouldn't be surprised if there are weekend homes and a few appealing bars and restaurants.

I might try to keep my theme simple. Maybe shoot natural forms along the coastal walks and see if it's possible to capture any shots of wildlife. We'll see when I get there.

Man Ray

Out of the photographers I have looked at in this project Man Ray's pin whole work inspired me the least.






From what I can see he appears to be somewhat of a surrealist, I havn't managed to link any of his work to mine.





Man Ray's pin hole work seems to be quite typical, the sort of basic shot which is being produced in our lessons. What was inspiring about the others photographers was their effort to change the norms of pin hole prints adding some demension to their work.





Man Ray appears to have an outstanding reputation for his fashion and portrait photography. He seems to be much more of an artist than just a photographer. He has produced work with much more meaning which I imagine would be quite expiring in other projects.



From my research I have found that Man Ray seems to be one of the most experimental photographers of the era. His work now considered historical would have been a whole new concept during his era. Man Ray did indeed distort and manipulate standard techniqes and stepped away from typical forwards portrait shots.
However with more photographers taking up Pin Hole photography much more recetnely I think that without investigation I was lead to belive Man Ray's work could be disregarded as historical and frankly somewhat borning.

Jeff Fletcher

Jeff Fletcher's work is evidently unique from the other artists I have been exploring.

The picture shown on the right from http://www.pinholeresource.com shows some of Fletcher's work. What's intresting is the way Flecther exibits his pin hole work. Here we can see that Flecther has used egg shells which have been wiped with a photo sensitive laquer in order to achieve prints on the inside of egg shells. Abstract alone I find the the way that Flectcher positions his work bag into an egg box and then exibits a black and white photograph much more intresting than a 2d print.