Visit to Location (Details) - 7/11/14

There was a lot of litter in the area, but I feel that this photograph shows the mixture of rubbish and nature. I also like how there are a lot of warm colours; like the bronze leaf, the red Stella logo and the gold can top.

I picked these up from the location in order to take them out of context, perhaps in the studio

Bradford Visit - 4/11/14

Impressions Gallery - David Chancellor "Hunters"

This exhibition was really interesting, and made me think a lot about this sensitive subject. Although I really don't agree with hunting for sport (even in Britain where the wildlife isn't under so much threat of extinction) I was not actually aware that this sort of hunting is extremely beneficial to the local community. Licences are only given out when there is a problem animal affecting the wildlife or people in a town, hunters pay for this licence, kill the animal and then take what trophy they want; the towns/village people are then able to eat or sell the meat that is left. 

National Media Museum

Looking at the history of media was actually incredibly interesting, the fact that it's an interactive museum also made it fun! The old cameras made me envious of previous generations and I wish someone would make DSLR cameras look like the cameras from the 50s. I also wish someone would put an LCD screen in a bubble tv (maybe they have?), there's something so cool about the vintage look of things. 

Visit to Location - 29/10/14

The Location was about a mile away from Oxford Road, there were some interesting things along the way so I may do another shoot of the journey to Shrewsbury Street, I took along two of my friends with the promise of dinner as a thanks because I didn't really know the type of area it was. Here's a few images of the street view that I got (and a couple of doorways)

For this set of images I drew heavy influence from Walker Evans who was an expert in the vernacular, these every day shots act as information to the location I visited in a very matter of fact way, but I also tried to add an artistic spin to them. 

War and Conflict - 28/10/14

We started the sessions by reviewing the essay Matthew had told us to read the week before, the essay was "Safety in Numbness" by David Campany (critic, writer and photographer) discussing Joel Meyerowitz's body of work "Aftermath" documenting the site of the World Trade Centre after the tragedy 9/11. Meyerowitz was the only photographer to be given access to the site as he was a prominent New York photographer. Campany lends us an insight into the intruiging (not-yet) genre of "late" photography which focuses more on the aftermath of a subject rather than the decisive moment.

Joel Meyerowitz
                                                

One of the Images from Aftermath (2001)

Taken on a large format camera in order to create crystal clear images of huge proportions, you are able to see every detail, every bit of grit and dust which is very interesting to look at. In 2011 Meyerowitz was commissioned to revisit the site and document the changes that had happened over 10 years, the thing that called out to him the most was a single tree that had survived the destruction was put back where it originally was after being put in an orchard for 10 years.

Matthew Brady                                          

         American Civil War
Brady exposed a lot of death within his work, perhaps because this was the easiest subject to photograph during this time. Exposures could be up to half an hour long (maybe even longer) so to get the best (and most poignant images) the subjects had to be dead otherwise the pictures would be illegible.                                                    

Don McCullin

                                    

"Shell Shocked Soldier" (1968)

This image shows the effect war has on a living soldier, this man has shell shock a horrendous mental condition many soldiers faced (and still do). McCullin said that the soldier seemed to look straight through him and stayed perfectly still during the capture of this image, it was like McCullin wasn't even there. Knowing this makes the photograph a lot more poignant and raises questions as to why we should ever get involved in war.

 





Pavel Maria Smejkal produced an interesting body of work called Fatescapes (2009), he looked at famous images throughout history (mainly focusing on war) and edited out the people in them, completely changing the tone of the photographs.
 < 1968 Saigon (Fatescapes)

 < Original image "Street Execution of Vietcong Prisoner"

Damon Winter An "embedded" photographer in Afghanistan who used his iPhone to document the war.


Paul Seawright is more of a "straight" photographer, which means his work is perhaps more scientific and emotionless, we watched a short video about his work "Camp Boundary" from his book "hidden". Which addressed the hidden enemy via technology or what's underground ie landmines.



From the video:
Seawright was criticised for not being direct, the narrative is too difficult. But in his opinion being too explicit is journalistic, and having a photograph too ambiguous makes it have no meaning. You have to be able to access the meaning over a little bit of time, that's what makes a good photograph. The construction of meaning is done by the viewer.

Group Crit - 21/10/2014

In the afternoon we had to give each other anonymous feedback on the work we had already done for the module, I've decided to share it on here in order to note my progress. I'll be able to look back on the feedback and hopefully will think that I've taken the critique and learnt from it.

• The start to your project is really inspiring. The layout confused me at first but it works well and I really like how you are comparing your own housing background to the location.
• Keep up the good work!
• Very well informed on the location and interesting research. I would look at one aspect of the area to focus on
• The start of your project is very interesting, the photographs you have taken are very aesthetically appealing. Maybe do some more research on location artists and their images.
• Great second hand research, need more first hand referencing
• If you look more in depth into the images you have researched this will really give you ideas of things to use from other artists within your own work.
• Good start, maybe many of us got similar addresses so don't worry; try to find some history (even 40-60 years back) and compare with now, or street photography, documentary, even minimal (textures, objects on the street)
• I think you need to do more research on the history of your location. There is a lot of information on your blog, but it is a little bit confusing, still do not understand why you were thinking about your home and what the idea is.
• Great effort. Nice research and beautiful photos. Well explained and well presented. Nothing to add, well done.
• Looking at your location you are near Hulme. The photographer that did iconic pictures of the housing there is worth looking at and transferring the images to your work?

Although I was really nervous about the group crit I'm really glad it happened, it's really helpful to get everyone's opinion and it'll help my project grow into something (hopefully) really good. The feedback I got was pretty good, and I hope that I can sort out any problems that I have.

A Change in the System

Exhibition: New Topographics.

"Photographs of a man-altered landscape"

(Originally shown in George Eastham House in Rochester, New York [1975])

Involved in the show:

Robert Adams - Lewis Baltz - Bernd & Hilla Becher - Joe Deal - Frank Gholke - Nicholas Nixon - John Schott - Stephen Shore - Henry Wessel Jr.

A turning point in the history of photography, the 1975 exhibition "New Topographics" signalled a radical shift away from traditional depictions of landscape. Pictures of transcendent natural vistas gave way to unromanticized views of stark industrial landscapes, suburban sprawl, and everyday scenes not usually given a second glance. 

Source: http://www.sfmoma.org/exhib_events/exhibitions/407#ixzz3GuF96bNL 

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Here are some examples from the exhibition: 

  Robert Adams (American, b. 1937), Tract House, Westminster, Colorado, 1974

Bernd and Hilla Becher, Preparation Plant, Harry E. Colliery Coal Breaker, Wiles Barre, Pennsylvania, USA, 1974

 Stephen Shore, 2nd Street East and South Main Street, Kalispell, Montana, August 22, 1974

 John Schott, Untitled from the series Route 66 Motels, 1973

 Nicholas Nixon, Buildings on Tremont Street, Boston, 1975

 Frank Gohlke, Irrigation Canal, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1974

• Joe Deal rejected the sweeping Romanticism of Ansel Adams' landscapes
• Robert Adams accepted the reality of America "unspoilt places sadden us because they are no longer true"

Being there, and not being there - 21/10/14

As a photographer, it is up to me when to actually take the picture, do I need to be there when there's the action? Or should I be there for the aftermath, the consequences of the action? I haven't made up my mind yet, but today's session gave an interesting look into two sides of the argument.

The Decisive Moment:

Henri Cartier Bresson's image shows the decisive moment, he said sometimes a moment like this could be spontaneous, other times you just have to be patient.  He was also very methodical, if this shot wasn't "perfect" in every way (aperture, composition, exposure etc) he'd scrap the photograph.

Robert Capa, American Troops landing on Omaha Beach, Normandy, France (June 6, 1944). Capa took stills from a movie camera, which I think effectively shows movement; his images are also great examples of the decisive moment, however he is not as methodical about his technique as Bresson.

The Not-so-Decisive Moment:

Husband and wife team Bernd and Hilla Becher began photographing old industrial sites in the 1950s, and described their subjects as ‘buildings where anonymity is accepted to be the style’. The coal bunkers in these photographs were located in Germany, France and Britain, while the photographs of pitheads were all taken at British collieries between 1965 and 1973. Within a few years of completing this work, almost all of the structures had been demolished. The pair worked in a typology style which required careful construction of their images, nothing could be out of place. There is no decisive moment within their work.

"Pitheads" (1975)