Final 6 Images and Evaluation
For my project, I first started with working on the work Synchronicity. We had a ‘Bonus Lecture’ (The City) which inspired me to work on architecture. After the lecture, I was completely involved with my project and knew exactly what I wanted to do for the final images, I had also come across other photographers who used styles that inspired me. My original idea was to work with building symmetry and the way it shows Synchronicity. After working on the project for a while I started to work on this idea but, as I continued working I realized I wasn’t as involved with this idea and I’d started to work on something more related to the word Division. My idea was to use this work towards building symmetry but to add the word division as its links to maths. Each image would represent a mathematic symbol, that would be clear on why the images represent/works for each symbol. With my own knowledge towards mathematics symbols, I know that each positive as its own negative. For example, Plus and Minus work together or become related in equations and this is something I wanted to use. So, after working with this idea I knew my images needed to work in pairs, the images would not necessarily look the same or be in the same area but they would be a contrast of one another.
For my first 2 images, I wanted to look into architecture towards modern day use and appeal. My first image ‘Multiply’ would show the movement of people in a busy, built-up environment, using a reduced shutter speed I could capture the movement of people to amplify the busyness of this particular environment which then could contract to the second image ‘Subtract’, which I wanted to show something that is open and has a lot of space but has also been subtracted to the number of people in this area. The architecture in ‘Subtract’ is more spectacular when put with ‘Multiply’. However, the attention to ‘Multiply’s’ area is more substantial. The city is smaller and less desirable to look at but, has a more modern appeal drawing in the attention.
My influence for these images come from Eugène Atget (Mashable, 2015). What I took from one image in particular (Wikimedia Commons 2018) was that the city was no longer modern, therefore not becoming appealing to the modern day person. Subtract uses a similar style to this as the area is beautiful to look at but is out of time for what a modern audience would prefer, which is why Multiply works more for having a population.
My next 2 images were Divided and Equals. For these images, I wanted to represent a divided between 2 different types of building structures and to show an Equals of something complete in a symmetric way. For my image ‘Equals’ I needed some inspiration and after looking into Berenice Abbott I started to have a clear idea of how to shoot this particular image. Her photo series ‘Changing New York’ (Wikimedia, 2018) Abbott works with photographing the New York Architecture around the 1930’s, her style of framing is something I looked into more and I feel ‘Broadway, Manhattan’ (Wikimedia, 2018) gave me a lot of inspiration towards the framing/positioning in ‘Equals’. I used a 10mm-20mm sigma lens to get everything on the building in the shot, with this wide lens it allows you to see everything in detail, similar to the way Abbott shot her images. For my link with pairing these 2 images are for looking into building symmetry and structuring. For divided, there is no symmetry because the archway curves round stopping a perfectly centered image whereas when we look at equals, the image isn’t in need of being shot straight and in front as the symmetry is within the building itself. I shot the image to the left to show the way it curves but keeps its continued structure and style creating a beautiful picture.
Image 5 Berenice Abbott (building photography)
Plus and Minus are the last of my photo series. For these, I wanted to look into the Landscape and how it affects the architectural structure and anything else around it. For ‘Plus’ I worked with a slightly ascending landscape to which the buildings were not affected so much by this, you can see the way the buildings curve round to fit the incline but the difference in building structures make it easy to in point. Looking into ‘Minus’ we have a steep incline that makes it difficult for buildings to be side-by-side. The effect of the buildings formation makes it pleasing to see compared to ‘Minus’ which hence the name which has taken away the effect of how the landscape effects the buildings structures. After taking the photograph, I did some research into this type of building structure and something that i can relate my images too would be a photography by Nick Hedges (Nick Hedges Photography, unknown). The image I have used form his City Streets series is ‘Street running down to the Tyne, Newcastle (1970)’, the photo uses a street with an incline showing the buildings side-by-side but more aligned I think his photo works better due to the buildings being more aligned but mine shows possibly a more modern approach. Again for these photo’s, I used a 10mm-20mm lens to capture a wider image, I wanted to get as much in the shot as I could to amplify the way the landscape looks alone with the buildings.
Overall, I feel my images worked well to what I had hoped they would look, I did, however, wish to get something that represents something of which I had researched before. a photographer called Peter Bialobrzeski caught my attention with their photo ‘lost in Translation’ (Peter Bialobrzeski Artist, unknown). This is something I would have loved to use in my series of images whoever I couldn’t find a location to fit this idea. Although I still feel very happy with the work I produced and believe it worked for what I wanted in the end.
Bibliography
Mashable (2015) Information on Eugène Atget’s photography of the lost streets of Paris [Article] Available from https://mashable.com/2015/07/21/eugene-atget-paris/#Tm4v3hnhTPqB [Accessed March 20th, 2018]
Wikimedia Commons (2018) Photograph of Paris in 1913 [Article] Available from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_cour_du_Dragon_(Paris_VIe)_par_Eug%C3%A8ne_Atget_(1913).jpg [Accessed March 21st 2018]
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Wikimedia Commons (2018) Changing New York Project [Article] Available from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Changing_New_York [Accessed March 24th, 2018]
Wikimedia Commons (2018) Photograph Broadway, Manhattan from the series ‘Changing New York’ [Article] Available from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Facade,_317_Broadway,_Manhattan_(NYPL_b13668355-482602).jpg [Accessed March 24th, 2018]
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Nick Hedges Photography (unknown) City street photography [advertisement] Available from
http://www.nickhedgesphotography.co.uk/photo-gallery/the-city-that-was/city-streets [Accessed March 26th, 2018]
Peter Bialobrzeski, (unknown) Lost in Translation series of photos [Advertisement] Availbale from http://www.bialobrzeski.de/work/lost_in_transition/Transition-12.html [Acessed March 2oth 2018]
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