My first idea was pretty board to be honest I thought to photograph places that are really beautiful that people normally overlook from day to day, I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to photograph I just knew what I wanted to get across; unseen beauty. After seeing work for Richard Billiham and The Bechers I've change my idea slightly; photographing places that are normally overlooked that aren't really significant or beautiful. I'll be aiming to make people stop, slow down and look at the little things in an area to be able to see the strange beauty that's in them. I once again built on the idea and I've decided to photograph the shapes as well as the streets around where I live because shapes are literally everywhere, but I for one never seem to notice them- so to go along with the 'showing people normally overlooked and insignificant places' idea I thought putting emphasises on little details(shapes) of the area would really help my narrative.
I'm aiming to take the pictures in a really simple, flat/straight on way. I'll take pictures both at night and in the day time to see what effect that has on the same area. I'll be using a tripod for both times of the day but for the night time photography I will be using a low ISO, small aperture and a slow shutter speed to get the effect I want. I won't be using a direct flash I will relying on street lights around the area, I'm doing this because I personally think that using flash makes images look harsh and flat, and although I want my images to be flat I don't want them to be 2D or lifeless, I also think that if I used a flash then the natural glow of the street lights would be lost which I don't want because the street lights will give the mood into my images which will act as if the viewer is walking down the streets seeing the sights I capture; I really want the viewers to experiencing it rather than just glance because to truly get the meaning of my narrative you have to search and take in the area not just skim past, blurry like people do in their every day life's. I think I'm going to add my own spin on the images as well by trying out a soft focus effect- giving them that almost dreamy sort of feel as I think the simple, flat style would mix well with a softer focus. I'm not sure about how I want the colours to be in the images, or if I want a high or low contrast; I think I'll most likely be trying to create the most simplest/flat and clear images I can; really basic so hardly any contrast, hardly any colour and lots of clear flat lines within the images and I don't think I'll be altering them in Photoshop much- although this could change. I need to remember when capturing the images that I'm trying to show beauty but I'm not wanting to make the images look fake or unreal, I want the images to be uninteresting on first glance because that's what the subject places are and my aim to it make the places become" more interesting/have their interestingness shown the more you look into them. There is a second narrative I'm also trying to get across that's about the area; that's in need of repair and not cared for very well but even in the condition it's in, the area still has some beauty left in it but it goes unseen and unacknowledged.
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Richard Billingham-Cradley Heath/Black Country;
These first two picture were taken in the day time around where Billingham grew up, he later went back around the same area and took night time images with a tripod and a light metre. I prefer the night time images to the day time ones to be honest because I like how he exaggerated the colours in them, it makes the images seem more like a set and makes it clear in which the time they were took. They fit better together as a series in my opinion, the images look a lot more atmospheric and empty which mixes well with the simplicity of them, I think this is what I'll be trying to create as well; more depth into the images. In "The Black Country' series, Billiham uses the colour and light in exaggerated ways to expose how important they are in the way we see images.
The Bechers;
Bernd and Hilda Becher are two German photographers who worked together, spending months, years to research an project idea; waiting for winter and a foggy day to capture the style of image they need. They aim to emphasise shapes within the subjects they photograph and their images are most commonly straight on and everything about the composition is specifically chosen to match the rest of the images in the series'. The Bechers take each image separately but present them all together in one big image(see below) I may present my final images in a similar way. I really love the continuous framing and style in these series', I love how each subject is different but taken in the same way as to suggest all these things do the same thing but are constructed differently. I like how the photographers have basically categorised each subject and exposed the differences in these normally over looked objects and made them worth looking at- making something seemingly uninteresting become rather beautiful.
Paul Graham;
In Graham's project; "Troubled Land" he Stayed impartial through out the series of images- he did this by photographing both sides of his point and doing it in a way that is as if to say how pointless and silly the fight over unimportant roads etc was. Each image was colourful and bright- which contrasted with the content of his images which had a darker side to them considering it was two contries fighting over ireland. Each images makes the veiwers have to search around the images to gain more information about the subject matter, to understand what Gramham was documenting and his veiw on it, the more images you see the more clear the narrative is which is what makes the project so successful- the search for information, the presentation of each images being so contrasted to the meaning of them, the images look like it they could be taken in any ordinary countryside town but when looking closer at the images the real meaning and purpose to the images is exposed. I'd really lie to have this sort of effect with my images although I don't see how I could make it as effective as it is used in "Troubled Land" but I could keep giving more information about the area and how it is living there with each image I put in the set... I'll have to see how this works.
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