I took this out on a limb, I didn't think it would have being an effective shot but I went for it anyway and it ended up being the only effective shot that night. I learnt with my first shoot of night time/straight-flat on shots that I need to think completely out of my normal thinking pattern when it comes to shots because the ideas I had in mind didn't work out in the slightest. I don't really know what it is about this image that I like to be fair, I think the wall in this setting looks oddly placed and makes you wonder why its even there- it's the most prominent leading line too which I can't decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing. Then the white wall next to it is all dis-coloured and has a whole in it. The lighting I think is quite effective too because it's lighter on the wall which is not 'broken' and darker on the side that is, the wall in between them both break it up- a good contrast of old and new.
I cropped it to see if it had any effect- and I think now after looking at both images I notice that cropping it has taken away half of the information about this image that makes it effective.
On my second shoot I got a lot more usable images, I didn't have as much trouble with the tripod and I had more of an idea of what exactly I needed to look out for when I was choosing areas to capture. I'm going to re-take most of these as some of them bug me, like the one directly below, being too softly focused and for that reason not fitting in with the other images(I'm scrapping the soft focus idea after seeing the affect on this image because I think it looks like it wasn't meant to be that way, like a flaw) maybe if I took some more with a soft focus then it would fit, but as of now I don't like it within the set with the other images. After this shot I realised I wanted to capture in the images that trees are blurring and the lens has flares in the pictures because I think it fits the more night time feel and create movement within the images and emphasise the empty feeling to them. I also decided when editing the images that I preferred the shots that had a warmer tone to them than the ones which where more green-y and clear looking so I tweaked the colour balance and channel mixer so that the images are more red/yellow- I think this makes them work and fit better as a set and is more effective as it adds to the night-time feel building on the tone of the street lights.
^ I think this image is slightly off the flat side, if I'd of move slightly to the right then it would have being straight down the street and looked less angled ,when I shoot this again I will correct this. There is generally something about this image which I don't think fits with the rest of the images, it's too green and not enclosed enough to fit the other images. In the crit Liz said she thinks this image tells too much information compared to the rest, she preferred the images that told her less "more mysterious".
^ This image is not straight and I didn't even realise until the crit! I'm defiantly going to be re-shooting this image and I'll make sure the house is perfectly vertical. Update since third shoot: I retook this image and did get it to be straighter but noticed that the road it's self wasn't flat and where I was stood couldn't be changed if I wanted this composition, so I may have to make do with a just off-straight image in this case or take it out of the set.
(re-shot but not edited fully)
^ Another image that has a light/dark contrast within it- less obvious as the first but still there. This image is definatly flat and straight on and the contrast of light/dark is clear- pretty happy with how this turned out, may shoot it again to get rid of the really bit light stars that kind of take over the image. (I'll be doing this with all of my images because they're a distraction from letting the viewer look around the images) This was one of Liz's favourite images out of them all.
^ Another image I didn't think would be effective or even used in the series but I really like it. I think the image fits amazingly with the narrative as the garage is old, run-down and not in the best of shape, the grass is over grown and discoloured in places. The cat brings a sense of life to the place(the only animal/human I captured so far in the images) what I think doesn't fit about this image is the angle it's taken at- it's not flat at all and this wouldn't be a problem in any other series because I like abstract shots more then flat ones but since I made the rule about wanting flat images- either I shoot this image again or it has to go sadly.
Even though these are test shots I ordered them in the way I'd present them if they were my final images; I chose to have the images in an order where there's an image where its mainly a shape followed by a street image after- I decided this because I wanted to build information and concept as the viewer went through the series. We did a peer mid review and Liz had mentioned that she didn't really think the images needed an order "because of the content being mainly about simplicity and shapes" she added that she thinks "it might be nice to have the shots with leading lines and streets first then have closer up shots like to what you would find if you went down the streets" I'm going to take this suggestion into consideration- I like the idea of having one aesthetic first then having the second after.
After the peer review I realised that more than one image had a contrast of light and dark in the same image and I may look out for more light/dark contrasting shots I could capture- I'm not entirely sure if having more of them would help my project or make the effect overused and then ineffective but I'll try take some more and see what they look like together.
(contact sheets from first and second shoot)
Mid-Project Peer- Review:
Q: What are the photographs about? What is the concept?
A: The concept is to show an area at night and show it to be quiet and tranquil and it shows the beauty within the simple things you wouldn't normally notice.
Q: Is there a common aesthetic? How could they be edited to make into a more coherent series?
A: There is a common aesthetic because they are all shot at night and have a similar colour scheme - early colours such as browns, yellows, greens.
Q: Does the order of the images make sense? Does the order enhance the concept?
A: Not really. I don't think this set of images needs an order because of the content mainly being about simplicity and shapes. I think it might be quite nice to have the shots with leading lines and streets first then have closer up shots like to show what you would find if you went down the streets.
Q: What is working with the series?
A: The limited colour palette. The way things have been shot straight on.
Q: Which images aren't working well? Consider this both in terms of communication and aesthetic.
A:The image with the blue car in the background, it has too much in it and isn't mysterious enough like the other ones. Also the one with the mental fence because the line of the house isn't straight.
Q:Are there any images that need to be worked on? cropping etc.
A: Crop into pic with blue car in background. Either crop to remove information or re-shoot so not as bright green/edit in Photoshop.
Q: Are there any images that should be removed? Soft/Overexposed/doesn't fit the series etc.
A: possibly re-shoot the one of the zig-zag wall and stand further back- the same with the mental fence.
Q: What images are missing? i.e. should there be a landscape image to give context? would dead pan/street images be more suitable?
A: Would like to see some more of brick walls and areas where a street lights something up but in the same image where the light isn't pointing have a dark area- contrast light and dark.
Q: Other stuff...
A: Prefer the ones that are dark and mysterious with muted colours.
Looking at these images I personally don't see a clear full on punch-in-the-face narrative either do I see a narrative building up as I view each image... The crit told me that people do get something from the images "that it's a quiet place, colourful, bit grimey(run-down)" which is what I'm trying to capture but I don't think my images say it clearly enough so the next time I shoot I think I'm going to aim to capture more the run-down areas of the area I grew up around in. I'm going to try get more dark and light, old and new contrasting shots and see if these four ideas balanced against each other make my narrative stronger. I also need to do some daytime shots still, I think that having both times documented in the series may bring an entirely different narrative into play though to be fair so I really don't know if I'll end up using any of the day time shots. For when I do the daytime shots though I might try document them in a different way to the night time shots -I may capture the images as if I'm trying to advertise the area around where I live; The day time shots could say "come live here, it's beautiful and fully cared for" these images could be manipulated loads; all imperfections of the area taken out but Photoshop and made to look fake whilst the nigh time shot can say show something different- the true appearance of the streets. I could also create a narrative that's playing on the idea of everything looking different at night.
I did another night shoot, went to a few different locations as well as re-took some of the other shots I did from the first shoot although the retakes were disastrous compared to the originals shot images- focusing was defiantly more of a problem on this shoot with it being so dark I could't tell if the images were in focus or not when I took them it was only after they were taken I could see and even when I attempted to get the image in focus and take it again it wasn't much better. The thing is with this project I need to slow down to be able to do it successfully but walking around the streets at night with my camera in the freezing cold counter acts the slowness I need- scared of being mugged and the winter nights getting colder is never helpful but I do stay out as long as I can with my camera to try get everything I need for the series- this project is just very different from any other I've done- I'm not enjoying it as much either, but what I wanted to do with this project is try something entirely new and try to stretch and challenge myself. I think I got a few more images to use at least with this shot but over all I think I got a lot less use-able images compared to the last shoot. I tried to stop the light doing that "star" flare shape but all I accomplished was getting darker images that can't be used. The next shoot I do will be in the day so hopefully I won't have any problems with blur, focus and light flares.
After looking through the images and editing the ones I thought were usable I noticed that I took a fair few images of walls and I really like the look of all the wall images as a set; I prefer the colours in them images too- the colours are brighter and more vibrant as compared to the more dull and desaturated style I was doing with the other images I took before. For this shoot I kept changing the shutter speed rather then keeping it at the a 3rd of a second like I did in the shoot before this one- I did this because I found that in the new locations I went the street lights weren't always hitting the section of the area I was photographing so I had to compensate by having a longer exposer time. When I look at all the images together I still don't see the clear narrative I want, I need to keep it simple and focus on the area as a whole, maybe ditch the "run-down and not cared for side" as much because some of my images seem to be only saying that the area is a rubbish tip like the photo above which is not what I mainly wanted to do- I think I may have picked too many narratives to get across and got them both mixed up in each other and I don't have enough time to re-shoot completely.
I did a day time shoot and realised that it wouldn't be a good idea to have both sets of images together as the images of the areas at different times will just add confusion and yet another thing to take in that messes up the clear narrative I'm aiming for, the day time side was never really going to be defiantly used anyway it was just to see the different effect it had on the feel to the area and to see which would suit the series better, and I wanted to try out having two photography types together like in Zed Nelson's "Gun Country" where he uses advertising type photography and documentary to get his point across but after actually doing the shoot I don't think the idea of two types in this situation would actually work right, I think it would act as more of a distraction from the real narrative than building on it and making it clearer.
-I'll make another blog and put the link here.
http://nataliephotography2.blogspot.co.uk/
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