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Updated time plan

Red type shows the updates

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End user context and audience

When thinking about the use of my final piece there is only really a few options considering the size of the grid I have formed. The main plan is of course to have a wall mounted piece in a fairly large gallery space. The size of my print would ideally be bigger but due to the space limitations we have I have had to keep it smaller than desired. Before the idea of the large scale grid layout came up the plan was to present the images in a standard documentary book layout, the reasons I haven’t followed through with creating this is because the print stands out strong in my eyes by its self. The second reason is because I believe that the book layout Is almost a bit of an easy option when there are other stronger ways of showing my images. If I was to carry on the project and have many more images I would make an A5 book out of it as I think to many more images on a print may be overwhelming when presented next to each other. I believe the audience from a gallery would be much larger, yet if the project was to become especially successful I think the audience would appreciate more a book they could physically own.

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Fmp final project review

From start to finish in my project there has been strengths and weaknesses. I have built up a learning for my target and I have indeed achieved this. The only way I have made it to my final target of a successful and strong final piece is by learning from these weaknesses and failures. The first issues began from the first day of shooting which was down to the location in which I was shooting in, offering up little amounts of objects to capture through my viewfinder. From this I had to look deeper into where these heavily desired objects could be found. Before planning locations to shoot I looked into different artists that had a prominent impact on the documentary and still life genres. I first came across the saints of documentary one of which being Henri Cartier – Bresson. Although there is much to learn from his almost magical abilities of consistently getting the perfect image he didn’t tend to cover many still objects. Combining what I had learned from Cartier with others like Nick Turpin and his work ‘Terrain vague’ I decided I had the knowledge to make the images I planned to. Although these photographers were discovered and used to spark my initial ideas and shoots I stepped upon the work of Alec Soth and Irving Penn later on down the line giving me even greater ideas and ways of looking at what I had already collected. Technically within the shoots I have used a range of cameras and films some of which being much more effective to my eye than others. The use of colour film was a hard decision for me but after some testing with both Kodak and Fuji films I made the decision to push ahead with the 35mm black and white Ilford hp5. I decided to shoot with colour polaroid, this was an odd decision for a purist like myself. The reason for doing this was to create some emulsion lifts. The process of this was completely new to me and was difficult at first due to the need of a light hand. After the first one this unique process got easier and by the end of these I really enjoyed what I had created. The issue with this came when I thought about shooting more of this film. The pricing was too expensive to get as many images as I needed and was generally not practical when you have 10 images to a box. Once I had finally come to the conclusion of using black and white film I set out to shoot as many shoots as I could in these new discovered areas. The areas include Hackney, London and Boscombe. These locations stood out to be perfect as they are fairly low economy and are notorious areas for fly tipping. The final piece was the hardest decision to make for me as it had changed multiple times from scrolls to books to large prints. These all came with limitations so in the end I decided to combine my images into a 60inch-20inch grid layout, therefor giving me the chance to use a total of my 21 best images and still get large enough images out of each.

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My updated bibliography

This is the updated version of the initial bibliography

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Alec Soth Niagara

Alec Soths photo book ‘Niagara’ is similar to his other famous book ‘Sleeping by the Mississippi’. The reason it is so similar is because of the combination of portraits, landscapes and small objects.

This book specifically stands out to me because of the Use of flat compositions. These interest me because it is the way i love to shoot and keep my images simple yet full of narrative. In my eyes Alec Soth is one of the greats at using this style of composition. The combination of images plays a strong part in why his books are so magical but the images alone could still stand out.

The architectural shots of buildings link into my images that have objects in front of walls as both are flat yet carry depth. The shots of small objects and notes used and written by the people hes capturing are what link to the objects that i have found and captured in order to tell a story. The genius comes from the layout of the book. The flow is strong with portraits next to objects next to photos of the actual area. This gives a strong sense of being emerged in the location and time.

Some of my favorite images from the shoot - 

Examples some object shots within the project

Some examples of flat locations shots

Location shot of the falls

So with all these combined you can see that the photos combine to make a strong flowing book.

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Weekly reviews

My weekly reviews consist of weekly updates on what ive done in my project, whats gone well, and whats gone back that week. These updates will be handed in paper form also.

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Negative analysis

Once i have processed my film i go through the sheet of negatives with a loop to select the images i want to scan, this is also where i make small notes on what to do in the edit.

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The physicality of the photograph

Unlike a work of art there is not always a physical feeling behind an image taken by a photographer especially in the digital modern day. The way that you take the photo, edit it and instantly upload it to a social media is almost sad to me as you don't get to touch or physically interact with the image. This is why i value the prints that are made in a dark room as time has been spent with these and the fact that they have been created in a desired way by hand. Ones finished you then have the chance to hold it and look at it from any angle. Of course you can print an image digitally but the chances of holding one of these from a social media is almost impossible.

I started to think about this when shooting with my project when i was using the Polaroid film. I believe that the hype around it is from holding the image u just captured rather than looking at it on your phone. When you see a persons face light up from it developing right in front of them is like nothing else, and its far from the way they look at an image load on a phone screen. So when i was working with these images and then turning them into emulsion lifts i personally got that feeling of joy. I felt the need to transfer that on to others through my imagery and methods. This brought me back to my first days of working in a dark room and the joy of that hard work paying off, and i wish for others to get the same chance and feelings.

This links into the idea of photo books being so successful as the reader can hold and almost feel the subject of each individual image. Although i haven't used a photo book for my final piece i believe that large scale prints still give a good and strong connection to the audience.

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Ideas of a purist

In my eyes i have shot in the style of a purist for a long time now. To me shooting as a purist is shooting with black and white film. Editing my images as little as possible or not at all. This said there is many ideas and opinions about being a so called purist. Some people take it as far as not touching the original negative if there is a slight issue or impurity. The next idea behind shooting as a purist is that you don't have an effect on what you are taking photos of. This is easy when capturing still objects and subjects like i have been through my project but when it comes to capturing people its harder. The thought is that you dint let them notice you as this has an effect on there look and how they like to be presented in front of the camera as everyone reacts differently. 

 I have found an issue while shooting in this way through my project. The issue is that we as photographer always have an effect on what we are documenting no matter what we avoid doing. This is done through the chosen composition we used when shooting the object. The smallest change that we make through the view finder can completely alter the narrative of the object through sizing, location, contrast. These can all differ through our changes even if we don't plan to have this effect.

The ideas of objective and subjective play a big part in this. Objective when taking photos is not being effected by emotions, opinions or personal feelings. Were as a subjective way of shooting is effected by these with greater interpretation. When you think of it like this with these words in mind you can realize that its almost impossible to shoot in an objective way as you are always going to react to what you are capturing even if you are blind to that.

Does this blow the purist idea out of the water? This has been the question for a long fort dispute.

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How has my project changed?

For me my project started of with the idea that the objects i wanted to document were not being noticed on our streets in our day to day lives. This thought is still prominent within yet i have come to terms with other meanings and thoughts about why im presenting these objects as i am. I love the idea of these objects getting noticed more and the fact that i can make people think deeper into the narratives behind them. The constant questions to be asked... Why is it here? How did it get there? Who put it there? Where was it before? These questions still stand but now i have a new reason for documenting what i am. The waste. Most of the objects that i tend to find are in working order or have small fixes needed yet we as humans are to lazy to find a fix, the hard work put in to design and make these objects is being put to waste by simply discarding them on the streets. Why not re use of recycle? Again it just seems to be to hard to do so in the current time, this is again due to laziness or event he fact that these things are so common, easy to get your hands on, cheap and generally easy to replace. Overall i would love to be able to spread a message about the story's that these objects carry and the fact that we as community's are letting these stories end so easily without trying to fix it.

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Alec Soth - Sleeping by the Mississippi

This photo book from Alec Soth is one of the best books in modern documentary, the book was published in 2004. The book is said to have evolved from road trips around the more rural American areas of the “third coast”. The book is a combination of many different ways of working from portraits and landscapes to objects and interiors. The object side of this book is what i am attracted to.

Many of the objects and areas captured in this book look to be run down and have had the toll of natures time against them. The images include things like abandoned sofas, chairs and furniture which is almost a direct link into my project and way of shooting. The different comes when you look at the way he adds the culture into the images, this can be as small as an American flag or as large as a combined portrait presented in conjunction with the location image. All of the images are taken on colour film but un like mine being shot on 35mm they are captured on large format film.

Within the book i have three favorite images, these follow here...

This image is personal my favorite due to the amount of story within. The old chairs in the middle of a woodland area are perfect to show a strong sense of narrative and loneliness. When i look at the image i directly get a sense of the people who were in this location and in fact there is no need for them to be there in my eyes as i think the locations tells the story much better without. The hint of the American flag in the center then makes sure that the shot keeps its context. Technically the image is simple with a neutral colour pallet which is coming from the large format film, the light green tints are coming from the type of film which from my experience could be fujifilm superia 200 which is known for giving this look.

This shot reminds me even more of my own work as there is only a singular object within the frame. The use of colour film is great im my eyes and i think works much better than if it was to be in colour, i think it gives a much better sense of the location. Technically you can see that he has had to use a slower shutter speed probably around 1/30 of a second, this is because he has to use a small aperture to keep everything in focus. This is hard as the large format generally has a very shallow depth of field even when shooting at smaller f numbers.

This image straight of the bat gives me a look into how quiet this place is in terms of visual emptiness and within sound also. The colours within this image are beautiful with the whites/creams and blues from the pillow matching with the cold and dim location surrounding. I also tend to think about how much it took for him to find an object in the perfect location like this? This said after my shoots i can defiantly relate to the hunting of these rare and stunning pieces within the man made world.

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Irving Penn - Still life

The photo book ‘still life’ created by Irving Penn is an inspiration for my project through both colour, black and white, and the unique objects he has managed to capture.

The thing about this book and his work within that stands out the most to me is how flat most of his images are. This have inspired me to shoot in this way as it keeps a clean and simple look to the image. This flat image style combined with his interesting objects adds up to create a clean yet thought provoking final look.

Although my way of shooting is different with the idea and objects, the idea of keeping things still and almost lifeless is is what links our ideas. The differences come from the fact that his work is very set up which has been taken from his world famous fashion images. Although his images are very powerful and clever when set up its not the style that i often choose to work around. The way my images aren't set up and are found where they are is the difference from this. Saying that i don't effect the scene when taking the shot is not true as although i do not move the objects i still have to show the object in a certain composition. These different compositions is where i have my effect as each different one could give the objects and whole image a different look and narrative. So even though i may not directly be realizing it while shooting but my effect on the image is much greater than initially thought, this is pretty much the same as moving the object. This idea of moving the object links directly into my section on shooting in a purist manor.

Some images from the book, both colour and black and white.

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The street photographers manual, by David Gibson - Theory

This book by David Gibson is generally a very helpful book for the new street photographer and covers everything from people to architecture, and this is why i picked out this book to use as it had some very helpful tips and ideas are shooting found objects in the street scene.

Starting off with chapter 2 named ‘Quiet’.

- There are a few main points that i took from this, the first being... “Although city's are crowded with people photography is a reflective and calming way of seeking quiet amid noise” By this i believe that its showing that no matter how busy a location is through the viewfinder and lens there is always a way of portraying the location to be quiet through the madness. This links in well to my project as within most of the shots there is a constant view of a quiet and empty scene. I used this to make you think about the object more and to let the object speak to the viewer rather than the location that its placed in.

- The second point i took from this chapter is, “You give the time to photograph because it has depth” For me this is a very important statement. I strongly think that every photo has some kind of relevance as it is in some way documenting the current time periods culture and lifestyles. This links in as im showing the waste of perfect objects that people everywhere are discarding every day and how we ignore this when in fact it has a big impact in other places that aren't as wealthy.

- The last thing that i took from this chapter is a quote from the great photographer Robert Frank, “When people look at my pictures i want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice” This is such an important quote as it is describing the need and addictive properties of looking at a heavy packed image. I would love people to come back to my project and remember the waste and the fact that it was ignored and then relate to it in both a visual and physical way.

Going on to chapter 4 which is named “still”

- The first point taken from this is “Character is a key word. If a space or object has some sort of presence or personality it is worth photography.” This instantly links back to my idea of all photos having a use in documenting the current. the other idea that this links to is that an object can have a personality. The idea behind this is that these objects that im finding and documenting on the streets have a long story with them yet it is still for the viewer to decide. These story's and ideas behind the individual objects of course give them a meaning and personality.

- The second point is “Still photographs on the page offer punctuation. On the street they are less hurried and simply easier to do. They are not always easier to see.” From this i get that still photos of objects are often overlooked due to the supposed ease of the art, hence why there is little photography being made around the idea as many current street photographer work and play on the movement of people and their actions. The idea of these objects being harder to see is also very true as much of the time you have to make something out of nothing. The fact that you can go out and almost grantee seeing a person or an interesting action is so different to wondering the back streets to find these interesting discarded objects.

- The third point is linking in with the second from this chapter “It should always be reiterated that street photography does not necessarily require people; There are always other valid options.” This links back to the last point as like i said taking photos of people is the most common method in street photography and work without it is overlooked, i believe this is because it is easy for us to relate to other humans as we can feel how these people captured feel. So this statement is bold enough to show that there is other valid ways of capturing the day to day life in the streets.

Within chapter 4 there is a project section called ‘Objects’

- The first thing i took from this section is “All that ever matters is whether something is worth photographing.” To me i almost object to this statement as i argue that everything is worth photographing to an extent as no matter what you are photography you are documenting it in history and this will always be the case, but there is always going to be different opinions on this as non documentary photographer may not agree with capturing things in our current times and how relevant these things are going to be even ten years down the line from this current day.

- The next from this project is “ Looking at folios of most street photographers would probably reveal at least 75% of their photographs to have people in them.” To me this is showing that the current interest in street imagery is based strongly around people which of course must be there, but in my eyes we need to come together as photographers and artists to except that we must document the objects that we as people and the people in our images live around and ignore on a day to day basis.

Overall this book has been very useful to me to give me ideas and prove that there is a visual market for objects like the ones ive set out to capture. I hope to change peoples pre- made up minds on what we capture in a documentary project.

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Images for the final piece

This album has the 21 images in that i have picked out to present in my final piece grid layout. To get to this final decision i went through different people to find out opinions on the best images. Initially i picked out the best and then narrowed it down through these stages until we had the 14 landscape and 7 portrait images that i was after

Link to the album - https://www.flickr.com/photos/145499787@N03/albums/72157680989527241

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Mid project critique

The mid project crit was put in place for feedback so we could see peoples opinions on our images and current working techniques. The power point i crated dose not include much writing as i was designed to be talked over while presenting. 

The power point can be found here - http://www.slidesnack.com/my-slidesnack/details/?slide=bhns49nt

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Shoot 8

Shoot 8 is the end of shoot 7 combined with a slightly new idea and outtake. The plan was to go on a morning walk along the beach documenting the small objects that i found in the sand, for example bits of rope. The technical ideas of it were kept simple with straight on compositions and large depths of field to keep the flat compositions in focus. The other reason for using the small aperture was because i was shooting the 400 speed film pushed to 1600 from the previous shoot. The problem with this was that the light was much brighter for shoot 8 so i had to make sure i was using a small aperture and faster shutter speed to counter that.

My top images from the shoot -

This image was one of the end images from the shoot before (shoot 7) but was captured on the same roll as the shoot 8 images. I like this image due to the emptiness of the location and how you look at it and almost hear the silence. The emptiness is a key for a personal narrative in my eyes. The composition was difficult for me as i did not want to get to close to the wall on the left yet i also did not want to capture to much of the houses on the top right. So i had to find a good balance between the two. Overall i think this is a strong image due to the emptiness.

This image is the style that the shoot consists of. I think this shot tells that best with the simplistic small item against the simple background which actually at the same time tells its own story. For example the footprint in the sand shows that these things get ignored when in fact they all have their own story's behind them.

You can view all of the images here - 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/145499787@N03/albums/72157680185864822

Overall this shoot has to much of a different feel to it and almost a sense of insignificance. The objects don't have much of a relevance and effect on the way we look unlike the other objects i have captured in my other shoots. Although i like the idea i just don't think its going to fit in with the more urban, and gritty images.

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Shoot 7

In my eyes this shoot is one of the most successful purely because of the amount of objects that i found when i was walking. The walk was from Bournemouth to Boscome and back down the small estate back roads. The lighting on the day was pretty average to overcast meaning i could shoot with my preferred method of pushing the 400 speed ilford hp5+ to 1600 to gain the desired contrast and grain needed when shooting on a dull day. The fact it had been raining that day combined with the sky conditions meant that i got the perfect gritty look in my shots which is what i have been going for through out the project.

The walk route -

Here are a few of my favorite images from this shoot / walk -

This door way is in my favorites due to the simplicity and the strong grey scale. I can include not so obvious shots like this mainly due to the rubbish on the step but also because of the wonders within it which i again believe to be strongly thought provoking. The harshly balanced composition of the walls and the door give the shot that strong standout look.

With this image the key for the strength of it is the oddity of it. A basket of plates left against a fence in a car park... Why? is again the question here. I tried to layout this image with a center and right hand balance which has worked out well with the two basket heights. It was hard to get a strong contrast out of this shot due to the lack of sun and small apreture to counter for the high speed pushed film, but i don't think that really matters when i just trying to show the object in a narrative way.

My final favorite image from this shoot is this front garden. Too me there looks to be some kind of organization going on in someones head yet to me and more than likely other viewers there is not much at all. I think this is what makes this image run and flow well. The other thing that comes to mind when looking at this is that it looks almost like a still life and that it has been set up my me as the photographer to look like this when in fact it is not along with all of the other images i have captured. The camera settings are again very simple with a fast speed film, large f stop number and a medium to fast shutter speed. The aperture and shutter speed are again being used to counter the fast speed of the 1600 iso film.

Like i said at the start this shoot is successful due to its shot rate and the quality of images.

View all of the images here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/145499787@N03/albums/72157682694440506/with/33324666633/