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Major Project Time Plan

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Major Project 1 Outgoings

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MAJOR PROJECT 1 PROPOSAL

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Looking at Charles White: A Retrospective in the MoMa.

“An artist must bear a special responsibility. He must be accountable for the content of his work. And that work should reflect a deep, abiding concern for humanity.” Charles White made his statement in 1978. His commitment to creating powerful images of African Americans- which he later described as “images of dignity” was unwavering. Using his virtuoso skills as a draftsman, printmaker, and painter, White developed his style and approach over time to address shifting concerns and new audiences. In each of the cities in which he lived over the course of his career—Chicago, New York, and, finally, Los Angeles—White became a key figure within a vibrant community of creative artists, writers, and activists.

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Toward a Concrete Utopia | MoMa

This is a continuation post from my previous post on an exhibition I visited whilst in the MoMa in NYC. Whilst developing my photographic practice, I have noticed I also have a keen interest in architectual photography, espcially modernist architecture around Europe and beyond. I think this appeals to me greatly because I am a visual learner and I tend to notice shape, lines, tone, and pattern around me constantly. It has become a constant theme within my photography that I like to express and show others what I see on a daily basis. I also found this live video talk from the MoMa interesting because I get to learn more about an area in the world that I previously had very little knowledge about. I am in love with this type of architecture.

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During the Christmas break, I was able to visit the MoMa in NYC. During this visit I was able to see the exhibition: Toward a Concrete Utopia, Architecture in Yugoslavia,1948–1980. This exhibition presented some of Yugoslavia’s architects, who responded to contradictory demands and influences, developing a postwar architecture both in line with and distinct from the design approaches seen elsewhere in Europe and beyond. In the exhibition, they explained that “The architecture that emerged—from International Style skyscrapers to Brutalist “social condensers”—is a manifestation of the radical diversity, hybridity, and idealism that characterized the Yugoslav state itself.”  I was interested in seeing this exhibition because I have an interest in architecture and architecture photography. Many of the interests I have within Major Project 1 come from the beauty of architecture around us and things that I notice around me that speak a language to me that I can understand easily. It seems that this exhibition highlighted a significant yet thus-far understudied body of modernist architecture, whose forward-thinking contributions still resonate today. For anyone with an interest in architecture, I would definitely recommend this exhibition as it showcased some impressive work - both photographically and architectually.       

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Contact sheet for shoots 5 and 6. As you can see above the same problem happened with these shoots as well. I didn’t notice my shutter was broken until I came back home to England.

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Imacon Scanning Inductions

Today I learnt how to use the imacon scanners in the scanning room in the photography department. Previously I have always used the flatbed scanners to scan my negatives then edit on photoshop. Using these scanners will help to save me time when I do a big shoot and want to check the quality of my images on the computer before printing. Even though the majority of my project is dark room printing, the scanners still come in handy if I want to upload my work to my portfolio online or if change my mind and want to print them digitally.

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These are some more unedited, scanned imaged from my shoot in Berlin. I won’t be uploading all of the images I shot but they can be found on my contact sheets from this trip which I have uploaded prior to this post. I was extremely disappointed to find out that I lost some around 50 of my images due to the shutter not working in my camera.

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These are some of my scanned images from my shoot in Berlin. I shot on 6x7 medium format using Ilford HP5. As you can see from the last two images, some of the footage I shot was lost due to a technical fault within my camera that I was unaware of during my time in Berlin. Half or more of the image has been cut off and meant that I lot a number of good shots that I wanted to use for my project.

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Contact sheet for 3 & 4. These images were shot in Berlin whilst I was there for 3 days shooting for my project. As you can see from the contact sheets something went wrong with the shutter in my camera and I lost of 50 images as most of them came out in halves or quater images. I was extremely disappointed once I devloped my negatives in the darkroom and I felt this was a big set back for me and that my efforts going all the way to Germany were in vain. However, from the 30 images that I had remaining I managed to find some that worked well with the theme of my project and I could use those to building upon in the development of my major project.

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Testing Prints from Berlin Shoot

Today I wanted to test out some of the prints I did in the darkroom. I used two different kinds of paper to see which one I will prefer to use for my big final prints which will be 20x24″. This paper you see in the image above is 16x12″ and I used medium format to test the quality of the image after blowing it to this size. I even after blowing up my 6x7 negatives to 20x24″ I would still retain some nice detail within the image which is why I decided to go for this size. I wanted to use fiber based paper for my prints but in the size 20x24″ they only came in matte and gloss only. I decicded to test out FB Gloss but it found it to be too shiny for my images and it didn’t really suit it so well. Not being much of a fan of both matte or gloss, I decided to stick to resin coated paper pearl paper which came in the size I wanted to and was slightly cheaper than fiber based. Resin coated also means the paper keeps flat so will be easier for me to frame/mount.

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Axel Hutte

Photos from London

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Axel Hütte

Axel Hütte is a German photographer born in Essen in 1951. He is well known for his unique approach, which has resulted in amazing landscape artworks. He is a member of Düsseldorf School of Photography. I love the tones and forms by nature in these photographs. I think Hutte has a great eye for tones and colours.

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Thomas Struth Shinju-ku (Skyscrapers), Tokyo 1986     I am looking at some pupils from the Dusseldorf School of Photography, one of them being Thomas Struth. The Dusseldorf School of Photography refers to a group of photographers who studied at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf in the mid 1970s under the influential photographers Bernd and Hiller Becher. Known for their rigorous devotion to the 1920s German tradition of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), the Bechers’ photographs were clear, black and white pictures of industrial archetypes (pitheads, water towers, coal bunkers).Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth modified the approach of their teachers by applying new technical possibilities and a personal and contemporary vision, while retaining the documentary method their tutors propounded.

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Albert Renger-Patzsch was a German photographer associated with the New Objectivity. I have been focusing on Die Welt ist schön (The World is Beautiful). This, is Renger-Patzsch’s best-known book, it is a collection of one hundred of his photographs in which natural forms, industrial subjects and mass-produced objects are presented with the clarity of scientific illustrations. In its sharply focused and matter-of-fact style his work exemplifies the esthetic of The New Objectivity that flourished in the arts in Germany during the Weimar Republic.