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Week 12

During our in-class presentations I gathered a few points that could be adjusted. Most importantly, the contextual writing. The summary in this presentation was intended to be brief, and was by no means a reflection of the research that I done for this project, but rather a short piece that sums up the main touch points of the project. But this did serve as a reminder that my final contextual document should include all of my research that I have been gathering. This photo book is definitely quite conceptual, and a lot of my creative decisions (and initial subject choice) require a great deal of contextual evidence and explanation.

I mocked up how my book would look, since I haven’t had the opportunity to reprint this new design.

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Week 11

I've began designing my photobook. I've been laying it out on indesign. I wanted a clean, stripped back look for my pages, using a similar ethos that Brutalism uses - meaning no page numbers or any other sort of typographic distractions. I wanted to experiment with scale on these spreads, using different sized images places into squares, giving the book a geometric feeling, as if they are windows.

I made a little test print, just to bring into class for feedback

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Week 09 + 10

Began the session looking at my peers work. I had a glance at nicks photos, who is also doing film photography. It's great seeing another student who is experiencing similar hardships. Film photography is so volatile and fickle. it's easy for a whole shoot to be ruined by something so avoidable. It's a great reminder for me to have a backup, and to bring a digital camera along (if i can).

Artist study: Ian Macdonald

Ian Macdonald's 1975 phots series "Whale Stranding at Muriwai" is a piece that was on on display at the Auckland art Gallery. It's a series of images of beached whales, slowly decomposing on the shore. Each image feels like Ian trying to extract the absolute most out of a single subject matter. He captures many angles of these whales, using the shapes and curves of the body to capture texture and form. He treats these whales how one would treat photographing architecture, with intense crops and dramatic framing. What I love about this piece is the presentation, which is hung as a gallery piece down a single long hallway. All of these images are the same size, 405 x 410 mm. Each of them appear at the same level as one another, in unison. Seeing the piece in person you get a greta sense of scale, and a sense of narrative with the piece. I really love this idea of presenting the works in an almost "time-line" format.

New Shoot

I thankfully managed to go for another shoot in Manukau. Unfortunately the weather was pretty poor, leading to less than ideal dynamic range. It was raining, and was overcast the whole time - a far cry from the beautiful golden hour scenes that I had from my first shoot. Once again, I had no access to my digital camera so i shot everything entirely on film.

After receiving my film I was a little disappointed. Many of the images were far more under exposed than I had anticipated. I had shot them a couple stops lower to make them a little moodier, but due to the flat dynamic range of the weather I ended up with deeply crushed blacks, and little to no highlights. However, These things can always be adjusted in post, so I took them to lightroom and selected my favourites

Overall I'm actually quite happy with how this has turned out. The deep blacks contrasted with the reds make this building almost look like a carcass of some sorts. I particularly love the brooding nature of Image 04, with the contrast of the orange sky and the hellish shadow of the building. it feels almost as if it's enveloping the screen, I love it. The other shots are okay, I do feel quite confident in the effectiveness of image 7-8, just struggling with picking the angle.

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Week 08

Positioning statement guide The final statement will be around 800-1000 words. I need to use the statement as an opportunity to reflect on my semesters work, adn also outlining my role as a photographer, and my project plan and direction. Citations and references are a must! avoid simple mistakes like spelling and grammar. Delve into the history, the context and external influences that have shaped and informed my project. Prove that I am aware of the backgrounds of these contexts, and can apply that to my work. How is my campaign causing a certain outcome or response?

My three main challenges

Time, and not having enough of it. I unfortunately feel as if I dont have the time to complete this project to the best of my ability. I was previously planning on doing a photo book, but now I feels as if I wont be able to meet these expectations i've thrust upon myself.

My blog is probably the most glaring issue at the moment. I unfortunately havent been keeping up to date with a few of the tasks, and have been lacking in cataloging my research to tumblr. I have some extensive research on the history and background of brutalist architecture and photography on my campaign pitch doc. I need to take the time to transfer all that to my tumblr

Due to shooting on film, I feel as if I have a much greater commitment to this project. I am unfortunately at the behest of the film developers and the "chemical miracle" of analog photography. I'm shooting as much as I possibly can, but my output is definitely stunted due to the waiting game of development.

lecturer Feedback

After speaking with Emil I had a few things to take care of. Most importantly, my blog and adding to my research a lot more. I also need to take an extended look at the history of Brutalism a little more, and grasp the politics and contexts that surround the style.

Film received

Tragedy has struck. I got my film roll back, from my visit to 5 Osterly Way in Manukau. The Inland Revenue building is an iconic piece of New Zealand brutalism.

Something must have happened to the roll, as all 30 of the shots I took of this building ended up on the same frame. It's unfortunately not even a salvageable mistake. the whole roll was essentially ruined. This is deeply frustrating as I had drove 30 minutes to manukau and took these photos during sundown. The lighting was perfect. I guess this is a lesson for me to bring my digital with me everywhere. Unfortunately i did not have access to my digital camera, as it was being used by my sister. It's frustrating, and I'll probably have to go back and reshoot.

The images that i did get from the roll were okay. They were a little underwhelming, largely because they weren’t exactly the main subject I had in mind. I shot these since I was in the area, and the building was on my radar. They're nice, but largely achieve the same thing as my previous shoot. The colours also came out very poorly, I lost all of the red values. I got them developed at Splendid photos, which I wont be returning to. I had a go at reworking the colours to get them back to the original shoot.

Left is my favourite. The clouds blended in with the top of the building, as if smoke is rising from it. There's a real sense of scale from this angle that I really love, with it tilting and almost curving around the lens.

Artist study: Zdzisław Beksiński

Zdzisław Beksiński is a Polish painter and photographer. Born in 1929, his work much like brutalism is birthed from a post WW2 world. He is best known for his seminal paintings of dystopian and hellish landscapes. His work as been in the back of my mind every since I got my first roll back. The towering, fleshy structures set in these hazy red landscapes were really reminiscent of my photographs. His works take a much more noticeably sinister tone, as if they are abstract renditions of nightmares. These paintings were produced in the 80's, but were greatly inspired by his experiences and depictions of the second world war.

left: Inkografia Z-5-88 /1, ca. 1988 Right: Untitled 1983

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Week 06 + 07

Whilst I wait for my film to be developed, Started thinking about what kind of format my series can take on. I was initially leaning towards a photobook, largely because it felt appropriate to the the medium (and also deeply relevant to my interests as a designer) but I feel as if i'm so constrained for time, that I wont get the chance to make this photo-book as great as I want it to be. So, I'm now considering presenting it in a gallery format. This greatly changes how I groom and select my final images. Due to a photobook being so extensive, I was required to have a broad selection of images. As a gallery exhibition, I can really hone in on my favourite pieces, and further comb through my work to pick out the most effective. Since I'll be making such a pivot, I've started considering other means of manipulation that previously didn't really take to the Photo-book format. I've selected a few of my favourite pieces so far to print and chop them up. I wanted to rearange them to create this sort of shifting feeling, as if they have been slaughtered and butchered. It seems sort of grotesque, but I feel it's quite appropriate and striking. It takes these already breathtaking images and gives them a completely different life.

I'm hoping to push this concept further, testing this chopping and screwing on some in-camera-manipulated images. If my double exposures come out okay, then I can test this out on them - hopefully getting even more mileage out of an already exciting idea - perhaps this can be a smaller series within my greater one.

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Week 05

critical friend - Joel Potter

More captions for images used, individually rather than all as a collective

Timing, just a little lengthy

Photograph information (if you like)

pair more text with images, to better improve the impact of the campaign.

go hard on opinions and campaign positioning.

more zooming in: getting closer to the unique details.

Further interpretation other than what's at face value.

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Week 04

I managed to get my film back, a 24 hour turnaround! I was pretty stoked to see the results. I was a little unsure of how what the results were going to be, but I'm super happy with how it all turned out. I think the red scale film is working very nicely, and i'm hoping to continue exploring this concept throughout the brief.

My favourites, in no particular order

I love the high contrast look of the images. It fits the movement very well, and is reminiscent of the work done by others in the same field. While i think the red-scale film is a unique approach, I want to bring a little more to the table. the last thing I want to do with this project is stagnate, and retread ground. I printed a few of these images, and cut them in rows, rearranging them to form a new spliced image

I really love this effect. Particularly the second one. It feels brooding and sinister, something that I'm really gong for in these shoots.

I've begun formatting and putting together my brief presentation.

A selection of slides

Photographer deep dive: Julius Shulman

One of the great Pioneers of architectural photography was Julius Shulman. His work on 20th century American architecture shaped the way we perceive buildings, and influenced the direction architectural photography would take in the coming years. Among his work, he has a handful of brutalist subjects. In these photos he captures these structures with an added layer of drama, shooting on infrared film. His work paved the way for more interpretive photography to be at the forefront of architectural documentation. I Believe that this early work laid the groundwork for more contemporary photographers to take the reigns, and bring a more expressive and experimental approach to architectural photography.

Julius' work serves as the prototype for all future brutalist photographers. Contemporary architectural photography has been so heavily influenced by his work. Using the camera to give these buildings a sense of character and personality. There's an atmosphere that these photographs create, one which paints the structures in a totally different light. They feel foreboding, massive and monolithic. They really capture the initial ethos of brutalism of a firm and structured socialist utopia.

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Week 03

Adjusting my brief After a lot of deliberation, I've decided to change my brief. While my concept on 921 Dominion road seemed strong initially, the ideas doesn’t have that much meat to it, and was a tricky task to extract a whole photo book worth of content from a single location. After speaking with Emil, I picked apart my options, and decided to focus on something that I'm greatly interested and invested In. I've always been a fan of Brutalist Architecture, In particular the mythos that surround's the style, and the publics perception of it. Many people in my life that I have spoken to about the style have usually had something negative to say about it. Som find it to be 'Ugly' and call it an 'eye-sore'. I don't think people are wrong for feeling this way about it. I guess it's a matter of personal taste. Regardless of public perception, there has been a great regression of brutalist architecture being constructed, with many buildings in the style being taken down in New Zealand.

With my project, I want to depict the size and weight of these buildings, but also highlight the slow corrosion of brutalist architecture in Auckland, and how many of these buildings find themselves to be abandoned, or home to now defunct or dying businesses. I've chosen to shoot this project on film, as I feel that the history of the style lends itself to a more analogue process. Typically, brutalist architecture is shot on B&W or muted tones. To make this project a little more unique, I've decided to shoot on red-scale film. I feel that colours can give the sense that these buildings are dying.

I made a start, locating buildings using google maps. (and also ones that I've noticed myself.) I brought my digital along also so i could have some sort of idea of how my photos may look.

Working title for project: "The buildings, they are sleeping"

52 federal street - 6:55pm

Brutalist Photographer Research

Looking at other photographers in this field, I wanted to find some that step outside of the typical tropes of brutalist architecture photography. I feel that with my project it may be very easy for my work to blend in with a lot of the other projects out there

Javier Arcenillas

The work of Javier Arcenillas is one of my favourites working in the field today. HIs work depicts brutalist architecture in a brooding, almost sinister way. With the use of a pinhole lens and a long shutter speeds, Javier brings a very unique perspective on the style. rather than focusing on form and pattern he hones in on shape and silhouette.

Shot in Spain, 2023

Simon Phipps

Simon's photography lends itself more to the classic ways of depicting brutalist architecture. Shooting in Black & White, Phipps captures the breathtaking beauty and scale of the style. He captures the grand and immaculate sense of size and mass of these buildings. He also does a great job at depicting these places within the wider context of the city and surroundings that they find themselves in. There's a sense that these places are tied to their environment, and serve an essential place to the cityscape.

Understanding Brutalism

Brutalism wasBirthed out of a post-WW2 world, and served as a response to the ongoing movement of modernism: a movement that emerged in the early 20th century, emphasizing functionality, simplicity, and the rejection of 'historical' ornamentation.

Concrete served as a fast, cheap and effective way of rebuilding Europe after the war. An essay written by Reyner Banham described brutalism as a new modern style, one that explored a lack of exterior artifice. Swiss-french architect Le Corbusier coined the term Beton brut ~ meaning Raw Concrete, similar to his structure The Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, which was built between 1947 - 1952. It is credited as the first 'brutalist' building. Due to it's low cost and ease of construction, brutalist style architecture was adopted in Russia for panel buildings, a series of repetitious that sreved as a solution to an ongoing housing crisis in the 60's. The philosophy behind Brutalist architecture is rooted in the belief that architectural design should prioritize functionality, honesty, and social purpose,” Bittoni explains. The style is often associated with socialist utopian ideas, which were regularly promoted by the buildings’ architects.

Brutalism sort of flips typical construction on it's head. While concrete was often used as a structural and supporting element for building, it was never really served as the star of the show. There's a reason why brutalism can feel as if these buildings are naked - you expect some sort of flourish or coating to be laid upon these concrete facades. This can lead to brutalist buildings being misconstrued as "unfinished".

This Video by HENI Talks discusses how brutalism tends to evoke "feeling" through it's forms and geometry. The movement feels much closer to and artform - feeling more sculpture adjacent. Witnessing the building is meant to be more of an experience, as if you've stepped into a gallery and are confronted with some sort of avant-garde piece of art.

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Week 02

simple pitches

Street art/tagging

I want to photograph and create a photo book on tagging and street art around Auckland, to highlight it's connection to the places around it and the important role it plays in a living and breathing society.

Ideally shot on film?

Brutalist Architecture

photographing brutalist architecture in Auckland, and highlighting the misunderstood style and capturing it. It's often seen as an eye-sore from the wider public, but I have a weird obsession with it.

Self portrait series

I'm not very physically expressive person, and I struggle with putting myself 'out-there' and want to do a self portrait series

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Week 01 - In Class Lecture

Directed Image project brief:

Pitch a photographic series, using photographs to communicate a central theme or concept.

An opportunity to flex and refine skills learned throughout the course.

develop a thoughtful concept.

 Imagine you have been selected to photograph a series of work for a client based on your Tumblr blog, Instagram or other portfolios. Based on what you currently have on those platforms, describe:

The main content - predominant genre

A large portion of my work is portrait/documentary based. My 2nd year sem 1 project was a photobook on the Auckland underground music scene. It is mostly a collection of photographs of artists and performers.

The overall mood/vibe of your work

The mood of my work is typically quite raw/lo-fi. I try to avoid heavy image manipulation, and often work with in-camera manipulation. I typically shoot in B&W

The main contexts of your work

People and places, and the connection people have with their craft/passion

Then, describe in writing the type of platform that would want to showcase your work –  are they a fashion, editorial, gallery, documentary, advertising, social/environmental good not-for-profit organisation? Simply put, does your past work reflect the contextual direction you want to take in the future?

Then write an introductory professional sentence introducing yourself to the viewership on your blog. Write it as if you are a practicing professional photographer, for example:

My name is ____. I am a (what kind? ___ photographer, specializing in ____, producing [high end] content for ____, who want XYZ approach to ____.

My name is Matthew Waugh, I am a portrait photographer specialising in portrait and documentary photography, producing content for artists and other creatives who want them and their craft to be captured honestly and earnestly.

Week 01 - SDL

Task: Brief - single image 

Selected song: New Grass, by Talk Talk

I find this to be a very beautiful song. It's very hopeful but also very crushing. It's a somewhat free jazz, post-rock meditation that slowly unfurls as the track goes on. I often get the feeling of a new beginning from this song, almost a reset point or a moment of clarity. I feel quite similarly about starting back at University again. I wanted my image to mostly reflect the song through colour, with pastel blues and whites that are similar to the album cover art.

This is my photo. It was shot on Kodak Gold.

Task: Photographer' series analysis

Lionel Wendt

Lionel wendt was a this series is from 1933-34, and could almost be considered as ahead of it's time, with the use of inverted negatives. I really love his approach to shooting portraits, chopping and screwing with the body, to the point where it becomes impossible to figure out what is what.

Francesca Woodman

Task: Curated Selection

These Photos were taken across the break, all shot on Kodak ColourPlus Film. These images are all part of a small (now defunct) project on street art, specifically tagging. The series aims to capture the importance and value in tagging, and it's valuable place in society. Tagging is often seen as a sign of decay and disorder, but this series of photos are mean to communicate that tagging is a part of a functioning, and living society.