The Forgotten
A visual interpretation of things left behind and forgotten about by us. Where these things disappear to, and how they change. I want to take photos full of vibrant colours showing these still have life or beauty.
Keith ArnattKeith Arnatt(1930–2008) was a British conceptual artist. As well as conceptual art his work is sometimes discussed in relation to land art, minimalism, and photography. He lived and worked in London. I chose Keith Arnatt because of his work "Pictures from a Rubbish Tip" featuring close ups with a very shallow depth of field of his local Rubbish Tip. He used natural daylight to light the rubbish, making use of white plastic bags that reflected the vibrant hues of the rubbish making them slightly abstract.
Sam TaylorSam Taylor-Wood born in 1967, is an English visual artist, filmmaker and photographer. I chose Sam Taylor-Wood for her series on decay in which she photographed a classic Dutch still life fruit ball over the course of a month or two capturing its decay. Similarly she photographed another classic painterly still life of the hunt in which we see how the rabbit decays.
|
Over the summer holidays I went to a rubbish tip next to the Dartford crossing, unfortunately I wasn't allowed in but I still managed to take photos over the fence.
Best edits
Since I couldn't venture directly into the tip I could get to close to any of the objects so I mainly used the sky for negative space which i think adds to the polluted atmosphere since the sky is grey and smoky. I really enjoyed creating interesting compositions which I found the cranes particularly useful for to balance the photos and direct the observers eyes. The junkyard almost seemed similar to a zoo keeping massive metal beasts and i wanted to capture them like that.
Nadav KanderNadav Kander HonFRPS is a London-based photographer from Israel, artist and director, known for his portraiture and landscapes. Kander has produced a number of books and had his work exhibited widely I was inspired to photograph the marsh and water of the Thames by Nadav Kander's Dark line project taken further up the river on the Thames estuary. I really like the atmosphere of Nadav Kander's photographs particularly in the more colourful ones which have a dream like quality thanks to how the images are composed with the top image being very slim the fog seems even more mysterious similarly in the bottom right photograph the water takes up most the photo and you don't know what is lurking the depths. The Thames itself is forgotten since it was what London was built upon and has been a vital part of London's growth for the last 1000 years, however now the river is hardly in use and is only a murky grey obstacle that divides London's north and south.
|
My response
After being inspired by the Nadav Kander I went back to the Dartford crossing to photograph the decayed piers and brutalist architecture that break up the landscape while simultaneously blending in with their surroundings as the stumps reflect the grasses and bushes while the blank concrete is reminiscent of the colourless water and sky.
Warped Perspective
Photography that can conjure a wide variety of different interpretations and evoke unique nostalgia or ideas for each individual spectator. I want to try distorting photographs with different shaped lenses like fisheye for a literal warped perspective as well. Photographs that are oddly composed or framed leaving out important clues as to what were looking at or where the subject is or what they're doing, giving the photographs a timeless dreamlike quality like stills from a film.
Sarah Moon
Sarah Moon (born in 1941 as Marielle Warin) is a French photographer. Initially a model, she turned to fashion photography in the 1970s. Since 1985, she has concentrated on gallery and film work. I was inspired by Sarah Moons soft foggy fashion photography that evoked an odd melancholy fantasy feeling. I really like how her photographs seem to have some story or narrative behind them however its anyone guess as to what.
|
My response
Photographs inspired by Sarah Moon taking her blocked out pastel colors
Alienated
Imagery of isolating scenes which only lead the audience to ask questions rather than answering any therefor (is this finished?)
An unknown narrative. How will you interpret this visually? What will you photograph?
An unknown narrative. How will you interpret this visually? What will you photograph?
My response
Did you create a response to the images above? What are the images below? Are you back to 'The Forgotten' theme. Make sure that you are explicit about which of the first three themes you have chosen.
Tish Mursha exhibition
I went to see a photo gallery at the Tate Britain. One of the artists on display that I found most interesting was Tish Mursha. Below are her photos from the series "juvenile jazz band" I love the contrast between the children playing and the bleak ruined concrete environment around them. What makes the images even more intriguing is it seems the children are playing war games, enacting salutes marches and weapons, which gives you a sense of the the time they've grown up in and what their minds are enveloped by. In spite of the dark implications the children are making light of war, seeing the bright side.
Shirley Baker exhibition
I also went to see Shirley Bakers exhibition at the Tate Britain. Shirley Baker (1932 – 2014) was one of Britain’s most compelling yet underexposed social documentary photographers. Her street photography of the working-class inner-city areas, taken from 1960 until 1981, would come to define her humanist vision. Shirley’s curiosity and engagement with the everyday world around her resulted in many different strands of work, many of which are yet to be exhibited, each of which confirms her acute observation, visual humour as well as compassion for the lives of ordinary people as distinctive in its exploration of post-war British culture. I really liked the series of photos taken in Manchester of run down buildings and areas. I like the bleak atmosphere surrounding her photos and the way there's no plant life only concrete paints a depressing picture of Manchester, particular in the bottom right photograph, I love the contrast of the kids playground in the foreground and the towering factory chimneys looming over them like there futures if they were to stay living and working in Manchester. All of her photos feel very candid and real like your there in the cold Manchester streets.
Thames bank photography
Continuing my Theme of documenting the emaciated state of forgotten sullen river god that is the Thames and the way the environment is beginning to reclaim the manmade. I walked along the shore of the Thames on the south side from Tower Bridge down to Rotherside station. Unfortunately, it was high tide so I had to photograph from awkward locations leading me to take most of the photos close-up. I went with the intention of capturing some of the deservedness seen in Shirley Bakers work to show the protected yet decrepit forgotten docks in the very heart of London where land is so expensive and sort over. I want to capture the contrast and blend that the forgotten and unused manmade objects found all over the Thames have with the natural environment they have to injure. Old pottery and bricks sanded into pebbles you would find on any beach. The wooden piers are like trees harbouring mosses and the concrete is like stone covered in seaweed and green so much so that there's no grey left and it wall itself is alive. I was inspired by Shirley Bakers documentarian style and tried to use this while taking my own photos.
Best edi†s
Capturing the same scene with different focuses and the water constantly changing the energy of the photo led to more interesting and diverse photographs. The sea weed helped create vibrant colourful photos despite the grey concrete and murky water. These photographs were successful in capturing the Thames Banks as they've been left to rot, However all the photos are a very zoomed in and lack expanse since the London skyline is very cluttered which draws attention away from the details of the banks i want to capture.
Edgelands exhibition by Adam Foreman and Will Brook
I went to see a photography exhibition in hackney central, a collection images capturing the boundaries between land and sea. I really liked way Adam Foreman highlighted the contrast between Britain's dirty beaches and the expansive beauty of water, the edge between artificial and natural, decay and renewal. I want to replicate this confusing atmosphere highlighted in the top right photograph in my own work, creating a surreal yet familiar scene that draws the audience in to take a closer look and discuss and discover exactly what there looking at. I could do this by doing some chemigrams of the next photos I take inspired by this project.
ISLE OF DOGS
I went to the Isle of Dogs on the Thames and walked along the Embankment to the Greenwich foot tunnel, from there I wandered along the rocky beach to the Deptford creek. The contrast between the invasive river weed and the man made structures create interest through vivid colour, surface texture, and shape. The eroded rusty pipes creating cleaner angels.
Best edits
I was inspired by Adam Foremans work on his project edge lands trying to capture stark contrasts between textures, colours and places to represent the contrast between natural and manmade, old and new, Britain's unused and dirty desolate beaches against the expansive Thames water. I particularly like the photograph of the yellow petals stuck to the sand however all the made made objects in the scene are also bright and colourful.
Chloe Dewe Matthews Thames Log
Chloe Dewe Matthews is a British photographer that spent 5 years photographing the Thames. In her book Thames Log she explores all sorts of different cultures and activities that use or revolve around the Thames. I really like the expansiveness of the water she captures in the Thames, and I want to replicate this atmosphere in my own photography so next I'll go to Dungeness where I won't be restricted by London's Skyline and I can take more dramatic landscapes.
|
Dungeness beach
Over the half term I visited Dungeness in the very south east tip of England I went there to photograph the strange combination of nuclear power stations, battered fishermen’s huts, lighthouses, the ‘acoustic mirrors’, concrete oddities and the largest expanse of shingle in Europe. The ‘ness is simultaneously a desolate dystopian land and a place of awe-inspiring beauty. Dungeness has attracted visionary artists from around the world for example Prospect Cottage, where film-maker Derek Jarman once lived. The large ‘acoustic mirrors’ are concrete structures and were England’s first early warning system before the dawn of radars but today they just add to the eeriness as they stare out to sea.
Best edits
Following my theme of the natural vs the man made, I saw how the natural environment shaped the designs of the manmade as well as how the man made rid the landscape around it of most of its nature. For example the power plant and pylons trailing off of it into the distance, are surrounded by hardly any wild life except a few shrubs. I found it difficult photographing a lot of the scenery since there was so much detail in the environment like the ruined boats and shingles so I tried to balance the detail using the sky, the sea and playing with the focus. I like that the electricity pylons look 2d resembling a print.
Ludlow Clee Hill, Radar and abandoned quarry
I went to Ludlow in the midlands of England right next to the Welsh boarder to photograph the radar station at the top of Clee hill, erected in 1941 in secret in some of the darkest days of the war, and while that is now gone the more recent radar that still stands is part of an national radar network as well as playing a key role in weather forecasts. Atop the hill is also an abandoned quarry that's buildings still stand adding manmade dimensions that brake up the windswept hills. I chose to take inspiration from Chloe Dewe Mathews Thames log using a documentary style of photography, trying to communicate the atmosphere of the environment I'm in as much as possible.
Best Edits
My best edits are mostly landscapes that are all have very different atmosphere as the sun set while I was photographing. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Printing on brown paper
Mock
I decided to make chemigrams of some of my favourite photos from the whole project so the photographs which are a manmade oddity are 'spoilt' by natural chemicals, hopefully giving an overgrown or decayed look, like the drips are tree branches overshadowing the photographs or flames burning down the factory.