KEVIN BAUMAN - 100 ABANDONED HOUSES
Kevin Bauman is a Denver based photography who specialises in architectural, interior and industrial photography. He began the 100 abandoned houses project after he started photographing the abandoned places in Detroit. He said he found it amazing, depressing and perplexing that a once great city could find itself in great distress.
The series are photos of individual abandoned houses, he has taken each photo at the same angle and distance which makes the photos look similar and fit together well as a series. It looks as if the image was taken from across the street and the whole photo is in sharp focus so a wide aperture would of been used.
The pictures in this series breaks the rule of thirds as the houses are in the middle of the frame. It has been taken from a distance and this is effective as you can see the surroundings around the house, this is good to compare the photo and get an insight into the abandonment of Detroit. In some of the photos you can see the path to the front door. This works as a leading line as it leads your eye to the house.
I think these photos give a sense of isolation. They're quite eerie as it makes it seems like something bad as happened to make everyone leave. There is also a sense of foreboding because of how derelict the houses and area looks. The photos work well as a series as it makes you question more about the photos and the story behind each one. It makes you wonder about how Detroit came to have so many empty houses. I think Kevin Bauman was trying to show the effect of the economic decline of Detroit and how buildings change when they are left to decay.
MARK POWER AND JACK LATHAM
Mark Power is an English photographer, he normally shoots his work on large format film.
Power started a project for Magnum Photos, where he photographed around Poland. We watched a video where he spoke about how he tackled this project. I found it interesting that because he was in an alien country he found it difficult. He felt lost as it was somewhere he didn't know. After getting help from a local photographer he got to know more about the place and met new people. He liked to take photos of things that are normally overlooked and hidden. Places waiting for the EU to make a difference. Power said he would distance himself from the subject, to be able to understand it better.
After he did a project in the Black Country in England. He said that in your own country its hard to see something objectively. Although this area was very different to where he lived in Brighton, he wasn't a foreigner so began to tell a story with his images.
Jack Latham is a Welsh photographer now also living in Brighton.
We watched a video of the a project Jack Latham did in Iceland. Latham became interested with a crime that happened in Iceland, where 6 men had been wrongly convicted of murdering 2 men. He said that if they didn't kill them, who did? He had a fascination with Icelandic folklore, about hidden people. These 2 men who had supposedly been murdered had disappeared and not ever seen again. This links with the hidden people folklore.
Latham had the project in mind but didn't over plan what he was going to do because he wanted to be carried by the project. He was going to loosely base the photos on facts about the crime, for example he shot where one of the men used to work.
He also talks about how he used to be shy but being a photographer makes you have to talk to people, he says asking someone to take their photo and getting rejected by someone isn't the end of the world. Photography is a way to talk to people and can make you find out more about the project. I found what he said interesting and quite inspiring.
Both Mark Power and Jack Latham's projects are quite similar. They are both in a place they are not used to and they have not planned exactly what they are going to take. The only difference was that Latham had researched the topic he was going to photograph so had a rough idea of where he was going. Both of their projects where led by talking with people and they would get more ideas and information from them. I will remember this when doing my own projects in the future as I normally would avoid talking to other people much. I also like how the photos in their projects are of things people wouldn't normally photograph, you get to see more about a place because of the little things they have decided to focus on.
From watching these videos I have definitely been inspired for my own projects. When starting a project I won't over plan so that I can be carried by it.
8 PAGE ZINE
I created an 8 page zine with one piece of paper to make a small book.
This is the instructions I followed.
I pasted the images I wanted in my book into a template, the template had numbers to show which pages it would be when folded together. I decided to have one photo covering the front and the back cover as I think this looked better. The photos are pictures I have taken of places I've been in the last few years.
This is the finished book after being printed out and folded together.
I am happy with the final result of the book. I tried a few different layouts and ways of putting the photos on the page. I decided on the final arrangement as I think it shows the images at their best. I think putting the photos into a book is effective as it puts the photos into a series. Although the photos on their own look okay, putting them together makes it more of a story.
ALEC SOTH
BORN- 1969, American photographer based in Minneapolis. He makes large scales projects featuring mid western United States. His photos all seem like they have a story behind them and he has said that he made a "photographic career out of finding chemistry with strangers". This makes the photos more interesting as he has go to know the people in them.He has written several books including Sleeping by the Mississippi, Broken manual and Songbook.
We watched a film called Somewhere To Disappear which is about a project Alec Soth was making called Broken Manual. Soth goes to different people who have left society to live in isolated places. Each person had a different reason for living apart from everyone else and Soth toke the time to listen to their stories. It takes a long time for him to set up the camera and take the photo which I think can be good because it has made him think carefully about the composition of each photo.
A few photos from his Broken Manual project. I like his photos as they can look quite random. Like the man in the field on the right photo wouldn't mean much just looking at it. But there is more of a story to who he is and why he's there and I find that quite interesting that there is a story to it.
MINI PROJECT
BRIEF- Create a visual journey you regularly make by foot. Photograph things that you may normally overlook.
IMAGES-
I decided to photograph a walk I have done a lot in the past where I live but not really taken many photos of. To different and more interesting I decided to go when the sun was setting to create some different lighting. I also edited them to make the tone and colour more intense.
TRY OUT IMAGES-
I didn't choose these as my final images as I don't think that they are interesting. In the last two the lighting isn't very good so the photos are a bit dark. I also don't like the composition of the images.
FINAL IMAGES-
ENVIROMENTAL PORTRAITS-
Research
LISE SARFATI
In 2003 she went on a road trip around America photographing young people in small towns, this became the book New Life.
I like these photos as they are intriguing to look at. She takes them in a way that makes you question the persons story. The photos are quite simple but effective.
JON TONKS
Jon Tonks is a British photographer. He also takes portrait of people in their own environment. Tonks is similar to Sarfati's work but I prefer his as the person is always looking into the camera, I think this makes it more interesting. I also like how most of his images are square as it makes them all link together well as a series.
From looking at Sarfati and Tonk's work I have had a few ideas of how to approach the environmental portrait brief. I am going to find some models and photograph them in places that represent them.
I like environmental portraits as it makes the photo more intriguing to a portrait with a set up background. It lets you see more about the character of the person in the photo by looking at their surroundings.
TRY OUT IMAGES-
FINAL IMAGES-
I chose this as my final image as I like the detail such as, the tools, the background and everything that is happening in the foreground in addition to the subject. I am particularly pleased with the way the tree trunk leads the eye to the main focal point.
EVALUATION-
I enjoyed this project as there wasn't much planning involved. I just asked different people to pose where they were. I did ask people to not smile as I think this was effective as it made the photo more natural and serious. I am happy with all the photos I got as they all show people in their own environment.
BOOK PROJECT
IDEAS-
My idea for my book is photographing 'forgotten' things. Things that may normally be overlooked and not photographed. I had this idea from when I did the journey project. I liked taking photos of things that I wouldn't normally. Also after researching Kevin Bauman, I became interested in abandoned photography. I am going to try and visit a few abandoned places as well as looking for object that go with the theme 'forgotten'. I found the quote 'find beauty in everything' and instead of having a title I am going to have this on the first page. This fits with whats in the book as I have photographed things that people would not think is nice to look at.
REASERCH-
MATTHEW MERRET-
Matthew Merrett is a photographer who focuses on urban decay photography. He goes to abandoned places such as mines and factories. He takes the photos of what is already there and doesn't change any of the objects, he also uses natural light. This is effective as the photo is how he saw it. I like his work as it is atmospheric. They make you question what happened for the place to become abandoned.
Merrett created a book with his urban decay photography called 'Still Remains'. He says that the reason for the book is to bring an unusual perspective and awareness to the things that most people wouldn't give a second glance to. He also said that by visualising his surroundings as they once where and are today, the photos capture past and present as one.
I like how the book is set out as it is quite simple, at the start is a page of writing and the rest is mainly photos. At the end is where all the photos were taken which I think is a really good idea.
The photos are laid out quite simply. Each photo takes up one page and there are 2 on a double page spread. The photos go together well on the double page, for example he puts the black and white photos together and also the composition of the photos link. On one double page both photos use the lines of the structure as a main part of the composition.
CHRISTOPHER PAYNE-
Christopher Payne is a photographer who specialises in architectural photography. Between doing architectural projects when he can across his first abandoned psychiatric hospital. He left with lots of question about the place and what happened there. He spend 6 years visiting more than 70 abandoned institutions in 33 states. The book starts with a lot of written information and pictures, this is interesting and gives the photos more of a meaning. After the rest of the book is Paynes photos.
I really like the photos in Paynes Asylum project as they are creepy but very intriguing. They show how the asylums were when they were being used. Some of them seem as though they have only just been closed. I like how he uses colour, this is the opposite to Matthew Merrett where his photos were dark with lots of dark shadow. The colour makes the photos not as sinister as they could be.
IMAGES I DIDNT CHOOSE-
These are some of the photos I took but didn't think were successful. Mainly because the composition was not effective. In a lot of the abandoned buildings there was fences and overgrown trees in front. This made it hard for me to frame the image how I wanted and sometimes leaves got in front of the main focal point. I also think that some of these photos are just dull to look at.
FINAL IMAGES-
These are the final images I am going to use in my book. I spend a long time visiting different places nearby which I think linked with my theme of forgotten. Most of the photos give the impression that the subject is ruined and unusable and this is why it has been forgotten. They have also been overgrown with nature which is interesting to look at. I didn't do a lot of editing to these photos, I just added a faded filter to each one to make them look more like a series of images and not just individual photos. This should make them look better in the book.
MAKING THE BOOK-
I resized my final images so they would be the best fit for the book. The landscape photos I put the width as 30cm, with the portrait photos I made sure the height was 21cm. I also made sure the resolution on all the photos was 300. I then I opened the resized images in InDesign. I opened a new document and made sure all the setting were right. I then tried out different ways to layout my images. I decided that my favourite landscape photos I was going to put across a double page to show it at its best. I also decided that the photos that linked well together I put next to each on the same double page. This worked well as it was were the photos were of the same thing but different angles.
After I exported the file to a PDF and looked through it to check everything was how I wanted. I then printed it. I had to use the guillotine to trim the edges and then a stapler to put it together.
I decided to put one photo that spread across the front and back cover as when I was making the 8 page booklet this worked well.
EVALUATION-
I enjoyed making this book as I liked going around to different places and taking photos. I liked trying different ways to display the photos in InDesign as well. If I was to make this into a professional book to be sold I would hope it would appear to photographers, this means it would have a big target audience. I would hope it would inspire people to photograph things they might not normally. I could also have it as a series of images online.
All the other projects in this unit helped me in this project. The research into Kevin Bauman's work in Detroit inspired me to photograph abandoned buildings. I find them interesting because of the history behind them. The project on Jack Latham and Mark Power and researching Alec Soth made me not over plan my own book. They did their projects with a brief plan and then carried on by what by people they met had said. I liked this way of working and would definitely do this in future projects.
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