Environment Presentation

The City 

My aim for the City project was to look at the concept of Suburbia and how to portray the idea to society. I want to focus on the elements that create the Suburbia, looking at how controlled and perfect the suburbs is. Its  perceived as very structured everything is perfect the white picket fence the grass in the front garden surrounding the house and so on. I have started this project by looking at various artists who look at suburbia but the photography I want to create will show suburbia as  perfect that is seen through various eyes.








Influences 

Todd Hido

Hido portrays suburbia through the use of an iconic picket fence which is a reference point to this theme of photography.  This photograph has a feel of toy town as if this isn't a real location the use of lights being on in this image allows one to understand that people do actually live here there is life inside.

Bill Owen 

Owen's uses a different perspective to the other artists I have looked at his work comes across as if this has been shot from a CCTV camera this is due to the aerial view and the use of black and white photography I feel this photograph demonstrates to the viewer the idea of suburbia and how ordered and controlled the lives of these peoples are. This image to me represents the view of a caravan park all the roads link in to one it doesn't feel like a community it feels like the people are alone there's no sense of interaction.

Christopher Ballantyne

I decided to look at Ballantyne's work as I feel it replicates what we all think about the idea of Suburbia and new housing complexes which keep being built. Humane live next to each other but they still have never felt more alone there is no sense of interaction everybody is alone in this style of the world. There's no sense of community found in this style of housing does it feel like a home or is it a shell sheltering them from the world. Do the type of people who live in this housing  spend enough time at home to get to know the people there surrounding by is it just a pit stop in their day.

Tom Hunter 

Hunter's work to me portrays a sense of community by the use of doors being left open the people feel safe in their community. What I have learnt from studying the above artists is that the use of lights in houses portrays a sense of Life which allows the viewer to enter the imagery and understand what the artist it trying to imply about suburbia.

Test Shoot 

The above photographs were taken locally at Chatham Maritime and the housing complex which is located there. I felt that the location had no sense of emotion I didn't see anyone it was like a ghost town. I found that everything at this location was controlled there was no sense of freedom. 

Contact Sheets towards Final Outcome 

                                     

After my first test shot I decided that I wanted to focus on something in particular about the idea surrounding Suburbia. I felt that the use of the Door depicts something about the building you are about to enter. So I decided for my final outcome I would create a series of images from doors and the use of colours helps the viewer to depict what the character of inside is like.

Final Photographs 

From this project I feel I have created a body of work which reflects my ideas which have been presented through the support of research and test shoots which have enabled me to carry on with my creative study. I have enjoyed very much creating this body of work I feel that this project has enabled me to understand the theme underlining Suburbia and how to represent it. If I could have taken these images again I would have created them so they were all shot at the same angle. This series of work showed me and helped me to understand how to colour correct in the darkroom and how important colour correction is. My least favourite image is photograph one I don't think the door is extremely attractive but also the other door bring more character to the image they display a narrative. 

Pastiche 

Thomas Struth

This photograph was captured in Aldgate, London. I have tried to the best of my ability to re-interpret the original image by Thomas Struth. I found it hard to find the best location as in the city of London it is hard to find a location where no people are presented but I felt my image resembles some what with Struth's.   

The Landscape 

My concept surrounding the brief is looking at the idea of controlled nature. I want to create a series of photographs which portray the idea surrounding controlled nature. I will look at various artists work and the inspiration I find from there work will help me to understand how I can portray the issue of forced nature. Ideas that I have in my head is looking at private gardens the use of fences will help to portray the idea of controlled only the elite allowed in. Also, the use of Allotments found in the suburbs portrays a similar idea of controlled nature people are assigned a certain amount of space there's no freedom.

Influences 

Eva Strenham

Eva Strenham is a photographer that I have come across her work portrays an idea that I wanted to peruse the idea of the en caged. The use of the trees and flowers being in the foreground gives us the viewer a sense that she is a by passer looking in on the controlled landscape surrounding the town houses found in central London. 

John Davies 

Davies presents the idea of allotments through out his photograph even through we do not see the in depth detail of the allotments we can tell by the layout of the fences that there is nature in this area being controlled and confined into a small amount of room. The use of fences in this image presents us with the reality that fences portray confinement and they only allows us to view the image a certain way. 

Martin Parr

Martin Parr presents us here with the idea that nature can be controlled in any forms. The most iconic format being found around the home in the layout of the garden. Parr seems to want the viewer to understand how nature can be confined and why we do this its for our own pleasure or to portray something to the world or passes by about ourselves.  

Joel Sternfield 

Joel sternfield portrays nature in the city through the use of nature being free the overgrown train tracks allows us to believe that nature can still have its own course in the city. However, I do not agree with this I believe that only if its hidden can it do what it pleases to. We use nature to portray something to the public is nature a way of portraying how happy we are. 

Test Shoot 

I started off this project by creating black and white film photographs of my surroundings found in Maidstone I wanted to start this project by understanding and familiarising myself with a new location and the best way I thought I could do this is through the use of photography. I found some back streets which showed me the opposite nature can be left free if it not in the way of anyone not bothering anyone this however the majority of the time is not allowed to be done. I decided to move on and started to look at controlled nature and in particular nature found in the city, city gardens for town houses I liked the idea I set out to create but the outcome didn't fit the view. I felt I needed to be in the garden to portray this idea. I couldn't gain access so I decided to move on for one last time and look into Allotments  and how confined the nature is to a certain spot of land. I felt I could really take this idea somewhere. 

Final Photographs 

My final outcome looks at different ideas of controlled nature it looks at the confined nature of the garden and how perfect it has to look in order to portray something about the person living inside. The use of the allotments showing confinement of each plot. Lastly, the use of soil being confined to one spot.

In evaluation to this project I have found out various ways in which nature can be confined to and the purpose of it for our pleasure. I have come to realise the stages I needed to overcome in order to find out what I wanted to create photography on. Once finding out what I want to create I realised that I has so many options and what did I want to photograph. I liked the idea of taking photographs of houses alongside various peoples gardens but I felt this was crossing too much into the city project so I decided to focus on Allotments and what they do for society they give gardens to the inner city livers. 

From this project I have come to understand that a lot of thought is needed to go into the development stage of my work. On analysis I know that this isn't my strongest series of work but I do understand that this body of work reviews the idea of confined nature found in society and my environment. 

Pastiche 

Robert Adams 

The above image is my Pastiche of Robert Adams on signal hill. I enjoyed capturing this image and the development stage of its end result. Even though this image does not replicate Adams's image completely this image gives the viewer an insight an understanding of the environment I am surrounded by.