Concept
Analysing the brief in context allowed me to start a decision process and decide upon what I wanted to comment upon under the theme of waste. I wanted to respond to the brief by looking in depth at the waste of an interior space due to the brief being aimed at the Medway towns I was intrigued by the amount of interior spaces abandoned in the town of Chatham so therefore I decided I will revolve my project around the closure of stores on the High Street of Chatham. Poverty in Chatham is clearly distinct this was therefore a location that was hit hard by the recession and so many big brands disappeared from the High Street which is a subject matter I would like to be portrayed in my photography.
Artist Research
Joel Sternfield
Researching into the work of Joel Sternfield has assisted me in the decision process of how I want to portray to the viewer this idea of waste under the theme of the waste of an interior space. I came across Sternfield's work in another project but I felt his work would allow the viewer to visually start to understand how I want to portray waste and abandonment of interior spaces something which is portrayed particularly in Image one.
Rut Blees Luxembourg
Rut Blees Luxembourg is an artist who looks at the suburbia of London, these two images portray the idea of interior spaces being abandoned. Luxembourg has been used as a reference and has inspired me to understand how I am going to portray the idea of abandonment compositionally and how I should frame the subject and what my focal range and exposure should be to draw the viewer into the imagery.
Street Artist: EVOL
I have researched into the works of EVOL an artist that has inspired me greatly and has allowed one to understand how to portray the idea of abandonment. The use of no human presence in his images portrays this idea of isolation which is something I want the viewer to feel and understand from looking at my images and understand the narrative behind the imagery and identify my vision.
Robert Pollidorri
After seeing Pollidorri's work in a lecture based upon The Environmental issue I felt his work portrayed clearly this idea of isolation the use of the black birds on top of the house also reiterates this. The composition of photograph two has inspired me to create similar work and how to frame my images. The colour balance of these photographs also portrays the idea of isolation due to the colours appearing cold and pastel like they show the emotion of that town in America after being hit by Hurricane Katrina.
Digital Photographs - Empty Interior spaces.
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I decided that I would start photographing spaces which have been isolated and have no use. Even though my research has shown images of buildings that have been abandoned by the human race by not having no human interaction with the buildings or . Due to my images being taken on a busy high street where people do interact with the buildings I wanted to see what their body language portrayed when walking past that particular interior space. I didn't feel that these images I have digitally produced portrayed what my aim was to show an isolation of buildings I feel they show an empty shell positioned an a busy strip. However, to improve my images I am now going to develop my project by researching further into artists who have looked at a similar subject area and other relevant material. I will carry on testing out digitally and analogue the idea of the isolated high street.
The above images is of a set of negatives that I took use a medium format Bronica camera however these set of negatives were not successful due to the film back being damaged and allowing light to seep in and therefore not allowing the negatives to expose correctly and instead over expose.
Jeffrey Stockbridge
I researched into the work of Jeffrey Stockbridge as his work really helped and defined the style of work I wanted to start creating I wasn't sure if I was going to create images looking at the interior of an isolated building or concentrate on the exterior space. The use of the sun flowing into the room metaphors life still being present in this room its as if something still exists in this room.
Yves Marchland and Romain Meffre
Yves Marchland and Romain Meffre have clearly looked into the idea of the abandonment of buildings. Image one of the two is the style of photography I want to start creating, I am interested in documenting this theme which has been a dominating factor from the result of the recession the closure of the high street. I have therefore decided that I will focus on the exterior of an interior space as the environment surrounding the building is of juect as much importance and allows the viewer to understand what I am trying to convey.
Mudenstein
Muldenstein is an artist that has helped me to develop my concept. Even though this building looks half demolished this image has assisted in the process of creating this project. This imagery has developed my thinking behind the creation of each of my final images and allowed me to decide upon the technical aspects of each photograph.
Paul Talling
Paul Talling is an artists that looks closer at a subject area of abandonment something which I have looked deeply in over the course of this project. I am fond of the Victorian aspect (i.e the objects and architecture.) which is portrayed throughout both images. His images appear very staged through the use of his objects but this is something which I feel works with his photography. His images has inspired me through the use of lighting and assisting me in deciding how lighting alters the message the viewer will convey when reading the narrative of the images.
Articles
I started to look at articles which featured elements of the financial recession in particular photographs and articles relating to the closure of stores and big brands disappearing from the British High Street. After researching I found many stores have closed but with the closure of many stores Pound stores and Charity Stores have boomed in the recession as the British shopper is looking for shops where their money can go further.
Digital Photos - The fake High Street
After looking at the rise of the Pop Up shops distributed across the world after the financial crisis I have come across many locations which have covered up empty retail space with a wall paper effect to the exterior of the space. I decided to photograph this as this has assisted in the development process of my concept. These particular photographs were taken by South Bank University in London trying to make something negative look beautiful as the recession hit the poorest areas first. Due to the location of these photographs being on the strip towards central London this is a location that tourists may see and the Mayor of London would not want to portray a negative poor image of London to visitors.
Ed Ruscha
' Every building on the sunset strip'
Ed Ruscha is a style of work I am interested in and would be fond of creating a similar style output for this project. The idea of looking at the closure of the high street and recreating what actually does consist in the high street and particularly aimed at the Medway area as that was the condition of the brief. I have looked at the Medway town of Chatham and the High street that consists their is of Pound stores and Charity shops and empty abandoned shops this also portrays the characteristic of the town and class of people who are situated in this town.
Contact Sheets
The above contact sheets are of a series of photographs taken from a Bronica medium format camera in the town of Chatham. At this time I was concentrating on the idea of looking further into the idea of the High Street being consumed with Pound shops and Charity Shops moving slightly away from my original plan. In the editorial process I decided that I would move back a step and develop my photographs of abandoned isolated stores instead. I decided this due to developing the photographs of Charity Stores and pound shops would be very expensive due to having to print at least six photographs in order for the viewer to be able to understand the narrative I am trying to convey.
Final Prints
The above three images are photographs for my final outcome. I feel that each photograph conveys the message to the viewer that these are abandoned isolated stores of the high street victims of the financial recession. I decided that I wanted these images to convey to the viewer that these are documentary style images which would be featured in a magazine next to an article talking about the impact the recession has had on the High Street. I decided that I wanted the camera to be face on towards the interior spaces as if there being watched. I used a shallow depth of field of F.5.6 as I wanted the store to only be in focus and a shutter speed of 500th of a second as I wanted a fast exposure.
Self Evaluation
Due to the title of this project being placed under the theme of waste it has allowed me to gain an insight into the context that waste can be placed under. This project has allowed me to create photography based upon a theme that I may have not done otherwise. I feel that I have completed a project that links clearly to the brief and has allowed me to develop my vision of waste.
My series of photographs for this project would be placed in the context of a Newspaper I believe this is the correct publication due to my photographs commenting upon a social issue which could be placed alongside an article. Being placed in a newspaper would allow a wider audience to understand the financial current climate we are still in and allow the public to understand what is happening to the British High Street.
I decided to use a Bronica medium format camera with a 400 ISO Fuji colour film, I feel that colour portrays the emotion of an area in which I wanted to convey in my series of photographs. Due to the closure of the stores of the High Street of Chatham being the focal point I decided that I would use of a shallow depth of field of F.5.6 as I felt at time of shooting that this would be the best visual strategy in order to convey the correct message to the viewer and allow them to understand what my photographs are relating to.
For this project I have managed my studies well compared to last semesters Units I started shooting early in order to complete my printing on time. I used my digital SLR to start developing my idea and deciding upon how I wanted my photographs to be framed and visually look. If I did have more time I would have borrowed the Bronica camera again in order to shoot a couple more rolls of film to allow me to have a larger editorial selection process to gain the best final prints.
Overall, I feel that my photographs convey the message that I hope my audience receives from these photographs. When in context of the correct publication I feel the narrative will be understandable. I have enjoyed creating photography for this subject area of waste and have been inspired by many artists who have created work on abandoned interior space and how they have conveyed the message of isolation.
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