Conclusion

During this project, I have explored the notion of change and how this change ignites memories. I have particularly focused on this concept of memory when producing my own work. I started this project off with the mindset of documenting the changes happening within the area I grew up, this idea was influenced by lectures on the urban landscape, photography in the city and also by my own personal life and how the world is changing around me. Originally producing work of the construction sites that have surrounded my hometown due to the building of a new tram line, and focusing on how it has ruined the places I remember playing so happily as a child, I decided through extended research and advice from my tutor and fellow students that these images were too direct, too obvious and lacking in originality. After researching more concepts and artists in order to gain a better understanding of what I wanted to highlight, and drawing upon influences from sources such as George Shaw and Richard Billingham, I have produced work that highlights my memories of the places I grew up, photographs of how wish to I remember this place rather than how it is changing. Rather than viewing the destruction as a negative point, I have come to view it as a positive, using it to provide me with cherished memories of my hometown. The images I have created in response to this idea provide a rose tinted view on my memories growing up as a child. They portray nostalgia and provide the viewer with the idea that this was a happy place. This is important to note because memory is something that we have control over to a certain extent. I have both positive and negative memories of this area but I have chosen to take on a positive mindset when creating my work because we tend to want to remember and cherish the happy times and push the not so happy memories to the backs of our minds.

Overall I am pleased with how my final images have turned out. I used 35mm colour film and a 35mm Pentax K1000 camera to create the work I have produced throughout this term. I did this at first because my ideas began with documentation, and 35mm cameras are particularly popular with photographers who make documentary style work. After changing my ideas of how I wanted the project to evolve, I decided it was important to continue to make work in this way because it provided a personal involvement with the images I was creating and it also taught me to take time to think about my photographs before I make them, particularly when thinking about structure, composition and exposure. Using the colour darkroom to produce these images was an important factor in concluding my project, as it provided me with a way in which to physically engage with my work and the memories it provides me. It also gave me complete control in how I wanted my final images to look and helped to improve my technical skills and become more confident with using these skills.

FINAL IMAGES...

These images are all scans of my darkroom prints made to present as my final images.

Darkroom test strips

More images based on my previous research and ideas...

These images, all taken by myself, are all ones that I am pleased with. This is mainly because at this point, I have undertaken a lot of research into ideas and concepts, as well as the different ways in which other photographers have portrayed these concepts through their work. I have analyzed what has gone well and what hasn't, and have also been given much feedback over the previous weeks of where my class and tutor feel my project is heading. I have combined these influences to help me produce this work and to gain a better perspective on how I wish my images to highlight certain ideas. The result of making images at this time of day (which I have continued from previous images) is particularly effective here. It has created a sort of nostalgia, a rose tinted view on my hometown. This is important to note because my project is based on memory, and while there are good and bad points to this area , it seems (after discussions with my friends and my fellow students) that many of us tend to take this rose tinted view when looking back on childhood memories- we tend to chose what we wish to remember which would usually be a mostly happy time and this use of lighting highlights this idea. I believe the composition in these images has improved a lot in comparison to my previous works too, as these images have become much more structured. This to me suggests that when looking back on my memories playing in this neighborhood as a child, it is clear and precise- there are certain places that I distinctively remember and want to cherish, therefore it is these places that I have photographed. Obviously memory is a difficult topic to discuss, as we can never remember every little thing that we have ever done or seen, and many memories are fairly vague and distorted. This is why I have chosen to photograph particular places that mean something to me, places that I hold dear to my heart and remember clearly, although photographing a distorted memory could be something I look into after this project, in comparison with the works I have produced here.

Although I am happy with these images, more so than my previous ones, again there is still room for improvement. I now need to start thinking about my final piece which will successfully present my concept through my photographic works during the final critique. To do this, I really need to analyze here what my tutor is always asking; "what went well, even better if". I have already discussed what I believe works well in these images, namely composition, colour and my choice if lighting used. However, there are small details that need to be refined for my final piece, in order for it to impact my viewers in the way I would like. Firstly, I need to be careful of exposure. This lighting works beautifully when shot correctly but I need to be careful of colour casts and aiming my camera towards the sun, as this can cause blue reflections that imprint on the negatives and onto the prints. I also need to be careful of the images becoming a little too repetitive- there is no point in me narrowing down my images to 4/6 if they are all conveying the same thing. Similarly I need to start thinking about the layout and relationship between different images and how I will set them out. In particular, after practicing shooting both portrait and landscape, I have decided that it needs to be one or the other because having both when laying the images out collectively denotes the impact on the viewer and to put it bluntly, is not effective. I think I will continue to use only images that I have taken through a landscape viewpoint as I believe in comparison to all of my works so far, these are by far the strongest. They also provide me with a further focal range, meaning I can focus more on certain aspects of the image whilst others are slightly distorted and blurred- linking to the idea that memory is never truly clear.

George Shaw

Paintings from his home town estate in Coventry:

"A postwar council estate on the edge of Coventry, with trees, grass and loads of woodland just beyond. The last built-up area before the countryside took over. I don't think it has ever left me, that sense of possibility and familiarity and possible danger lurking out there somewhere beyond. I haunted the place and now it haunts me."- George Shaw, in an interview with The Guardian in February 2011.

British painter George Shaw is recognized for his simple yet extremely realistic paintings of his hometown in Coventry. The scans shown above are all examples of his work. I originally began to look into Shaw's work after a seminar with my tutor and fellow students. After showing them the work I had produced so far, they instantly recognized the similarities between my own photographs and Shaw's paintings. When I researched Shaw, I was quite surprised at just how similar these works are, and even more so the concept behind them. Shaw makes paintings of his hometown of Coventry, and in particular the Tile Hill estate in which he grew up in the 1970s. It is interesting to me that this is exactly the same concept I have taken for the project I am working on this term, except instead of painting, I am making photographs. I like this work, perhaps because of it's similarities with my own ideas, and because of this, it means I can understand to a certain extent Shaw's intentions and feelings behind creating it. Although this is not a place I know, or will ever know, I somehow feel close to it through Shaw's paintings, it is almost as if I am recounting a memory. This memory may well be a memory of the place in which I grew up, as many if not all of Shaw's paintings of this place show a surprisingly similar estate to the one in which I also grew up. Previously, I have mentioned Barthes idea of the "punctum" as an image or part of an image that wounds you, and only you. This work is something that does this to me when I view it, it seems so personal to me and yet I cannot explain what the exact thing it is that affects me so much. It would be interesting to see how someone else views it from an outside perspective, would it still reignite a lost memory with somebody who did not grow up in an area similar to this?

I find all of these paintings interesting, not just because of their concept, but because they are so realistic. When I first came across them, I thought they were photographs, the amount of detail in them is incredible and the scenes depicted are something that is so simple, so normal in everyday life that it is almost as if Shaw has captured a glimpse of reality, a glimpse of the truth as photography is argued to portray. This is something I will continue to explore in my work, and particularly that this work has shown me just how effective an ordinary scene can become with the right amount of detail and use of composition.

A practice shooting in the golden hour...

These images were all taken by myself during a recent walk around my hometown. Instead of "going in all guns blazing" so to speak, with the end result being extremely direct and completely not what I wanted to portray, I decided that I would take a slow walk around the place in which I live, and take my camera with me. I wanted to remind myself of places that hold memories for me and remember the area as it was rather than focusing on the destruction. Change is not always a bad thing, and in the long run the trams will probably benefit the community, it is only now while everything looks so bleak that everyone is feeling angry towards the building work and disruption within the area. So, after taking into account all the influences from my previous research, this is the outcome..

I am actually pleasantly surprised with the results of the shoot, as it feels it is becoming much more personal and definitely heading in the direction I would like. The effects of taking photographs in "The Golden Hour", that is (here) when the sun is beginning to set, (although it could be during sunrise also), have cast beautiful shadows within my images and the neutral tones of pinks, beiges and browns are somewhat interesting, providing a mutual link between each image through it's colour pallet. This is important because when it comes to deciding which images I want to present in the final critique, I want them to look right next to one another, I want there to be something that ties them all together to make it connected and therefore have a stronger impact on my viewer without being too repetitive.

I think there is still an improvement to be made here, but this is possibly the point of my work that has made me really start to believe in my project and my change in direction. I particularly like the landscape photographs because they work well together, and perhaps the photograph of the construction sign is a little like the "odd one out". I believe it denotes the impact that the other photographs have on the viewer, particularly because it has been taken from a different angle. It also seems a little to similar to my previous images that were too direct in showing the destruction within my area, and not entirely based on memory like the others are. I must take this into consideration when I produce my next set of photographs, as I need to begin analyzing how they look as a set rather than individual prints in preparation for my final critique.

John Davies

DAVIES 1983, Agecroft Colliery, Salford

DAVIES 1983, Slag Heap, Murton, County Durham

DAVIES 1983, Allotments, Easington Colliery, County Durham

DAVIES 1983, Easington Colliery, County Durham

DAVIES 1988, Reddish Vale, Stockport

All above images are the copyright of John Davies, and can be viewed at http://www.johndavies.uk.com/

"I am not so much interested in entertaining an audience or providing vehicles for escape but in delivering a highly crafted detailed image conveying a sense of reality. A reality that shares a recognition of aspects of urban living. But importantly, making images of a landscape that attempts to question our acceptance and perception of the inevitable consequences of living in a post imperialist society and within a post industrial landscape". -John Davies, November 2011. This can be viewed at http://www.johndavies.uk.com/abiog.htm

The images above were all taken by British landscape photographer John Davies. Davies is known for his work documenting the landscapes of Britian and in particular, their relationship with industrialization and urban life. Davies is one of the photographers I briefly researched way back when I first started this project. I particularly liked his works on Easington Colliery because they highlighted perfectly how a landscape is changed through the process of industrialization. Even though I am no longer making work directly focusing on the changes and industrial building work happening in my hometown, the reason I have looked again into Davies work is because it is important to note how I got to where I am and where I may be heading with regards to my thinking processes and creating work. The starting point of my project this term was the notion of change, city landscapes and in particular documenting what could only be described as destruction within the area in which I grew up. Similarly, these images taken by Davies document an urban way of life in a way that represents a landscape environment.

Davies' work around industrialization, and in particular the images above, have been a strong influence on my thought processes because they represent, in my mind, places that I remember from my own hometown right from when I was a little girl. The power plant for example, is just one image of many that creates a strong memory of the power plant near my home, a place I used to stare at with awe and wonder as a child. Similarly, and even more interestingly, Davies "Slag Heap, County Durham" taken in 1983 holds an almost uncanny resemblance to how the building works within my area currently look like. These images have provided a place for me to view the notion of change, past and present, without literally being photographs of my memories.

Davies has taken all of these images from above, looking out onto the landscape or down the hill onto the housing, buildings and other industrialized views. It is important to note here (as previously discussed) that this is a subjective view, removing the photographer from the landscape and detaching him/her from any form of relationship he/she may have forged with this place. After looking at the images I have reseached, the images I am beginning to produce and in particular taking into account how my idea has changed, I believe that it would work better for me to continue to take my photographs in a way which sets me right in the heart of it. My idea is based on my own personal memories as a child growing up in this neighbourhood, and therefore in my opinion it would make no sense to take a subject view on the matter, as this would only take away from the whole reasoning behind the project and it's personal representation of myself and my memories.

Stephen Shore "Uncommon Places"

SHORE 1973, Ironwood, Michigan

SHORE 1976, Cherry Street, Fort Worth, TX

SHORE 1973, Front St, Ashland, WI

SHORE 1973, Farm East of Tamarack, Minn, 210

SHORE 1973, Dunes Motel, US-97, Bend, Oregon

All photographs above are the copyright of Stephen Shore, taken from his book "Uncommon Places" as seen at http://www.303gallery.com/artists/stephen_shore/index.php?exhid=98&p=images

"I don't expect someone to look at this and have any particular sense of what I did in my life. But what it is about is my explorations; my travels through looking."- Stephen Shore (about the above works in an interview with SeeSaw Online Photography Magazine).

Stephen Shore is an American photographer most commonly known for his colour photographs made during his travels around the United States. He was interested in photography from an early age, and at the age of 24 became only the second person to have a solo exhibit of their work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of Shore's many books, "Uncommon Places", highlights his travels around the USA, and it is these images that have caught my eye with regard to influencing my work on this term's project. For starters, Shore made all of these works using colour film, either 35mm or large format (5x4/10x8). It is interesting to see how the colours have come across in the different images, and how the different weather and constantly changing natural lighting changes the mood and tonal ranges of the photographs. For example, in "Dunes Motel" and "Ironwood, Michigan", the sky is thick with cloud and from the water on the ground it appears to have been raining. As a result, the colours in the images, from the greenery to the brightly lit road signs and cars, stand out against the dull greys and overcast sky. In comparison, Shores images "Farm East of Tamarack" and "Front St, Ashland" are much brighter, but consist of a mostly similar tonal range. It is interesting to compare how different times of day and different weather can affect an image so clearly, and points out to me that the use of, and indeed, how I use natural lighting in my own images is crucial; I need to seriously think about what sort of mood I want my images to highlight.

Examining how Shore has explained his work in the book "Uncommon Places" is extremely interesting to my thoughts about my own work. As seen above, Shore has said in an interview with an online photography magazine that he doesn't expect people to look at these particular works and understand his life or his reasons behind creating them. Thinking about my own work, I can adopt this view by Shore because my work (although it differs to Shore's in that I am photographing places I know rather than places I travelled to) , is something that only I (although it could be argued that the residents of my neighborhood might too) can understand. I am not creating these works for others to understand what has happened in my life or what might happen, I am simply producing work based on a cherished memory, something I want to remember, while exploring the notion of change within my own life, this is a very personal project, even if others may not get that from viewing the photographs- I read them differently to how others might, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Richard Billingham- "Black Country"

"Daytime 1997"

 

 "Nightime 2003"

 

The above images are all owned and taken by Richard Billingham, taken from his book "The Black Country"

"...his work demonstrates how color influences the ways we understand pictures."- taken from an art exhibition website explaining Billingham's work seen in his book "The Black Country". This explanation can be seen here http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/billingham.html

The above images were taken by Billingham for his 1997 series of work based around his hometown of Cradley Heath in Birmingham. Alongide the "Nightime" images from 2003, which were also taken in Cradley Heath, these works were put together in a book named "Black Country", which highlights the area in which Billingham grew up. This instantly draws on similarities with my own project, as I too am documenting the place I grew up through the medium of photography. What attracted me to these images is that not only are they made up from a similar idea to that of my project this term, but more importantly they make me feel at home. These photographs remind me of the place that I grew up, from the idea of urban living to the dark alleys and the isolated playground. It is important to compare the "Daytime" images taken in 1977 and the "Nightime" images in 2003, as they portray the same place yet are completely different and filled with different meanings and representations. The daytime images highlight a very urban, working class way of life, emphasized by the blocks of flats, the scattered rubbish and the dull lighting. The Nightime images on the other hand are quite beautiful and carefully constructed, portraying a much cleaner, more beautified version of the town. It is important to note here that the images taken in 2003 were taken 6 years after the original set, which makes me wonder why they are so different- is it because the town has changed? I would argue that it hasn't, as despite never having been there, I understand fully what it is like to grow up on an estate like this and although buldings can change, it is unusual for the people and the way in which they live to change so dramatically in that amount of time. So, could it be that perhaps memory is tainting Billingham's view here? I know myself that when I look back on my childhood I remember the places I played with my friends, the place I went to school and mostly happy times. However, their are areas here that aren't so pretty, yet I do not wish to photograph them or cherish them as much as I do the places I care about- Has Billingham done the same here? These images also give a great insight into how colour photography works to emphasize meaning and how a viewer reads them- these images would not be anywhere near as different or impactual if they were shot in black and white, and the representations they hold for me as a viewer would deffinitely not be as clear or as strong.

Billingham's work has led me to decide that I would like to continue to produce work using colour film, as I have seen for myself how much of an impact colour photography has on this type of work, and in particular if I am going to try out the effects of shooting images in "the golden hour", colour photography will be crucial to emphasize the colour casts and the shadows. Also, Billingham's work has led me to the idea of memory, something which we all hold dear to our hearts. Instead of capturing the demolition and destruction within my community, would it work better if I instead tried to focus on the areas that hold cherished memories for me? I will explore this as I continue to create work, drawing on the influences of my research to help me with my ideas.

Richard Billingham- "Landscapes 2001-2003"





BILLINGHAM 2001, Fence.







BILLINGHAM 2002, Hedgerow





BILLINGHAM 2002, Gates.



BILLINGHAM 2003, Cows in the Rain. 



"It is not a matter of knowing a place but of knowing and understanding the structure of diminishing perspective and detail. Billingham was forcing himself to take a position, to find a real fixed place." Sacha Craddock, december 2007. Taken from Craddock's essay in Billingham's book "Landscapes, 2001-2003".

 Billingham is an English photographer (born in Birmingham in 1970), who originally studied Painting at Bourneville College of Art and The University of Sunderland. The images above are taken from his book "Landscapes 2001-2003" and have provided much inspiration for my own work this term. What attracted me to Billingham's landscape work was the ambiguity of it. Unlike my own previous works, they are very indirect, they leave much to the imagination when it comes to how the viewer reads the images. For example, I for instance know that these are of places that Billingham perhaps does not know particularly well. However, for me they portray something quite close to the photographer's heart, they show places full of meaning to him (or maybe to me through representation). That is something I would like to take forward when producing my own work. I am particularly drawn to the bottom image (Cows in the Rain) taken by Billingham in 2003. The Natural lighting in this image is beautiful and really grabs the attention of the viewer. Billingham would have taken this image in "the golden hour"- that is as the sun is rising or as it sets. I love the effect that shooting at this time has on the image, giving it a golden mask and casting shadow across the land. I would quite like to try this when I next go out with my camera, it will be interesting to see what results I get and how a controlled use of lighting would change the effects of my photographs.

I think the reason why I am so drawn to Billingham's Landscape work is because they remind me of places close to my heart; for me they form a representation of a place I have known for a very long time, despite the fact I have never been to the place photographed here. This work has made me think much more about what it is that I want to photograph in order to get my point across. Perhaps it is no longer about providing a clear cut view of the destruction I am seeing within the area in which I live, but maybe it is more about looking back on how I remember this place, and cherishing these memories instead of worrying about how this place has and will change.

The importance of Location...

I want to take a little time to consider how, and more importantly why I am going to portray my ideas through my work. What will I photograph? From discussions in previous seminars with both my tutor and fellow students, I have come to the conclusion that location is key throughout my project. I must focus my work in places of interest to me, places that make me feel something or trigger a key memory from my childhood. Although the images I create may not "hit home" so to speak, with the viewers of my work, it will provide me with a vital interest in the topic, and as the project progresses I will have a much more personal connection with my work, and will enjoy my journey throughout the project. As Roland Barthes explains in his book "Camera Lucida", we can all acknowledge a general understanding of a photograph, through social and cultural codes and signs, but sometimes there are particular images that "wound" us. I aim to explore this in my work and through my research in the coming weeks.

Initial ideas

The above photographs were taken by myself during a walk around the area in which I live and indeed, spent the majority of my childhood. I decided that I needed to get out and shoot in order to understand exactly what I wanted out of this project, and this was the result. I wasn't to keen on the images, I didn't believe that they worked entirely well but I couldn't put my finger on exactly why this was. At first perhaps I thought that it was down to the fact that I wasn't used to photographing in this way, but after showing my work to my fellow seminar group and tutor, and discussing with them the initial idea of my project, we came to the conclusion that the images were too direct. I have photographed the obvious destruction in my community, and there is nothing left to think about. It "does what it says on the tin" so to speak, there was little else to reveal. I decided that this is not how I want to continue my project, I want to leave a little to the imagination, and I also believe there are better ways to portray my feelings towards the notion of change within my life and particularly the area in which I live without being so blunt. As we have been taught throughout this term to think about "what went well, even better if", I needed to be firm and sit and decide what worked and what didn't, and how I could better myself to produce work that I felt happy with. One aspect of the work I have produced that I think works well is the time of day and how it has created the tones and shapes in the clouds, particularly in the bottom two photographs. Although I am not pleased with the outcome of the work overall, I think that the effect of the dull, dark tones gives the images a dismal and somber feel- which is exactly how I feel when I observe this area. This makes the images much more of a personal reflection of my feelings, something which I would like to consider when creating future work on this project.