The Object: Reasons for my work...

My choice of subject has really come from my experience over the last few weeks, and the changes ive experienced by becoming "indipendant". Before coming to university, i didnt have rent to pay, i lived at home and i had a job, so money wasnt a massive issue.

I guess this is really a comment on the economic climate that we are in. Cost of living at the moment is at an all time high, and the number of available jobs is very low, especially in a student town like Rochester. This means that now i am having to watch my spending, and buy things that are cheap rather than good.

The Object: Initial Ideas and Setup

Following my initial research, i have decided on a subject matter for my still life. The decision came from my experience over the last 3 weeks at university. My initial ideas were looking at my personal change in life and living now that im living indipendantly. As i dont currently have a job, my diet consists of beans on toast, and more beans on toast. Keeping this in mind, i decided that i want to take a photo of a tin of baked beans.

These are some sketches/ideas i had for my setup and shoot.

Deconstruction: Mitch Epstein

Out of the list of photographers i was asked to look at, the work of Mitch Epstein really stood out to me. He is an american photographer, and im going to be looking at his work on the city, and the social commentry he makes through it.

This is the first image i am going to anylise. The image depicts an area of new york, probably not on the island of manhatten, with the city skyline on the horizon. The lack of colour in the image gives it a moody look to go with the stormy weather. The photographer has obviously gone to the top of one of these buildings to take the photo, and has picked a location that has made the twin towers feature prominantly in the image. He has also waited for a break in the clouds, which has framed these buildings and the rest of the city skyline.

These choices the photographer was trying to show a contrast between the high end business side of the city, and the less sophisticated outskirts, and the contrast between the types of people who reside in these areas. Again with the composition, the foreground is completly taken up with these blocks of flats, which extent to just over half way up the image. This focus on the foreground completly dominating the background could also be a comment on the large scale of lower working class citizens there are in and around new york, and that the "important people" who work in the city, are completly overcast by the majority of normal people who live there.

This image decides to take on a completly different idea on the city. The camera appears to be suspended high above next to these two security cameras. This may possibly be taken from on top of a bridge or tall building. The use of colour is very limited, only really showing a few greens around the city's edge. The composition of the image is very cleaver. The pole the cameras are mounted on is almost a mirror of the city's coastline. To me, this image is really talking about the american governments obsession with control and monitoring their people. This is an issue that can be related to over the whole world, and i think this is a very strong way of showing that point. The camera looks as though it is pointing down over the city, whilst the other one faces away, asif turning a blind eye to the goings on in the city. I think the scale of the cameras compared to the city is a way of saying that it is obvious and in our face that we are being monitered, and that we have no real control over it. Its a comment on privacy, and where the boundries between public and private are.

The third image ive chosen to look at is another from Epstein's collection "The City". The main reason ive chosen to look at these images rather than the others he has made, is because i am very interested in the urban landscape, and what social/political commentaries you can show through these types of images. In comparison to the other 2 images, this has very little in the way of subject matter, but what is shown is very important. The image at first looks as though it is a natural picture, although with images like this, it would have to be set up so as not to pry into someones personal life. The scene in the bottom left corner shows someone laying completly naked in their bed. This image again crosses the boundries between public and private life, because its showing someing performing a very private act, but this person also has their curtains open and is displaying the act very publically.

The City: Rut Blees Luxemburg

The work of Rut Blees Luxemburg first came to my attention because of this photograph. It was used on the album cover for the Bloc Party album "A Weekend in The City". Her work mainly explores the urban landscape at night, which is a subject i have explored myself. I find that the urban landscape in many ways can be just as beautiful and interesting as any other location, so it is something i would like to explore for my Environment project.

The use of tripod and long shutterspeeds allows her create these images only using the streetlights, and not by using artificial flashes.

In this particular image, it looks as though the artist has tried to portray the area as struggling, lower working class part of town. It shows what looks like a shipping container, with a table and chair inside in a carpark on some city back streets. This could be maybe somewhere a parking attendant would be, or even possibly somewhere where a homeless person might live. The location of the container, and the difference in colour between it and everything around would suggest that it is misplaced in this area, but through further analysis of the image, you can see a crane in the background, which links it in with the idea construction working going on. Most of her images are taken in and around city centers, so this is a typical location for this image.

The Object: Darkroom Printing (cont.)

This is another image i created in the darkroom. Again it was of a candle stick, but this time i used a shallow depth of field instead of a larger depth of field.

Test strip for the second image, showing exposures at f/11 for 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 seconds. I felt that between 15 and 20 seconds would work, but as i would be adding in an extra 5 seconds of gr5 at the end to darken the shadows, i started working just with 15 seconds.

First exposure: f/11 Gr 2 - 15seconds	Final exposure: f/11 Gr 0 - 5 seconds Gr 2 - 10 seconds Gr 5 - 5 seconds

The Object: Darkroom Printing...

So this week, i printed my black and white negatives from the studio lighting workshop. Having done a fair amount of printing before, i was fairly confident with what i was doing. Out of these contact images, i chose 2 to work on and make large prints of.

Test Strip	First Print (Overexposed)

After making a test strip, exposing at Grade 2 for 5, 10, 15, 20 & 25 seconds, i decided to make my first print at 15 seconds. Unfrtunatly, i accidentally exposed the image for 25 seconds, which is why the image is very dark. I also decided that i would expose using more than one grade. The first exposure was 5 seconds at grade 0. This was to add more tones to the highlights and shadows. I then exposed for a further 10 seconds at grade 2. Finally, i added another 5 seconds at grade 5, to increase the shadows and blacks in the image. This was the final result:

Environment: Initial Ideas

So i went out today with my camera, looking for inspiration for my environment project. I decided to show my impressions of chatham, and found a few locations that showed what the area was really like.