City: Deconstructing Environmental Photographers Pt 2

The first phtoographer im looking at is a german photographer called Rut Blees Luxemburg. As i have already researched this artists for this project, taking my main inspiration for my own work from her, i am well farmiliar with her techniques and concepts. Her work mainly explores the urban landscape at night, just using the lights available(streetlights/city lights), and slow shutter speeds to create her images. Her earlier work looks at the city in a much larger context, showing the hidden areas that you would not usually see. She does this by distancing herself from the loction, and including the busy city scape around it. In her earlier work Liebeslied (which translates to "Lovesong" in english) She approaches the city in a more intimate way. The same techniques are used, but the subjects of the images are completly different, focusing on the small details such as puddles and reflections of buildings.

The second person i will be lookign at is Richard Wentworth, a british artist and sculptur.His photo series, Making do and getting by, vastly differes from Rut's work. Its main focus is on the everyday objects we see and use all of the time, but being put into a situation or being used for a purpose that they were not designed for. For example, a book being used to balance a table, or a boot being used as a door stop. The work starts to challenge our ideas of what these objects symbolise in their new positions. Unlike most of Rut's work, there is also a more defined anrrative within eash of Wentworth's images.



The final artist is another german born photographer, called Vera Lutter. Her work is again completly different to those of the previous two artists. Her images are created by using a room as a camera obscurer, and hanging large pieces of black and white phtoographic paper on the opposite wall and making large negatives of the view. These images are one off pieces, and are always negatives. This is the most litteral view of the city, as the images rely heavily on the room in which she is taking the picture from. Her work simplifies the city to just the buildings and surroundings. The extremly long exposure times needed to create these images mean that all life/movement in the image is lost, and all that is left is the defining buildings. Out of the 3 artists, i believe this work is the most honest and true representation of the city. The others have the luxury of being able to focus on elements of city life or the landscape. This work shows the city stripped of its people and shown at its rawest form, both in the sense that it is void of movement, and also that it is portrayed as a negative and void of colour.

Body: Tattoo Culture

My initial thoughts for this project is to look at modern day tattoo culture. I am in a band, and i spend alot of my time around people who are part of a punk/hardcore scene in which tattoo's are common place. In a time where is seems tattoos are being frowned upon more and more by the general public, i want to see why people feel the need to be covered in tattoo's, and if they consider how it will effect their future.

To gain a better understanding of how these people with tattos feel about this, i devised a short questionaire, and sent it to some people who have alot of tattoo's to fill in. Some of these people are tattoo artists, whilst others are just people who have tattoos that range from a few pieces, to full coverage.

Name

Tom

Age

22

How many tattoos do you have?

Thirteen or so...

How old were you when you got your first tattoo?

I was nineteen.

What is your first tattoo, and what is the meaning behind it?

My first tattoo is on the arch of my foot and I have the words "Enjoy Eternal Bliss" it's the title of an EP by a band called Yndi Halda and it's also what Yndi Halda means in old norse. It's one of my favourite artists and favourite pieces of music, plus it's a very positive message.

Do you feel the rest of the world see's you differently because of your tattoos, either for better or for worse?

I had a few tattoos before I got any visible ones and noticed no change. Once I'd gotten my lower leg tattooed I noticed people staring in public when I wore shorts. It was a novelty at first, then it annoyed me and then I just got over it and I don't even take notice anymore. In fairness my appearance before tattoos was slightly controversial, long hair and a beard always brought me looks from the public but I think tattoos added to that. People are often surprised to find that I'm a very nice polite person and not a thug.

Would you get tattoos that couldnt be covered (neck/hands/face)? If you have already, what made you decide to get these done?

I really like the idea of getting my hands, knuckles tattooed and even my throat but I'd never pursue the idea. Although I don't believe it should, it does affect your career choices in the future. My goal at the moment is to be a teacher but no school will hire someone with their throat tattooed to teach gcse english!

Do you think there is a pressure on this generation to get covered in tattoos?

I don't think there is a pressure to get COVERED but I think there may be some people who feel that they need a tattoo to fit in with certain social groups. I'm part of the hardcore punk scene and tattoos are very prominent but I've never felt that I NEEDED tattoos to fit in. I think some people may think that they do but I think that's more down to strength of character than social pressures.

Do you think tattoos these days have less meaning behind them than they used to?

For me personally a tattoo doesn't need to have a specific meaning behind it. If it does then that's great but because of programs like Miami/LA/London Ink, people think they need a sob story to get a tattoo. At the end of the day, tattooing is just an art form and if you appreciate art and would like to use your body, essentially as a canvas then you shouldn't feel that you can't get an image because it doesn't have a specific "meaning".

How much further will you go with your body art?

I intend to get my back and torso tattooed as well as sleeves on both arms and legs. I may venture onto my hands, knuckles and throat but not until I'm financially secure.

Name

Dan

Age

26

How many tattoos do you have?
Hard to count really as background work interlinks them. I'd say around seventy percent coverage.

How old were you when you got your first tattoo?

Eighteen of course ;-). Nah I was seventeen and I basically blagged though the whole thing and managed to not get IDed. Hard to believe as I still at twenty-six have the face of a sixteen year old.


What is your first tattoo, and what is the meaning behind it?

It was the logo from a band I was in to at the time. Unfortunately, or fortunately I revisited that band as an adult and realised it really was a poor choice. Said tattoo is now covered.


Do you feel the rest of the world see's you differently because of your tattoos, either for better or for worse?

I think it used to, but not so much any more. Reality TV shows have kind of killed the whole mysterious element of the tattoo world. Most peoples Mums have them now.


What influenced your decision to get a tattoo in places that cant be covered up (neck/hands/face)?

To start off with I never planned on touching "public skin". But then having a sleeve was a big deal. I was like eighteen or nineteen and had as many tattoos as my tattoo artist. I think I just wanted to raise the bar a little bit. Eventually I just found the right design and went for it. It certainly wasn't something I went blindly in to. I knew I was never going to work a nine to five office job, so why not?

Do you regret the decision to get these tattoos?

Not at all. I get a little annoyed with the constant stupid questions, but a lot of that is general ignorance.

How do you think it will affect your future?

I'm not sure to be honest. Having worked hard to get in to the industry myself, I hope it wont make any difference. My only concern is how much longer tattooing has got left. The lack of regulations and the ease of DIY tattoos is getting out of hand. The amount of Joe Public getting public skin tattoos that employers are not wanting. I know for a fact that Tesco are looking to get rid of tattoos in their work place, encouraging managers to find other reasons for dismissal. How long will it be before more and more companies decide to do this? Then at what point do the government get involved.

Do you think there is a pressure on this generation to get covered in tattoos?

I don't necessarily think it is pressure, but it is certainly in the lime light more than ever. Cher Lloyd for instance, even at seventeen was on the television at prime time with hand tattoos. Working in a tattoo shop I get to deal with literally hundreds of young girls looking to get hand tattoos like Cher Lloyd and Cheryl Cole, neck tattoos like Rihanna. None of these young girls have really thought about the consequences of having a tattoo they can never cover. We as a rule wont do these, but unfortunately there are hundreds of tattoo shops around the country that will. 

Is it becoming a sign of social status?

I don't really think so. I think it is just the alternative kids trying to keep a line between themselves, and Mr Religious Tattoo. 

Do you think tattoos these days have less meaning behind them than they used to?

The notion of tattoos having real meanings died many years ago, but even then I not  sure they were meant to have as much meaning as we try to give them. Most of my tattoos are just stuff I think is cool, yeah I have a few bits with meaning, but I'm certainly not going to try and have a deep meaning to every one. I think people watch a bit too much Miami Ink. Having six stars to represent your six kids is not a meaningful tattoo,

 It's a falsified justification to having a trendy tattoo so no-one will judge you.

How much further will you go with your body art?

Pretty much full coverage. I've dabbled a bit with scarification, so probably when I'm completely covered I will start blacking bits out and having it cut out. The progression that it has made in the last few years is outstanding so by the time I'm at that stage it should be mind blowing.

Name
Ryan

Age
21

How many tattoos do you have?
7

How old were you when you got your first tattoo?
21

What is your first tattoo, and what is the meaning behind it?
The first one I got was the letters TKS on my thigh. It was done by one of my best friends at a show he put on in a kitchen. About 15 of us have the letters on us, which stands for Toms Kitchen Shows, it is a reminder of the good times we all had at shows there.

Do you feel the rest of the world see's you differently because of your tattoos, either for better or for worse?
I’m sure people do see me differently because of them but I quite enjoy the funny looks you get from random people, that is probably tattoos making it worse but then in my friend group and the scene of the music I listen to people love tattoos so people probably see it for better in that group. I don’t really care too much on other peoples thoughts of them anyway.

Would you get tattoos that couldnt be covered (neck/hands/face)? If you have already, what made you decide to get these done?
I plan to eventually, apart from the face, I’m just not a fan of them. It won’t be until everywhere else is covered though because as cringey as it sounds I think you have to ‘earn’ them. People that get these tattoos first/early on piss me off.

Do you regret any of your tattoos?
None at all

How do you think they will affect your future?
Hopefully they won’t, but I’m sure if I go for a job interview there will always be some old man that looks down on me for them. They are pretty accepted these days I think though.

Do you think there is a pressure on this generation to get covered in tattoos?
Not really. I got my first tattoo at 21 after being friends with loads of people that were tattooed and I never felt pressured to get any. There are probably people that feel they have to get them to look cool but if they want to do that it is up to them. Peer pressure sucks.

Is it becoming a sign of social status?
I think so partly. Whenever I see people with tattoos these days I tend to already assume I know what music they listen to etc. Most of the time it is a correct assumption but it is still stereotyping.

Do you think tattoos these days have less meaning behind them than they used to?
I don’t really have any meanings behind any of my tattoos apart from my TKS tattoo and my band tattoo. I don’t see the need to have a meaning behind them, it is okay to get something because they look good. We aren’t on Miami ink.

How much further will you go with your body art?
I plan on getting completely covered. It will take some time/money but it looks good and getting tattooed is very addictive I find.

City: Deconstructing Environmental Photographers

The first image is "the Flatiron, New York" by Edward Steichen, taken in 1905. The composition of this image is very condisered. The photographer has chosen to show the building as a part of the background of the image rather than in the foreground, which is taken up by tree branches and people walking around. The image was taken in a time when the population of new york city was on the rise, so the city was expanded up rather than out. The building isnt contained in the image, just being cut off at the top, which emphasises the height of this towering structure. The original image was a platinium print, to which Edward added colour to create the twilight effect that isnt very clear from the original print.

The next image is by Alfred Steiglitz. This image was taken about 2 years before the previous image, and so was still around the time of this New York skyline expansion. Again this image has a very considered composition, the use of horizontal lines emphasizing the height of the building. The foreround is dominated with trees and nature. Even the crop of the image ephmasizes the buildings height, being cropped to be very tall and thin. The image looks as though it has been taken at a very low aperture as everything from background to foreground is in focus.

Alvin Landon Coburn takes a very similar approach to photographing the building as the previous 2 artists, featuring it in the background, with trees and people being predominant in the foreground. the building again is shown as this towering structure on the skyline, although the people in the image appear oblivious to it as if its of no real importance.

The fourth image takes a completely different approach to the previous 3. It is taken by Walter Gropius in 1928. Where as the previous images are very dark, and speak of the hardship that the country was undergoing at this time, this image is more in admiration of the building. It features just the building, but at an angle, almost like the composition wasnt important, only that the building fit in the image. Of course this wasnt the case, as the artists took time to compose this image.

`this image by Walker Evans is probably the most set apart from the rest of the images. Although it does feature other things in the foreground, such as the light and the other building, it also focuses specifically on the building, so you see the detail of the building. This image was also taken in 1928.

Finally this is an image by Berenice Abbott, taken in 1938, the most recent of the images i have looked at. The tonality of the image is very similar to that of Walter Gropius' image, although the composition is different, and presents the building in a different way.  Where at Walter's image portrayed a certain instability, this image gives a sense of strength. As this was around t he time that america was starting to get back on its feet financially, this could be what the image is representing.

Environment: Further Work

After my interim review for the environment project, it has been brought to my attention that the subject i have chosen to photograph really needs to be expanded on, and cant really be summed up in just three photographs. I have therefore decided to expand on these photographs, and try to take around 12-15 photographs based on the idea of consumption/disregard of natural resources. I plan to shoot over the next few weeks in various locations around Kent, including Dungeness, Margate, Folkestone, Romney Marsh, Ashford, and also into London and the surrounding areas. These are places that i feel suffer most around Kent from expansion and development.

Object: Martina Mullaney

I was advised to look at the work of Martina Mullaney, in particular a project called "Dinner for One". The images she took for this project looked at people who eat/live alone, and the environments they live in. Looking at the images really inspires a feeling of emptiness and sympathy with the implied character. Her work is almost exactly what i wanted to do with this project, and it would have been nice to have seen her work before creating my own. By using very plain surroundings, and in some images using very large tables or wide open spaces to surround the meal really emphasize the lonliness off living alone.

Object: The Shoot

My object shoot was pretty straightfoward on paper, but when it came down to it, it took a long time and was hard to setup. I started by setting up my shot as i had planned it in my original sketch.

After setting up my still life like this, i quickly realised that there was no need for the second light source. After taking two photos, i really wasnt happy with how the image looked. It didnt really portray the student lifestyle that i wanted it to, it looked more like an advert for the beans. I decided that i needed to make it look messy, like a student had prepared the meal.

I had to be careful not to get any mess on the backdrop, so i uced some disposable white table mats to protect it. I then re arranged my lighting, as i was getting to much fall off lighting the backdrop. To do this, i had to susspend a flash directly above the subject using a boom stand, weighted to balance the flash. To further limit the light that was faling onto the background, i used a medium honeycomb. 

This was my final image:

 

As i couldnt get into the darkroom, i made a digital scan of the negative, and used photoshop to adjust the colours, to give me an idea of what i would like to do in the studio. I felt that giving the image a blue tint would emphasize the feeling of lonliness i had tried to make with the lighting.

Overall, i'm pleased with my final image. I think that if i had planned more ahead with my subject matter, and maybe put the subject into a location to give it context, then i would have been more sucessful with puting my point across.

Object: Critical Appraisal

Object: Self Reliance

I really struggled coming up with an idea for the object project. As still life isn’t something I really find all that interesting, it wasn’t easy to come up with an idea for it. I decided to start looking at things that were affecting me at the moment, and how I could show these through still life. Moving out for the first time, and becoming more independent, it gave me a lot to write about.

After struggling for the first few weeks with money, I decided to look into the struggles that face young students going to university, and how this is only going to get worse with the upcoming increase of tuition fees and the possibility of another recession.

A lot of still life paintings, especially around the 16^th century,  were inspired by the current economic climate of the country they were from. For example, Dutch and Flemish painters would paint flowers, usually rare/expensive ones, as owning these paintings were seen to be a sign of economic status.

As art progressed, still live moved into photography, still with some sort of political or economic reference behind the work. I looked at the work of Shomei Tomatsu, who is famous for his photographs showing the aftermath of the Nagasaki/Hiroshima bombings in 1945.  In particular, this image of the melted bottle is something I looked at in great detail.

To represent my new found independence and struggle with money, I chose to look at the change in foods I was eating. This was in part inspired by Andy Warhol’s piece “Campbell’s Soup Cans”. The repetitiveness of this piece was very relevant to my eating pattern, as I was practically living off of beans on toast for the first two weeks.  This was due to my struggle with money and adjusting to living alone.

My initial photograph was just of a can of beans standing on a plate with a toaster in the background, but this seemed to clean and not very representative of student life, so I decided to mess the plate and props up, by pouring beans everywhere, and half eating the toast.  My choice of lighting was meant to emphasize the loneliness of living away from home, and I did this by using a singular focused light source, throwing everything else into darkness.

I found this project very hard to connect with, and I really struggled to change my ideas into reality, and successfully communicate my intentions. This is something I really need to work on in the future, especially with still life in the studio, as it is hard to establish a context for your subject.

Environment: Critical Appraisal

Environment: Are we using too much?

My initial thoughts for this project were all based around taking photos around the country side and finding beautiful landscape, but as the project progressed, it became apparent that around here I wouldn’t be able to find such locations. Living in a town as large as this, which is always expanding, its hard to find somewhere that’s still untouched and undeveloped. Because of this, I changed my project idea to concentrate on showing how much of the landscape we use. 

I started researching photographers who’s work focuses on similar points, most importantly of whom was Edward Burtynsky. His imagery shows the effect that industry (mining/oil/manufacturing) has on the landscape. In particular, I looked at his collection of images entitled “Urban Renewal”, which looks at the growing population of China, and how they cope with increasing numbers of people.

The government in China own all the land, but citizens are allowed to use it until the government chooses to take it back to be developed on. This happens more and more now, leaving people homeless, and also leaving no natural undeveloped areas.

Another photographer who’s work I looked at was Robert Adams. His work focused on the changing American landscape, in a time when large cities were being expanded, and people were moving out into the wilderness. In particular, his series entitled “Summer Nights” looks at the difference between the city, and the rural areas outside. All of the images were taken at night. This is something that I wanted to experiment with on my shoots, but when I started taking photos, I realised that they would look better during the day.

My final images are taken around the area of the River Medway, and around the industrial areas surrounding it. I was looking at this open area of grass by the river, and how it would most likely be developed on just like the rest of the river banks. I looked at how uncared for the area looks, and the effect that the industrial waste and boats have on the river itself.

This project initially seemed fairly easy from a practical point of view, but as I worked further into it, I realised how much signs in photographs influence the meaning behind the image, and how that is transferred to the viewer. I feel that if I could revisit this unit, which I will be doing, that I can work harder at making images that say what im trying to put across to the audience.

Environment: Edward Burtynsky

Whilst researching artists who look at our effects on the environment, i found the work of Edward Burtynsky. Almost all of his work concentrates on how humans effect and abuse the planet, wether it be its resources, or through pollution. In particular, i looked into his work called Urban Renewal.

The poplulation of china is nearly 524 million, which causes a number of problems for the Chinese government, especially with finding places for these people to live. The following is a quote from Edward Burtynsky's website:

"The government owns all land in China, but people have the right to use or occupy the land. Shanghai City’s plan to modernize has developers from around the world eager to jump into the game. Many of central Shanghai’s old houses sit on the most desirable parcels of land. Often citizens will be notified of their residential termination by the sudden appearance of the (now ubiquitous) Chinese character (Chai – demolish) painted on the outside of their building. Under Chinese law the government will provide substitute housing for residents of redevelopment areas, even if these substitutions are located hours away in the suburbs. To some, the idea of moving into a new apartment that has functional interior plumbing with hot water, something often lacking in older houses, is a welcome change.

But to many, the idea of dismantling their community, moving away from neighbors and not receiving satisfactory compensation for prime real estate is a battle worth fighting—enter the Dingzihu or ‘Hold outs.’ Scattered all over Shanghai today one can see lone houses or parts of larger buildings surrounded by rubble where a neighborhood once stood. It’s here, where maverick residents decide to make a last stand to preserve their lifestyle and dignity. Developers are now frequently accused of using heavy-handed tactics to edge the older residents out. This has become the fastest growing source of protest—the forcible eviction of millions from their city homes and farms to make way for profitable new construction projects."

Environment: The Shoot

Due to technical issues i had with the medium format camera i borrowed, i had to redo my shoot with my 35mm camera. The location for this was around the banks of rochester. I wanted to try and show the poor conditions of the area, and how much of it is dominated by industrial buildings.

These are my selected negatives from the shoot. As i was not able to get into the darkroom to print my images, i have had to digitally scan them, and adjust the final colours in photoshop. This has meant i was able to adjust the images far more than i could in the darkroom, but digital images are no where near as good as proper prints.

My first final image was of the river itself. Due to the large amount of traffic that passes through the river, as well as the disgusting amount of rubbish that is thrown into it by people, the water is murky and void of visible life. I chose to leave the rough border left by the negative scanner as i felt this emphasised the destruction of the environment i was trying to show. I have adjusted the colours slightly, giving the image a blue tint.

My second image is again from the banks of the river. This time i wanted to show how much of this land is being developed on rather than being conserved. I found the men at work sign lying around from a previous  construction site, and propped it up against the fence.

My final image is trying to show the relation between this area and the town that is steadily growing onto it. As this seems to be one of the last undeveloped areas around Rochester, it was perfect to show this point.

Environment: Pastiche of Jem Southam's "Seaford Head"

This is the image i have chosen for my pastiche. Coming from a costal town, this is a site i am all to farmilliar with, and think i could accurately recreate. To try and make my image have the same feeling as this one, i first have to annalyse the image,  and work out what technical techniques have been used, aswell as what information the image is trying to portray and been inspired by.

Taken on a 8x10 camera, like the rest of Jem's work, there is a vast amount of detail captured in the image. As i wasnt able to get hold of an 8x10 camera for my shoot, i had to use Medium format as a replacement. From looking at this image, i get a feeling that Southam is trying to show the impact of nature on the coastline. These rock falls from the cliffs are usually caused by years of abuse from the sea. The composition of the image is gives a strong direction through the image. All of lines in the image from right to left follow down into the sea, even though it is only a very small part of the image.

For my shoot, i went to the seaside down of St Margarets Bay in south-east Kent. This is a location i had visited many times as a child, so i knew that it would be perfect for this particular shoot. Unfortunatly, the tide there doesnt go out as far as i thought it would, and when it did finally go out enough for me to take the photo, the sun decided to come out and spoil the dark moody sky i was looking for. As it turned out, these were the least of my problems, as the camera i had borrowed had a fault, which meant that the film back would keep popping open and fogging my films. It clearly wasnt my day.

After wasting 3 films, i called it a day assuming all was lost. I developed my films anyway to see if anything had survived, and somehow 1 image managed to not become fogged!

This is a digital scan of the negative, as i have not yet had a chance to get into the darkroom to print. I was pretty happy with this image, luckily it was the first image i took that day and was rolled up tight int he camera when it opened. The colours of this image have been adjusted slightly, adding a more red/yellow tint to the image to go with the cliffs of the original. This has given me an idea of what ill need to adjust colourwise when it comes to going into the darkroom to print.

Environment: Are we using to much?

Later on through the project, i started looking at how we treat the area around us. Living in an ever expanding world, humans are always taking more and more land and developing on it. And whats worse is that whats left, we dont even care for or maintain.

Its this lack of respect for nature that i want to focus on for the Environment Unit. Just looking around the local area, its clear that there is alot more attention/money put into the development of new buildings or shops than there is of cleaning up and sorting out the nicer areas that we already have. 

I conducted a test shoot around the river banks of rochester, looking at the factories and work places that had been set up all along them. Even though this side is still grass and potentially somewhere nice to walk, there are signs of disregard and destruction all along, as well as the beginnings of a construction of new flats. Unfortunatly, these test shots were ruined when my camera back decided to pop open and fog the images, but i had taken notes and sketched out some ideas of what i wanted to photograph, so i could return with another film and shoot again.