old street
I began this project by going to Old Street/Brick Lane and taking photos. I began focusing on graffiti, architecture and lights. By experimenting with different slow shutter speeds I managed to catch the movement and vibes of lights and passers by. As it was dark and I was using a slow shutter speed many of the photos were out of focus and slightly blurred, but some produced an effective outcome. Below are the photos that came out most successful.
experimentations with saturation
Whilst editing my photos from Brick Lane I began playing around with effect that different saturations have on the outcome. By increasing and decreasing various colours of the saturation on these photos, it brought out and changed the colours in the original photograph producing striking contrasts.
I then decided to make a video of the transition of saturation on a photo. I replicated the photo into 10 photos and moved the saturation equally from -180 to 180 (moving 30 sections each time). I put these images into iMovie and made a short clip.
Whilst I was taking photos of Old Street I made several short video clips on my journey which I then edited into a video. I experimented with how to use iMovie to edit them by changing the speed and direction of the clips. The majority of the clips are sped up to create a fast paced and busy feel, with the song adding to this.
Allen Klosowski
I came across Allen Klosowski whilst researching photography focusing on architecture through pinterest. His photos that really interested me were taken from an interesting angles looking up at the buildings (such as the photos above) which really challenge the views perceptive. A large amount of my photos of buildings are similarly taken from the bottom upwards, however there normally taken in a straight line whereas Klosowski experiments with different angles causing the final appearance of the building to be crooked. This inspired me to take photos using different angles and perspectives as opposed to usual straight on photos.
more architecture - camden
Next I photographed areas of Camden, focusing on the different architectures and textures.
stephen gills
Stephen Gill is a British experimental, conceptual and documentary photographer, and artist who's well known for his photo's of East London. I took particular interest in series called 'Hackney Flowers' in which he used his East London surroundings as inspiration for his work. Gill captures the life of Hackney by using it's people and surroundings as his subjects. However, whilst he was taking these photos, he collected flowers, seeds, berries and other objects found scattered around Hackney. He brought these objects, most commonly flowers, into his studio, arranging them on-top his own photographs of Hackney's streets. He then re-photographed them creating a multi-layered, graphic finish. Similarly to his series 'Buried' he buried some of these photographs in the ground at Hackney Wick, letting nature imprint and decay on to his work, emphasising the collaboration with Hackney itself. The flowers juxtapose the stereotypically 'rough' area with the contrasting innocence that a flower represents. In some of his images, such as the top right image of the lorry, Gill plays with the arrangement of the flowers making it blend it with the initial surroundings of the background photo. I found Stephen Gill's Hackney flowers really captivating and inspiring, causing me to do several responses. In one of my previous projects that I did for A level I responded to his work following quite closely to his project by taking photos of landscapes then photography flowers places on top of print outs. Still really interested by Gills' work, I decided to respond to his work again however this time with portraits as opposed to landscapes.
flower experimentations
Instead of just buildings, I began to focus on people. Whilst I was capturing interesting architecture around Camden, I decided to take photos of people going about their everyday life without them realising. I then printed these photos out, placed flowers covering their faces, and took another photo of this. The flower can then act as a cover for their identity within the city. I'm pleased with the outcome of these photos and believe this technique is very successful. The fact that the strangers face is covered adds a sense of mystery to what lays beneath it. It also avoids the debate about wether it's acceptable to take photos of people without their concept.
After I decided to reuse the printed photos of people in Camden. However this time I cut out the figures or faces using scalpel, and stuck down a pattern or text that I found from magazines. For some of the figures I cut out their whole body and sometimes just their face. The most successful outcomes were the images where I used a piece of text to fill in the figures body.
I then carried on my idea of covering strangers faces with flowers technically as opposed to manually. I used photos of flowers that I found on google images and photoshopped them over the strangers faces.
Beomsik won
I came across Beomsik Won's work via pinterest whilst researching photo collages of buildings and his work caught my interest. He creates large buildings built up of many individual photos of buildings. Beomsik Won has neatly integrated all the buildings together causing the viewer to have to look up close and pick out all the separate buildings. In the first photo of the left, I find the contrast between the grey background and the city in colour emphasises the unusual but exciting layout of the building,
collage - buildings
I decided to respond to Beomsik Won's work by creating my own collage made up of built up buildings. All the individual photos of buildings are taken by myself over various places and cities. I printed these images out and cut round the outline. Then, I arranged all these buildings so that they were slightly overlapping and 'growing' out of each other.
victoria rick
Whilst researching artists online, I came across Victoria Rick and took particular interest in her photomontage of buildings. I fixed paper buildings onto cardboard for stability and masking-taped them onto the board to easily change their positions. I also folded some and stood them under paper cuttings to bridge gaps and laid buildings flat to build up the landscape and surface. From above it looked messy and random, to view it piece together as a city-scape you had to be eye-level and centered. For the background I just propped up a canvas of ripped newsprint and images to be a blurred sky-like image for the meantime although I would like to improve on this. Her manipulation of dimensions and perspectives is very effective at creating a made up three dimensional city created from strips of 2D buildings.
glitch art
Another technique I used to distort my photos of the city was to glitch them using textedit. I got taught this technique during my A level course but decided to use it again as I find the end product effective. It's done by deleting/changing the coding of the photos causing to appear glitched.
MATHIEU ST PIERRE
Mathieu St Pierre is a Canadian mixed media artist who focuses on distortion through media and computer programmes. Using his background in the film industry he demonstrates his skills and interest through video manipulation leading him to produce digital glitches and generative art. He used film stills to document the fragility of virtual data and introduce a new pathway of the digital canvas. Pierre effortlessly transforms portraiture into glitched images conveying the extent of how society has been brainwashed by the universal increase of technology, and how that influences our view of the perfection. Using a technological malfunction, he transforms an imperfection into art.
reflection
I moved on another method of manipulating buildings by causing them to be reflected a number of times using photoshop. This causes an end result of an illusion-like, kaleidoscope effect.
scanography
Continuing my theme of distorting photos taken of the city, I began to experiment with a new technique. I decided to print out photos that I've taken of the city and scan them in. However whilst they were scanning, I would move the photo about creating a distorted outcome. The outcome is successful as this technique creates interesting patterns and distortions that are different and surprising each time.
more photos - warren street
The next place I decided to photograph was Warren Street due to the large amount of interesting buildings. Many of these buildings were reflective, causing the sky or opposite buildings to be reflected upon the building in the focal point. I used a slow shutter speed to cause the photos to appear lighter.
cory stevens
The photographer Cory Steven really inspired my work. He has multiple projects focused on interesting buildings and architecture. I was particularly captured by his projects 'squared spaces' and 'deconstruct, reimagined'. The photos on the left are from his project 'squared space' which focus on sections of buildings containing repeated patterns of rectangular shapes which I similarly take an interest in. Another project that inspired me was 'deconstruct, reconstruct' in which he mirrored sections of buildings to create kaleidoscope patterns. I similarly did this, however as opposed to creating a circular shape, I created patterns on a larger scale in which the buildings were multiplied a number of times.
KALEIDOSCOPE patterns
I continued my technique of creating kaleidoscope patterns with my photos of Warren Street. This time I created the patterns on a larger scale by further multiplying them.
totteridge and whetstone ABANDONED warehouse
To contrast my previous buildings I went to an abandoned warehouse in Totteridge and Whetstone. This building is the complete opposite to the other well maintained business buildings in central London. This warehouse used to be an old meat factory and is in complete ruins. It's made up of three sections; one part I visited a couple of years ago but has now been locked off, the middle section that has been completely burnt down, and the third section which is made up of loads of little rooms including an old toilet and a room upstairs. This particular warehouse has been abandoned for over 30 years, and shows how the extreme effect nature has when left un-maintained. Every inch of the building is overflowing with graffiti and falling apart. There was fresh toilet paper and a freshly made bed, meaning that squatters probably take refuge there. Although this place was a complete dump, I found it ideal to take photos in as it was so interesting to capture all the decay and destruction that has been caused, with the graffiti transforming it into art.