Concept
The concept for this brief was to take 6 images and create a narrative to them that would define what ‘home’ is to me. For my final image I had in mind that I wanted to create an image which represents my home before university and my home while I am at university. In these images, I had full control with what I wanted to show and the order of which I placed them. I looked at street photographers for inspiration into how I can use the streets of Hull and Lincoln to help define the meaning behind my idea of ‘home’.
Influences
David Hockney
The first photographer whose work influenced me was David Hockney. The images of his that I came across consisted of using collage to show a location within the image. The first image that I found shows a location which has been recreated from using other simular images to create a location; made using the style of collage. The second image uses the same style of recreating an image, but this time using only one image, taken several times at different angle; and put together in a collage. This image shows David’s mum, sat in a church grave yard. From doing this, you are still able to see what the location/image is; despite the images not shown in the way, your eyes would naturally view the location.
David is mostly known for his work as a painter, but the photographs that he has taken, known as ‘Joiners’ became a popular style and caught the viewers attention in the 1980’s.
The use of ‘joiners’ in his work first started by accident when he was creating one of his paintings, by glueing polaroid images together. This then led him to take images, printing them in 35-millimeters and gluing them together, like shown in the 2 images below.
Within both of these images, the natural use of colour remains. As both of these images are shown as collage’s, some of the images used have been either placed upside down or at a different angle. From this, the colours that would normally blend, stand out more. For example; in the first image, the writing on the floor doesn’t blend with the colours on the rest of the road and in the second image, the images used to make up the sky, show different colours across the whole image.
The use of shadows aren’t really shown in his work due to the way the collage is put together. Both of these images are taken outside which the viewer is able to see through the different parts of the collage; using natural lighting to light the subjects and objects which are included in the photograph. The natural lighting is shown in the collage’s though the colours on the individual images; such as in the sky and the road.
The poisoning for both of these images is very similar. The positioning of the signs and trees are inspired by the original locations of these objects. David explain about this in an interview which he did, discussing the creation of this image. In the second image, showing his mother, the collage isn’t made up to show a full rectangle image like the original would look like. The collage is slightly tilted to the right and shown on a green piece of paper. As the subject is suppose to be central to the image, this isn’t fully shown due to using collage to show the narrative of the photograph.
I really enjoyed this style of photography that David created. Even though the images shown are simple, the work that goes into them before the final image is created is something I appreciate as a viewer. The final image is really effective when telling the narrative. I also feel like this style stands out more than other collages that I have looked at.
David’s website showing more of his work – http://www.hockneypictures.com/photos/photos_collages_05.php
Information about his work – https://photomuserh.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/david-hockney-photography-will-never-equal-painting/
Andre Kertesz
The second photographer whose photography work I came across was Andre Kertesz. These 2 street photographs that he has taken; reflected back to the meaning of this brief. In the first image, it shows stairs a large building in New York City, with a single cloud left to the building. The second image shows an old street, with an erected train line at the end of this street. The way that the rain line is held up is shown using bricks which are made using curves. At the front of the image, an old house is shown. Within this image, you are also able to people who possibly live or work down this street.
The website which I found these 2 images on also gave a description of the image and included information due to the location and how he took the images.
‘Lost Cloud, New York, 1937 It was unusual for Kertész to give his works proper titles such as this, as opposed to captions used for filing purposes (date, place, names of individuals, etc.). The adjective ‘lost’ endows the cloud with a personal, emotional dimension. The picture can be seen as an allegory of Kertesz’s own displacement – far from the artistic fraternity of Montparnasse, poorly used professionally, and cut off from his roots. ‘
‘Meudon, France, 1928 Kertész used a Leica to produce this miraculous snapshot. This camera first appeared in Germany in the 1920s. Kertész began using one in 1928, three years prior to Henri Cartier-Bresson. Light and easy to handle, it used film on rolls, and was to become the favourite camera of photojournalists. A vision of movement and speed, capturing people walking in the street and the engine powering over the viaduct, this photograph is an example of what the leader of the Surrealists, André Breton, described as ‘opportune magic’. It is thought that the man in the foreground may be the German painter Willi Baumeister, and the parcel he is holding the stretcher of a canvas. Kertész had known him since 1926, when he photographed him in the company of Mondrian and Seuphor.’
Both of these images are shown in black and white. Both of them were taken in the early 20th Century, so for these to be in black and white in natural for that period in history. Now viewing them in 2017, the use of black and white gives more of an effect and narrative behind each of the images. In the first image, the building shows a lot of detail due to the amount of windows. Viewing this image in black and white allows the viewer to see the smaller details as the white highlights them. The cloud is also the main feature in this photograph. Having the sky darker make the cloud stand out more, drawing your attention towards it. The second image shows more darker shades than the first image. In this image, that helps the viewer with understanding the narrative of who the people are in the image and what they are doing in this street, as well as relating the image to a certain period in history.
With both of the images including large buildings, shadowing is shown on either the edge of the building or within the arches on the second image. With the photographs been in black and white, the shadows look more prominent on the images.
In both images, the positioning of the objects are simular. In the first photograph, the building is positioned diaganally on the right side of the image. The second images is the oppisit way round. Both of the images have spaced which has been filled with an element which is important to the narrative of the photograph.
These street photographs that Andre has taken follow a style that I feel would work well with my images. The narrative in each of the images are easy to follow; this is how I want my viewers to feel when they look at my images.
Biography and his work – http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/articles/2014/august/05/the-melancholy-life-of-the-amazing-andre-kertesz/
Nicholas Goodden
Nicholas Goodden was the third street photographer that I came across. These two images of his that I found attracted my attention in different ways. The first image shows a man and woman in a busy area of London, taking images of the rest of the city. The second image is a bright pink shutter, with a person walking past it, wearing a bright blue jacket, also taken in London.
When looking for the meaning behind these images, I found this quote, by Nicholas, on his website, explain the meaning behind this project.
As he mentions, he observes the city, Londoners and tourists around him, taking images that others may dismiss; this allows his audience to view the way London is in a way that they may take for granted otherwise.
In both of these images, the use of colour is prominent. The first image is taken up mainly with the bland coloured building in the background. The foreground shows the majority of the brighter colours. The woman who is stood taking a photograph on her phone is wearing a bright blue coat, this bright colour at the front of the image attracts your attention first. In the second image, the whole of the background is taken up by the pink shutter. The main element in this image is of the subject which is walking past. As he is wearing a bright coloured jacket which is different to the shutter; yet complements the pink, your attention is automatically drawn towards him. As well as the colour allowing you to notice him first, he is the only thing in the photograph, so he is the only element that you can focus on; whereas, in the first image, it is very busy, so your attention is drawn all over the image.
Both of these images have been taken using natural daylight and edited in post production. Neither of these images shows much shadowing due to been edited in post production. The first image has been edited by changing the temperature to make the image colder. The colours in the second image have been enhanced, making the brighter, attracting the audience’s attention.
When it comes to the positioning of these images, they are both similar. The first image shows the main 2 people, in the left bottom corner, looking above the camera at what is behind the camera. The people in the background are shown walking away in different directions. In the second image, the subject is shown walking away to the left, with his back to the camera. The background in both of these images are shown on an angle.
Like the other 2 artists I have previoulsy looked at, I enjoyed this style of work. The use of colour and the angle which are used as the two things that attracted my to these photographs and they are elements that I think will work well in my final images for this brief.
Nicholas’ Work – https://www.nicholasgooddenphotography.co.uk/london-street-photography/
Reflection
After looking at these three photographers for the home brief, I was mainly inspired by David Hockney and Andre Kertesz’s work. I really enjoyed how David was able to take an image apart and recreate it using a collage of the same image. In a similar way, I created an image by taking 6 images of different locations to make up an image of one location. The images that Andre has taken remind me of home due to use of arches and use of building that are shown in his work. Both Lincoln and Hull town centre have buildings which consist of arches and buildings similar to the ones in his work. From looking at both of these photographers work, I was able to create my my own image, inspired by their work, using the locations around me.
For my final image, I wanted to corporate the look of one of my favourite places back home and recreate the look from different locations around Lincoln. The image from back home which I wanted to base my work around is of Hepworth Arcade. When I originally thought about what reminded me of home in Lincoln, I though about the architecture in the town centre. On the high street, there is a lot old buildings that have curvature, old windows as well as pillars and bunting. All of these elements that I saw around Lincoln are shown within Hepworth Arcade in Hull. Instead of taking individual images of each of these elements, I used a collage to show them, placing them in an order which reminds me of the lay out of ‘home’.
Some of the images that are shown in my collage are slightly out of focus, I did this on purpose. When taking the image of Hepworth Arcade, the picture that I used to base my home brief around was out of focus, this is where my idea of taking all my other images slightly out of focus came from. As Lincoln is my temporary ‘home’ for the next 3 years, I wanted to show how Hull, my actual home, is slightly a blur to me as I don’t spend as much time there as I use to now that I have moved away from home. I feel like from having these images slightly out of focus gives more meaning behind the final image and allows me to show the audience how I feel about moving away from home.