Evaluation

For this project Space and Place i got the place Wymondham to photograph. As things began i was unsure of what to photograph there and looked at the place online to find out more about the town before travelling there. I began by photographing different areas in the town but avoided the housing estates. From looking at people such as Stephen Shore with his Uncommon Places project, Sarah Jones, Lewis Baltz and George Shaw i was interested by how they photographed the exteriors and interiors of buildings it made me want to look at photographing both however i found that once i had visited the town that the exteriors were interesting and appealing to the eyes. When thinking about the project in terms with the theme of space and place i wanted to capture spaces within the town to capture the essence of time within the place through the architecture as it progresses from as early as the 14th century to the current day. Throughout the course of this project i had been intent on focusing on the architecture and structure, though the Abbey was a key element of the town to me as its part of what the town is known for however though i photographed it i decided not to include it towards my final outcomes as some of the images were weaker than others along with this it detracted from the rest of the imagery that i produced. I have taken more of an objective approach to this project, this was impacted on by looking into the photographers that were part of the New Topographics, how they photographed their subjects for what they were and didn’t try to romanticise them. So here i produced a body of work following this style of approach, not trying to make the place seem “pretty”, giving it an unromantic feel, following this i strayed away from doing much post production mainly straightening images and making them black and white. If i were to have been able to go to the town more often i would have liked to explored around the town further as i feel that the more that i went to the place different things seemed to stand out to me. 

Coming up with a title

When considering the title for the project i didn't want it to straight out say that its ages in Wymondham in architecture but to be more subtle to it. Along with this as it doesn't show all of the ages i feel that that wouldn't represent my project as well as different title would. Since i have been looking at how the architecture has changed over the years i want to relate it to that as in my final images that i have chosen the earliest structural building is from the 14th century right up to the 21st century with a modern home. With this i want to sum up the project in a few words;

• Times are changing
• How things have changed
• The things we have seen
• Stories behind the walls
• Ever changing

I have decided to go with the title Ever Changing as i feel that this best represents the body of work that i have created. This goes with how that as humans our idea of what is appealing and to some degree the idea of beauty to buildings with the belief of the current day being a time of the modernisation of architecture. Our creations of buildings along with other things are always changing, and will continue to do so, with this in mind i want to give the thought that with the how i have displayed a range of eras within my final selection, that though there is more modern buildings there that soon there will be something that is newer than that. As we are always developing and expanding to towns and cities, particularly as Wymondham over the past few years or so has really expanded and has been pushing out, occupying more land than it used to. 

Ever Changing summaries how there is constantly change within the architecture and this is still a progression which we are going through as we are always developing and coming up with new ideas.

Final images | layout

When choosing my final images i had to consider the layout that i wanted to have. These pieces show rough representation of the possibilities of the images and which to place by each other. Once choosing I will neaten up the borders and such to make it more presentable but for now these are rough ideas. At first i considered only having 4 images but then i felt that i was leaving too many images out that could be used to represent the body of work. So i then decided on 6-8 images; i tried 8 images first but it seemed to crowed and too much going on so i chose to have 6 images.

This bottom piece is the selection of images that i am going to use as my final images however i am thinking of moving the bottom right image within this to be the top left image with the current top right image next to it as to represent the earliest and most recent buildings design then below them is everything in between these two time eras. With influence from looking at Paul Strand's work in exhibition among others, i am going to print the photographs as A5 size; makes the viewer come close and look in at the details.

Paul Strand

Paul Strand is an American photographer, it is said that he helped define the canon of early American modernism and set its premium on the elegant print. In 1950 when he relocated to France, landscape, architecture and portraiture continued to inspire him to embody the spirit of his subjects in the very materials of the photographic print.
In Strand's exhibition for Photography and Film for the 20th century show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the images that he has presented in this are all small and around A5 in size. They have large frames, these can make them seem smaller than what they are.
In his architectural photos, there is a sense of repetition through the geometric shapes seen in the architecture, particularly with the perspective as the light enhances this with distinct light and dark areas making these patterns/repetition more noticeable. His work is in black and white, grayscale, this highlights the dark and light areas as there is no colour, the lighting also impacts on the light and dark areas in the images. In the images above you can see that Strand hasn't taken the photographs looking straight on at the subject but at an angle to give a different perspective, as though looking in at the scene before him, they can also be considered to be taken at eye level which enhances this feel of looking in at the scene.



Sources:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pstd/hd_pstd.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-35823949

Post-production | thoughts

Originally i wanted to keep my photographs in colour however with looking at many peoples work such as people from the New Topographics exhibition, it influenced me to experiment with editing my photos into black and white, these outcomes i found to have more potential and worked well together as there was a constant flow to them without the intrusion of colour. As i found that colour created contrasts and prevented certain images from being able to be placed next to one another, where as taking this element away i no longer have that element to consider and there is a better fluidity throughout the images which will help when it comes to choosing my final images. For the images that i select as my final images i want them to show different architectural traits as to demonstrate the time periods that are seen throughout Wymondham in the buildings there, if possible it would be interesting to present them in a way to see the order of progression, or it could be interesting to place them in a different order to what their time era is as it could make the viewer think about how they view the former structure designs to what is currently seen and often built around us nowadays. Want to look into presenting them as one large print in a grid format of 4-6 images as i don’t want to have too many images within the grid format as i feel that there would be too much to look at and only displaying a small part of the range of time through architecture shows an element of how time is always passing and this will always be added to as things change, more time will have passed. Older buildings will potentially  be knocked down/become ruins or have modern parts built onto to help them stay intact along with new modern buildings being built in the future, expanding on what is already there. This constant change and progression links as to why i want to display a small range of images as to show how the town is now, what still stands after so many years compared to the new modern buildings.

Andreas Gursky

Andreas Gursky is a German photographer who's work is characterised by tension between the clarity and formal nature of his photographs and the ambiguous intent and meaning they present, occasioned by their insertion into a 'high-art' environment. He was influenced by the documentary approach of Bernd and Hilla Becher; he was one of the first photographers at the Becher's school to use colour photography. He is known for his enormous architecture and landscape photographs, often he'll use an aerial vantage point, frequently identifying systematised aspects of culture. Before the 1990's Gursky did not produce his work on a digital platform, however he discusses his dependence on computers to edit and enhance his photos, as well as for the purpose of increasing the apparent scope of his subject in terms of size. This use of post-production has a dramatic impact on the scale . Patterns are often seen in Gursky's images through geometric shapes and their repetition, sometimes they act as leading lines, guiding your gaze. In his images he doesn't always show the whole of the scene before you, only revealing part of buildings and such before you however through the colours and patterns within these images it results in being visually intriguing and appealing to the eye.




Sources:
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/andreas-gursky-2349
http://c4gallery.com/artist/database/andreas-gursky/andreas-gursky.html

Stephen Gill | Archaeology in reverse

Archaeology in Reverse was photographed in Stephen's "cherished" area in East London. He photographed this project with the camera that he brought a Hackney Wick market for 50p, focusing of things that do not yet exist. It features traces and clues of things to come in a poetic, sometimes eerie and quiet photographic study of a place in limbo prior to the rapid transformation that this area faced during the build-up to the Olympics in 2012.

“Stephen Gill has learnt this: to haunt the places that haunt him. His photo-accumulations demonstrate a tender vision factored out of experience; alert, watchful, not overeager, wary of that mendacious conceit, ‘closure’. There is always flow, momentum, the sense of a man passing through a place that delights him. A sense of stepping down, immediate engagement, politic exchange. Then he remounts the bicycle and away. Loving retrievals, like a letter to a friend, never possession… What I like about Stephen Gill is that he has learnt to give us only as much as we need, the bones of the bones of the bones…" -Iain Sinclair

Many of the photographs in this project are out of focus and blurred to the human eye, creating a soft focus as you can still see what everything in the images are, they just appear a lot softer due to not being in focus, the edges of objects merging together. These images display objects and part of scenery in a popular city which appears to be not as loved as other parts of the city, documenting imperfections that people don't often see or tend to overlook and act as if these things aren't there. However Gill has photographed the subject straight on showing the unromantic side to the city and showing it in a time where things are beginning to change, before it's reconstruction to show how the place once was before it was developed, it shows that how "unpretty" places may seem they can be adapted and good made from them rather than leaving them to waste away. Shows how us as humans always see the chance for adapting and changing areas before us.

Sources:

http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/3375/Stephen-Gill-Archaeology-in-Reverse/240

Fourth Shoot

As i found that a few of the shots that i was keen on editing to develop were out of focus i decided to take another trip to my location to reshoot these areas. However for this shoot i also used a different lens, 12-24mm lens allowing me to get wide angle shots. This was an advantage as some of the streets are narrow, requiring me to be close to the subject and occasionally cut off things from the frame so this meant that i could fit everything into the frame without having to worry about being close, though i may crop some of these images it gives me the flexibility to work with. From now i will be focusing on refining my images and editing them to then choose which ones to use as my final pieces.

Frank Gohlke

Frank Gohlke's photographic work has always tended towards the unadorned. He conducts an excavation of the present and undertakes without artifice and a with a scientific diligence. He is drawn to landscapes marked by their legacy of human habitation. He is drawn to landscapes which are marked (and at times, marred) by their legacy of human habitation. Although seldom is seen in his spare compositions, the human figure is not absent from Gohlke's pictures, it is latent within them. There is a sense of the human presence lingering, though there is no one visually seen in the photographs themselves. Shadows are a key element in these photos; as the scenes are outside there would have been direct light from the sun the light can be harsh and the photographer would have a lack of control over the lighting. Some of the photos appear to be taken at shoulder height, looking out at the scene before you and up slightly as they seem to be taken from a lower angle. There is a strong contrast in light and dark tones within the images, this helps to define the shapes seen in the objects that fill the frame; partially giving harsh edges to things, making the contrast harsh. There is also lots of geometric shapes that fill the images and at times there is a repetition to the shapes, and create patterns within them.

Sources:
http://www.frankgohlke.com/Bibliography/About

Stuart Franklin | Footprint our landscape in flux

Stuart Franklin's photographic career began when he started work for the Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph Magazine in London and later on with Agence Presse Sygma in Paris.  During his time at Sygma, 1980-1985, he absorbed skills of new photography, while also following Henri Cartier-Bresson's approach to photography; Franklin says how Cartier-Bresson's work influenced basically everything that he attempted with the way that Cartier-Bresson's work was curious, gentle, surreal with beautiful compositions. In 1989 Franklin took his acclaimed photographs in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, where a demonstration for freedom ended in a massacre. After this he then began to move away from news photography, and into magazine feature photography. During 1990 till 2004 he photographed stories for National Geographic Magazine. Along with this he pursued many photographic projects which would take him on long periods of travelling. He then decided that he wanted to pursue and a better theoretical understanding of some of the issues that he had confronted, doing so he went on to do a university degree in 1997, which he ended up with a degree in geography from Oxford University, then going on to complete a doctoral thesis there.
In this series of work Franklin's images portray a landscape in flux; the face of Europe has undergone a continual metamorphosis, either because of changes in its climate or due to geological activity, such as volcanoes or in particular with more recent years, the result of transformations that have been brought about by humans. These images show how humans have impacted on the world, signs of destruction are seen, though these aren't all reasons fully due to humans but they are of man-made objects which were built by humans and they have let them go to waste away. There are lots of earthy tones filling these images, their tones affected by the weather conditions which impacts on the overall mood of the image. The images can make you consider the negative impact that humans may have on the world as everything turns to ruins, yet around they still build new things but not repair what they already have, only adding to the mass of destruction that they are causing.



Sources:
Stuart Franklin, Footprint our landscape in flux, Thames and Hudson book.
http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=29YL530YDN4J

Gabriele Basilico

Gabriele Basilico is a photographer he shoots architectural, contemporary, urban and industrial landscapes, uninhabited spaces, bright lights and deep shadows. He gives architectural photography a new breath by questioning urban issues of the mid 1970's. Italy inspired his work throughout his life. He has undertaken projects documenting things like modernist architecture in Milan; in this project he seemed to give the impression in the photographs that time had been suspended. He explained that he achieved this through the lighting and the absence of traffic. When Gabriele began his photography career he worked in black and white film however later on he went on to experiment and explore with colour and digital photography. Though he preferred the ominous shades of black and white and the use of classic cameras; particularly his large-format Rolleiflex.
I like the gritty, unromantic look that Gabriele's photographs to them, they contrast to the typical landscape shots that would have been seen around that time. In the two colour images (shown above) you can tell from the run-down buildings and how some are falling apart that these scenes before the viewer are uninhabited. There is a wide tonal range in his black and white photographs, highlighting the darks from the lights; from viewing these images that he has created i think that it could be interesting for me to use post-production to manipulate my photographs to see what they would look like in black and white as i hadn't previously considered having black and white images only colour, it would be ideal to look into this to see what outcomes could be like rather than ruling it out completely without seeing what it could look like.




sources:
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/feb/25/gabriele-basilico
http://www.all-about-photo.com/photographer.php?name=gabriele-basilico&id=312
http://www.galerieannebarrault.com/gabriele_basilico/photo_eng.html

Stephen Shore

Sha-Mar Beauty Salon, Chestnut Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1973 

Bridge Street, Mexico, Maine, July 30, 1974

Stephen Shore is an American photographer, one of his main influences on his work is Walker Evans with his snapshot aesthetic. In a large amount of Stephen's photographs everything is in focus which gives shows that everything in the frame is of equal importance, removing visual hierarchy. He set about travelling around America photographing things that he saw, these shots are very much considered though he wanted to have the appearance that they were snapshots that he didn't take much time to think about/set up, as to be honest and simple.
I am mainly looking his series Uncommon Places, in this series his approaches his subjects with objectivity and retains precise internal systems of gestures in composition and light. For this project he used a view camera to take these photographs; Stephen says that he chose the view camera as it describes the world with unparalleled precision as it has a slow and deliberate working method that it requires to be used which leads to conscious decision making. Here he has documented his exploration across North America and how the culture in America was changing, along with how a photograph renders the segment of time and space in its scope. This project started in 1973 and continued till 1979.
Within his work i have found that there is a focus on buildings and streets that he has been travelling through, these photographs have been taken from a distance so that you can see more than just the building, you get a sense of its surroundings. Though what is photographed is completely mundane and something you may typically see on a normal day it makes you stop and appreciate them; all have their own functions and uses, for example supermarkets, general stores and houses, these are a part of our daily life and things that are important to all yet can easily be taken for advantage. Each of these places have their own personality to them, people have decorated them to make it appealing to themselves and others and in these photographs you can see how each contrasts from one another, none is exactly the same.






Photographs above taken from:
Uncommon Places
Hudson Valley
Ukraine

Sources:
http://stephenshore.net/photographs.php?menu=photographs
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jul/09/stephen-shore-america-colour-photography-1970s
https://newrepublic.com/article/115243/stephen-shore-photography-american-surfaces-uncommon-places
http://seesawmagazine.com/shore_pages/shore_interview.html

Josef Schulz

Josef Schulz is a Polish born, Düsseldorf based architecture photographer. His work brings an air of mystique and history to everyday, mundane man-made structures, while drawing out personality in each architectural subject. He uses digital manipulation to transform his original images, removing the typography from commercial signage surrounding, he transplants the urban architecture from its cluttered surroundings into bare backgrounds. In his series Übergang Josef travelled across Europe documenting abandoned military and national checkpoints, then manipulated the images after; blurring their backgrounds to remove them from their original context, giving them the appearance of being captured in a different era.
I find it interesting how Josef has used post-production to manipulate his images; the way that he blurs out the surroundings, and even places the main building/feature into an empty scene, thus acknowledging the subject for what it is rather than wanting to associate it fully with its surroundings, i like the way that this can suggest that it could have been captured in a different era. I hadn't thought about doing much manipulation on my photographs in photoshop but this opens up possibilities of how i could present my findings in my final images.



Sources:
http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/josef-schulz-ubergang
http://www.josefschulz.de/html/formIndex.html

Research | Heritage Museum

History on the Bridewell museum and the town along with how it was a part of Kett's rebellion.

• Other prisons in the British Empire were based around the model of Wymondham prison - all will look similar.
• brideWELL - were prisons that were located near a well and when people would describe how to get to the prison the well was mentioned - how the name came about.
• Was the first prison to have single cells.
• Brush making in 1890's - links with Norwich.
• Big part of the Wool industry.
• Kett's rebellion.
• Once closed as a prison not more than a year later it became a Magistrates court which closed in 1992.
• The original prison was knocked down - they rebuilt it on the front and had two wings added onto the side then had the original knocked down but it still has the window frame seen standing in the garden.

Found a book of old photos that'd been taken of the town many years ago though there was no dates to specify when exactly they were taken you can see how things have evolved since then and changed. The photograph of the road curving round has changed particularly as on my visits there i noticed that a new shop was being added on the corner of the road there. Like the prison now being a local museum lots of the uses of buildings in the town are now occupying food stores, general stores, charity stores and pubs. In these photos there is more land than there is now as more has been built overtime as the place has expanded and its population growing.

Thoughts | where is this going?

What is the concept behind my photographs?
What do I want to get from this project?
What steps do I take next?

Taking a pause from going to my location to think about the project. Rather than returning and photographing the same things its making sense to sit down and think about what i want to get from this project and think about where it is going.
The main idea i have is the aspect of time within the town; this being how the buildings date back centuries and how over passing years more has been added, the town is growing. The close up shots that i have already taken i wanted to capture small parts of some of these buildings to show details within them, how these buildings are still stood after so many years. By excluding parts of the buildings from the frame it allows me to focus in on these details and avoid zoomed out shots showing what the building is for whether its a cafe, pub or shop etc as to me i want to look at them as general buildings as their purpose over time has most likely changed and by showing it for what its use is now puts a timeframe on them whereas taking that away you can look into details in the architecture of it and think about how old it is and what it could of been used for back then. I intend to go to their heritage museum there to get some local knowledge of the place and it's history and see how this could influence my project and what i already know - awareness of what the space used to be.

Third Shoot

Thus being my third shoot i returned to a couple parts of the town to get different shots of buildings that i had shot to get variation but for the most part i wandered down roads that i hadn't previously while still focusing in on the structure and architecture of the buildings. As from my second shoot i found that i preferred some of my shots taken from a bit further back and the objects that were in the frame with them i looked around for objects that define a sense of time. Bringing a sense of human presence lingering; that someone may have been there recently, this was shown with things like the bike and the posters on the notice board, though it as you can't see them in detail it doesn't give away an era that they were taken in.