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