Geoff Crossley Exhibition

Took the opportunity to see the Geoff Crossley exhibition in The Cornerhouse, Manchester, and a worthwhile outing it was.

Geoff's Crossleys images of an empty family home, redecorated ready for sale and for a new family to settle, are over-laid by forgotten snapshots taken from the same perspective, giving the viewer an immediate sense of  'then and now'. With my own photographic interest often being concerned with transience and change, on viewing the images I experienced one of Barthes's 'punctum' moments, usually denoted by a feeling of 'wish I'd done that'.

From my own experiences of house-buying and selling, I'm used to properties being decorated in a very 'neutral' style, to appeal to the widest range of viewers and so the potential buyer feels they can stamp their mark. Often this can make a house feel soul-less and impersonal, and I can really see where GC is coming from with these images

The snapshots take on poignant personal moments contrasting with the now impersonal decor of a home decorated to appeal to a wide range of buyers, and the  homeliness  depicted in the original snaps compared to the present state of the rooms is as if the whole slate of the history of the home had been wiped clean. It is easy to see the memories contained in those snapshots and with the viewer initially focussing on the those it is like seeing a home full of life and warmth, then as the eye moves to the present-day part of the image, it feels silent and empty.

Very powerful work, but in a subtle and understated way, I liked it a lot.

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Went on a recce to find new locations for my project, visited Reddish Vale on the periphery of the M60 motorway. A worthwhile journey as it has a lot of the feel of the 'edgelands' about it; areas or semi rural appearance with evidence of urbanity providing a backdrop. I'm sure I will be visiting several more times to explore in more detail. This is all good groundwork for what is to come.

Starting to find a 'Look'

Felt like some progress was being made towards the major project, I have done a few images lately which I am reasonably happy with. Some will need to be re-visited and re-shot with slight tweaks to composition or balance of daylight to artificial light ratio before I have anything I am happy to send for assessment, but at least things are going in the right direction and I feel I am close to something concrete on which to base the feel of the project.

The shot below is an example. I really like the general look and atmosphere of the shot. The riverbank at the bottom and towpath put me in mind a little of the Andreas Gursky shot (The Rhine II) which was sold for a few million a couple of years back, though obviously I would expect my shot to fetch quite such a fee.

I'm in two minds about the centrality of the tower block, I may re-shoot with it in a different position within the frame. I don't remember it being so central when I framed the shot, but in a way I like the boldness of it stuck there in the middle. I'm happy with the lighting in the flats, the church and the yellow streak of lights from a passing tram. The aspect of looking over the fields towards the traces of  protruding urbanisation fits into my theme well.

I'm continuing with my reading of 'The Language of Landscape' by Anne Whiston Sprin, though it is turning out to be very different to what I expected. Though there are many interesting philosophical points raised in the book, I haven't found much that could be applied to my own project. Hopefully something more relevant will appear with further reading.

In the meantime, I've been looking at 'Around the M60' by Matthew Hyde, Aidan O'Rourke and Peter Portland; which is very relevant to my project in the sense of providing background info to the areas included in my study. A fascinating book with many historical insights in to the area, it charts the development of the M60 up to the point of the book's publication. Whether it will influence the outcome of my project remains to be seen, but it is certainly providing me with more ideas for locations to check out.

Still no progress on the 'Colour Accent' brief. I have my tail trapped in the door with this one at the moment and I'm feeling very frustrated with it, and seem to be wasting a lot of time trying out ideas which don't work for it. Hopefully I'll get a break though with it soon. Nonetheless, at least my ideas for other projects are progressing.