Transience at a location

For some weeks I have had the area near to Salford Rugby Stadium earmarked as a potential area to include in my study for the major project. I called by on Sunday as the weather was just right for shooting; hazy sun with intermittent clouds creating depth and texture to areas. I was pleased to see that some work had been carried out on an area of scrubland; clearing the brambles and pruning the trees. Not sure what the area is going to be but it looked like the beginnings of parkland. This would be particularly fitting with my project as the area has the backdrop of Barton Locks on the Manchester Ship Canal, and what I think is a gas works or fuel storage depot across the water. Felt very inspired and fired off 2 rolls of film, so hopefully some keepers in there.

Later in the day I went to the area near Manchester Airport which is being developed as the new freight hub; a large area of former farmland being bulldozed and turned into warehouse space. Again the light lent itself to picking out a lot of the manmade landforms created as part of the development works, though as it was late when I got there I only had time to do a couple of shots before I lost the light. This is another area I shall return to repeatedly to experience a wide gamut of conditions to get a real feel for the area and subject.

I find I am now getting much more selective about my use of depth of field. I had been trying to get everything in the frame sharp by using small apertures, but I am now realizing a greater sense of depth and atmosphere can result from slightly softening the focus on certain elements in the background or foreground. So  I have been working on using apertures which give the subject of greatest attention to the sharpest focus, and letting other elements fall slightly off focus, yet retaining enough sharpness to still be included as elements of interest and composition within the frame. This seems to work especially well with medium and large format images where the fall-off of focus has a very distinctive look. It is something I shall continue to experiment with. I am, however, conscious of the need to keep a uniform style and 'look' to the images, so need to study the images side to side to see if the 'sharp front to back' images and the 'selective focus' images sit well together. If not, I have a fair amount of re-shooting to do, though it is something I am prepared to do in order to maintain the integrity of the series of images.

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.

Film and digital

Slow progress over the last couple of weeks. Have managed to get out with the camera a little over the last couple of weekends, and the ideas for the Major project are starting to form into something more solid with a definite 'look' to the images. I want to pursue the idea of shooting at twilight, using a mix of ambient and artificial light (streetlights, flash, car headlights etc.)

Have started to use the digital camera as a way of shooting test shots in these difficult conditions, a bit like the old 'polariod' method of doing things. It gives the added bonus of providing a 'backup shot' incase there are any disasters with the film shots (which happens more frequently than I would like, especially with the large format camera). What has struck me the most is the difference in the 'look' between the shots done on digital and those on film, the two having a quite different feel and atmosphere. I've also experimented with making the shots more subtle and less 'popped', while trying to avoid them looking dull or lifeless.

Of the two images below, the top one was shot on film, and the bottom one on digital. Both have had some processing done in Photoshop, but retain the key differences in the 'look' of each shot straight from the scanner or RAW file. On balance I prefer the film version, it has an 'edge' to it which I feel is lost on the digital version, which is more 'polished' looking, and somehow looks a little artificial, almost CGI-like. Some may not like the colour cast from the lamp in the film shot, but I feel it adds to the atmosphere (it looks a bit greener for some reason on the original, less yellow than below - maybe the blog software playing a part there).

I've also been getting to grips better with scanning the images, with the discovery the for some reason, certain negs look better scanned as a positive, then inverted and colour balanced later. Im not sure of the science behind this, but I know it works with some negatives.

Still frustrated by my lack of progress on Assignment 2, I seem to be stuck on the Colour Accent brief in finding enough oppertuunities to make images using the principle, there just doesn't seem to be that much around which I can use. I shall endeavour to continue the search.

Took delivery of the book 'The Language of Landscape' by Anne Whiston Spirn, so this will hopefully give me a deeper insight into my subject matter and provide some food for philosophical thought. I shall post my thoughts on the book when I have read through it; it's quite a substantial book, so there is plenty to go at.

Assignment 2 at the Mersey and Crowden

Spent the week reading up on Stephen Shore for the Critical Review and making notes of points to include on my thoughts abouot his work. What may be a challenge is putting these thoughts into some kind of logical order whereby different points expand on or are connected to earlier points.I've realised that at the moment it is important just to get the thoughts down in written form, then I can start to order them and tweak with sentence structure and logical sequencing.

Photographically, Saturday saw an early start with a trip out to the banks of the Mersey to add a couple of shots for the 'Colour Accent' brief. I know it is becoming a photographers cliche, but I am genuinely feeling using medium / large format film cameras is slowing down the way I work and making me think a lot more about shots before I take them. This is mostly due to the cost of film and processing as I can ill-afford to waqste many shots, especially in large format.  The large bulky equipment just makes me feel like taking more time and care over what I am doing - of crafting the image rather than just taking it. The way I have been working lately tends to follow the flow of exploring and taking some initial shots with the digital SLR or compact, then returning the following week with one of the 'big cameras' to realise the vision. I think I should start taking back-up shots on the digital camera, as one or two mishaps lately have meant I have ended up with nothing to show for some trips out, and I feel very much tah time is running away at the moment.

Later in the day I headed out into Derbyshire with the intention of taking some shots for the 'Clear Seperation' brief. The areas where I have been exploring for my Major Project haven't lent themselves very well to this paricular brief, so I felt it was time to try something a litle different. I went to the area near Crowden, where there is a trail headoung out towards Black Hill, I tried for some minimalist landscapes. I also though a change of environment might help freshen my approach when it comes to the Major Project shots. As the light faded I took the opportunity to practise for the long exposure shots I have planned, tr get a feel for how things may turn out and develop a shooting methodology.

 I will have to wait until the films are back from the lab later in the week to asses the outcome. One of the great unknowns in this case is the effects of reciprosity failure of the film. With exposure of around 1 minute registered on the meter, I'm pretty sure I will have to expose for a while longer. Just how much longer, I will have to wait and see from the results of the shots.

Weekend wanderings and Hans-Christian Schink

Ventured further into the outlands of Manchester's periphery on Saturday afternoon to check out some locations for the major project. Took some preliminary shots of an area on the edge of a commercial development which can be seen protruding from behind a hedge from in farmland. Also around the same area was a dwelling which warrants inclusion in the part of the project concerned with buildings and residency in the edgelands.

I had planned to get up early to do some pre-sun-up shots, as the forecast had been for clear shies, but exhaustion mixed with insomnia had caused a bad night and saw me eventually sleeping in until mid morning, missing the best art of the day.

Sunday didn't get off to a good start either with me fretting about Assignment 2 'Colour Accent' project and getting into a bit of a quandary as to how to progress with it. I want a variety of shots for this project but seem to keep retuning to quite similar themes. Eventually got out to do some shooting by mid afternoon, by which time the light was bad, and the shots I managed to squeeze weren't really up to much. The silver lining was that I found an interesting location where some coppiced woodland had re-grown in way which made it look like a wicker forest. This probably wont fit in with y major project but may be useful for another type of project in the future.

I was browsing the library at work and came across a book by Hans-Christian Schink titled Verkehrsprojekte   Traffic Projects. This book is comprised largely of a collection of images of the, at that time, newly built road and rail infrastructure in to eastern Germany in the years after reunification of the country. The images feature huge swathes cut through the countryside, cuttings through  hillsides newly landscaped and ready for the road or railtrack to open, newly planted trees on the landscaped verges; grass still not yet grown over. Huge concrete and metal supporting structures grow out of the ground like odd alien plants. Shot in colour, yet having a hard still look, the images have grey monotone skies, minimal landscapes; no humans are present yet the stamp of mankind on the landscape is clearly the subject here.

The feeling I got as a viewer was one of emptyness, stillness; of a land sliced through by concrete, metal and machinery. The surfaces and structures in the images are new, not yet established or having softened with time and the growth of vegetation, brutally unyielding and faceless, without character.

What I really like about this series is the use of lines and space. There is a sense of openness in the images: the sky often occupies a large proportion of the image. The weather in this area of Germany must be very consistent, or Schink is remarkably fast at getting around many locations in the same day. All the images use the soft light of an overcast, still day to great effect, for it is not the 'brave, optimistic face of progress, opportunity and promise for all' we see of blue skies and smiling faces. I'm sure these images will be influential and inspirational for my own major project.

Early rise dawn shoot, research and develompent of ideas

Awoke early for some reason on Saturday morning, and looked out to see the first traces of daylight appearing and a clear sky with frost. Took advantage of my unplanned early rise by heading out to an area near Sale Water Park (one of the areas I have earmarked for my major project) to get some pre-sunrise shots in. lots of pastel colours in the sky and on land before sun-up. Took the opportunity to try out my new 250mm lens for the RZ67. It brings things closer than I expected, and a couple of times I found its field of view a little too narrow for the shot I had in mind, as it was difficult to move further away from the subject (which was quite far away) due to bushes, fences etc. Will have to wait until the film comes back from processing to evaluate the results and sum up what I leaned from the morning.

In the afternoon, headed out to the airport area again to try to get some shots for Assignment 2, 'A clear separation' and 'Colour accent'. I'm getting quite frustrated with the amount of time this assignment is taking. Working full time I can only get out at weekends to shoot, as it is dark when I come out of work, and luck dictates that the atmospheric conditions aren't always ideal for photography on the weekend. I shall, however, persevere in the knowledge that I shall try to catch up once the evenings draw out again after January / February.managed a shot of a building which may be suitable for the Colour Accent brief, but if not, it is good rearch to build on for shots for the MAjor project.

Sunday saw me head to an area near the Trafford Centre to check out some unused land with the Trafford Centre in the background. Althoughtall trees blocked the view I was expecting, I did see some perspectives which included modern flats appearing behind scrubland which may be useful for the major project. Took a short walk along the canal near Barton sing-bridge and took some shots to experiment with perspective and leading lines.

This weekend's progress:

• Slowly developing more ideas and locations for the major project.
• Getting a clear idea of themes which could run through the project.
• Found a couple of new locations which may prove to be useful.

A little disappointed that I still haven't finished Assignment 2, but the background work I have been doing may help me get back on schedule in later assignments.

Assignment 2 reshoot, thoughts on depth clues, experimenting with long exposure

Got the films back of the 5x4 shots I took last weekend. My 'lucky guess' approach to near-darkness photography didn't quite work out, so went back and re-shot in a more scientific way. Also re-shot the images I lost to a computer virus last week, and did some further experimental work.

Finally making feel I am making proper headway with Assignment 2, and have produced some images I am reasonably happy with. What I have learned so far with regard to 'Eliminating Depth Clues' is as follows.

• The longer the telephoto lens, the greater the compression on depth planes, which helps eliminate a sense of distance between them. 
• Eliminating the 'ground' or surfaces between objects further reduces the clues to the distances between things.
• Large depth of field (from small apertures) can help also by not separating objects through the softness associated with narrower depth of field
• Atmospherics play a large part; haziness and its muting of colours gives clues to depth and separation, clear air helps reduce these clues.
• Areas of similar or uniform colour / tone in clear atmosphere give less idea about depth than contrasting colours / tones.
• Looking down towards ground sloping up and away (eg at the other side of a valley) flattens perspective due to it being nearer to a plane parallel to the film plane.

The further experimental work mentioned earlier is connected to finding the optimum balance between ambient daylight at dusk and artificial light from streetlights, floodlights etc. I did quite a bit of this last year during the 'Twilight' series of images, which were shot in the urban environment, but the project I am working on involves lighting further away, so may be a little different.

One thing that can definitely be said is that this is much easier to shoot on digital than film, as the results can be reviewed immediately. As I am getting more and more interested in the use of  medium and large format cameras, I will need to transfer the knowledge and adapt it for use with film. This involves factoring in reciprocity failure into the equation, and also tackling the idea of diminishing returns during very long exposures as dusk turns in to night, and the amount of ambient light falling off during the actual exposure. I predict a lot experimentation is going to be needed to perfect a technique. I will look to two of my favourite photographers, Todd Hido and Bill Jackson, for inspiration.

Tonight I will be reading more on Stephen Shore for my critical review, and making some notes on points I want to make in the review.

Research, Assignment 2, Major project, Salford stadium and 5x4 shots at the Airport

Spent the early afternoon exploring some more 'Edgelands' near Barton Bridge, the new(ish) Salford Rugby stadium and Trafford Park.

A large area which used to be open, unused land is being re-developed. Heavy machinery is shaping the landscape, and what looks like a lagoon is being created. The old 'desire paths' which can be seen on the Google satellite images of the area no longer exist. I was a little disappointed be the extent to which this area had been 'improved', but much of it still fits within the brief for my periphery project.

Took a number of experimental shots to think about composition and subject. Need to return at a time when the light is more in keeping with what I have in mind for the project. It seems strange to be dismissing sunny, clear autumn days as not quite what I am after for the project, but there is a neutrality of mood which I want to get across, and sunny days seem to be beautifying the images somewhat.

Spent the latter part of the afternoon near Manchester Airport. Took the Sinar 5x4 camera along for a specific shot of a river tunnel under the runway which I thought would benefit from camera movements.

Just getting over yet another setback - my laptop got a virus /malware infection yesterday and had to be restored back to the factory settings. As I result I lost the shots I was going to submit for Assignment 2 from the Eliminating Depth Clues project. Although I am able to re-shoot these, it will add extra time on until the submission of this assignment, which has already taken much longer than I intended it to, and with the nights drawing in now, opportunities to get out to take shots are getting scarce - weekend only now as I can't really get out from work before sunset.

Lessons learned:

Back up useable shots on the computer immediately: I'm now having to reshoot some I lost due to computer virus infection -5 minutes of backing up would have saved a day or so of re-shooting. These were recent shots also, so "I'll do it all in a batch later" isn't the way to go.

Get there early if the intention is to shoot after sunset with large format (and medium format) cameras. It is extremely difficult to frame and focus the shot in very low light - best to set up early and wait for the light. Ended up taking an 'educated guess' at the focus for the last shot as I could hardy see anything on the ground glass at all.

Assignment 2, re-shoots, further ideas and research.

Managed to get out to shoot images last weekend and this. Had a bit of a set-back last Saturday; just on the way out to shoot,picked up camera bag off chair to the loud sound of clattering onto the floor: had forgotten to zip up camera bag. My Mamiya RZ 67,  with the 65mm L-A lens which I've only owned a week, landed nose-first on the floor, buckling the filter ring. I'd bought this lens with the idea to do landscapes, and bought a Hi-tech system with ND grad starter kit to go with it. Not happy - the buckle means the system won't go on the lens - exploring repair options at the moment. Wife not pleased about the new gouges in the polished oak flooring either.

Got film back from Peak Imaging at the weekend - looks like my guesstimates on exposure for the near-dark shots I did last week were way off; a few almost-blank framed on the roll, though pleased with a couple of shots of other things to do with my projects. One re-shoot needed due to being over-zealous with the ND grads at a 'jaunty' angle, but it was an experiment and sometimes one learns as much from ones mistakes as ones successes, so another one to chalk up to experience.

Hopefully my run of bad luck / stupidity is nearing an end, with the experiences of the last couple of weeks being a salutary lesson, and I can get on with being more productive.

Trying to stay positive, ventured out on Saturday morning to the open land again between Stretford and the M60 to work on the images for the 'Eliminating Depth Clues' brief, light dull and flat, so helpful in that respect, a bit uninspired and damp but saw possibilities for other projects while there, so will follow those up later.

In the afternoon went to Styal side of Manchester Airport, and did some shots which I felt went towards the 'Eliminating Depth Clues' brief, so stuck prints in my log with notes etc.

Sunday morning was wet, so watched a short Guardian newspaper video on the authors of the 'Edgelands' book which has proved to be quite inspirational towards my major project. Also looked on the internet at the work of painters, Gorge Shaw and Davis Reyson, whose work explores those urban corners and patches we pass everyday, but perhaps don't really see, due to their mundane nature and familiarity. I was left wondering: these are the work of painters, presented in a 'photographic' style (apologies, don't know the correct term for this style), if these were actual photos, rather than paintings, would they hold the same appeal to the viewer? If I present similar images in my project, would the appeal be lost? What is the artist putting into these images (or the viewer drawing from them) which is so appealing?

They are undoubtedly appealing images; the care, craft and skill in producing then is remarkable - maybe it is just that: the realisation that the artist has taken the time to observe and work the image which makes us as a viewer take notice, to look afresh. What is needed is for myself to work on a way of doing the same through the medium of the photographic image, to somehow show that study, thought and consideration of the subject.

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Spent Sunday afternoon around the periphery of the airport again, re-shooting a couple of imaged which hadn't quite worked from previous attempts, and trying to develop skills at shooting with long exposures after sunset but before dark.

Research for major project

Went on reconnaissance around Manchester Airport on Sunday afternoon to get familiar with parts of the outlying area and to spot possible sites for the photo project. Took some preliminary shots of a radar tower and a red and white-chequered box / building with radio masts. Eager to get the film  Also found an interesting place where the approach lights cross a small, steep, wooded valley. I'm sure there will be some sort of image which can be formed from this area. Got a bit sidetracked by watching planes take off and land, then got caught in torrential rain and soaked through, so didn't stay until dusk as planned.

Must remember to take full waterproofs in future to make sure rain doesn't spoil my plans.

Some further ideas for the project are starting to form.

Research - and start of blog

This is a blog to accompany the Your Own Portfolio module of the BA(Hons) in Photography with the Open College of Arts.

I had been running just a physical logbook, preferring the tactile, material process of putting the log together. I have decided to run this blog alongside my log book because, as was recently pointed out to me, my problematic handwriting may create a disadvantage when it comes to assessment time, with the assessors having to put in a lot of effort into deciphering my scrawl.

Recent activity with the research for my major project, which is based around the idea of the periphery of developed areas, is to read the book ‘Edgelands’ byPaul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts (published by Vantage). For me it’s a fascinating literary journey through just the kind of area I will be venturing into to make my images . Beautifully written, amusing and thought-provoking, I look forward to a chapter or two each evening, expanding my mind to the possibilities for my project. It would be easy to start trying to capture the essence of the book in my images, but I want to avoid that; my purpose is to make the project my own ;but the book is certainly inspirational and helping me to form some concrete ideas.

In addition, I’ve also just re-read two books by Michael Freeman – The Photographer’s Eye and Perfect Exposure. I feel re-reading books serves well to refresh the memory and also often leads to a greater insight 

into what the author is getting at the second time around.

Last weekend I went for an exploratory walk around part of the perimeter of Manchester Airport. I have walked a different area around the airport before, and as on that occasion I took some snaps to get ideas of locations for my project. There were some interesting juxtapositions of pleasant buildings with a backdrop of the airport perimeter fence in view.

It’s a shame the photo’s can’t capture sound as this was really intrusive when the jets were taking off. Still, it was a good exercise in building the foundations of the project and helping to form the ideas. No doubt I will be returning to the area many times over the coming months.