Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art

SUNDERLAND

The current exhibition in Sunderland was titled 'You Are The Company In Which You Keep' where the group were experiencing different collections of film, digital photography and collages from various artists. In the gallery there were a good range of interesting styles and ideas to help me in future.

http://www.ngca.co.uk/exhibs/default.asp?id=191&prnt=18

'burn' is a horrendous creation: a dream-like sequence which leads to self-destruction and tragedy. The main characters are seemingly unaware of the destruction all around them- indeed the disaster speedily all around them and quickly enclosing. The characters ignore the fact that their house and belongings  being destroyed with no concern for the future. 

Evaluation

First time I got this assignment I thought that the film camera will be challenging as it's new to me but learning something new can be fun and interesting. I hardly know anything about street photography or any photographers who do this topic so started to research on the definition to grasp what is behind of it and a way to tell a story if needed. Street photography overall was hard to figure out the right settings as I'm too used to looking onto screen after taking shot and just improve on it but the film camera you can't and  can't redo the shot which hurts as that day and moment has gone. I have been unlucky with films as they been getting fogged, scratched and dusty so I had to wash them but then ended up have streaks across the negatives and half an developed negative. Starting shooting the rolls of six films I was hoping that this old film camera actually works and not break on me sometimes it does as the camera takes time to get power from the battery as I was getting freezes when shooting saying BC which I guessed meant battery change even though the battery is fine so that stopped me from chilling around the streets noticing shapes, shadows, facial expressions, as I seen moody, stressed, worried emotions which is interesting and spotting the tones and creases on clothes when passing a variations of lighting example dim light which made me focus on Fstop to constantly quickly change before the shot I want vanished.  The most exciting part of this project is seeing the processed film from the drier seeing if my story of travelling around the streets has come to picture successfully.


For my theme of this assignment is that I looked at how people lives their lives on the streets such as cafe's as in the way they communicate with others showing different gestures, facial expressions and postures and looked at how architecture around us but finding it in window reflections making my images looking all abstract. I find that window reflections can help the image have more things to look out for such as shops that's near, old victorian buildings so that the viewers can get the feel of my surrounding I was taking place on shooting film. I found people looking in different directions intriguing as the light hits on side of face showing light to dark and making creases in clothing a nice texture. Photographing people on the streets has shown relationships on the way they walk in a group, partners or single such as the cafe shot where theres like two on left and right and a women alone in the middle just breaks up the image to me, not looking too much of people so you can get the feel of atmosphere of that place which gives a calm, relaxing sensation.

Street photography has given me experience to view the world differently and take in to thought and look out for the architecture and the view of people living their daily lives. Through this project I think I have gained great social skills and more confidents in going out shooting on my own. Overall I think this was new to me and a big push for me to stick in and stay interested. For my finals of themes I had linked my images with Jakub Ostrowski, Martin Parr, polly Braden and Vivian Marier as they all helped with ideas on how to portray the human interaction and bearings on what to look for in the streets and show the views visually what I see and feel that is an eye catching pass by moments in the streets.

Prints So Far That I Would Like To Experiment With For Finals

The man in the picture looks as if he's not amused with the cafe he just left and there's a lot of detail on his clothes. I didn't notice the women looking through the window I was mainly intrigued on the man's moody character. I find that the women looking through the window gives a sense of feel what the cafe's atmosphere is in the way she's sitting all gormless. 

I like this image as everyone is just not bothered that there's an man posing like a statue and I find that cuts off the clothes colouring he's around as everyone is wearing dark clothing and there's him right in the middle bright white. 

I really like this image because of how different everyone facial expressions area and their postures it just gives character and something to look for in the picture. This style looks all crisp as the ground is all broken up into streaks, darkness, bright white and the windows has caught some words from other shops and cafe's around me.

This image I think that its the shadows that's making me like this as it draws my eyes and the figures are all kind of blacked out that blends with the bold colouring buildings.

Group Critique

Group critique wasn't that terrifying as I thought, instead it turned out to be good for me to express my interpretation about my work and give me a chance to go out of my comfort zone and talk to the group.

Before I had to began  the group critique I was given a question sheet to help me reflect on my work and others when trying to describe the photographs. The question guide sheet enabled me to think more creatively on idea and the concept when viewing photographs.

The group had to put all of their own folded up descriptions into a hat and then pick one and try and find out which photographs fitted with description which I found difficult and had to repeat reading the description to get my head around it.

After we had found the students work fitted with description I had picked out of hat I then had to talk out loud describing creatively by looking at their photographs and description to help me give out my thoughts on what student is portraying, I said something like she is interested in photographing subjects that are lost and found such as why is their historical structures about what is the fascination of this is their a hidden story behind this.

The frightening thing about this group critique is the thought of students not liking my photographs but had to just take their opinion as it's the eye of the beholder, everyone sees differently.

At the end of the group critique I then had to fill in students strengths and area of development which is helpful for us to improve on a specific weakness.

Darkroom- Developing Film 

 

Technique I use to pop open film canister is using a 2p my first time in dark room opening the canister was not fun i had to come out to take a breather as I wasn't as quick as everyone else that caused me to freak out but caught up eventually. The next stage is to roll the film into reel which is fussy and my film kept coming off and going to the floor and trying to pick up the film in the dark ending up hitting my head on table ouch :(

I have to make sure that the door is fully closed properly so I don't get light into room and going into my film which will cause my negatives of being fogged.

When I have finished doing the real I then have to insert the cylindrical tube in the middle of reel and put in the tank and fit the funnel in tank to take in the chemicals. 

I measure 75ml of developer and dilute it with 300ml water and pour into developer tank.With the thermometer I need to check the temperature which is needed to be set at 20 degrees. When the temperature is right I then pour in tank and agitate for a minute and stop for 10 seconds and carry on doing this for 20 minutes. Then throw the developer away and go and fill funnel with the stopper and agitate this for 20 seconds and pour stopper back in bottle. Then I use a fixer and pour it into funnel that is fixed to tank and agitate this for 3minutes and pour fixer back in bottle to be reused. I then wash the film for 20 minutes to wash off all the chemicals and place into drier for 30minutes.

Martin Parr

 

Martin Parr is a British photographer that is known of his photographic projects that are some pictorial representations of various critical  aspects of modern life on the suburban life of England. I like Martin Parr as his characters and subjects portrays themselves in his pictures and creates a wonderful relationship of his characters  with the surrounding environment and the way they portray themselves onto environment. Martin Parr's photographs are often humorous, his images doesn't fail to kindly show a rare emotion from his subjects by leaving them in an ambiguous emotional reaction.    

Martin Parr's tip in street photography is simply not getting people to smile as this will photograph their natural state and won't feel forced. Martin Parr's street photography have strong statements about the society and always has a certain viewpoint or critique. Most of his pictures are funny, interesting or depressing but makes good statements to society. 

Famous Quotes from Marin Parr
“I looked around at what my colleagues were doing, and asked myself, ‘What relationship has it with what’s going on?’ I found there was a great distortion of contemporary life.Photographers were interested only in certain things. A visually interesting place, people who were either very rich or very poor, and nostalgia.”

“I go straight in very close to people and I do that because it’s the only way you can get the picture. You go right up to them. Even now, I don’t find it easy. I don’t announce it. I pretend to be focusing elsewhere. If you take someone’s photograph it is very difficult not to look at them just after. But it’s the one thing that gives the game away. I don’t try and hide what I’m doing – that would be folly.”

Walker Evans

Here the image to me draws my eyes to the three women in middle of picture due to the beam of light reflection on window to the ground making little shadows cutting of the beam of light into streaks of shadows from women's legs.  

This image above I feel that Walker is making the viewers feel what's happening in the image such as is that car about to knock over the small guy and make us think does the guy feel like an outcast towards his height. The composition in image is good how hes not focusing on one subject he wants the viewers to wander into the image to spot other themes e.g. business men keeping themselves to themselves not looking at other things around them just focusing on what they are heading. 

Walker Evans is most famous for photographing the great depression with the FSA meaning Farm Security Administration, his work of Subway riders in New York City and his street photos and urban landscapes all around America. I think Walker draws viewers to street photography by showing how honest and real it is but can be seen as quite cruel and brutal at the same time. 

Street photography is difficult in terms of the approach  like having the guts to photograph strangers and thinking to yourself is it right to photograph this person. Doing street photography I find it quite a task to shoot on the streets as I need to do many things at once. It is hard to communicate with subjects especially with my confidence and hard to compose, frame, time the shot and have the right settings.

Walker Evans work instinctively whiles he working on a project, simply by focusing on a certain  neighborhood, city or whatever catches your eye. The benefit of working this way is that it gives us freedom and prevents us from stuck and restricted. Walker Evans makes his images have a sense of purpose as in people to question the images he snapped "why everyday make us have deep thought and consideration of our everyday life and what is peoples mission and what they want to achieve through their work" .

WALKER EVANS SENSE OF PURPOSE

The chief thing I’ve noticed is a solidifying of purpose and conviction and I’ve gained security about what I’m doing. But also part of me says:beware of this, don’t accept acclaim; be careful about being established. There’s this problem. How do you get around the Establishment when something is establishing you? You’re established when you’re in these big museums. I find that quite a challenge. That’s why I’m going to do something with all these things, you find something else, establish that. Part of me doesn’t want this to be established. It shouldn’t be because it tames it. I think I’m doing something that is not acceptable. To find acceptance is quite a thing.