A Start...

Newcastle & Hartlepool.





I have chosen to start this project by using a 35mm film camera with coloured film. I have never used coloured film before however I prefer working with film cameras and feel the colours, quality and effect of images produced by film cameras work best with the kind of street photography i aim to capture images of.

Because I've just started to take images and not had my any rolls of film developed I have been going along and digitally taking photographs as well, so that I am able to show my tutors and class members what kind of aspects of the streets I've been photographing and the way in which my ideas are heading. Snapping the odd digital image amongst my film camera work also allows me to immediately look back on what I've been photographing and consider where to go next with my ideas and images. 

Student Inspiration

CCAD Student:
Jessica Holloway 



During our most recent professional studies lesson we were shown examples of work by third year student who have now graduated. We were shown the students work simply to show us what a photo archive was and how we could create one ourselves, however one of the students we were shown had produced work which i spotted in her archive which i found very inspiring. 


Jessica Holloway had capturing images around a north east town on a film camera using coloured film. This is exactly what i was hoping to do for this project. I was able to find Jessica's work on her Facebook page and i have chosen the images i liked most and give the best impression of what i hope to set out and create myself. 





https://www.facebook.com/jessholloway.photography/photos_stream

I think these night time shots look amazing on the coloured film, however i can imagine capturing the image perfecting in terms of not over or under exposing it is easier said than done. This style however is definitely something i feel inspired to try myself.

When i first got our assignment brief my immediate thought was street photography, by that I mean photography of people on the streets not just the streets themselves. Although i think the streets and buildings in the North East look interesting and tell a story of their own, I just felt that actually stopping people in the street and capturing images like what Jessica has done here would mean you may have a bit of a chat with the individual and end up finding out something 'extraordinary' about them. My only concern or set back for this idea however is whether ill have the confidence to stop people in the street. 

https://www.facebook.com/jessholloway.photography/photos_stream

North East Photography Network

Aaron Guy



"Man will always look to dig something from the ground to move him forward"


As a starting point for my editorial project i have decided to start capturing images of the places in the north east that surround me. Every village or town i visit in my normal daily activities i aim to capture images of, as i truly believe there are some things in the north east which are extraordinary however because we see them everyday we do not necessarily stop to realise that.

Last week our class were lucky enough to visit the Northern Mining Institute in Newcastle to view the work of Aaron Guy. Aaron's project which he has been working on since 2006 all stemmed from photography of mining within the north east. It was incredibly interesting to listen to the context behind Aaron's work and see the way in which he researches and gathers ideas for his work. 

Aaron's influence came from living in the north east and his father and grandfather, he spoke of how extraordinary aspects of the north east are and how he was so happy to stay within the north east when creating his photography. Hearing him say this and looking at his work reassured me and my initial ideas of just capturing aspects of hartlepool or the north east as a start to my project was a good thing to do. 

Aaron's work can be found on various websites and is set to be shown in the Baltic museum at Newcastle at the end of this month. 

http://www.northeastphoto.net/?portfolio=aaron-guy

http://thenewbridgeproject.com/tag/aaron-guy/

Phonar:

http://phonar.covmedia.co.uk/2013/10/aaron-guy-working-with-the-archive/

Vice

Editorial Magazines;

Vice have an online blog and a magazine. They report on current day issues, and stories which we don't always see in the main news headlines around the world. What interests me so much about vice is the visual creativity they portray through their written articles with amazing photography and through the film work in their online documentaries.
Ive chosen to present some examples of vice photography and a snippet of the article which goes along side them. I feel this photography is so intruiging and not like the typical photographs you'd maybe see on the websites of other news reports such as the BBC.
This style of documentary photography is something which always interests and inspires me.

This article is pretty much the first article i saw on vice website, it's not like i had to trawl through numerous articles on the site to find one that could give an example of this amazing documentary style photography.

This image is a great example of showing how Vice and their editorial style of photography is very different to that of BBC news or any other big news reporters. The view point of the image is very different, it gives the viewer a more interesting and what i feel, realistic look on things.  When i look at this image i feel like in almost in the situation myself or have an insiders look on things. 

Richard Whitehead

Editorial Photography:

"Imagery that supports the written word" 



http://www.richwhitehead.com


The first individual photographer i have chosen to research for our editorial project is Richard Whitehead, who we are lucky enough to have as a pathway leader and lecturer at our college, Cleveland College of Art and Design. Richard has worked for serval magazines and newspapers over his years as a photographer so getting the opportunity to view his work, and hear about his influences, research techniques and way of working has been an amazing opportunity.

I was inspired by so many pieces of Richard's work. Rather than post a lot of his work on my blog, I would like to present the the images by Richard which stood out to me personally, and give some explanations as to why this is and what inspiration or ideas his work has given me in relation to our current project. 

The image is documenting real life, Richard has took an image of something that was simply just right there before him. Richard explained how he lived in this area so as part of research he would walk around the area figuring out what was going on when, and where things are. Already i have used this technique in Hartlepool; simply just walking or driving and looking. Immediately you start to see things you think would work great in an image, you're then able to return to the distinction with ideas of what cameras and what compositions would work best. 

Im very much interested in street photography and intend to capture images on the street as a start for my editorial project. 

The reason i like this image is because i find it relatable. When looking at this i straight away think of Seaton Carew which is a sea front I've known all my life literally a 5 minute drive from our college. This kind of image is something i would love to have captured myself. Again like the previous image its a photograph just simply capturing whats right in front of you. I like the straight on view point the image has been taken from and the fact none of the people in the image are looking are the camera, it gives the feel that the photographer wasn't even there. 

Street photography in the north east was the first idea i came up with when given the assignment brief, however during Richard presentation of his work this series of images were something that really stood out to me. Again i feel the reason they stood out to me was because they were real, and relatable. In this project Richard simply went out with his friends, had a drink and took photos. This is something that would be so easy to do and will always have such an interesting story behind them. With living in a village myself, the only thing me, my friends and all young people around the village have to do is go to the pub. This is something i definitely intend to explore myself in this project.

Amateur boxing in Hartlepool. 

I throughly enjoy any photography that relates to the North East, this series of amateur boxing photographs taken in hartlepool really make me think of the North East. Boxing seems to be such a popular sport around these areas so its more the fact that the images reflect upon the North East that i like them rather than the style or any other concept of the photographs. 

Editorial Photography; Extraordinary

  Understanding Editorial Photography.



"Imagery that supports the written word."


Extraordinary; "Very unusual or remarkable"


With the brief research I've done and lectures I've attended so far i have gathered that editorial photography must result in imagery that has a story behind it, or photographs which are taken purposely to put along side a written story. Because as a part of this project, the images our class produces are going to be put into a magazine made by us, i understand that i must have a story behind my images, or something which can be written along side them, interesting enough for a viewer to read. Through experience of previously learning about photography and narrative, i now know that i don't need to seek out a story to put with my images, as all images have a narrative or story behind them.

So far i have had a few ideas, however i am most attracted to just going out and capturing whats on my door step. I intend to capture images in my own village, and within any local towns or cities in the north east i may visit soon. I feel that just by photographing whats around me to begin with, i will be able to generate or even just stumble across more interesting concepts. When it comes to extra ordinary i feel that i'll no doubt come across things locally that even i find extraordinary, such as extraordinary individuals, if not, it will certainly be viewed as extraordinary to someone else, somewhere, as the imagery will be of a culture and area many people have never properly known.

Final Evaluation

Landscape Photography

Hartlepool



The first ideas i found during this project were through a walk around hartlepool in which i searched for a location to photograph; I found two aspects of the town which particularly stood out to me. These were terraced houses and billboards. 

I began to research into photographers whom had captured landscape images of either of these subject matters. The first photographer i researched was Bill Brandt, as when i thought of terraced housing and black and white format, i straight away thought of his work. What appealed to me most about Bill Brandt’s work was that his photography was so down to earth, the work never seemed to aim to glamourise the industrial scenes the images were captured in. Following this research i began to research more so into billboard photography. I liked the way in which the bright bold advertisements almost contradicted the often drab and run down streets they stood in. 

The more i took to the streets to photograph billboards around the town the more i began to take notice of what was actually being advertised on the billboards. I found it very intriguing when i came to realise every advertisement was of cheap, bargain, money saving products such as cheap clothing, beer and cheap food. This then added so much more interest into my study of billboards, as i felt that by photographing them and the streets they stood in, what was being advertised seemed to say a lot about how hartlepool as a town or its population are viewed; poor, unemployed, in need of a bargain? I was encouraged to research more into this concept by my tutor, who told me to look into the billboard companies that advertise around hartlepool.

The main challenge i came to face during this project was found in the dark room. I found that after finding a suitable exposure times for the prints, the buildings would look successful but the sky was appearing bleached out. I realised that in order to fix this problem i needed to expose the sky for a longer amount of time. To do this i exposed the full print for the correct amount of time, then using a 0.0 filter which was something i had never used before, I exposed the print again for the amount of time needed. By using a 0.0 filter i was able to darken only the highlights in the image. One further issue I then came to find during this process was that the 0.0 filter was making the billboards which were often white, too dark. To overcome this problem i used the technique of burning, which meant the billboards were covered from any further exposure and the sky was then receiving the longer exposure it needed. 

On reflection I would have taken more care in allowing my negatives to dry correctly and I would have taken more care of the negatives in order to prevent them from becoming scratched or stained, as i felt this was something which I felt let down by when I enlarged my prints. Overall I felt the work I produced met the requirements of the brief and what I personally thought was most successful about this project was the deeper concept I came to find during it.