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.
Dodging and burning was a dark room technique which was new to me during this project. I was aware of what the technique was but had never really needed to use it in previous dark room work.
The reason i used burning in my work is because i found that the perfect exposure for the buildings and objects in a lot of my images was not the same amount of time i found the sky needed to be exposed for.
This image was the image i came to find i needed to use burning for.
The struggles i had with this image were that any exposure with brought out the clouds and suited the sky well, made the buildings and especially the white bill boards far too dark.
My tutor told me to try using a 0.0 filter, which is a filter that only effects the highlights in an image.
i found through creating test strips that the exposure i needed to use for the full image was 25 seconds. I experimented with using the 0.0 filter and exposing the image for different amounts of time in order to find out what length of exposure would best bring out the sky with this filter. Unfortunatley by using this filter, it meant that although the sky was beginning to look more and more dramatic and successful in my work, the white billboards which were of course supposed to be the focus of my work, were becoming far too dark in the prints.
Inorder to resolve this problem i figured out what exposure i needed to expose my whole print to, what exposure best suited the sky and image using the 0.0 filter, forgetting about the billboards. once i had worked this out i then used a piece of card which i used to cover up the billboards to the right side of the image, to avoid them getting any darker. I constantly moved the piece of card in different directions whilst covering the billboards to ensure no lines were created on the print.
"Manufactured Landscapes is a feature length documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Burtynsky makes large-scale photographs of 'manufactured landscapes' – quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines, dams. He photographs civilization's materials and debris, but in a way people describe as "stunning" or "beautiful," and so raises all kinds of questions about ethics and aesthetics without trying to easily answer them."
Ive been trying to research into why the billboards in hartlepool advertise what they advertise? While walking round capturing images of hartlepool I've noticed that the bill boards I've seen consist of ads such as strongbow, stella, aldi and bargain clothing. It would seem almost impossible to ever see a billboard advertising something like channel in hartlepool or any north east town for that matter. Ive noticed a lot of the billboards in hartlepool are run by a company called "clear channel" http://www.clearchannel.co.uk/who-we-are/
Unfortunately I've been quite unsuccessful in finding hard evidence for the questions i have regarding these billboards. My understanding of how companies work with companies such as clear channel are that they would pay clear channel to be able to have one of their ads on billboards around the town. I would summise that companies research and work out what income bracket people living in that area are under and such factors as this, before deciding whether their company or brand would be worth advertising there; hense why channel or other high premium brands are not advertised in the town. These luxuries would be seen as unaffordable so therefore unappealing to the the people living in the town.
This would explain why such advertisements such as aldi get advertised in Hartlepool. The idea of cheap food and bargains would be expected to appeal to people living in hartlepool because as a whole hartlepool is seen as a town with a low income bracket in comparison to other towns or places in the country.
John Davies http://www.johndavies.uk.com A County Durham born photographer, who documents Britain through Landscape Photography. I always find it really useful and inspiring when i am able to find a photographer that doesn't just link well with the project I'm studying, but is a photographer whom has either lived or photographed the north east. through living in the north east all my life and studying here, i throughly enjoy seeing work by photographers that have worked here or lived here. Its interesting to see the way in which different photographers interpret the north east. With its often what i feel, negative, view of the area, i often feel professional photographers work show the north east in an interesting and appealing light. I often feel proud to be from this area when seeing the amazing work that is often produced by professional photographers. Here are some of the photographs by John Davies I've chosen as they are the images which most appeal to me. I feel a lot of the image that appeal to me by this photographer are similar to the images I've been trying to shoot myself in hartlepool. Similar view points and subject matter can also relate to previous photographers I've studied in this project such as Bill Brandt.
Easington Colliery, County Durham 1983
What i feel is most successful in this image and what makes it most appeal to me is the view point in which the image has been taken from. The eye of the view is drawn across the images again and again due to the direction of the terraced houses. Terraced housing is something which is such a regular sight in the north east of england. I also like the bold clouds in the sky and the way in which the image has been taken from a hight. This idea of capturing terraced housing from a height reminds me very much of Bill Brandt's work.
Allotments, Easington Colliery, County Durham 1983
Again i like the view point this image has been taken from as the eye seems to be drawn across the image because of the receptive lines of paths and fencing. The sky is very dramatic in this image much like the previous image. Dramatic clouds are something which i was beginning to capture in my own images. I think dramatic skies add such great interest to an image especially when the image is in black and white format.
Kenton, Newcastle-upon-tyne 2009
yet another dramatic sky which i think adds so much to this image. I like how in this image unlike the others the main focus of the image in central. The very square and dramatic shaped building creates more drama to the image. The various different and unusual shapes create interest in almost every area of the image, such as the checkered path, the odd shaped building, the twisting trees and scattered clouds. This image in my opinion is very well composed.
Rather than just taking an interest into how billboards in hartlepool look in my landscape photography, I thought it may be helpful to research in more depth around billboards especially in this area. When actually looking for information on todays billboards in hartlepool i found old images of hartlepool and its billboards. I did not even realise billboards would date this far back.
Its interesting to compare how the town looks today and what the billboards actually advertise, what they look like and where they are placed compared to what it was like in the past.
"Billboards on the entrance to Throston Bridge, old Hartlepool"
"Raby Road."
This images does not look composed very well at all. This therefore leads me to question why the image was taken? it looks to me as though the image was almost taken in a rush; the photographer wants the viewer to focus on this large building in the centre of the image? is that because of something to do with the building itself or is the focused supposed to be on the billboard on the side? By the looks of what is advertised on the billboard i am led to believe this image was taken during the era of the second world war. the bill board reads "a power for peace." its extremely interesting to see such things being advertised on billboards at this time as i think to what advertisements I've seen on modern day billboards in hartlepool, its all just bargain food, bargain clothes or things to do with television. -all consumer based.
"Large billboard posters at the corner of Raby Road and Perth Street."
This image in particular appears to show that in comparison to now, billboards in hartlepool were a lot more bold and fun and placed in much larger and more visible areas. These images don't actually have a date on them however it may be easy to surmise that these date back to a time when hartlepool or the north east region as a whole was doing well in terms of wealth, as a lot is being advertised a lot of what appears to be items to buy. The buildings look as though they stand tall and proud, and look fairly newly built.
No photographer in particular can be found responsible for any of these images, so this leads to wonder what the purpose was for these landscape street images. Where they for a purpose such as aiming to make hartlepool look appealing and well off? or are they just ordinary street photographs taken by a photographer for no particular use.
From a photographers point of view i very much like the angle this particular image has been taken from. I like how the viewer facers the corner of the street head on, meaning the eye is then drawn down both the left and right hand sides of the image. This image reminds me of some of the images i have been capturing myself.
After finding the billboards i came across in hartlepool interesting, i chose to go out and photograph them. The research i carried out previous to this surrounding a billboard photographer i found on flickr really helped me capture the billboard landscape images in a much more interesting and thoughtful way. I was inspired by the unusual view points and angles David Evers chose to photograph billboards at. Something else which i had actually chosen to research before going out to get inspiration for shoot locations in hartlepool was the work of Bill Brandt. What interested me most about Bill Brandt's photography was not only the fact he worked with black and white, which obviously linked into the project i am currently studying, but a lot of his work included terraced housing. This terraced housing is something which i find of great interest and think looks incredibly interesting when captured at the right angle, especially in black and white format. While out capturing images of billboards in hartlepool i was able to also include this interesting factor or terraced housing. Heres a couple of my images and the test strips and negatives i dealt with in the process.
I think this last image shows influence from both photographers mentioned in this blog post; Bill Brandt and David Evers. The view point particularly shows resemblance of both photographers work. Here are examples of photographers work below;
