WALKING ARCHITECTURE
This small booklet explores a narrative of walking the streets of Oxford through a series of unique photographs that depict the phenomena one would experience. The booklet is intended to be used not as a road map to explore the city itself, but instead gives glimpse’s into the sensations of experiencing the space without having to physically be present in these cold, dark, night alleys of Oxford.
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OXFORD CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN
OXFORD MISSION CHURCH
ST EDMUND HALL
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PROCESS
BACKWARD
FORWARD
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The method used throughout the booklet was structured by stopping every 100 paces and taking a series of photographs of the surrounding location. It was important that the measurement on which the walk is based not be in a conventional form of measurement such as meters but be measured on the directional movement of ones body. Upon reaching each stopping location 30 photographs looking behind and 30 photographs looking forward were
taken with each specific photo being shot in a slightly different position from the previous photograph. Once all the photographs were complete they were developed by overlaying each set of 30 photographs directly on top of each other and than reducing the opacity to a minimal amount. This technique creates a specific blurred aurora that depicts the atmosphere of each location. 39
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Night Alleys: the secret shadows and faded luminous embers of an older, more archaic time, there is a certain aesthetic nostalgia that one can only find when exploring these lesser-known backstreet’s. When traversing these historic corridors of Oxford one is overcome by a particular sense of self awareness, the enigmatic ghostly presence of a primordial human fear that drives us to view things in a different context. It is this irrational poetic, the cognitive imagery of Oxford that has been captured in this series of photographs. The structure of this micro-pilgrimage begins at St Edmund Hall, from here we travel through a series of small streets, stopping every 100 foot steps to experience the particular confined aura along our journey. Upon reaching the midpoint we find ourselves behind the Church of St Mary the Virgin, the center from which the University of Oxford grew. Continuing Through the alleys we cross what is now the high street of Oxford and the center of modernity for this small city. Our journey ends at the Oxford Mission Church, where the night alleys end and we once again realign ourselves with the modern Oxford.
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