Beauty within neglected and abandoned spaces
My intentions for my first idea are to find a scene that relates back to neglected and abandoned spaces in the built up landscape and to try and capture beauty within these photos either through primary or development of these images. I will be looking closely at the work of artists who associate themselves with this scenery and this kind of photography, I hope to work closely with the inspiration I get from what they have achieved. I am leaning towards the idea of visiting locations such as Southend and maybe some parts of London that can be perceived as abandoned or neglected; this allows me to stick to the rural landscape which I have taken to well in the past.
Mood Board
Chris Frazer Smith Michael Kenna Paul Politis Henk Van Rensburgen Sarah Pickering
Rut Blees Luxemburg
Idris Khan Frank Breuer
Keegan Gibbs Keegan Gibbs is a well-known graffiti photographer; I took to him because of the locations graffiti photography connotes to me. Street art is more notably found in run down, derelict places; a prime example for neglected and abandoned spaces. Gibbs captures neglect in a particular way that separates himself from most other photographers in the category. I believe he does so through a high noise and large crop area. In this photo I have chosen as an example of his work these features are evident. This image I think has the key visual qualities that anyone would expect of neglect and abandonment, mostly through the saturated and simplistic flat colours. There are a number of leading lines in this photo adding to the busy composition and aiding the neglectful sense. These lines running straight through any dominant areas enforce the flatness we see, it can be strongly argued that this was Gibbs intentions; this could be the reason why he has cropped the vanishing point. Keegan Gibbs has presented a non-conventional take on the subject, one that I really enjoy studying. I will look further into ways to taking and developing my own photos in a similar way to this. He uses interesting techniques that challenge the norms and values of a typical neglected and abandoned scene.
Idris Khan Idris Khan was born in the UK in 1978 and works centrally from London. He studied at the Royal College of Art completing his Master’s Degree with a Distinction in 2004, since then he has gone on to receive international fame for his Simplistic approach to photography. He has then expanded his interests into videos and sculpting with the same ideology. Over the course of his career he has gained the status of being one of the most intriguing artists in his generation in Britain. This is an example of his Bernd and Hilla Becher Range. Since 1959 Bernd and Hilla photographed industrial structures such as water towers and gas reservoirs to embody modern engineering. As we Can Khan takes these images and layers them Significantly to the point where defining lines Disappear and we see an ethereal like form standing Centre of the photo. This editing is cleverly Structured and integral to the composition being a success; Whereas we would expect a dominant middle drawing our eye in, The layers upon layers ensure that our eye browses over the image as a whole. There is very little colour in his images, he has intentionally made These images black and white, by doing so he captures the different shades. Black fading into a grey in front of a light grey With a Backdrop effect, this may not be intentional however but a product of the number of layers he uses, even so it works Effectively in creating a sense of neglect to the location. I will be using Idris Khan as a source of inspiration for a Development of my own photos, although images are different I Believe this feature he uses can be completed in a number of different ways
Idea 1 review For my project I am looking at beauty within the neglected and abandoned spaces, for this I decided to look closer into detail will the urban landscape, specifically Southend.
For idea 2 I intent to find locations from large heights in an attempt to find a mix of large open landscapes and small enclosed drops like what the artist Rut Blees Luxemburg present in some of her work. I will be visiting places such as London as I believe locations such as this present the best opportunity to find the photos I expect to find. I will also be taking some night photography as it portrays a cold scenery highlighting the neglect sense further.
Rut Blees Luxemburg Rut Blees Luxemburg’s production as an artist and photographer revolves around the representation of the city. In 1993 Luxemburg attended the London College of Printing Photography she then went on to graduated from the University of Westminster in 1996 with an MA in Photography. Luxemburg how now become best known for her distinctive photographs of the urban landscape at night. She picks corners of the city which are obscured, overlooked and the more avoided places after dark. Long exposure times allow the ethereal like artificial glow from the street to define the image. I have chosen to look at Rut Blees Luxemburg particular for This image she has taken. The immediate thing you notice is The angle that it has been taken at, it is obviously not the Conventional way of capturing height; I believe this is why I Have taken to it so well. I think to attempt something like this I would have to find locations such as flats and multi-story car parks, locations like this connote areas in London and the surrounding area. Luxemburg uses a variety of washed and faded colours, this portrays a very quiet scenery and signifies an almost abandoned location. In this particular photo the mix of darks and hues help to give a deeper sense of height and enclosure. I will be looking into these sort of locations and compositions for my second idea in my projects as I think these features can gain a abandoned and neglected sense with some editing.
Daniella Zalcman Daniella Zalcman is based in NYC where she works as a freelance photographer for the Wall Street Journal. Born in Washington, DC, she graduated from Columbia with a degree in architecture in 2009. Other clients include The New York Times, the New York Daily News, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Saatchi & Saatchi, National Geographic, Wired, and The Nation. This is an example from Zalcmans New York+London Project. The most noticeable thing we see would be The double exposures, two images layered on one Another to collaborate images taken from her home City of New-York and a city which she fell in love with From her first visit; London. Zalcman uses a broad range of very vibrant and bold colours in her work with strong defining lines around Objects and subject matters. This may be however A feature used to differentiate between the combined Scenery. From an esthetical or design perspective these colours help to make her work and in particular this piece so visually striking. All photos seen in her New York+London series were to my surprise, taken from her smartphone. The choice to use an iPhone to create these was deliberate. “The iPhone was my camera of choice because I’ve grown to love the informal nature of smartphone photography,” Zalcman tells us. “The bulky digital camera I use for newspaper and magazine assignments demands a level of deliberation that can be restrictive, but my phone frees me from those constraints.”