Photography Project - The Tale of the City

Photography Project The Tale of the City In January 2013 Penguin books plan to re-design the front covers of a number of classic titles with a focus on a contemporary and innovative approach. You have been invited to submit 3 final photographs that will be judged by a panel of creative experts including Martin Parr, Sophie Calle and Stephen Gill.

Idea 1: So for my first idea I want to make something unexpected a different. Basically I want to make it stand out from the crowd. I believe that if I am able to achieve this then when the book (The Tale of the City) is placed on a shelf, it will appear to be much more appealing than the other books surrounding it. Initially what I want to do is take my set of 6-8 photographs and then develop them into something unusual and interesting. What I plan on doing is making a sort of collage out of my photographs. I will place the photographs in front of either a black or white background depending on the colour of the pictures after editing. I personally think that with Photoshop making the pictures black and white will be very effective on a black background. However I may mix the colours of the pictures up. For example I may have a very sharp bright photo next to a black and white. This will give my piece contrast and will make it stand out. I shall take my pictures of London buildings such as the Shard and Canary Wharf. After I have fully edited my photographs I shall then think about how I can make the collage work. What I would like to do is get all the photos together and get the to spell out ‘The Tale of the City’.

If I do this idea I think it will prove to be effective.

Jennifer Blakely

Jennifer Blakely is a photography artist that uses the technique that I want to explore in various pieces of her work. I mainly like her work because I find it very creative how she has gone out of her way to find objects that look like letters. It is a great use of photo manipulation on her behalf.

I would like to do something like this but not so similar that it looks completely the same. I believe that in my work will reflect the work of Jennifer Blakely in it, however I would like to make my technique unique. What I plan on doing is taking my set of photographs and creating a collage. I want to manipulate all of my building pictures so that when I come to making the collage they will spell out ‘The Tale of the City’. I intend on taking sections of each photo and combining it with others. After that I will stick all my designated letters onto one large piece of paper to spell out the book name.

My photographs At this point in my project I have been going out and taking photos. As my brief is about a book called ‘Tale of the City’, I thought it ideal to visit the city of London. I aimed to take pictures of typical city scenes, such as Canary Wharf. I want all of my pictures to have something unique about them, so to accomplish this I have tried to visit buildings in London which are different from the rest. For example I photographed the Shard (the tallest building in Europe) and the City Hall. I thought these kind of buildings were perfect as they each had something individual and unique. I want all of my buildings to look fairly modern. I think maybe taking some of these shots at sun down will be effective as all of the buildings will be lit up, however I do not want to make it too dark as the buildings may be hard to see. Another issue I have just stumbled upon is that taking the photos when its getting dark means my ISO will have to be higher, having a higher ISO could result in some of my pictures being slightly blurry but thankfully this has not happened to my photos.

Photo 1: So here is my first picture that I have taken in London. I took this picture at roughly 4pm so it wasn’t too dark and on this building I was actually aiming for it to be quite light. I took it in the Canary Wharf area and it is exactly what I was looking for, it has all the aspects of modern day London. Although I don’t believe it reflects a true stereotype of London, it does give a realistic impression to a viewer of what London looks like in the 21st century.

Basically what I have done to edit it is sharpen the picture up. When I first took the picture I think the ISO may have been a little too high as it came out a little blurry but I managed to sharpen it up by playing around with the contrast and saturation etc. I also cropped the image as I felt there was a little too much going on in the background and my main purpose in taking the photograph of this building was that I only wanted the building in it, as it fitted in well with the brief. I didn’t want to play with the colour too much but as you may have noticed the picture is slightly blue. I have done this on purpose just to emphasise the intensity this building brings. I definitely think this picture will work with my idea as I can cut out certain sections and manipulate it in a way so that it will combine with my other photo’s to spell out ‘ The Tale of the City’.

Photo 2:

Here is my second photograph. This was taken at the same time as my other photo at roughly 4pm. It has been taken of the ‘Citigroup Building’ in Canary Wharf along with another glass structure in front of it. Overall I think this was one of my favourite photos purely because I like the reflection of the buildings in one another. I think it has the potential to be included in my project, however my only concern is how I would be use it to spell out a letter. However I do not want to rule it out of my project as I believe it has been a very successful shot. One way in which I could use it is if I cut out smaller sections to make up a letter.

I edited this photo again by cropping it. As you can see there is a small section of a crane in the bottom right. I would have completely gotten rid of this however I felt the picture lost its touch when I removed such a chunk of the building. After cropping I turned it black and white. I think this was the right move for this particular photo as it emphasises the reflections within the glass.

Photo 3:

I felt the need for cropping in this photo wasn’t particularly necessary as when the photo was originally taken I had planned exactly how I wanted it to look. So basically when I edited it what I did was just sharpen it up. I then tried to shadow the surrounding buildings thus making the tower the vocal point of the picture and this made it stand out better against the opposing structures.

Here is my third photo, like my other two I have kept it in the same location and just photographed a different building. This photo was taken a little later and on a slightly higher ISO so when I edited it was essential that I made the picture as sharp as possible. I did consider cropping but having the building by itself made if appear somewhat lonely. Obviously the middle building is the vocal point but I did purposely try and capture the buildings on either side. I do plan on using this building in my project as it can be so easily experimented with. I also plan on using the building to the left.

Photo 4: This is my fourth photograph taken of the Mayors Building or City Hall. I mainly chose to photograph this as it has a very unique shape. I took this photo when it started to get dark so that the lights within the building were able to make an impact to the viewer.

Unfortunately because it was so dark I had to increase the ISO which has made this image slightly blurry to the naked eye but not at all noticeable upon looking at it. I now realise that it may have been a better idea to take the picture with the flash on or when I was closer to the building as this was taken quite far from the actual building. This building will be perfect for making up letters due to its curved shape.

I edited this picture by cropping it quite a lot. I originally took the photo from Tower Bridge and there was a lot of foliage etc. in the background which I felt was essential to remove as I wanted to focus on the uniqueness of this building. As you can see in the background there is the shard and some other buildings but I didn’t want them to catch too much attention so I upped the blacks to make them less noticeable (this is because I don’t plan on using them in my collage) and to add emphasis to the City Hall building. I also think that editing the blacks made the building look better as it made the lights look brighter and make the building slightly clearer overall. The only issue I have with this photo is that the flags are in front of the building. I understand that these aren’t very noticeable but it may complicate things when it comes to making the collage. Apart from that I am very happy with this photo.

Photo 5:

Here is my fifth photo. This was again a photo I had taken from Tower Bridge in London. I felt that this was the best place to take my photos of certain buildings as it meant I was able to get a full shot of The building as well as the surrounding area. By the time I had taken this photo I realized that there was quite a lot of cloud cover, so I felt that it was necessary to cut out the top of the building as the cloud made the top of I edited this photo by turning it black and white The Shard look improper. As you can in photoshop and I slightly cropped it. When I probably infer from the photo there was first took this picture there was a lot of light very dark cloudy sky that day. I also coming off the building from surrounding Thought that it was a good idea to include lights and the light within the building. I felt it Some of the surrounding buildings. This is would be better to turn it black and white as Because like the Shard they are made of it was dark at the time and was a very dark Glass and a merely a complement to the surrounding area so I now believe it looks better Main building itself. with the black and white effect.

Photo 6:

When I took the picture the lighting was perfect for what I wanted to capture. I didn’t think there was much I could do with this photograph editing wise as I was relatively satisfied with it. The only issue was that the ISO may have been a little too high which made the picture slightly blurred so basically all I did was make it a bit sharper. I also brought the blacks up a bit to add emphasis to the layers of the building and so that they were easier to notice.

As you can see here I have again taken a photo of City Hall in London, except this time I have gone much closer to the building to take my photo. I wanted to get quite a few shots of this building in particular because I really liked its curved edges. This building is going to be very good for making up lots of letters. I also thought that the layers of the building were very effective. I still took this photo whilst it was quite light so that I was able to capture all the detail involved in the building.

Photo 7:

This is the seventh photo I have taken. Although this is not a recognized building within the city I think it was essential that I took some photos where you can see a lot of reflections. Another reason I took a photo of this building is because I thought the lighting was really good. At this point I was aiming to take photos where there would be a lot of light bouncing out from the buildings. overall I think that made it much more noticeable and eye catching.

I edited this photo by bringing up the blacks. Like in some of my other photos I wanted to bring the viewers attention to the light rather than to the building itself. I also sharpened it up because it was a little blurry. I’m not currently very sure how I’m going to use this picture in my project but I am sure it will be possible to cut up to make it suitable for my project. I do want to use it as it is one of my favored pictures.

Photo 8: Here is my final photo that I took when out in London. It has been taken from the bottom of the shard when it was dark.

I wanted to take this photo because I really enjoyed the obscurity of this building. I also wanted to get a shot of the surrounding sky. I think that the light from the building itself made the clouds look so much more dramatic. Also the colour of the sky was a really nice navy, which I thought looked very appealing.

I didn’t crop this photo mainly because when it was taken I had already zoomed in on the section that I wanted to capture. I also didn’t want to make it black and white as I believe it would take away the emphasis created by the sky. I did touch up the blacks merely because I wanted the darker panels on the building to look more striking. I believe I now have enough black and white images as well as that of colour to create my collage.

The Development As you can see in the image below, what I have done is stuck all of my pictures to a piece of A1 card with PVA glue. I have then cut out letter shapes from the piece of card and have then stuck the letters onto a piece of paper to spell out the words ‘The Tale of the City’. I think that this development has proven to be effective as it is shows a true reflection of what a city holds within it. As well as this it gives the reader of the book a clearer understanding of what the book is about. I believe this first idea will greatly help me with my second idea as I now have a better understanding of what there is to do in this project. Below is what my collage looked like before I cut it up to create the letters for my final piece.

The Final Piece Below are two images I have taken of my final piece. As you can see I have put the letters onto a sheet of A4 using PVA glue. I didn’t want to make it too big as I wanted to make a realistic book cover and I believe that by making it as close to the real thing as possible is vital in achieving this. Overall I am very happy with this piece as I feel that it reflects the work of Jennifer Blakely and if this was applied onto an actual book it would catch the viewers attention and extend the success the book already has.

Idea 2: Now that I have completed my first idea it is time that I move onto my second idea. What I plan on doing for my second piece is look at reflections in buildings. In the modern era skyscrapers are considered as something new and would be regarded and thought of when you think of a city. As I have already done an arty technique for my first idea I think it is time that I develop my skills in photo-shop and create something that stands out.

My plan is to photograph the center point of Canary Wharf and use the layer mask technique to put a reflection over the top. I think this will be effective as it will look like the building is fading in the background and the image will all blend together as one to hopefully create something rather eye-catching.

Stephen Cook

Here we have a painting done by the artist Stephen Cook. I want to explore his pieces of work as I noticed that he has paid attention to reflections. I want to try and find more paintings like this so I can get a better understanding of what reflections look like when being applied in an art way, with paint. I don’t actually plan on using paint in my project I just think looking at these pieces of work will benefit me for when it comes to doing my final piece.

My Photographs I have been out visiting London looking for the perfect pictures to represent the idea that I wanted to do. As I had already been to Canary Wharf for my first idea, I thought I should go there again as I had a good knowledge of the surrounding buildings. I want to focus solely on the windows and make it my top priority to capture as many reflective images as possible. I want to make sure that I have something that I can capitalize upon in my project and hopefully all the photos I get will be put to good use.

Photo 1: This is my first photo. I wanted to capture this Because I felt that it held the perfect Resemblance that I needed in my project. As Can see in the previous sides this is very similar To my artists work especially the texture. This Kind of picture would be perfect in my project As I would be able to place it in front of Another picture, and hopefully it would blend Well.

Photo 2:

This is certainly a photo that I would like to be Using in my final piece, purely because I think That it is so striking and would do really well if It was to overlap another picture. I didn’t really Want to change this picture a lot so I touched Up the contrast to make it look a bit sharper but I am very happy with it as it is.

Photo 3: For my third photo I wanted to draw the viewers Attention to something. I did this by using the Older building in the background and the More modern building in front of it. I like the Reflection also of the building within the panes Of the glass windows. I edited it by brining up The blacks (so that attention was drawn to the Glass building) and I made the image slightly Cooler.

Photo 4: Here is the 4th photo that I have taken and Edited. I love the reflections in this picture Mainly because the shape transformation Within the windows is so peculiar. I also think That the building is the lower right adds a touch Of contrast to the piece, which makes it overall Much more appealing for the audience. I Edited It by touching up the blacks, bringing up the Shadows and making it overall a much Warmer picture.

Photo 5: For my 5th photo I looked at glass buildings That could add some contrast. I thought that This would be a good building to do because There are several colours used in the picture Which all stand out well against each other (blue, black and white). I edited it by bringing Up the blacks so that the shadows would appear More vibrant and so that the whites in the picture Would stand out more.

Photo 6: I chose to take a photo of this because I wanted To include the aspect of nature as seen here with The tree. I also wanted to capture some of the Sky as I thought a majority of the cloud cover was Rather interesting. I edited this picture by making Touching up the blacks and making it cooler so That the clouds stood out.

Photo 7:

Here is the picture that I would like to use in my Final piece. I really think that by placing another Photo of window reflections over the top of this Will work really well, especially as there are 3 Different buildings included in this photo. I have Cropped it a bit so that the building in the image Is the main vocal point. I have also slightly brought Up the blacks.

Photo 8: When I took this photo there were a lot of Very old buildings in the background and I Wanted to make sure I would be able to reflect Them in the windows. As you can see I have Brought the saturation up a lot, I did this to make It an overall more colourful picture.

The Development

Here are the two photographs that I will be Using in my final piece. What I shall do is Slightly crop each photo and then I shall Place the image above on top of the one on The right. I want to focus mainly on the Windows more than anything and have to Make sure that they are the main vocal Point of the image. I want to make it clear That these are two different photos and I Want to make them stand out against each Other as well as blend with each other.

The Final Piece

Combining my Pieces For the last part of my project what I have done is use photoshop to blend my pieces. I have stuck my original lettering piece on top of the remains of the collage used to make the letters originally. I have carefully cut around the lettering background so that more of the collage is seen. I also like some of the tears that have been made in the collage. I have then used photo-shop to place the final piece from my second idea on top of that. I have then reduced the opacity to 40% so the background image can be seen through the second idea. I am very happy with this piece as I believe that I have achieved what I was set out to do and have made my piece unique which was my personal goal.