New proposal

After the feedback session I had the other week we had to put together a presentation that would help show and inform both my tutor and peers of what it is that I am intending on doing for my final major project. It was whilst I was putting this presentation together that I realised I wasn't entirely sure on what it was I would get out of the current proposal that I had, something wasn't working right and I don't feel that I would be able to produce successful images if I were to per sue that brief and produce work to go alongside it.

After this feedback session I went and did a bit more research, which can be seen in the previous post, I looked at different photographers work - some of which I was already familiar with and some of which I wasn't. This research really helped me to gain a better direction and gave me a new idea for my fmp, although I have my main passion I am going to branch off little bit and go for a more abstract / fine art approach and look  a bit more at the use of colour and composition to produce some quite interesting and effective photographs that go along side this new brief.

Final Major Project Proposal

Title: Hidden Within The World

Key words: Abstract, Fine art, Colour,  Hidden, Unnoticed, Missed, Beauty, Objects, Environment, Composition, Light, World.

Overview / Topics of Interest:

I have always been very interested in the things that go unnoticed within the environment and everyday life / experiences. I always seem tonne drawn towards the little things that wouldn't necessarily by noticed by other people. Colour and lighting can impact a view or alter a response or meaning - this is something that creates different experiences, ones that alter and differ for every individual.
I am interested in looking at and photographing the things that may or do go unnoticed, looking front beautiful within the environment, seeing what may be seen as bad as well as good.

Introduction/ Research Question:

Something that is noticeably obvious to me through my own observation of the world and my surroundings within the environment is that a lot of the things that should be seen and taken notice f tend to go unnoticed by people. People aren't necessarily observing all that they possible could be. I, personally am very interested in looking at the things that tend to be going unnoticed, the different things that make the world and our surrounding beautiful, the things that I feel people should be noticing.
I went to produce a body of work that consists of a variety of different images showing different things within the environment, whether it be indoors or outdoors.. The images that I intend to produce will be based on anything and everything, I want to produce some abstract photos that will be interesting and informative to get the viewer thinking about what it is they can see within the image and what they are missing and not seeing within the real world and their surroundings




Aims and Objectives:

·         Research photographers who look at the hidden/ unnoticed things.

·         Research abstract and fine art artists and photographers.

·         look at the use of colour and how it affects people differently.

·         Look into the different types of things that go unnoticed, both inside and out.

·         Think about the use of composition, lighting and colour.

·         Look for and find different things that are interesting to photograph.

·         Create a series of images that have a strong visual impact.

Rationale:

For this project I want to produce a series of images that have a strong visual impact through the use of colour, composition and lighting. The images that I intend to produce will focus on the unnoticed and the hidden things that are within my surroundings and will be about informing people (the viewer) of the beauty of what is surrounding them, but the things that they don't necessarily see.

Previous Research -

I have previously looked into how the environment can affect a persons health and how interaction with the nature around us can drastically alter mood and stress levels. This is something that is stated on an article I read on the website Taking Charge of your Health and Wellbeing.

Kreitzer, Mary Jo . (n.d). What Impact Does The Environment Have On Us?. Available: http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/healing-environment/what-impact-does-environment-have-us. Last accessed 18/11/2013.

I have also looked briefly at how the environment affects people health wise with air pollution and the different hazards that are within the different types of environments.

[N. k] . (n.d). Environmental Health, Available: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicId=12. Last accessed 18/11/2013

 I have previously done some research into the things surrounding us that tend to go unnoticed, based around different things that are missed such as the everyday thing that have been the same for years but go unnoticed for a period of time.

<http://www.jungleoflife.com/what-are-we-missing/>

<http://advancedlifeskills.com/blog/the-beauty-around-us/>

<http://www.inspirationalresults.com/appreciating-beauty-what-are-you-missing/>

The beauty of life and the things that are surrounding us.

<http://life-happens.co.uk/beauty-of-life/>

News article about an artist' work whom is based on the 'conscious and the unconscious, the here and now, the point between dream and sleep'.

<http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/wfnews/10368342.___Seeing_the_fragile_beauty_in_things_around_us___/>

Some photographs that are looking at different things in life that may not always be seen and recognised but that are important.

<http://methaweeboriboune.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/the-best-things-in-life-go-unnoticed/>

Images on Pinterest that are focusing on the beauty that is withing our surroundings and the world around us.

<http://www.pinterest.com/kchastain18/seeing-beauty-in-the-world-around-us/>

General Methodology -

Researching and looking into different artists and photographers to see the different types of works that have been produced and the different ways the subject matter can be approached.

Thinking of different ways to capture things that are interesting and eye catching and cause a reaction -  through the use of colour and composition.

Date Collection and Analysis -

I will use all of the research and information that I have gathered to enable me

to capture the best possible photographs that focus on the different things that are within my surroundings that go unnoticed and are missed by people.

Qualifications and Restrictions -

There may be restricted access to certain locations depending on where they are (may be privately owned) this is something that can be determined through research and gaining knowledge about the area or location which will in turn determine how I go about taking photographs in certain areas and/or locations.

Specialist needs - Equipment, Access, Workshops, Training etc -

Access to different locations or places - Knowing the locations that I am going to and their accessibility and if there is any restrictions on times or access.

Access to equipment for on location shoots if necessary - university hire.

Knowing the weather conditions and forecast on the days that I am going to be doing outdoor photography as the weather will in turn determine the outcome of the images.  

References:

Books -

Bright, S (2011). Art Photography Now. UK: Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Susan Bright’s ‘Art Photography Now’ to research different landscape and environment photographers.

Sontag, S (1977). On Photography. London: Penguin.

Looking at photography in general to gain a better understanding for different aspects of it and how it can impact the visual.

The Photography Book. London: Phaidon Press LTD.

Looking at different photographer and photographic styles.

Gould, K and Hosey, L. Women In Green: Voices of Sustainable Design. Ecotone Publishing.

Chapter focusing on how we live in the land.

Newspapers, Magazines, Journals -

Mulderrig, A. (2013). Leytonstone artist Ashley Davies is exhibiting show Hovering Halfway at the Stone Space gallery. Available: http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/wfnews/10368342.___Seeing_the_fragile_beauty_in_things_around_us___/. Last accessed 30/12/2013.

Websites -

<www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/healing-environment/what-impact-does-environment-have-us>

Article focused around the what people look for in an environment and how it influences choices, i.e. living somewhere. As well as how stress levels and your mood can be altered by interacting with the environment.

<www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicId=12>

Looking at the different hazards of air pollution and explains the different types of pollution and hazards.

<http://www.andrewbrooksphotography.com/>

Photographer who produces some landscape based pieces and has been influential with some of my previous work.

<http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/food-crisis/page/3566.aspx>

Environmental and land degradation.

<http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Impacts_of_Environmental_Degradation>

Causes of degradation and pollution, how it can be prevented or atleast minimised.

<http://fraenkelgallery.com/exhibitions/the-outside-world>

Page about an exhibition by Richard Learoyd titled 'The Outside World'

<http://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/richard-misrach>

Information about the photographer.                  

<http://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/carleton-watkins>

Information about the photographer and as series of work produced documenting areas before mass development.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvVYg7P5uJo>

Video about the photographer Jessica Backhaus where she talks about her work.

<http://www.rinkokawauchi.com/main/rinkokawauchi_eg.html>

Photographer who captures the everyday ordinary things.

<http://www.pinterest.com/all/>

Looking at and browsing the different pins/ photos people are viewing to see the different things within the world.

Previous research...

Whilst rewriting my proposal I started to think about the things that I have looked at previously that focus on the unseen and unnoticed things within the world.

I have previously looked at the unnoticed beauty of the world and the effects of it, here are a few links to the different articles, images and sites that I have looked at :

<http://www.jungleoflife.com/what-are-we-missing/>

<http://advancedlifeskills.com/blog/the-beauty-around-us/>

<http://www.inspirationalresults.com/appreciating-beauty-what-are-you-missing/>

<http://methaweeboriboune.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/the-best-things-in-life-go-unnoticed/>

<http://life-happens.co.uk/beauty-of-life/>

<http://www.pinterest.com/kchastain18/seeing-beauty-in-the-world-around-us/>

These are like the initial links that I will use to expand on my research for this assignment, furthering the research with broader searches to find more information from different resources, enabling me to have good solid evidence to fuel and base my project on. 

examples of the everyday...

I have simply browsed images on Google to see the different things that can be made out of the everyday ordinary things around us. I was just simply looking for the different types of things that can e photographed and gaining a little bit of inspiration for the future work i want to produce, here are some examples of the images i found.

Jessica Backhaus

I was looking into the work of Jessica Backhaus and I came across the video which I have posted below where she talks about the things that inspire her - being everything and anything, she basically goes on a journey and on that journey she looks for the interesting, magical and powerful things that grab her attention, the things that she sees as beautiful. She captures the things that she sees as beautiful and produces some really special and moving photographs.

When she is capturing her photographs she reply a lot on the light that is available to her at that moment in time, as light is one of the most important things within a photograph, the light plays a big part in the effect it has as it help to create the composition - with shadows and such. Colour plays a massive part in her work as well, a long with the composition. All of these points are things she considers extensively before deciding on the exact moment of capture. She looks for the best within things that may not necessarily be so good.

Jessica Backhaus is a photographer that I had not heard about before this, i was not familiar with any of her work at all, but now I have found myself feeling a lot more inspired that I have in a long time. I think this is because her images are so moving and powerful and she looks for the beautiful within the world, this is something that I do as well, I look for the beauty, the things that inspire me and the things that aren't as noticeable to other people. From doing a little research into her work and looking at her photographs I am starting to get a bit more comfortable in forming an idea for my fmp, they have helped me gain direction.

other works

I came across the work of a photographer called Annabelle Nicoll, he work is fine art based and she photographs a lot of the nature and landscapes around us.

I came across this statement that she made and i found it quite interesting


'Its not what you see that informs you, but how you see it' - Annabelle Nicoll 

To me it is about how I, the individual views something which in turn will inform judgment and choices on how and what it means as a visual. 

Every one person will therefore have different views and beliefs of the same one things,  purely down to how everyone is different in viewing the same things. This is a personal thing and is most likely always going to be different for every person.

Here is a link to the photographers website in which there are some of the photographs that she has taken looking at different landscapes and areas but focusing in on the little and itneresting things that are whithin, more likely to be the things that tend to go unnoticed and get missed by people, these are more like the little things that I would notice as I view things like this very differently to most people and I always seem to be looking for the little and interesting things within the environment that go unnoticed because i tent to look for the beauty and find the best in the bad. 

http://www.annabellenicoll.com/collections/shifting-consciousness.html

I also came across the work of Victoria Upton

http://www.victoriaupton.com/Landscape#155

I am not too sure on the meaning and methodology behind her work but as an example of things that go unnoticed within the landscape and what I am thinking of her work related to my ideas and reasoning at this point.

Rinko Kawauchi

I am not entirely sure of the reasoning and methodology behind this artists work but I have gained  a little bit of inspiration from looking through some of her photographs. To me they are all about capturing the everyday and ordinary things, which is something that quite interests me, as they are just like quick snap shots of different things she has done or seen throughout the day.

I quite like the idea of just capturing the interesting things that occur during the day, it's not like you are necessarily setting up a scene to be photographed but you are capturing the normal whilst making it all the more interesting and enticing for the viewer to look at, making them wonder a little more about what made her capture a certain photograph.

Ingrid Pollard

I have looked at Ingrid Pollard's work briefly, purely because her work isn't something that inspires me or give me any ideas that I could expand on with this project. Whilst doing a little bit of research I came across a series of work titled 'Bursting Stone' in which she explores the "boundaries" of towns. From what I have grasped from this series of work she has captured the locations that separate two towns, showing the things that separate them, kind of like a wall that separates the two but a wall that doesn't actually exist.

Jem Southam

This photographers work is based on the landscape and the changes that are happening within the landscape." He observes the balance between nature and man's intervention and traces cycles of decay and renewal " http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/l/landscape-photography-jem-southam/

I am already familiar with Jem Southam's work so I already new a little about his method of working and the type of things he is focusing on within his images. Southam has a series of work which is titled 'Landscape stories' in which he goes to specific locations and photographs them and then he will go back and revisit the locations that he photographed some time later and take another photograph in which he captures the changes that have occurred to that place over the period of time that he last photographed it. It is his way of documenting what time and the environment is doing. This is something that I find quite interesting and really like, it is a way of informing people of the damage and things that are happening to the areas surrounding us, simply by taking a then and now type photograph and putting the two together to show the comparison.

Stephen Gill

Again Gill is a photographer whos work I have been aware of for a good few years, I am really intrigued by his work as the concept behind his different images is really interesting - it is probably something I would explore if i was so afraid of ruining a camera that I love so much.

The concept behind his work is that he goes to a location, when he know what he want to photograph and capture he looks around the area he is within and find something that has been disposed of or has been left lying around, something that has a connection to the location he is at and will add significance to the photograph. He then takes this item (what ever it is that he has found and wants to use) opens up his camera and places it inside so that when he looks through the viewfinder to frame his image the object is also there within the composition. He is creating a layered image straight from the camera, without having to do it in post production, he is making the image all the more real and raw as everything was captured together at one moment in time.

Edward Burtynsky

Burtynsky is a photographer that I have looked at previously and I am aware of his work. What I find quite interesting about his work is that he is showing people the different areas / locations but giving them a totally different view of it all. This is because all his photographs are taken from the sky, he goes up in a helicopter and photographs the locations from above, so the viewer gets a totally new view and experience of what they may already know, just from the viewpoint they are getting from Burtynsky's photographs. Another thing that I find quite interesting is that his work is based around photographing the areas and landscapes that have been altered by the industry, yet he is photographing the from a helicopter, something that has definitely altered things. Even so his photos are very informative and the different viewpoint adds a new level to their meaning. The way he fives the viewer something new to think about it really important, it makes his photographs a lot different to your standard landscape photographs.

Sebastião Salgado

From what I have read and seen of Salgado's work I see that his image are all about showing and making the viewer a lot more aware of what is going on around them. His images touch upon humanity and what is happening to people and their surroundings. He spends vast amounts of time working on one project, he focuses on telling the story of a certain group of people or focuses on the evolution of a place over time.

"His in-depth bodies of work document the lives of people the world over, finding beauty, strength and hope even in those in the bleakest of circumstances." - http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/sebastiaosalgado

 I looked through some of his photographs and some of them more so than others have deeper meanings and more significance, but that I just my opinion. Like Salgado has stated in an article I read before, everybodys views are different but what his photographs are intended to do are to make people talk and stand up and notice what is going on in different places around the world. All of his photos are in black and white, this is to make every small detail sharper and more definable, making them stand out so that people can see everything that he wants to be seen.

Below are some of his photographs.

 

 

http://blog.ted.com/2013/05/01/sebastiao-salgado-a-gallery-of-spectacular-photographs/

Salgado is a photographer that I hadn't heard of prior to this, I don't know how because his images are so powerful and have very deep meaning and significance. Something that looking at his work has done is make me think a bit more about my surroundings and what is going on around me. Thinking more about the beautiful things that tend to go unnoticed, things that if people took the time to see, they would see the true beauty of the world and the true importance of it.