For my familiar place and also for my candid portraits for the human condition brief I travelled to Blackpool. I took two trips there and on these visits I found myself wandering around Back streets, side streets and places of Blackpool that no one really sees because of the main attractions being the beach, pleasure beach, the tower, winter gardens etc. I was focused on those days I went to Blackpool on getting the photographs for my familiar place and for my candid portraits so when travelling about I did notice these quiet areas with several streets that had hotels, bed and breakfasts etc next door to each other but didn't take any photographs. When thinking about what to photograph for my urban landscapes I remembered seeing all these hotels and lonely backstreets and realised they would be good to photograph for my urban environment as they seemed so quiet and un noticed. I then decided to take another visit to Blackpool to wander round the streets and hopefully capture the essence and the atmosphere I felt, because once I'd been on the front and the pier where its full of people to then go on these streets it felt like I was in another town because of the lack of people.
Before going back to Blackpool I decided to look at several photographers work for inspiration and more ideas then I will have more of a clear definition of what I am going to photograph.
David Bradford
I have been familiar with the works of David Bradford for years as I love his 'Drive by shootings' He photographs new york out of his taxi. He is a taxi driver but he was always a lover of the arts since he was a teenager. He decided to be a taxi driver as he was hoping to find more freedom for independent projects. David Bradford still photographs from his taxi now but with his cellphone camera.
I decided to look at David Bradford as he is obviously familiar with New York and it is obviously a busy city but when looking through his images I began to notice that although Its New York he is photographing it looks quite lonely.
I chose to talk about the photograph pictured above because of the fantastic use of negative space that Bradford has used. The vignette I feel has also added more depth and a feeling of loneliness to the photograph. I love Bradford's unusual viewpoint and it works well to capture just the top of the buildings, the use of negative space also works well as there is hardly of the subject left in this photograph. His images are quite inspiring and I love the strong contrasts of black and white that are also used. I think for my street scene photographs that black and white will be best as I am depicting a lonely urban environment so I can play around with the contrasts and the colours during the editing process.
I chose to look at the above photograph because of the simplicity of it. Out of all the things, people and places David Bradford could of took photographs of in New York he decided to photograph this wall. I like the pattern and texture to the photograph and it reminds me that I don't have to search for the perfect building or street at photograph as I should photograph everything and anything as it could just be a perfect shot. I have an understanding of why Bradford shoots out of his taxi window as it gives him a different viewpoint and perhaps if he was walking around things he photographs now would go un-noticed. I always find myself looking out the window on buses and wishing I had my camera or wishing I was at that very spot photographing something interesting. When travelling to Blackpool It was then when I first noticed the simplicity and lonely streets behind all the tackiness and bright colours of the front. I was fascinated by Drive by shootings when looking through the book as the photographs are magnificent because of Bradford's unusual take on taking the photographs and his quirky angles and subjects.
I like the strong contrasts of black and white in Bradford's images, I think to convey and add impact on the lonely streets black and white will work perfectly.
Robert Frank
Robert Frank is a very important figure in American photography and one of the worlds most influential photographers and has challenged the boundaries of still and moving image. His book 'The Americans' is considered to be the most important photography book since World War Two. It includes 83 photographs and was first published in France in 1958 and a year later in America. Frank also took photographs in London, Paris, Peru and Wales so I am going to review a range of his images for more inspiration and ideas to influence my own decisions on what and how to photograph for my own urban environment photographs.
The above image was taken in London in 1951. There are several copies of this photograph on the internet, where the distance is completely clear and the houses are detailed. There are quite a few key elements to this photograph, one being the running child's reflection in the wet pavement and the open door of the hearse in the foreground. I feel this photograph is so simple because of the direction of the houses and the pavement and the wonderful contrast in colours. This photograph has made me think about perhaps using a film camera to take my urban photographs because of the beautiful images Frank has created.
I decided to look at this image from Robert Frank's book 'The Americans' because of his striking composition and simplicity to the photograph, I like use of natural framing and how people are in each window. I also feel the American flag sets the scene for the entire book. I love how in Franks photographs there doesn't have to be much going on but he manages to create a mood in all his photographs because of his innovative angles and well put together images. I have always loved Robert Franks work after seeing 'Sick of goodbys' and 'My fathers coat'.
I have decided I am going to use my own film camera instead of a digital SLR because I feel I have been putting off using my film camera for too long now and will be the first time I use it in the two years I've owned it. I am going to solely use this film camera and hope that my images capture the atmosphere of loneliness of these isolated streets in Blackpool
The film camera I own is dated back to the 1960's and is an all plastic Diana camera. It has two shutter settings, three aperture settings with a super small aperture for pinhole images. It offers two image formats, twelve or sixteen square shots on 120 roll. I have bought 120 Black and white HP5 Ilford film. I decided to get a black and white roll of film as I definitely want to pursue the idea of these lonely street scenes in black and white. I have now planned my visit to Blackpool and I will roam these estranged quiet streets and use a variety of viewpoints and angles and different buildings to create some interesting images.
I am not entirely confident that my images will come out, as I have never used this camera before. My plan is that if these images do not come out successfully I plan on returning to Blackpool but armed with my Nikon SLR. If my film photographs do turn out like I hope they will I don't feel I will need to return.
Eugene Atget
Eugene Atget was a French photographer and was noted for his photographs documenting the architecture and street scenes of Paris. I decided to look at his works because of his interesting street scenes and the influential style of his work.
After looking at lots of Atget's work I have fallen in love with some of his photographs. When first thinking about those streets in Blackpool I want to photograph, Eugene's Atget's work is exactly what I had in mine. I love the narrow street of Paris captured in the photograph above and also all the different patterns and textures created by the walls and the cobbles. The light in the background of the photograph illuminates the detailing of the street. When looking at the work of Atget It has made me think of things I could possibly photograph such as walls, pavements, backstreets, windows, hotels, roof's, cobbles ETC.
In the photograph above I was inspired by the darkness of the foreground and how light the background evolves too. I want to create a strong contrast in black and whites in my photographs but also want to keep as much detailing in as possible, when editing I will use the sharpening tool to pick out key features of my photographs.
When visiting Blackpool to take photographs for my urban landscape it was very cloudy, rainy and windy and I was actually glad of this as it gave even more of an atmosphere to these streets and set the entire mood. I also think this will effect how my photographs are going to turn out. A fellow class mate Adam is helping me and showing me how to develop my film in the Dark room, then we are going to scan my images in. I actually found it very interesting developing my own photographs so I am considering using film a lot more as I felt such great satisfaction from creating and making my own images in the dark room.
Contact Sheets
Only eight of my photographs came out without being too badly light damaged. Because I'd been travelling around with my camera and it had been in so many different lighting conditions different amounts of light have been let in and damaged the film. This has been my first time shooting on film so I am quite impressed that I managed to get eight decent photographs.
The Louvre
Some of my images came out as double exposures. I then remembered photographing some work at the Louvre In Paris. There was no names for these works but I found the double exposures quite interesting so I took photographs of these displays. When seeing my photographs that I had taken in Blackpool I was instantly reminded of these images that were in the Louvre, I remember thinking that some were actually quite freaky in the way they had turned out. I thought I would put these in as I didn't actually have a purpose for photographing them and now I feel they have fitted within my work perfectly.
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| These double exposures have two people on them, they were very ghostly to look at. |
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| These double exposures also have a mix of people in. |
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| These look quite strange, some over-exposed and I'm not entirely sure whats meant to be going on. |
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| These have a mix of people in also, they look very old and are quite interesting to look at. |
Editing
After carefully reviewing and deciding on how to edit each of my photographs to make them as clear as possible and to also create more depth into the lonely atmosphere, one of them stood out to me and I was reminded of the work of Robert Frank. I feel my photograph looks quite similar to one of his which has proved to me that he is a true inspiration.
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| My image |
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| Robert Frank. |
Photoshop
The main reason I decided to use Photoshop was to crop out the light damaged strips on my photographs. After doing this some of my images looked a lot better and I was pleased with the outcome. I didn't use Photoshop for anything else because some of the main features and tools are all similar to those in Light room.
Light Room
I used some of the presets in Light room as filters for my images. As my film was black and white I wanted to experiment with colour also. I decided to experiment with blue and sepia tones to convey the lonely and cold atmosphere of the streets. Below I am going to show examples of the presets I experimented with.
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| B&W Creative - Look 3 |
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| Colour Creative - Aged Photo |
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| B&W Creative - Sepia Tone |
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| Cyanotype |
I thought these presets worked well and helped to convey the mood and atmosphere I wanted. The screen shots above are just after I used the presets so I haven't adjusted the exposure, sharpening or noise reduction. I particularly like the Sepia tone preset because it gives a vintage feel to the photograph and think works well with the photograph.
Vintage Scene
I decided to experiment with Vintage scene too as there are a number of presets on this software to choose out of. Using a mix of colours, textures and a border makes my photographs look like it was taken many years ago.
I adjusted the settings on vintage scene as I didn't want my images to be over powered by the textures. I liked the outcomes of my experimentation and I am going to display them below.
Overall I was pleased with how well I could edit my film images and think I got some good photographs once the light damaged strips had been cropped out. I don't think I need to revisit Blackpool with my SLR as I am happy with my shots from my Diana. I would say I got about six or seven decent shots out of twelve and I am very happy I finally used my Diana as I didn't realise its potential before I used it. I am going to present what I feel are my best shots below.
Best shots
