s45489318
- Mar 28, 2022
- 11 min read

~LOCATION YEAR 2~

UNIT BRIEF:

"Don't pack up your camera until you've left the location ."

JOE MCNALLY

For this task, you have to create location images from four different locations:

(3) Architectural

(3) Natural Landscape

(3) Street

(3) People on location

You will incorporate a location plan and fact file with your written work. This includes analysing photographers' images, location recce, shooting plans, risk assessments, equipment lists etc. It would be best to reflect on the assignment at the end.

ARTIST RESEARCH #1

Ross Jukes was born south of Birmingham in Longbridge in June 1981, growing up in a very working-class environment. Having lost his father at the age of 11, Jukes cherished the one image he had with his dad and would have lost that moment if not photographed. You could say that this photo embodied his love for photography. Jukes had his experience with photography at school during one of his art classes. The class had a photography element to teach them about the development process and exposure, but when he picked up a camera again in college, it was in the form of video and was drawn in further. Jukes wanted to pursue a career in Fil and Television after completing his studies in A level Media and strongly desired to be behind the camera. This was not to be as Jukes was burdened with debt and jumped from job to job for most of his twenties, and at 31, his mother passed away. After a few brief ventures into Media, including work experience at various local newspapers and even reaching the heights of working as an assistant on '10 Years Younger', it seemed the prospects for an actual 'paid job' just weren't there for Jukes. He moved on to University, hoping that a degree would open more doors and while there, he had the opportunity to do photography as a module which grabbed his attention more than before.

Jukes created several projects and became interested in potentially having a career in photography. By chance, he a friend of his asked him to take photos for his motoring blog, and Jukes fell in love with taking the images and the process of editing and consistently improving as the shot continued. After this, he found himself documenting the streets of Birmingham and developed a passion for shooting at sunrise and sunset. Over the next few years, Jukes filled his free time with car shoots, roaming around Birmingham and creating his photography. Social media also played a part as many Birmingham-focused accounts regularly shared his work. With this, his followers steadily grew, and the enquires. Jukes started to sell his prints, accepted paid commissions, and believed he could create images. As a portfolio and clients grew, he hosted his exhibitions and enjoyed sharing his work on various publications but was never truly satisfied with his pictures. Jukes always believes he can improve and often experiments with different techniques and expands more profound into the world of video. By this point, his automotive photography allowed him to work internationally and to travel to several countries was extremely rewarding but not well paid. Jukes decided to focus on his Birmingham work and landed significant clients in Birmingham and London. He still finds time to create personal projects on top of completing clients' work. Recently, Jukes has expanded into the world of analogue photography to develop his craft and find a style of imagery that satisfied him. He also aims to continue showcasing Birmingham with his photography and remain passionate as a self-proclaimed ambassador for the city.

This photograph shows an urban scenery most likely taken early in the afternoon (maybe around 2 pm).

You can see construction and old buildings on the right of the image, while on the left, you see a more modern structure. The lighting shining on the building to the right gives the image texture, contrast and interest in the frame. The tram and tracks create leading lines, guiding your eyes into the photograph while the people create movement.

Ross Jukes is a local Birmingham photographer, and most of his images are known for capturing the Birmingham City Center. I don't think this image is that old. Jukes probably took it between 2015 and 2018 to document the City Center and add to his portfolio.

I previously researched Jukes for another assignment, and I think his black and white images work well for this assessment. I am mainly looking at his photographs that focus on architecture, which is the first part of the assignment. I want to take high contrast black and white architecture images, and I think his photographs are a good base for this.

The contrast of the shadows and light create depth and clearly shows the details in the area.

MOODBOARD #1

ARTIST RESEARCH #2

Currently based in Dubin, Ireland, Giuseppe Milo is an experienced Italian Street Photographer, and since 2013, he has been taking pictures around the world. He has become a fine art, travel, and street photographer from this. Milo's knowledge of photography and composition is good because of his lengthy studies in the craft. However, he loves street photography. He also enjoys photographing landscapes, architecture and events. Milo has been featured in several travel and photography websites and magazines like National Geographic, The Huffington Post, Discovery Channel, Matador network, Lonely Planet, etc. He has also worked with travel destinations and brands like AirFrance, Wow Air, Inspired by Iceland and more. Additionally, Milo also works as a web designer and developer and is an expert in many fields of the web.

Milo's creativity has helped him build a captivating portfolio of street images which he shares through Flickr and sells high-quality prints of his photography through his site.

MOODBOARD #2

ARTIST RESEARCH #3

Born in New York City, Vivian Maier was an American photographer who spent some of her youth in France and worked in Chicago as a nanny and caregiver for most of her life. Maier's immense, unseen body of work surfaced when someone bought it in an auction in 2007 in Chicago. Over five decades, she continuously took photographs and eventually leftover 100,00 negatives (film negatives) behind. Though her images have compelled viewers worldwide, a great deal remains unknown about the mysterious Maier.

Maier enjoyed the luxury of having a darkroom and private bathroom in 1956 when she moved to the North Shore suburbs of Chicago when working as a nanny. These spaces allowed her to process and develop her rolls of black ad white films, but as time passed and the children she was looking after grew, Maier had to abandon developing and the rolls of undeveloped, unprinted work piled up. Using a moderate KodakBrowine (an amateur camera with a single shutter speed, no aperture dial or focus control), she began capturing her first photographs around 1949 in France. Maier returned from purchasing a Rolleiflex on her return.

Amidst this, she switched to colour photography, and her subject shifted from people to graffiti, found objects and newspapers. But these also started to accumulate in the 1980s as financial stress halted her process. Between the late 1990s and the start of the new millennium, Maier put her camera and belongings into storage as she tried to stay afloat. The photographs in storage became lost memories until 2007 when Maier sold them to pay for rent. After she fell on a patch of ice in 2008, causing her health to deteriorate, Maier was forced to go into a nursing home. She never recuperated and died in 2009, leaving her extensive work behind.

Maier's photography has been the main topic of several publications since the discovery of her work and has been exhibited at significant establishments worldwide. The contents in Maier's storage space was sold to multiple buyers at auctions in 2007, including John Maloof, who has committed himself to establishing her legacy since then. Though he could not connect with Maier when she lived, Maloof shared a selection of her photographs in 2009 online, and they went viral. Maloof began to look into the life and work of Maier as he became more interested in the woman behind the lens. This led to creating the Oscar-nominated documentary "Finding Vivian Maier " in 2014.

MOODBOARD #3

ARTIST RESEARCH #4

Pogus Caesar is a conceptual artist utilising multiple media. He was born in St Kitts and grew up in Birmingham, England. Birmingham City University awarded caesar an Honorary Doctorate in 2018 for his outstanding contribution to the visual arts.

Caesar's career began as a pointillist painter and later photographed multiple communities worldwide. He often reworks 35mm negatives into new forms, challenging the notion of religion, sex, history and identity from a Black British perspective.

Caesar's work has been exhibited widely. His photographs and artworks have been acquired by National Portrait Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, Mappin Art Gallery, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. In 2004, he established the OOM Gallery in Birmingham, representing his photographic archive worldwide.

This photograph shows a man looking through a broken window with a cigarette in his mouth. You can see bits of the surroundings outside as well.

Using the natural light coming from the window, the man, the main subject of the image, is highlighted nicely. The lighting on the man makes him seem strong. The details in his face, clothes and the broken glass add texture. Seeing the other buildings through the window gives us another setting within the image. Everything in the photo is spaced perfectly, indicating the use of the rule of thirds.

I think Caesar took this image as a portrait. The man is the main subject due to viewers being drawn to him with the lighting and expressions. I also think it was taken to show strength or maybe anger. He gives the impression of a leader or someone important. From the building in the background, I think Caesar took this image around 1980. Considering Caesar's topics, we can suspect this to show black masculinity and make you wonder what he might be thinking, seeing, or feeling. The building seems old due to the broken window next to him.

This image goes with my work since it documents events happening around him.

I like the tone, lighting and spacing of the image and the framing of the dark and light backgrounds. It would have been nice to see more on the subject's face, but it works well for this image.

MOODBOARD #4

PHOTOSHOOT #1:

PHOTOSHOOT EVALUATION :

I used images I took from a previous shoot for street photography. By using a 35mm lens to photograph my surroundings, I was able to take pictures of people and the buildings around them.

In most of the images I took, buildings and construction were the main subjects. Some could argue that I'm just doing architectural or cityscape photography since I almost completely erased the people.

The definition of street photography; is to capture candid human moments-or somewhere along those lines. When wanting to show the character of a city or place, it makes sense to photograph people and their activities. On the other hand, it is still possible to convey the human element without humans' physical or distinct presence.

There are many ways to tell a story, and I think street photography traditions should not stop us from telling ours.

I liked that I captured how I see the city centre on a sunny day, highlighting the buildings and construction.

PHOTOSHOOT #2:

RISK ASSESSMENT:

I am going to Church Stretton, a market town in Shropshire, for the natural landscape. At the location, there are some risks that I need to consider and think of ways to help minimise the possibility of harm.

Some hazards are the unsteady footing, the high possibility of rain and my camera getting damaged. These hazards could also harm.

To help control the risk of my camera being damaged, I could bring a camera bag or have a strap attached to hold it and a lens cap to protect the front of the lens. It will also help if I wear the right clothes for the environment, like hiking shoes.

Because Church Stretton is extremely windy, I will not be taking any images if it is raining. The hills are very steep and hard to walk on, so I do not think it would be wise to continue.

PHOTOSHOOT EVALUATION :

The second photoshoot for this assignment was "natural landscape", and I decided to commute to Church Stretton in Shropshire. Though this shoot was a spur of the moment, I had an idea of what I wanted and how I would capture it.

Because my decision to go was last minute, all I could do was hope that the weather was alright (i.e. it wouldn't rain). There were risks involved with taking photos at this location, like the hilly terrain and harsh gust of winds due to the height of the hills.

Though it was cloudy, the area was lit well. Using the manual setting on my phone, I set my aperture at an f-stop of 9, ISO at 200 and shutter speed at 200. I chose these settings to capture many details and still have a sharp image though my body may shake due to the weather. The back and white work with the minimalist landscape idea I had while still giving a variety of textures in the images. I made sure to play around with my framing, which gave me various photos.

Overall I think the shoot well exceptionally well. The images are different from what I usually do, and if I had to do this shoot over, I wouldn't change anything I did.

PHOTOSHOOT #2:

PHOTOSHOOT EVALUATION :

For the third and final photoshoot, the theme was architecture. My idea for this was to produce closeup, high contrast images of different structures in the Birmingham City Center.

I decided to go to the top of the Birmingham library and used a telephoto lens to zoom into the different buildings from above. This gives viewers a different perspective on the structures as they would usually look at them from below or a far distance. It also allows me to focus on details not typically seen. Because I chose to photograph on a sunny day, I used the manual mode on my camera with an f-stop of 12 ISO of 100 and a shutter speed of 160.

After taking the images, I placed them into photoshop and boosted the contrast. This made the small details and dark lines pop in the photographs.

I think that this photoshoot went well. I am very proud of the results, and I think I will try this method more often.

FINAL IMAGES:

LANDSCAPES:

IMAGE #1:

This image shows a black and white landscape in portrait format.

The gradient of the dark foreground gradually getting lighter towards the back helps lead the viewers' eyes across the page.

I took the image taking inspiration from Giuseppe Milo, the landscape photographer I researched. The photos he took that caught my eye were taken on high mountains, either looking down or across scenery containing a lot of detail; this image achieves all of these.

If I had taken it in colour, the photograph would have lost many vital elements.

IMAGE #2:

This photograph shows a natural landscape highlighting the beautiful mountains.

The dark foreground grabs the viewers' attention with the horse to the right, adding the perfect touch. The juxtaposition of the horse's outline and the white background adds contrast and adds more detail to the frame.

This image reminded me of the black and white photo Giuseppe Milo took in one of my mood boards.

I love the image's simplicity and ability to make viewers stop and inspect.

IMAGE #3:

This photo shows two ponies playing on the grass.

The high contrast in the image creates a lot of texture. Though some may say the ponies are hardly seen, they are supposed to be blending in with their environment.

In Giuseppe Milo's photography, many details highlight the location, and I think this image does that well.

PEOPLE ON LOCATION:

IMAGE #1:

This image shows people walking through the city.

The photo highlights the people, nice weather and the buildings. The bright sunlight gives the image a warm feeling, showing the emotions.

Learning from some of Vivian Maier's images, this picture captures the atmosphere and shows viewers what I see from eye level.

IMAGE #2:

The photograph highlights the different events that take place in the city centre.

I like that the image is in black and white. The juxtaposition of the people and structures highlights the many elements in the frame. The leading lines on the circular object guide the viewers' eyes up the frame.

IMAGE #3:

This photo shows a man walking towards the left, most likely on his way to work. Viewers are wondering where he is going. The mural in the background contrasts with the person (looking upwards). This provides active framing. It also provides texture in the image with the sun shining on its cool and warm tones.

The shadows also add depth to the image and separates it into distinct parts.