Study into architectural and street photography
Introduction:
This project is an investigation into architectural and
street photography. Architecture photography is focused on shooting government
buildings, historical landmarks and impressive / interesting design. It’s
important to study as it provides a fix point of view of buildings exteriors
and interiors as well as other infrastructure and cityscapes. This provides a
collection of well-maintained historic sites that
offer examples of classic architecture, as well as run-down or abandoned
buildings that show their age in different ways. This shows how
each building fares over time which is important for architects to take into
account when designing new buildings. Architectural photography is prevalent in
society especially in the age of technology and platforms like Instagram. This
is down to tourists posting thousands of photos of landmarks everyday as a
result this makes the up keep of the tourist hotspot architecture of higher importance
as it’s always in public eye. Architectural photography also is prevalent in
society as it takes high place in travel magazines and websites in the form of
promotion. As a result making a first impression of a place.
Street photography is more focused on the chance encounters
and random incidents within a public place. Based purely on spontaneity that
can feature people or can be completely absent of people. It is therefore
important to study as it is based on the realness and the moment, instead of
the technical issues. Grainy photos, wonky framing, bad focus can all add to
this idea of realness and therefore could improve a photo. Therefore it’s
studied in order to capture what is happening during that moment in history.
This can prove to have a powerful impact, normally placed within an article or newspaper
that brings highlights to issues that the public may otherwise be clueless on.
With street photography you also are on the same standing as every other
photographer the only difference is the time spent learning to spot those
moments. Street photography is prevalent as ‘social media floods this form with
mediocre and subpar photos’ and doesn’t take into account ‘how to compose an
image’.
History:
‘View from the Window at Le Gras’ is the world’s oldest
photo taken in the 1820’s and is the first example of architectural
photography.
Created by French
inventor Nicéphore Niépce at his countryside estate, Le
Gras of the building and surrounding area. The scene was focused onto a pewter
plate thinly coated with Bitumen of
Judea, a naturally occurring asphalt. In the light the
bitumen hardened in the dim areas was washed away by a mixture of lavender oil
and white petroleum. A very long
exposure in the camera was required. Sunlight strikes the buildings on opposite
sides, suggesting an exposure that lasted for eight hours. The end
result was the
permanent direct positive picture you shown below.
(Close up of the original plate. With the enhanced version as a guide the major elements of the scene can just be discerned.)
(View from the Window at Le Gras, 1826–1827 (manually enhanced version)
Historians Helmut
Gernsheim and Alison Gernsheim in 1952 had an expert at the
Kodak Research Laboratory make a modern photographic copy. This proved
extremely difficult to produce an adequate representation however Helmut
Gernsheim heavily retouched one of the copy prints to clean it up and make the scene more
comprehensible in the 1970’s he allowed only that enhanced version to be
published. Harry Ransom
purchased the Gernsheim Collection for The University of Texas at Austin in 1963.
It remains the cornerstone not only to UT's Photography Collection but also to
the process of photography which has revolutionized our world throughout nearly
two centuries. During a study in 2002–03, scientists at
the Getty
Conservation Institute examined the photograph
using X-ray
fluorescence spectroscopy. The Institute also designed and built the
elaborate display case system that now houses the artefact in a continuously monitored, stabilised, oxygen-free environment.
Eugene Atget is
the rightful father of street photography, he worked the
streets of Paris beginning in the 1890s and continued into the 1920s. His
photography mainly consisted of non-human subjects. Henri Cartier-Bresson
was one of the first to focus on human action in the streets and to photograph
what he termed the “decisive moment”. Robert Frank published a book
called, The Americans in 1958 as a
member of the New York School of Photography. He’s photos weren’t always
straight and were raw. This gave birth to the term street photography that
people know today.
Photographers
Research:
My photographers research has a large impact on the types of photos that i am going to take. As well as this the photographers may use a different technique and that maybe something that can be used or tested within the work in order to get different shots.
My photographers research has a large impact on the types of photos that i am going to take. As well as this the photographers may use a different technique and that maybe something that can be used or tested within the work in order to get different shots.
David Gutierrez is one of the photographers that have influenced my shoots as he as many different series of photos that are relevant and based on architectural photography and night cityscapes. He is a London based photographer which has a contemporary style and is well known around the world.
This photo is of Tower Bridge in
London at night where all the lights are on. The long exposure has allowed the
streams of lights created by car and busses crossing the bridge to help
illuminate the photo. They also bring in colour and drama to the photo. The
streak's imply movement as that is how they are created, allowing the eye to
follow it into the photo and under the arch way of the bridge. As a result the viewer can easily draw themselves
into the photo. This technique is called motion blur and is taken from the series EXPOSURE and was taken in 2012. The left side of the bridge making a large swooping C curve forces the eyes down and then all the way up to the tower. Which has been framed by being highlighted by the lights and having the dark London sky in the background making the edges sharp.
This photo has many different buildings found around London. Where if you start from the right hand side at the church an work anti-clockwise it shows the buildings getting taller. This leads to the Loyd's building which has all the services on the outside of the building. This is where skyscrapers started to take over. The various heights of the buildings and the strong difference between the old stone building and the new, reflective glass buildings creates a hard contrast as well as juxtaposition. The angle shows the height and the vertical lines show the grandness of the buildings. As the eyes of the viewer move up the building for some its like you cant even see the top. This can create the feeling of intimidation and fear as they tower over the viewer. This is taken from his series VERTICAL.
Alexey Titarenko is the second photographer that has influenced my work. He is a Russian photographer born in November 1962 and produced series on the human condition in Russia after the Soviet Union
collapsed. His most well known work 'City of Shadows' 1991 - 1994, was
formed. In the series he used long exposure and intentional camera movement
into street photography.
This photo is titled 'Trolley on Nevsky Prospect, 1992' and is from
the 'City of Shadows' series. 
The second photo is titled, 'Rain on Nevsky Prospect, 1993' and is from the
'City of Shadows' series. The blurriness of all the peoples faces mask any
expression making it difficult to work out who they are and how they are feeling. However the person that has the clearest face seems to be looking down and possibly has a sad expression. Due to the blurriness however this is up for interpretation. As a result its quite a depressive scene as all the different faces of all the different people have become lost in the
indecipherable blurs of others.
(http://www.alexeytitarenko.com/#/cityofshadows/)
Relevance to work:
(shoot 2)
This is relevant to my shoot as it relates back to David Gutierrez and his VERTICAL series.
(shoot 3)
This photo had a black and white filter added to relate to the black and white photos of Alexey Titarenko. The angle for this photo is inspired by David Gutierrez and his VERTICAL series.
(shoot 4)
Alexey Titarenko was the inspiration for the photo to have the long shutter speed was to used to create the shaken effect.
Future:
For the future i plan on doing some night shooting as it will mean that i will need to adjust how i take and look at the location i am in. This will also relate to David Gutierrez more as most of his photos are taken at night, using the lights from the buildings as well as Photoshop. As well as this i want to explore more computer experiments on Photoshop.
I am also going to correct where i went wrong on work record 4. I am planning on doing the motion blur again in order to get the full extent of the blur. The main issue i needed to correct was the amount of light entering the lens and hitting the film. As a result I couldn't get the shutter speed i wanted.
Conclusion:
I am also going to correct where i went wrong on work record 4. I am planning on doing the motion blur again in order to get the full extent of the blur. The main issue i needed to correct was the amount of light entering the lens and hitting the film. As a result I couldn't get the shutter speed i wanted.
Conclusion:
In conclusion I like the work i have done so far and i have a good idea were i am going to take it next. I believe that having some night shoots will create a really different way continuing my work.
References:
Elizabeth, Complete Guide to Street Photography for Beginners, [https://photographylife.com/what-is-street-photography], assessed 11/19/19
Wikipedia, 2019, View from the Window at Le Gras, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_from_the_Window_at_Le_Gras], assessed 11/19/19
Harry Ransom Center, The first photograph, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120118034415/http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wfp]
The history of street photography, [https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-history-of-street-photography/], assessed 11/19/19
M.Ernest, 2017, A Brief History of Street Photography, [https://streetphotography.com/a-brief-history-of-street-photography/],
assessed 11/19/19
D.Gutierrez, David Gutierrez Photography, [https://www.davidgutierrez.co.uk/], assessed 9/24/19
D.Gutierrez, Exposure, [https://www.davidgutierrez.co.uk/london-photographer--architecture--streaming-light.html], assessed 9/24/19
D.Gutierrez, Vertical, [https://www.davidgutierrez.co.uk/london-photographer--creative-photography--architecture--looking-up.html], assessed 9/24/19
D.Gutierrez, Exposure, [https://www.davidgutierrez.co.uk/london-photographer--architecture--streaming-light.html], assessed 9/24/19
D.Gutierrez, Vertical, [https://www.davidgutierrez.co.uk/london-photographer--creative-photography--architecture--looking-up.html], assessed 9/24/19
SHOTS magazine, 2005, Alexey Titarenko, [http://www.alexeytitarenko.com/#/cityofshadows/], assessed 10/11/19
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