Contact Sheets and Digital

Environment Brief

The Wildlife within Abandoned Buildings.

I plan to shoot and document how even though a building is not being used it can be home to wildlife. This was inspired by my contextual research article, it stood out to me and was a original and different take on photographing a abandoned building.

Article 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2407836/Remarkable-pictures-abandoned-house-woods-adopted-wild-animals-own.html

How i plan to shoot.

It will be hard to shoot actual animals within this environment especially with analogue so i plan on using fake animals or props to suggest there is wildlife within the building 

Photographers i will look at 

Olivier Richon 

Karen Knor 

David Plowden 

Image research (Digital Test Shots)

Ideas

• Unexpected Environments 
• Reclaiming 
• Wildlife
• The Nature Within 

Contextual Research 

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2316987/Photographer-Niki-Feijens-eerie-images-abandoned-farm-houses.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2408624/Baltimores-houses-standing-The-beautiful-row-houses-sprawling-tenements.html

Environment Brief David Plowden

David Plowden 

Background information on David Plowden 

David Plowden, born October 9, 1932, is an American photographer known for his historical documentary photography of urban cities, steam trains, American farmlands, and small towns. 

While looking through the Uca library a book by David Plowden stood out to me. 'A Handful of Dust' is a collection of work he did looking at America and how it seems to be 'disappearing'. 

"The America of these photographs is a bitter-sweet reminder of things once cherished, and a life no longer possible. Deserted Main Streets and crumbling facades stare at us blindly. Abandoned houses and buildings reach back to ground." - David Plowden 

How this fits in with my Idea ?

My idea for this project brief was to look at elegant and very detailed architectural buildings that once were used but have now sadly been left to be subject to neglect and carelessness.

Within this i will also look at how small towns for example Rochester are suffering under economical stress apposed to main cities for example London.

Why is David Plowden Relevant to my idea/ Theme 

Plowdens images were taken in a time where much like our economy economic growth and job growth was slow, economic growth and job growth both fell in 2006 (Around about the same time as the book was published) from previous years as the residential housing boom came to an end.

Statistics 

The labor market weakened:

• Job growth continued to drop. In 2006, the economy added on average 149,000 new jobs per month, down from 165,000 new jobs in 2005 and 175,000 in 2004. Job growth was 14.5 percent slower in 2006 than in 2004, the year with the highest job growth in this business cycle, which started in March 2001.
• Wages made up a record low share of national income. In the third quarter, wages and salaries made up 51.4 percent of national income, the smallest share since the U.S. government began to collect this data in 1947. Total compensation, which includes benefits, dropped to the lowest share in nine years. At the same time, profits grew to the largest share of national income since 1947.

A Handful Of Dusts cover really stood out to me.

Bibliography 

A Handful of Dust: Disappearing America, W. W. Norton & Company, 2006

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/news/2006/12/21/2420/the-u-s-economy-in-review-2006/ 

'An Oak Tree in Winter' Research And Analysis

'An Oak Tree In Winter' by William Henry Fox Talbot. 

Oak trees are often symbolised throughout history as a sign of strength and great courage and also wise and humble throughout literature. When first analysing the image it is very clear that Henry Fox Talbot wanted the attention of the viewer on the 'Oak Tree', his composition and framing show this well, The tree is centre of the image and is also the boldest tree in the image, this demonstrates that he had thought about framing and decided to place the Oak Tree in the centre. He also choses to focus solely on the Oak tree and other trees in the background seem out of focus. There is no distracting or detailed sky behind the trees to distract the viewers attention and i feel the position that Talbot used emphasised the size and power of the tree.
There are small trees in the background i think Henry fox talbot could have done this purposely to compare the size of trees and once again how powerful and strong the oak tree is.

The Oak tree is also the national tree of england, Henry Fox Talbot's Image could have been related to his British routes and how he feels Britain is strong and powerful, this would have been important at the period of time the image was taken.

"A painter's eye will often be arrested where ordinary people see nothing remarkable. A casual gleam of sunshine, or a shadow thrown across his path, a time-withered oak, or a

moss-covered stone may awaken a train of thoughts and feelings, and picturesque imaginings." - Henry Fox Talbot 

This quote was featured in 'The pencil of Nature', I think it implies that not just this one image 'An Oak tree in Winter' but nearly all of his images had at least one theory or concept.

Personally i see this image as a bold reminder of the strength and to demonstrate the power of an oak tree. I definitely find myself comparing the size of the oak tree to the others in the distance and thats what brings me to a conclusion that Henry Fox Talbot considered Composition, Depth of field and also surroundings to communicate themes and symbolism within the image 'An Oak Tree In Winter'.

Bibliography 

Symbolism Of Oak Tree / http://www.universeofsymbolism.com/tree-symbolism.html

'The Pencil Of Nature' / Ebook / August 16, 2010 /http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33447/33447-pdf.pdf

'An Oak Tree In Winter' / http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=51747