Connecting Essay - Anna Delany

Here is an image taken from my eighth shoot, which captured themes of urban decay and abandonment. This was taken at the site of an abandoned school that is soon set for demolition, which has not been in use for around 6 years. Parts of the school have been professionally demolished, and this professional demolition is visible in this image. I took this while just outside what was the astro turf playing field, which had been professionally pulled up, creating a very rough and uneven surface, and with that some very rough textures, which create connotations of the uncertainty of whether buildings under jeopardy will last or get abandoned like this one. In the foreground of the image is the fence that went around this astro turf field, which has since been destroyed, with most of the metal netting having peeled away and collapsed onto the floor. The fences being collapsed could represent the fact that this building was once a school, which is a protected environment but since being abandoned is now completely unprotected and open for anyone to access. I processed this image into black and white and added noise, creating the gritty and urban aesthetic that I tried to create for this shoot.



This is an image by New Zealand born, New York based urban photographer Anna Delany. This image combines rural and urban photography, as it was taken in a field, however, it contains a hut with no windows or door which has been covered in graffiti. The image has been captured in black and white, creating a wide tonal range, with the hut and the grass in the mid ground creating some light tones, which are contrasted by the dark sky and the dark trees in the background. The architecture of the hut looks very urban and links to the brutalism movement, which is something a lot of Delany's work captures. The presence of such hut within a rural environment could suggest that the rapid urbanisation from the 1960s onwards has somewhat failed, as this urban structure has clearly been abandoned. Graffiti on the hut can be taken as representing the presence of urban decay.

My image has been inspired by the image Anna Delany took. The subject matter of Delany's works is urban decay, and they are always taken in black and white; I tried to find a decayed and abandoned location in Harlow Town to reflect this theme, eventually choosing the site that was once Passmores School. Delany's use of black and white creates a wider tonal range for the image as well as being a stylistic choice, which is something I took note of throughout my shoot. You can see same sharp dark and light tones throughout my image that are present in Delany's image, creating a smooth and rich feeling to the image. I also took note of Delany's use of texture to portray urban decay, adding noise to my image to give the textures a rougher and more gritty quality.

Connecting Essay - Dylan Kasson

Here is one of my images from my fifth shoot. This is a HDR processed image, created from three different image. I set my camera to auto bracketing mode, and set the main exposure to 1/160 to avoid camera shake and any motion blur in case any people were visible in the shot. I took three image, with one being under exposed, one being over exposed and one being correctly exposed. The HDR processing used in Photoshop combined the three images to create this final image. It has a wide tonal range, due the HDR processing and the fact I shot the base images in a RAW format. There are some dark tones shown the wall to the left of the image and the path that leads along the bottom of the image. There are also some light tones shown in the building that takes up a large part of the background of the image. There are a lot rough and worn textures shown throughout the image, particularly along the path in the foreground. These textures create connotations of the rough side of urban lifestyles, like the constant presence of crime and frequent graffiti and vandalism. The railings at either side of the path create leading lines, leading the viewer to the background where the large office building stands.

Here is an image by documentary photographer Dylan Kasson. The image depicts a shopping trolley left in the middle of a storm drain, and it has been taken from the top of the storm drain at a low angle looking down on the trolley. It's in colour but the colours have been desaturated, giving the image a bleak mood. It appears that a slight purple filter has also been applied to the image, which adds some warmness to the harshness of the mostly grey colour pallete. The image has been taken in portrait orientation rather than landscape, which means that attention is drawn more to the punctum of the image, which is the trolley being left there, rather than the vastness of the storm drain. The presence of the trolley and the fact that the photo has been taken from so far away from it could suggest that the area it's taken in is deprived or abandoned; the trolley is a symbol of consumerism and it being abandoned could suggest that consumerism has died out in the area due to deprivation.

My image has some links to Kasson's image, particularly in location. Kasson's image depicts an area that is clearly urban, yet appears to be old and worn out, which is similar to the location used in my image. I also took influence from his use of texture; I tried to capture a lot of rough textures to portray the gritty side of urban life, which is the presence of old structures from the brutalist era of the 1980s being present within modern urban towns. 

Connecting Essay - Ronya Galka

Here is one of my images from one of my street photography shoots. I used a tripod in this shoot, as I wanted to capture motion blur. This image used a shutter speed of 1 second, and the result is that all of the people in the foreground are blurred to a large degree. I decided on capturing motion blur as I felt that it would link well to the theme of urban lifestyle, particularly the idea that those that live in urban environments are busy almost constantly, which results in towns being crowded. The image has been edited to increase the saturation of the colours, as well as increasing the contrast of the picture as a whole. The saturated colours help create a more positive mood than the image originally did, as the colour pallet was muted due to the rainy weather on the day I shot this. It creates connotations of the urban town being a happy environment in which people can go and spend the money they've earned on leisure activities and products. However, the higher contrast widens the tonal range, creating some darker tones in the paving slabs on the floor and the black borders around shops. These dark tones can represent the dark side of urban consumer lifestyles, such as the effects of the actions of transnational corporation, such as Starbucks, which is present in this image, on the populations of less economically developed countries.

This is a Photo by German Documentary/Street Photographer Ronya Galka. The image has been taken from a profile perspective and depicts a woman in business attire walking along a London street  while smoking a cigarette. In the Background behind her, there is a large billboard that reads "BAD GIRLS" and displays a disco ball chained to a collar next to the text. The image has been taken in black and white, and the result is a wide tonal range, with some light tones shown on the walls of the street and dark tones shown in the shadows cast by the window bays and on the dark clothing she's wearing. The presence of the words "BAD GIRLS" could be a purposeful link captured by the photographer to the woman smoking, suggesting that she is "bad" as smoking is a harmful habit. It could also be a reference to the stylisation of smoking in some media, particularly in Photography and film, as the term "bad girls" referring to smoking almost fetishises it.

My image took some inspiration from Galka's images, particularly the image above. I wanted to capture people on the move in an urban environment, as well as capture large advertisements that could be linked to the lifestyles of those living in an urban environment. Galka's photo did it by creating links between the "BAD GIRLS" text and the woman in the photo smoking, while my image created links between the presence of consumer advertising and the fast movements of people in urban environments, suggesting that people are driven to be busy around town due to availability of consumer goods and services.

Image Bank

This is strongly linked to the idea of urban decay. The image depicts an abandoned train sitting at an abandoned station. It was shot in black and white, therefore it consists mainly of shades of grey, which create connotations of civilisation fading away.

This image has been focused on a very specific point of the image; the background. The background shows a very brutalist urban structure which looks as if it is abandoned or has at least not been developed for a long while. The foreground around it is a hole in a building from which the photo was taken. The use of the torn hole in the building suggests that the area is underdeveloped and has decayed, which creates a desolate mood.

This is another image with urban decay as a key theme. This appears to have been taken at an abandoned hospital, where three beds can be seen and there is something smashed and strewn all over the floor. The presence of the abandoned hospital beds could create links to cuts in public spending in the UK, resulting in hospitals being shut down. A hospital is also a symbol of hope and seeing it destroyed could be a symbol that hope is lost.

This is very different to some of the previous images, in that it has been taken in a very modern urban environment rather than an old or decayed one. This image was taken at a very wide angle, therefore there is a large amount of lens distortion. The image captures large buildings, which create connotations of power.

This appears to have been taken at a ruined theatre. It has a very muted colour pallete, consisting of muted browns and grey, which suggest that the place was once extravagant but has since faded after being abandoned for a long time. There are some light tones in the background from the light that is pouring in to the building through the holes in the roof, which create a sense of hope.

The image above contained a wide range of colours. It depicts abandoned train cars that have heavy graffiti on them. The graffiti creates a lot of bright saturated colours in the mid ground of the image, which is contrasted by the ground in the foreground, which is grey. 

 

This is colour but has be desaturated a large amount. The result is a pallet of muted colours, creating a gritty atmosphere. There is also a large tonal range presented, with some darker tones towards the left of the image, while the mid ground displays lighter tones. The man on the escalator with his hood up represents the anonymity that you get while in an urban environment

 

The Three images above link to the theme of urban architecture. They have all being shot in black and white, therefore paint urban structures in a cynical manner. The structures shown in the images are very square, with few rounded edges and lots of repeated simple patterns shown through the buildings windows, which could represent both the repetition and the lack of individuality that is present within urban areas and the lifestyle involved in them.

 

 

 

This series of images focuses on the presence of travel and motion within urban environments, and how the people use transport to get around. The images depict popular methods of transport in urban environments, such as trains, cars and walking. Some of the images have made use of motion blur to capture the fast pace of travel which is common in cities, partly due to people often having busy work schedules.

 

 

  

 

 

This series of images portrays the people within urban environments in a documentary manner. All of the images are in black and white, giving them a wide tonal range and high contrast. The images, as a series, show the contrast between those who live "regular" lives, purchasing consumer products and working contracted jobs, and those who have rebel from this system, turning to subcultures and acts of rebellion such as graffiti.

 

 

Above is another series focussing on urban structures and architecture, however, some of these images make use of colour, creating a more positive outlook on the repetitive, pattern based designs that are often used in these areas. Leading lines are used to point the viewer to the sheer scale that urban environments have amounted to in the present day, as well as pointing towards some large high rise structures in the background of the images.

The three images above focus on the theme of urban decay. They make heavy use of texture in portraying this theme, displaying course and corroded textures throughout. Muted colours have also been used to create a sense of dread and an eerie atmosphere throughout the images, linking to the sense of waste that urban decay brings.

Final Portfolio