Personal Project - Research Log

This is the Works of street Photographer Ronya Galka. I chose this photographer for their documentary depiction of the lifestyle of urban people. Their pictures are all in black and white, and are mostly candid shots of people walking, which I feel creates a very real depiction of how people interact to the urban environment they live in.

 This image was likely staged, as the subject is sitting still and the photographer appears to have taken this image close up to the subject, which tells me that the photographer had spoken to the subject before and asked him to sit there for a photo. This image was shot in black and white, meaning there are a lot of light tones shown. There are also some rough textures shown on the stone he's sitting on, which represents a sense of urban decay around the area. There is also what looks like a bottle of alcohol sitting on the wall next to him, which creates connotations of him being part of the urban lifestyle of being a consumer of products rather than a producer of products. The image appears to have had some sort of black border placed around the edge, which creates a vignette effect. This gives the image an atmosphere of dread, which fits with the brutal urban architechre of the area.

This was definitely a candid image, as it was taken from far away from the subject. This has made use of a narrow depth of field; the small section of the bridge that is visible in the top of the frame is visible is out of focus, while the section under the bridge is sharply in focus. This image also has a surreal aspect; the punctum of the image is that the subject as the focus point is wearing mouse ears. Also, the fact people are walking apart from each other shows that people living in a very urbanised area are happy to keep themselves to themselves and rarely interact with each other. The main subject appears to be holding some kind of leather bag, which creates connotations that they live a consumer lifestyle, frequently buying products from retailers.

This image has a very large tonal range. Because it has been shot in black and white during the night, but has been shot on a street that is well lit, therefore the result is a mix of the dark tones of the night and the tones of the bright lights from the cars and street lights. The tones are made more clear by the fact this image is in black and white. The fact she was holding an umbrella shows that she is also part of the Western costumer lifestyle, is the product is a luxury to some but is seen as essential to an urban lifestyle. The image is also framed very well; the photographer has used the rule of thirds composition rule, taking the photo when the subject was in the left side focus point of the grid, meaning your attention is drawn to her.

This image also used the rule of thirds composition rule. The subject was photographed when she was aligned to the left vertical line of the grid, meaning you notice her before anything else in the image. She would be considered the punctum of the image. The use of backdrop, though the image appears to be candid, links to the subject, as the poster reads "bad girls" and the subject is a woman who is smoking, which is considered to be not a good thing to do. She is wearing a formal suit, which suggests that she works in some sort of office job, yet her smoking creates a contrast to her profession, as it's considered a bat habit and a waste of money.

Bas Losekoot is a Dutch-born Photographer and artist. His work is primarily urban documentary photography, and from his work he mainly focuses on urban/city lifestyle. His project, The Urban Millennium, comes from his interest in city life and how you can learn a lot about society and people from a small snapshot of it

This image was taken somewhere in New York and is part of The Urban Millennium project. It appears to have been taken next to a queue for something, and five people have been captured in this image. This image has made use of a very narrow depth of field, focusing sharply on the woman that's in the centre of the frame and leaving everything else out of focus. The woman's expression appears to be slightly stressed and perhaps a bit upset, which suggests that she may be thinking of something that's currently happening in her life or perhaps her situation in general. Her coat is formal, which suggests she may be a business person, meaning she would have a busy and stressful work life, and that is what she is thinking about. This image contains some muted colours as well as some saturated colours; the main subject's hair is a saturated shade of orange, as the is the shirt of the man in the foreground. However, the clothes people are wearing are mostly muted shades of blue, excluding the woman in the mid ground, whose coat is an off white colour. The use of muted colour can be implied to represent the dullness of urban life.

This was taken as a part of the Sao Paulo section of the Urban Millennium project. The image shows some men and a woman on a street, who appear to be part of some project, as one is holding a clipboard. The men are wearing formal shirts, which suggests that they are operating on an administrative level, overseeing whatever the project is. These people are likely wealthy, therefore this a portrayal of the rich and prosperous side of urban lifestyle. However, this uses a lot of muted colours, mainly shown in the muted shades of blue on the men's shirts, which could create connotations of their life being dull and repetitive. There is a wide of range of textures in the image too; there are some very smooth textures on the wall in the foreground of the image, as well as some rough textures shown on the walls in the background.

This is another image from the New York section of the Urban Millennium project. This is the first image in which the subject has not been captured from a mid shot perspective; the image is a wide angle long shot, capturing the subject's full body. The subject has been positioned in the centre of the frame, which could represent how urban lifestyle involves looking after yourself and minding your own business. The subject is walking away from the camera in this shot, and they are conpletely obscured in shadow, creating a silhoutte effect. This could be seen as implying that as part of Urban lifestyle, you will likely never see a person more than once due to the amount of people in the area, and that this creates a sense of anonmyisity.

Like the previous image, this puts the subject into the centre of the frame rather than using the rule of thirds. This decision, as well as the fact there is space between hum and everyone else, means that full attention is drawn to the main subject. He is in a suit, therefore he is most likely a businessman or in a high ranking position of some description. He seems to be surprised or shocked by something, however he is still using his phone, which creates connotations of urban life being somewhat ignorant or uncaring to the people around them and their problems. His tie is a muted shade of blue, which could represent the repetetive nature of his work life and city lifestyle, or represent his boredom with living and working in an urban environment

Karl Hugo Schmolz was a Photographer from Cologne, Germany. His father was a photographer, therefore he was practicing photography from a young age. He was primarily an architechture Photography, capturing buildings in Cologne after he had returned from World War II.

 This has been taken somewhere in Cologne, Germany. The image is very minimalistic in nature; there are very few subjects in the image, as those that are there are in the background. The foreground and midground of the image has buildings in it. This image doesn't have a wide range of tones; the black and white film used was very tonally light. The light tones create connotations of urban lives being repetetive and consistent. The image is a portrayal of the physical side of urbanisation; the actual buildings themselves rather than the lifestyle of the people who live in urban areas. The image creates a sense of depth; the image has been framed so that there is a section of building in the foreground, and two seperate sections in the midground and background.

 Although this image focuses on architechure, this one connects much more to urban lifestyle than the previous image. This image appears to be an empty theatre that is still lit up and is neat and symmetrical, which represents the leisure aspect of urban lifestyle, as well how the lifestyle is neat and effecient. This image has a wider tonal range than the previous image, due the lighting casting some shadows on the walls as well create highlights in the image. The image also creates a sense of symmetry,w ith it being framed so that the walkway in the theatre is almost perfectly in the centere. This image also creates depth, as the lens is wide angle, meaning the back of the theatre appears to be vary far away.

 

This goes back to the theme of urban architechure rather than reflecting on urban lifestyle. It has been framed so that the building fits perfectly in the imddle of the frame. The building in the image is a very typical urban building; it contains lots of squares and rectangles in the design and is very basic, with repeated patterns in the windows. This can reflect the urban lifestyle; it creates connotations of urban life being repetivie and uniform. The image mainly features very light tones however, which could suggest the positives in urban lifestyle. This image featues very little variety in shapes, with the majority of the shapes being either squares or rectangles.

This final image is a very architechure based image, with no human subjects at all. The image makes use of the golden triangle composition rule, as you can see the foreground, midground and background go from the left to the right in that order. The image is a low angle shot, which is aiming upwards at the buildings. This gives the buildings a sense of power over the people that would inhabit the ground, making urban development seem unstoppable and strong. The image makes heavy use of shape and form, as the architechure features no curves at all, therefore a lot of angular shapes and forms are created throughout the image.

Dylan Kasson is a Chicago based photographer that captures mainly documentary series, though in a wide range of situations instead of just the typical urban situations. His series "Manifest Destiny" captures images in a more urban environment, with one of the themes being urban decay

This image was from the Manifest Destiny Series, many of which portrayed themes of urbanisation and urban decay. This image appears to have been taken in an empty storm drain, which is typical of heavily urbanised cities such as Los Angeles. There is a clear punctum in the image; the shopping trolley left in the middle of the storm drain, which could represent how the area has been abandoned by people. The trolley is a symbol of the urban consumer lifestyle, and its abandonment suggests that the area has been abandoned by those who were previously living a happy urban life. The image has very little colour in it, mainly consisting of grey, which creates further connotations of abandonment and sadness.

This is a very different image to the previous image, however it still depicts urban decay. The image shows an an old Cadillac in the driveway of an urban home at night. The car has rust on the metal frame around the window screen, as well as on the numberplate. This could suggest that the car has been abandoned by its owners, who perhaps couldn't afford to keep it running. The fact the house has only two windows visible and that there is a chain link fence next to their house, shown through the shadows, suggests that the owners of the home are living in a poor area, therefore are poor themselves. The wall of the building has been lit up a saturated shade of light blue, and there are shadows of what look like tropical trees on the wall. This and the fact they own a Cadillac that appears to be barely used could suggest that they seek the American Dream.

This was taken from a different series by Dylan Kasson; it is from his "Spate" series, which also has urban decay as a running theme. This image series differs from the images from the Manifest Destiny series, as they were taken in Black and White. The use of black and white creates a wide tonal range; there are dark tones down in the trees in the background, lighter tones in the midground where people are skating, then the lightest tones are in the foreground on the pavement where the man is walking. The sky is obscured by dark clouds, which imply that a bad event is on its way. The area the photo was taken in appears to have been in development, but has been left midway through, resulting in urban decay, shown through the graffiti and the fact people are skating around the area.

This is by far the simplest of Kasson's images, with there being no subject or punctum in the image at all. The image appears to capture the roofs of several floors of a building from a worm's eye view perspective. Using a worms eye perspective gives the building a sense of power over the photographer and the person viewing the image. There is a range of textures shown in this image; there are smooth textures throughout the majority of the structure, however, there are multiple sections where the paint has heavily rusted away, creating some rougher textures. The image is very light in tone, with there being almost no tonally dark areas, which creates connotations of urban life being a positive thing.

Alex Fakso is an urban photographer that began his career in the early 90's as a skate photographer, later expanding to capture both the lifestyle and architecture side of urban photography. He has had both solo and group works exhibited throughout Europe and has had two books published.

This image has been framed so that your attention is drawn to the subject; the photographer has used the rule of thirds composition rule, framing the subject in the right focus point of the grid. However, the image captures a wide depth of field, which means the background is sharply in focus as well as the subject. A wide depth field was likely used as for an urban subject matter, the background is as important as the foreground or subject, as you are trying to create a message about urban lifestyle. This image mainly consists of light tones, which suggests the positives to urban life. This contrasts to the actual content of the image; it was taken in an empty, worn out place, and has graffiti on the walls, which suggests urban decay.

This image mainly makes use of dark tones to create a gritty and urban atmosphere. Because it has been taken in the dark, presumably with a flash. The result is the foreground, in which a graffiti artist sits after he's sprayed the train, being lit and displaying some light tones, and the background displaying dark tones. There are some more light tones shown in the train depot in the mid ground, which is the only other part of the image that has a light source in it. The use of black and white exaggerates the tonal range. The image was taken at a train yard, which is a very gritty and industrial setting. The use of this environment presents urban life are rough rather than rewarding.

This is the first image to have more than one subject; the image shows two men, one lifting a grate in a drain and watching out for others while the other is about to climb through the hatch into what is presumably the sewers. This image is very dark in tone like the previous image, having been taken at night, with the only light source being street lights. The use of dark tones highlights the illegality of their actions..

This image is a very lifestyle focused image. The image displays a lot of dark tones, which create a very dark mood. Because it was taken in a dark subway train, the image is very noisy, which further creates a dark mood and a sense of dread. This contrasts to what's happening in the image, which creates a happy mood. The image shows a subway train, in which a boy is hanging to the bars and laughing while his friend picks him up and flips him other backwards. People can be seen in the background laughing. It has themes of urban lifestyle, as it is shot in a subway and depicts people interacting with each other. The people all reacting to each other, instead of the typical public transport norm of talking, suggests that those that live in an urban lifestyle can be fun.

Charlie Waite is a British Photographer born in 1949. His works mainly consist of landscapes of rural environments, which are very calm in mood and portray the serenity of a rural landscape.

 

The image above is a very carefully frame photograph. The Photographer has framed the image using the rule of thirds; the first tree is positioned along the right horizontal lines of the grid, with the center of the leaves being around where the lines cross, which means our attention is drawn to that tree. This tree is also part of a leading lines formed of trees; they start far into the background and move across the frame and into the midground, which further draws your attention to the tree at the focus point, which is tree at the front. The image makes heavy use of the colour green, which can represent the peace and serenity of a rural environment.

 

This image has also been carefully framed, Waite has made use of the golden triangle composition rule. This means that the image is neatly organised so that if you placed the golden triangle grid on, the foreground, midground and background would fit neatly into each of its sections. The image features a wide range of colours; there are some muted shades of yellow, mostly in the midground, which represent nature taking over the land. There are also some shades of brown in the background, which create connotations of the land being healthy and natural. Also, there is a much wider tonal range presented in this image; there are some very light tones presented in the yellow leaves in the background, as well as some dark tones shown in the sky far into the background, which represents the harshness of winter that's about to come.

 

While this doesn't follow any strict composition rules, the framing is still an important aspect of this image. The image shows a bare forest, with trees coming from the water, and is framed so that the small forest clearing fits perfectly in frame. Pattern has been heavily incorporated into this image; it looks as if there is a repeated pattern of very similar looking trees that stretches from the foreground of the image to the background of the image. The colour palette of this image features all muted colours, creating a gloomy mood. The trees are a muted shade of brown, which suggests nature dying out as winter arrives.

While minimalistic, this image makes use of several formal elements. The majority of this image is made up of a pattern of repeated irregular shapes that are formed on what appears to be a salt flat. The use of this pattern creates connotations of nature being rough and that it will always be there while urban environments won't be. The image consists mainly of the colour white, which could represent the purity of an untouched natural land. This is in contrast to the  texture presented on the ground in the image, which is very rough and bumpy, and creates connotations of nature being unpredictable and violent.

Adam Burton is one of Britain's leading Landscape Photographers. He began to teach himself Photography in 2001 and has been a full time career Photographer since 2008. His images are mainly taken in the UK, particularly in South-West England.

This was taken in Brecon Beacons, Wales very early in the morning. The rule of thirds could be applied to this image, as it is framed so a diagonal line could be draw across where the foreground ends and the mid ground and background start. This image contains a lot of saturated colours; it mostly consists of saturated shades of green and yellow. A saturated green creates connotations of nature thriving in the summer season. However, there are some muted shades of yellow and green mixed in, which suggest that Autumn is approaching. Finally, there are some bumpy textures shown in the trees and on the fields, which represent the rough autumn and winter that are about to come.

This was taken in Dartmoor, Devon. This image makes use of leading lines; each side of the road acts as a leading line that leads your eyes from the foreground to the background. There are trees following each side of the line too, which further lead the your eyes to the background. This image also makes use of lots of saturate shades of green, which represent the harmony of a rural lifestyle. This is contrasted by the muted shades of brown on shown on the trunks of the trees.The image is mostly light in tone, which further suggests the positives of a natural, rural lifestyle.

The Photographer has purposefully made this a very bright image. It depicts a vast landscape covered in fog. The majority of the image is white, which creates connotations of the land being pure and untouched. The image is very light in tone, with almost no dark tones, therefore it creates a very positive mood. It is lit in a very high key manner which is due to the rays of light peering through the clouds, which creates connotations of rural locations being pure.

A large range of colours have been captured within this image. The foreground and midground shows long grass which captures saturated shades of green and yellow. These shades create positive connotations of rural landscapes being untouched and fresh. There are also a range of textures throughout the composition of the image; in the very front of the foreground, there are some very rough and bumpy texture, which could represent the harshness of a natural environment, however, the rocks in the background are much smoother in texture. While the foreground is the focus point, the pile of rocks in the background has been framed using the rule of thirds, which means your attention is also drawn to that.

Tom Manley is an architectural Photographer. He began his career in architectural film maker before moving to photography to focus urban landscapes and architecture.

 

This is an image that focuses on urban architecture and urban decay. In the foreground, there is man who is looking off into the distance. In the background are several urban high rises that are under construction, with a demolished building in the midground in front of it. This image features mainly muted colours; the grass in the foreground is a very muted shade of green, which could represent the death of nature in place of heavy urban development. The new urban high rises are all dark shades of grey, which create a very cynical tone on the subject of urbanisation. The demolished building in the midground creates connotations of urban decay; it represents society's need to replace infrastructure on want rather than necessity.

 

This image is very formal element heavy, which is important for architectural photography. The building in the image is an urban structure yet is very modern, meaning the shapes created by it are very jagged and sharp. The form created by the building is particularly bulky and aggressive, which links to brutalist architecture. There is a large tonal range presented within this image; the sky displays some dark tones, as does the reflection in the glass, whereas the foreground and the walls of the structure present some lighter tones. 

 

 This an example of suburban arhitecture in detail. The image is a very closely framed depiction of a suburban street, in which each house has been built exactly the same and the houses are all tightly packed together. The way the houses are organised creates a strong sense of pattern, which creates connotations of urban life being uniform and neatly organised. There has also been a strong use of colour; despite the industrial looking urban architecture, the buildings have been painted using saturated shades of primary colours, which suggests that urban life is less repetitive and dull than the architecture would suggest.

The framing of this image focuses strongly upon the architecture. The background mainly consists of buildings, with a small amount of sky visible in the top of the frame. In the foreground and midground are several small houses, which are almost all made of square and rectangular shapes, which creates connotations of urban architecture being simple yet effective at doing the job of housing people. However, this image contains a lot muted colours; all of the houses in the frame are a muted shade of yellow, which represents that the people living in this area don't lead happy lives.

Lois Conner is an America Photographer that is famous for her urban cityscapes that are taken using a banquet camera that are printed on platinum print format.

 

Despite being taken in a very urbanised environment, this image features zero subjects. The center of the image features a large cathedral, which is ancient architecture, and it is surrounded by fairly modern urban architecture. This creates contrast between the current period of time, in which we build very square and simple urban buildings, and a period in which we made much more complex architectural designs. The urban building to the right creates some very dark tones, which implies that urban architecture is dull and repetitive. This is contrasted by the light tones created by the cathedral in the middle, which suggests that ancient architecture invokes a much happier mood.

The golden triangle composition rule has been used to take this photo; You can draw a line around the middle of the image where the foreground ends and where the background and midground can be separated into two sections. The photographer used a wide depth of field, meaning everything in the image is in focus; this is because as an architecture photograph, the photographer decided there was no clear punctum in the image. Leading lines have been used in the composition of the image; the edge of the bridge forms a straight line that leads your eyes to the background. The background is important as this where there are the most urban buildings, therefore this would be where the photographer wanted the viewer to focus.

 

This shows two different sides of the urban lifestyle. In the background are some urban high rises, which represent the rich side of urban life, whereas in the foreground there are some makeshift metal fences, which represent the impoverished side of urban living. However, the high rises in the midground appear to have decayed or are under construction, which suggests that there are some downsides to living in a richer urban area. The Photographer has made use of pattern and line; the buildings to the right of the frame contained repeated square patterns, while the building to the right contains a pattern of repeated straight lines. This architecture reflects urban architecture as a whole; it is uniform and simple.

 

This has a wide range of tones presented throughout the image. As is was taken at night, there are some dark tones on the sky in the background, as well as on some of the unlit buildings in both the background and the foreground. However, half of the image presents lighter tones, shown through some of the brightly lit buildings in the midground and background and through the streetlights. Leading lines have also been used in this image; the banks of the river create leading lines that lead the viewer of the image towards the main part of the city in the background. This is image was shot in black and white, which I feel creates connotations of urban life being simple, which contrasts to the busyness of the image.

Doug Fredricks is a Photographer that studies a wide range of topics, including people, animals, rural areas and urban areas. His work often takes a documentary or landscape style.

The image above is very tonally dark. The sky shows almost entirely dark tones, with the rest of the image being dark due to a lack of sunlight. As a result of there being no sunlight, the shades of green on the grass have been muted, whereas they would usually be saturated. The colour palette of this image mainly features green and brown, both of which have connotations of health and growth. The use of dark tones in this image acts a reminder that although rural life may be peaceful, you are still living at the will of nature, which can be violent, as it is presented in this image.

The colour palette of this image is very muted. It is mostly made up of muted shades of brown and green, which can represent a sense of nature dying out for the winter season. This is contrasted by the white borders that have been added to the image, as white represents purity. The photographer has used a low f stop in this image to capture a narrow depth of field, in which he focused on the barn in the foreground.

The image above creates a sad mood; the image consists of mainly muted shades of green, yellow and brown. These colours can all represent nature, therefore presenting as muted can suggest that nature is dying out for the winter. This image has very low contrast levels, making the image appear very washed out, which further adds to the sad and eerie mood created. The photographer has focused on the foreground, in which there is a wooden fence with barbed wire. This means that you notice this before the background that is covered by fog, which is a reminder that civilisation still exists despite the strength of nature.

This is yet another image that uses a large amount of muted colours. In the foreground, there are some incredibly muted shades of blue, which almost appear as if they are just grey, which could represent the last remnants of summer being almost gone and that winter has nearly arrived. Then, in the mid ground, you have muted shades of green and yellow, which portray the fact that the leaves are slowly dying with the season. Like the previous image, the background is mainly fog, however, there are some hills emerging from it, which serve as a reminder that the green nature of the land will return eventually.