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.

Connecting Essay - Bas Losekoot

Here is one of my documentary street photographs. I shot this using a reasonably slow shutter speed, which means that some light motion blur is captured in the foreground. This creates some contrast to the background of the image, in which there are two women at a table outside a coffee shop, which have been frozen still with no motion blur at all. The presence of both the people who are still and those who are moving at a fast pace can be used to suggest that within an urban environment, there are some that have to frequently be in places such as in the workplace in order to survive, whereas others have the financial luxury to be able to engage in leisure activities throughout the day. In editing this image, I increased the saturation of the colours, as well as increasing the contrast of the image. The image creates a positive mood as a result, which I feel is added to by my choice to focus on the two women have a friendly conversation at the table rather than the people walking by.




 

 The above image is by Dutch Documentary Photographer Bas Losekoot, and it was taken in Sao Paolo, Brazil. This image has a very muted colour palette; the foreground of the image depicts three men and a woman, all in smart shirts, with one man holding a clipboard, and the shirts consist of muted shades of blue and grey. The presence of formal shirts and the clipboard suggests that they are out doing some kind of work project. Therefore, within the context, we can draw the connotations that the muted shades of their shirts can suggest the mundaneness of everyday work life in an urban environment. The muted colours captured in the image are contrasted by the colour manipulation used in editing, which has added a lot of saturation to the image, therefore giving the image a much warmer tone.

My image was directly inspired by the work of Bas Losekoot. A lot of his images have one of two people in them that particularly stand out, which is the area of the image he focuses on. This is something I have tried to capture in my image; I focused on the two women on the table as I felt that they were the ones that you could tell a story from by looking at them. Losekoot's image uses a similar concept with the man with the clipboard, as he is framed using the rule of thirds composition rule meaning that you notice him first, and that you then create connotations based on what he is wearing, the clipboard he is holding and his facial expression. My use of colour is also heavy inspired by Losekoot's work; his image all follow the style of having saturated colours and high contrast, which is something I tried to imitate in editing the photo.

Connecting Essay - Karl Hugo Schmolz

Here is one of my architectural photographs from my third shoot. I framed this image using the rule of thirds, positioning the office building on the left vertical line of the rule of thirds grid. This means that the building is the first thing you notice. I converted this image to black and white in photoshop after shooting it, as well as adding noise, creating a film grain effect. This image mainly consists of light tones, which suggest the positives of urban life. This is contrasted clearly by the architecture of the building, which resembles the brutalist urban construction of the 1980s, as well as the noise added to the image, which creates a sense of dread and fear. I shot using a wide aperture, focusing on the building in the foreground. The use of a wide aperture creates a sense of depth, making the background appear to be further away, as well as directing the viewer of the image to the section you wanted them to focus on. There are leading lines featured in this image; the barriers on the left lead your eyes to the base of the building, as well as the scaffolding to the left of the building that leads your eyes to the top of the building. Together, the set of lines make you notice the great size of the building more, creating the feeling of it towering over you and you being small and vulnerable.



Here is an architectural photograph by German photographer Karl Hugo Schmolz. It was taken in Cologne, Germany, likely shortly after the war had ended. The image captures a lot of straight lines; the architecture of the area is very much inspired by the Bauhaus movement, which was a prominent architecture and art movement from the 1920s and 30s in Germany and featured lots of squares and lines. The presence of this architecture suggests that this part of the city was developed in the 1920s/30s and as a result of the war, hasn't been updated. Schmolz has focused on the mid ground of the image, in which there is an open space where a few men in suits standing in a circle and having a discussion. Due to their dress style, they are likely businessmen by profession, and as they are standing in this area, it could be suggested that they are discussing plans for the development of the area. The shadow of the building in the foreground creates a leading line, leading the viewer to the mid ground where the mens are discussing.

My photo has been inspired by Karl Hugo Schmolz' work. You can see that these two photographs link; particularly through the use of lines. Schmolz' photo uses leading lines in the form of shadow of the building, which leads your eyes to the mid ground where the men are having a discussion. My image also uses leading lines, presented in the form of barriers that lead your eyes to the base of the large office building I focused on. The architecture the image feature also bear similarities; Schmolz' image features very square and angular architecture, as does mine, as the place I took the image had architecture inspired by the brutalist movement of the 1980s. I also attempted to link my work to his further with the editing style; I converted my image to black and white and added noise in an attempt to make my image look as if the image was taken on the black and white film that would have been used during the 1930s.