Work Record 2; Vauxhall

Work Record 2; Vauxhall

Plans for Shoot:
My main aim for this shoot is to document the modern buildings that exist in this area because they will contrast with the older buildings that I have taken in my previous shoot. In Vauxhall there is the Battersea Power Station which I am aiming to photograph if it is possible because this shows land use in a negative way. I think that this shoot will show negative uses of land because of the new buildings and building work going on there and the lack of nature. I want to compare this shoot with my previous one because it will show both negative and positive uses.

Research Influence:
Along the lines of land use there are several photographers that focus on this topic, the photographer I have researched is Eric De Mare as he is very similar to John Davies. De Mare focused on the architectural side of land use.

This image was taken by Eric De Mare, in the image we can see a power station in the background and a church in the middle ground. The power station looks extremely out of place because of the area it is in, the church can be seen to be a positive religious land use whereas the power station can be seen to be a destructive negative land use. Around these buildings we can see nature which suggests to us that these buildings have replaced nature which relates to the topic I am focusing on. I picked this image from the photos by De Mare because it features a power station and I know the area that I am going to has a power station so this image can help me with the composition of my images. Similar to John Davies he also documents his images in black and white which is what I want to carry on within my images because it concentrates on the tonal atmosphere of the image. For example in this image it uses lighter tones showing that he doesn't want to present a negative atmosphere. I want to use this tonal effect in my work.

Contact Sheet:
After carrying out a successful shoot at Vauxhall I have presented all my images in a contact sheet below..

Best Images:

The following images are the best ones I have chosen from my shoot..

This image is similar to that of the motorway one from my last shoot, I wanted to bring the train track aspect into my shoot because I want to show how transportation is a main use of land. I chose to take this image from the bridge going across the track because it gave a wider view than just from the platform. I think this image links to Eric De Mare's images because I have included the nature side of land use as it exists all around the platforms. Trains are a main form of transport in this country when heading into and out of London so it was important for me to document this image. To progress this image I could take the image with an actual train in the image as this will show more symbolism of the transportation. 

This image is of the American Embassy which is located in Vauxhall, I wasn't planning on taking images of this building but it stood out when I was in the area so I had to document some part of it. This image is more of an architectural approach to land use but it works within my shoot, I wanted to experiment with taking abstract images of buildings. This can also link to texture because of the structure of the building. This image shows how land use has become very modern and relies on buildings to make up land use as there is no natural element in this image. To progress this image I could merge it with different angles of the building.

I think this is one of my best images as well because it shows modern buildings alongside natural elements. It shows how although the government building houses and flats everywhere they still keep the natural elements even if they are minimal. This image shows how eventually everywhere in London will look like this. I think the composition of this image worked well because it features the bottom of buildings and the top which shows the scale of them compared to everything else. To progress this image further I could get in closer to the natural elements and overlay the images. 

This is also one of my best images because again it shows the modern building use of land. During this shoot I focused on trying to capture abstract shots of the buildings because I though it would fit well with land use, this isn't exactly an abstract shot but it is taken from a different angle than we would originally predict. To further this image I could've taken more than one image from different angles to create more of a story about the building. In Photoshop I will edit this image black and white and see how it turns out. 

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

By looking through the images I believe that I have created a bank of useful images that document the land use in this area. The images I have taken in this shoot contrast with my previous images which is what I was hoping for because it shows how the land use in different areas compare. The only aspect I would've liked to document further is the nature part so I could use it when merging the images in Photoshop like my previous shoot. I chose to relate this shoot to Eric De Mare because he documented buildings in a natural landscape which to an extent is what I have done here. His work influenced me as he documented the power station which is what I had hoped to do here but it didn't work out as well as I had hoped. I think I had made a clear attempt at documenting the different modern buildings that we can see in London.

With regards to my best images...

These images are my best images from this shoot and they all explain a different land use, I am trying to vary my approach by documenting different land uses to compare them. Within my best images it is mainly of buildings which show how the government are using the land to their advantage by creating offices/flats for more people to live in. There are some aspects of these images that I can improve because they need to include more natural elements rather than just showing the buildings as this will widen the land use within the image. To progress my work on further I will go back into London and document these buildings slightly further which will help refine and develop my work.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

To capture these images I used a Nikon D3300, I also worked with a tripod when documenting some of these images. The settings I used to take these images were at, f/14, shutter speed of 1/18 and ISO at 200. I think these were the best settings to use in the environment and taking these types of images. Although I am documenting land use I haven't used landscape settings because the majority of the objects are close enough. 

Next I took these images into Photoshop...

To edit this image I used the curve layer to darken the sky which darkened the whole image meaning I had to go back over the building with the paintbrush tool to lighten it and make it stand out. After this I made the image black and white to create tones within the image, there are darker and lighter tones within this image which doesn't create a negative or positive effect. 

To edit this image I used the curves filter to darken the image as it was originally too light. After this I made the image black and white where I dominated the darker tones of the image to give it a negative atmosphere as this is a negative effect on land use. 

To edit this image I also used the curve layer to darken the image to bring out the sky details more. This caused the buildings to become too dark so I used the paintbrush tool within the mask to lighten the buildings. After that I used the black and white filter to make the image black and white. I have purposely used darker tones within this image to create a negative effect and show a negative land use.

I chose to edit these images in this way to link to the photographer Eric De Mare who uses black and white images to present land use, his work shows negative atmospheres of land use because of his use of darker tones. As well as taking influence from De Mare I have also taken influence from Ansel Adams and his use of the zone system.

As well as just simply editing the images, I have also merged two images together to create a computer experiment. The images I have combined consist of the railway image taken within this shoot but also an image from the shoot before because I thought it would work better than taking an image from this shoot. This shows how I am linking all my shoots together to result in pieces of work. 

This image links to the double exposure concept I wanted to explore, it shows how these two images come together to show different uses of land. We can see how there are man made and natural uses of land that make up this world. I think by creating this image I have widened the meanings that I am trying to portray in my work  about the natural and man-made uses of land. By creating this computer experiment I have refined and developed my work further and created something much more than just an image.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

These images are taken from this shoot and I think they are the best images I have produced so far within this shoot. I have chosen to mainly focus on man-made land uses within this projects because I travelled into London to find modern buildings to incorporate within this project. The train station shows how land use is used for transport to travel into and out of London. The following images of the flats and the American Embassy show how modern buildings are taking over land use within London. I chose to also include the image that I created with a computer experiment because it develops my work further and shows how the man-made and natural land uses comes together. 

Progression:

To progress my work further I am going to travel back into London to Arsenal to document the difference between the old and new Arsenal stadium because I think this will be good at showing how land use develops within the community. Personally, I think I have developed my work well within the experiment aspects because I have widened the view of the difference between man-made and natural land uses. However, to refine and develop my work further I need to document images that link back to the shoots I have already completed so I can link these images together.