The leaflet was a starting process for the main theme of my curatorship task as I intend to use different artists to explore the different aspects to working class areas. Including the consistent architecture most council houses and estates within these particular areas possess and how the deprived socio-economic conditions within these particular sectors of society impact the lifestyles, living conditions and behaviours of the residents.
Portrait Task
For this task I went out to Muswell Hill Broadway with a white piece of card with the intent of using it as a background for the portraits I was going to take of different people in the area, with the aim of capturing a wide range of people and in the process finding the demographic of Muswell Hill. Due to the weather being sunny during the period of this shoot, it complimented the white background that I was using as the natural lighting gave a glow to the majority of my subjects faces when taking pictures of them. What went well during this project was that it built my confidence in future shoots when I am potentially posed with the task of having to ask random people if I am able to take a photograph of them. However, it would be even better if I was able to have positioned the cardboard much more level as it would have created a much more professional shot. In addition to that, it would have been better if I was able to capture shots that acquired a much wider variety of people.
Simon Phipps
Simon Phipps is a British photographer whose popular for his capture of Brutalist and post-war modernist architecture in the UK that were constructed after the introduction of the welfare state to provide affordable housing for those who lack sufficient economic stability, especially after the impact the second World War had on Britain's economy. Phipps's project motivates me to produce a project fulfilling a similar criteria due to my fondness of architectural photography, especially that of council houses and estates that acquire quite a distinct look which Phipps is able to make apparent through the different camera angles he uses in the process of this projects production. Therefore I am going to attempt to similarly transition Phipps's processes by taking photographs of my own area Tottenham, which is well-known for the council houses and estates that it attains, and furthermore capture the Brutalist and post-war modernist style that these particular form of housing often adopt when constructed.
Tottenham
Northumberland Park Negatives:
Developed:
Broadwater Farm Negatives:
Developed:
South Tottenham Negatives:
Developed:
Social and architectural photography have both been very influential for me during the thought processing of photographing my own area as the main focal point of the rest of the developments to be made on my Weebly, and Tottenham which is a predominantly working-class area many people attain differing opinions of the area based on social events and the aesthetic of the area itself. Infamous for some of the social conditions such as gang violence and intense knife crime in which many ordinary residents have become accustom to while outsiders are shocked at this barbaric behaviour and sometimes look down of the people within this area as a result, even if they are not involved in it. It is also perceived as an area soon being gentrified as a result of the new Tottenham stadium being erected which is seeing changes come with it like the construction of new homes and that even the buildings and houses already acquire a 'hip' and 'trendy' look which many people see Tottenham as already due to the mixed cultures within Tottenham. However despite all these socio-economic factors, as somebody who has lived in Tottenham for thirteen years out of my seventeen year life I wanted to present the real Tottenham and the beauty that its' architecture possesses in particular and in later developments representing the opinion of the people within this area about what Tottenham really means to them, and I believe the use of a film camera was best to exert these opinions of mine.
Process of developing film:
In order to convert the film from my camera into the studio and then process the film into negatives, the equipment in order to successfully transfer my film into negatives was to first go into a dark room to wrap my film around a film reel in order for it to be developed and then put the film reel that possesses my roll of film into a film tank to put the chemicals inside of to process the film and the chemicals required to do so is developer, stop bath, fixer and water bath
My first process was to reel the film out into a film reel in a dark room, as if I was to do this process in light, it will expose all my negatives and ruin the photos in the process
After putting the film into the reel I put it into the developing tank and put the lid on
I then put developer into the tank for six and a half minutes. I agitated the tank in order for the whole roll of film to be indulged in the developer chemical for all my photos to come out. I poured out the developer when the six and a half minutes was done
After that I put the stop chemicals in for thirty seconds and agitated it, pouring it out when I was finished
I repeated the process with the fixer that stayed in for five minutes and poured it out when time was up
I then put water into the tank and left it for around ten minutes in order to get all of the chemicals off the film
Finally, I put the film into a dust free cabinet and left it there until it was fully dry
Process for developing negatives:
I used the same technique as before when developing my film into negatives, however I used a different process in the darkroom as I am using photographic paper which cannot be exposed to light
The darkroom process is similar to the film process, however the pictures go into trays of chemicals instead of placing chemicals in a tank
After I used the negatives of my film to imprint onto paper I moved the picture to the developer tray where I let the image develop for around a minute, however there is never really a set time in the developer as it depends on how I want the lighting of the image to be
I then put it in the stop bath for around a minute also (agitate the trays while the image is in there so that the chemicals wash all over the photographic paper)
After that I put it in the fixer for about four minutes. The fixer allows the photo to go into the light without being ruined
Finally I leave the picture in the wash bath for around six minutes so that all of the chemicals can be washed off and removed
To finish off I leave the picture to dry
Developments
Development One:
For this task, in order to fulfil the criteria I used the photos that I edited previously when inspired by the 'Bloc' project by Alexey Bogolepov by placing these edits into photoshop in order to edit them in further detail to produce this particular edit. Once in Photoshop, I clicked image and then I chose the adjustments setting and then select the levels setting in order to gather this outcome. After this process, on the levels setting I changed the input levels to the maximum in order to fulfil the criteria of this task. This process was replicated for the other photographs that I selected to implement this design on. What went well during the production of this development was the choice of photos that I used to create this effect on, complimented the effect quite well and created a creative outcome. In addition to that, I again believe the photographs complimented the outcome as it produced an edit that portrays the internal and true architectural design of the buildings within Tottenham. Lastly, another thing that went well was the originality of this certain effect, in other of my developments I was able to be inspired by artists who have done similar projects but I could not find any artists that have done similar works, therefore the theme of originality that I have acquired for this task only creates an added incentive.
Development Two:
Thomas Danthony
This project from London based French artist Thomas Danthony was a collaboration with Black Dragon press in an attempt to capture and push forward the theme of Brutalism which consists in the majority of London architecture. This form of photography is particularly popular as its' clever use of light and bold compositions produce a fascinating outcome in which viewers attempt to make out the real buildings behind these edits.
My Response
This development is intended to present the architectural style that buildings in Tottenham have, similar to other of my developments but with a different produced outcome. In order to successfully accomplish this project I firstly had to choose some of the pictures I had previously taken of different housing estates from my previous rolls of film in Tottenham to implement this edit on. The next process in order to edit the photographs I used the photoshop platform, once the photographs are translated onto this platform I first select the polygonal section tool in the tool bar. After this I used the polygonal selection tool to select each different similar shape in the building. Then lastly in order to gather a successful outcome for my edited pictures once a shape was selected, I used the blur-average tool to merge the colours and simplify the image in order to present the Brutalist style these buildings possess. What went well during this task was that due to the fact that I implemented this particular edit upon more than one of my selected photographs, it is evident in showing the effect on a wider variety of photographs and helps present the architectural style that most of the housing estates in Tottenham adopt. In addition to that, another process that went well during the production of this project was that due to the task attaining more than one edited photo this therefore creates variety between my separate pieces of work and has a numerous selection of edited photos that people can view. Lastly, another part of the task that went well was that the pictures I acquired and edited compliment the brutalist editing concept well and therefore helped form a successful and creative outcome. On the other hand however, I believe the outcome of the task would have been better if I gathered a contrasting work to Danthony's and acquired a more original outcome, however this point is limited due to the fact that there is not much distinction you can make for this particular task in comparison to the work of Thomas Danthony as it is difficult to have a different process and outcome to those of Danthony's when my intentions behind this development and processes to produce it are similar to those of Danthony's Brutalist project.
Development Three:
The main intentions behind the development was to bring two things together, to showcase the individual negatives I had developed in the darkroom from my rolls of films and show news articles about the different sectors of Tottenham. The news has a massive impact on the thought process of individuals, people who often read the same newspapers often become influenced by the main messages portrayed to them by the editors, therefore impacting their thought patterns on certain factors. This is evident for factors like politics where different newspapers acquire a political bias and exert a certain message to their readers in order to impact and progress their political agenda. I therefore decided to mix the consistent opinion, I believe, outsiders acquire on Tottenham being a dangerous area by placing the news articles that have created these opinions on a white piece of cardboard and show the aesthetic of Tottenham at the same time. In order to fulfil this task I firstly searched online for different news article headlines about Northumberland Park, Broadwater Farm and South Tottenham. I then got masking tape and created somewhat a figure representing a block estate to place the articles on to present the outsiders opinion of the different sectors of Tottenham, and place the developed photos inside of this structure to show the actual look of these areas. I then printed off the articles and individually cut them to size and stuck them on the tape using glue. What went well during the production of this development was the outcome of the developed negatives. In addition to that, I could not find an artist who has done something similar to this which is an added incentive as the project is therefore much more original.
Process for developing negatives:
I used the same technique as before when developing my film into negatives, however I used a different process in the darkroom as I am using photographic paper which cannot be exposed to light
The darkroom process is similar to the film process, however the pictures go into trays of chemicals instead of placing chemicals in a tank
After I used the negatives of my film to imprint onto paper I moved the picture to the developer tray where I let the image develop for around a minute, however there is never really a set time in the developer as it depends on how I want the lighting of the image to be
I then put it in the stop bath for around a minute also (agitate the trays while the image is in there so that the chemicals wash all over the photographic paper)
After that I put it in the fixer for about four minutes. The fixer allows the photo to go into the light without being ruined
Finally I leave the picture in the wash bath for around six minutes so that all of the chemicals can be washed off and removed
To finish off I leave the picture to dry
Development Four:
For this task I decided to go and ask three different people from these three different sectors of Tottenham that I had photographed about their opinions on the area of Tottenham that they are from (Northumberland Park, Broadwater Farm, South Tottenham). From the negatives that I had developed and then previously used for my fourth development, I asked the three subjects words that came to their head when thinking about Tottenham. After I received the information, I wrote the words they had come up with and wrote them over the pictures that represent the area they are from. What went well during this task was that I was able to get a more in depth and personal opinion of the area from the actual occupants instead of news editors. In addition to that I could not find any artist who has done similar work to mine, therefore making the development a lot more original instead of inspired. On the other hand however, the task would have been even better if I had asked a wider variety and range of people on their opinions of Tottenham however many people I asked would not cooperate with me and also I only required the opinion of three residents of the area as they are essential for my next development
Development Five:
Similarly to my third and fourth development the process is similar however the deeper meaning and intentions behind the final product is different. I interbred the third and fourth developments to create a mixture of opinions about the different areas within Tottenham, as opposed to development three where it was media opinionated. The headlines surrounding the photographs represents the news articles which create a perception of the area in the mind of the readers, while the photographs inside these self-made structures represents the voices of Tottenham residents about what the area is really like and what it means to them, and due to them have a much clearer insight about the area it is a much more reliable view about what the area is really like. All forms of professional art and photography always have a deeper meaning, and whenever I produce a piece like this I intend to have the same impact, and the deeper meaning of this piece is personal to me as it is the area in which I have grown up in for the majority of my life and it upsets me to see how the media broadcasts a lot more of the negative factors of not just my area but many other things, and how it overshadows the positive. The photos with the Tottenham publics opinion written on them being inside the structure is an implication to the true opinion of Tottenham, and how the true opinion which consists of both positive and negative opinion, the positive is usually dissented by the media as gang violence and knife-crime articles gather in more viewership. What went well during this task was that the individual negatives developed well and the different camera angles used help the viewer have a clearer insight on what the area actually looks like. In addition to that, another thing that went well was that I was able to gather public opinion of the area giving more legitimacy to what the area is actually like. Lastly, another thing that went well was that I could not find any artist who has done similar work to mine, therefore making the piece a lot more original.
Process for developing negatives:
I used the same technique as before when developing my film into negatives, however I used the same process in the darkroom as I am using photographic paper which can not be exposed to light
The darkroom process is similar to the film process, however the pictures go into trays of chemicals instead of placing chemicals in a tank
After I used the negatives of my film to imprint onto paper I moved the picture to the developer tray where I let the image develop for around a minute, however there is never really a set time in the developer as it depends on how I want the lighting of the image to be
I then put it in the stop bath for around a minute also (agitate the trays while the image is in there so that the chemicals wash all over the photographic paper)
After that I put it in the fixer for about four minutes. The fixer allows the photo to go into the light without being ruined
Finally I leave the picture in the wash bath for around six minutes so that all of the chemicals can be washed off and removed
To finish off I leave the picture to dry
Development Six:
Debbie Smyth
Debbie Smyth is a textile artist most identifiable and famously known by her statement thread drawings; these playful yet sophisticated contemporary artworks are formed by stretching a network of threads between accurately plotted pins. Her work beautifully blurs the boundaries between fine art drawings and textile art, flat and 3D work, illustration and embroidery, literally lifting the drawn line off the page in a series of “pin and thread” drawings
My Response
Selects:
For this task, the first thing I did was to acquire a large piece of wood in order to stick my photos down onto in order to form this particular structure using pins and string. Out of all the photos that I had previously taken in Broadwater Farm capturing architectural structure I chose my best two in order to form similar work to artist Debbie Smyth, after this I stuck the two photographs onto the wooden canvas and gathered some nails, string and a hammer. After this, I nailed down pins on different areas of the photographs in order to create the structures, after the nails were pinned down to the canvas I acquired string and attached it pin to pin to finish it off, this is evident in the photographs above. During this task, what went well was that the placement of the nails in my opinion were good and how the thread connects also compliments this very well. In addition to this, out of all the photographs that I had previously taken, the photos that I chose for this task were good and helped this particular development flourish. However, in order for this task to have been even better, it would have been good to create more shapes inside the structure such as for the windows, instead I decided to not form these certain shapes and structures and if I had done than it would have been even better. Furthermore, it would have also been even better if the thread was of better quality, instead despite the colour being good the thread was too thin and would have ben an added incentive if the thread was thicker. Finally, the project that I created was too similar to the inspired artist Debbie Smyth, if it was too be done differently to her work it would have been a lot more original and therefore a higher quality
Further development:
Selects:
GIF:
For my sixth development, in order to fulfil the criteria of work similar to Debbie Smyth's thread drawings I acquired two different coloured thread, pins, a hammer, a large scaled canvas which I later painted white and two different photos which I recreated using this equipment. Firstly, I placed the two photos which I was attempting to replicate onto the canvas, then using a pin and hammer I created small holes in order to represent the structure and architecture of both buildings which I had photographed. After this process, I then hammered the nails into these empty slots in order to form the structures and then ripped off the photographs leaving just the white canvas and the pins representing the buildings. After this, I used both black thread and red thread for the separate photos in order to create variety and to differentiate between the two photos and then later connected the threads to to each pins in order to form an illustration of the photographs that I had previously taken. What went well during this task was that the two photos that I had chosen to somewhat recreate work similar to Debbie Smyth's thread project were good and complimented each other quite well and therefore producing a good illustration. In addition to this, another thing that went well during this project was the placement of the nails, this is due to it creating the same structure as the photo I was recreating instead of myself acquiring major errors for my piece and therefore not creating an image similar to the photograph, this successful process therefore further led to the thread being able to have perfect placement and creating the image that I had desired. However on the other hand, in my opinion I believe this task would have been even better if it was not too similar to the works of Debbie Smyth's however both myself and Smyth's works acquire similar intentions and processes so it is difficult to make a distinctive piece of work to Smyth's.
Development Seven:
EVOL
German street artist EVOL transforms banal urban surfaces into miniature lifelike buildings. He is like an urban planner but what separates him from other artists in his field of work is that he creates a city within the city. This process is accomplished by the artist using complicated stencils and photographs to quickly transform powerboxes, and other worn urban surfaces into miniature apartment buildings or other structures. By drawing tiny balconies and satellite dishes onto the side of an electrical box, he is able to turn it into a realistic tiny skyscraper
My Response
Selects:
Firstly, in order to accomplish and re-create the work achieved by german street artist EVOL I cut out a rectangular shaped piece of cardboard to somewhat recreate the shape and structure of a real house. After this process, I printed out a photo of two separate estate blocks in Broadwater Farm that I had photographed and transformed these different elements of the buildings onto my piece of cardboard by cutting out around the structure of the buildings and gluing it onto the cardboard to. Then after this, in order to recreate EVOL's work I stuck the piece of cardboard onto the wall. What went well during this assignment was that I was able to translate the photographs I had taken of building blocks and placed it onto a piece of cardboard similar to Evol.
Final piece:
Alexey Bogolepov
Born in Vyborg, Russia in 1985, Alexey Bogolepov is a Russian photographer currently based in Saint Petersburg, his work often focuses on the architectural style of modernism and the reasoning behind its' application on the construction of houses and other buildings in the former Soviet States and worldwide. As a Russian citizen who was born during the later stages of the Communist Soviet Union, Bogolepov's surroundings consist of the block-like housing adopted by the modernist architectural style as opposed to the Western World adopting a much more postmodernist style in response to the austerity and lack of modern architecture that Communist architecture possessed. These experiences led Bogolepov to assemble a collection of photographs in his 2014 project 'Bloc' where he photographed a series of austere buildings constructed in Saint Petersburg during the Soviet era, he then edited the photographs by placing red line markers around the buildings making apparent the block-like structures that these buildings acquire. Alexey Bogolepov and this project in particular intrigues me as it portrays the lack of creativity behind the architecture under Communist rule as it was perceived as bourgeoisie and instead the Bolsheviks adopted a much more minimal style. In addition to that, the red line portraying the structure of the buildings fascinates me as to me it somewhat creates a sense of these box-like cages in which the inhabitants within these infrastructures are trapped and are unable to get out of them.
My Response
The process in which I had attempted to re-implement Alexey Bogolepov's project onto the photos I had taken of the whole of Tottenham trying to capture the architectural structure of buildings and houses consisted of a few steps, firstly I did this same process with each of the nine photos that I had used this effect on. First step was that I edited the photograph by using photoshop, then after this in order to create the structure line like Bogolepov, I went onto adjustments and chose black and white in order to do so. After this step, in order to create structure lines I selected the polygonal lasso tool and selected parts of the buildings that I had photographed. After this, in order to form colour from these structure lines I selected edit then stroke, then I chose different widths of the structure lines for different areas of the buildings and chose a colour of my choice. Then after doing this process to one part of the photo, I use this same element of editing for the rest of the photograph including around the buildings and the windows. During the task, what went well was that due to the use of this particular effect on multiple photographs of different houses and buildings in separate sectors of Tottenham, it helped create a variety of different edited pictures and therefore created a nice collection of numerous edited pictures. In addition to that, another process that went well was that the actual end product was a creative final image of the buildings and helps capture the architectural structures of the buildings that follow a Brutalist or post-war modernist architectural style which was the main intention behind this task. On the other hand however, the development would have been better if the outcome of the edited photographs were not too similar to Alexey Bogolepov's work, therefore my piece does not acquire as much originality or distinction from my inspired artists work however it is difficult to create a differentiation between my work and Bogolepov's as I am trying to present the structure of block-like housing and buildings within Tottenham while Bogolepov acquired the same criteria when photographing buildings constructed in Saint Petersburg during the Soviet Union.