Evaluation

My final outcome has continued to follow my chosen topic of ‘Urban Decay’ however, before starting this project I wanted to look at decaying buildings as a whole to show the history of the buildings by revealing different layers to it in order for the viewer to begin to see what used to be there. I also wanted to portray the beauty in decay which I feel I have been able to show. Moreover my final outcome does differ slightly from my original project proposal as I have also looked at closer aspects of the buildings I began to photograph instead of just taking a picture of the whole building I have also taken photos of one area of it, for example a boarded up window or focusing on the paint or the roof e.t.c.  

Throughout my FMP I have continued to use my sketchbook where I have written ideas and also planning for what I wanted to do for my final piece, my sketchbook also includes the primary and secondary research I have completed which helped me to decide what I wanted to achieve with my photos. I have also used my blog where I have been able to review and analyse my work, I have used it to show my experiments and to suggest ways in which I can improve. I feel that both these methods have helped with the development of my work as I have been able to show tutors and peers who have suggested further ways of developing my work, these methods have also allowed me to be critical of my work so I was able to know what I wanted to do next and also to experiment with different ways of photographing and what I wanted to photograph.

I feel that I met all my targets that I had set in my plan however, they were not all necessarily to the timescale I had given myself. I have completed my primary and secondary research and I have also attended exhibitions which is something I had hoped to. I have also completed 4 different photo shoots and the final one being my most successful which I am really pleased with the outcomes of.

Overall my final outcome was produced from numerous developments that I made throughout the FMP. At first I wanted to look at buildings as a whole and I also wanted my final photographs as well as those in my sketchbook and on my blog to be in black and white as I didn’t want the viewers to get distracted by the different colours, I also like how photographs look when they are in monochrome. However, as my images became more abstract by looking at the colours and textures (final photo shoot) my photographs looked best being in full colour where the viewer is able to see the different colours and tones. I also feel that them being in full colour accentuates the various different textures that a derelict building has and also the areas that surround it which is something I also began to look at. Furthermore, instead of just looking at the buildings as a whole I also looked at cropping images more closely to one aspect of the building or using my camera to get different angles/perspectives which allowed me to look at that one area.

I received advice from tutors about how I should present my photographs and what I should start to look at which helped me achieve the final outcomes that I have done. I also received good advice from others during group reviews where they gave me numerous things to research that I wouldn’t have thought of, for example, Chernobyl. On one-to-one tutorials I got feedback about photographer research as I had been mainly focusing on contextual research so this was something I acted on and completed.

One of the things I would improve is my time management as although I have completed everything I feel that I spent a lot of my time researching different mediums of decay and also context for example Chernobyl and radioactive decay.
I would also improve my planning as some things required more planning than others and also if I encountered any problems I hadn’t planned how I would overcome them.

The skills that I have developed are my organisational skills as although I didn’t plan as much as I could I feel that I became more organised when setting out my work. This skill and those that I need to improve will help me in the future with careers.

Final Piece Hanging

 

 

I decided to go with only two final pictures as I encountered some problems with the third image when trying to get it to be the right size as I wanted it was a portrait photo but I wanted the width to be the same as the landscape pictures but when I tried to print it out this didn't work. To overcome this I also decided to change the scale of my final photographs from A3 to A2 which I think works better as it allows you to see more detail in the images and they also look clearer. 

Selecting Final Prints

The photos below show the process I went through to select my final images that I wanted to hang in the show. Firstly I decided on 2xA3 prints, however I then liked the colours of a third image that I think complimented the two very well. I then decided to have 3xA3 prints and I would have them printed in full colour to show the different colours that can be found at these types of sites.

Experiments

I wanted to experiment with my photographs by hand in order to create another form of decay. As part of this I came up with three different experiments.

Figure 1 shows the first experiment where I ripped the edges of my pictures to create a sense of damage as what is in the photos is, I also thought this made the photos look old and worn out.

Figure 2 shows two experiments, with two of the images I used acrylic paint and painted over sections of the photographs in the style of Sarah Meyers Brent in order to add texture and to make it look as though the photos themselves are decaying. The last experiment I done was to stick dying flowers over part of my photo. I chose dead flowers as this is another form of decay and I wanted to put the two together. Although I like the concept, it did not turn out as well as I had hoped/expected.





Figure 2

Figure 1



 

 



 





Disposable Camera Photos

 

 

 

 

 

To further my experiments of using different types of cameras to take my photographs, I decided to take some using a disposable camera. I really like how different the colours look in these images and how this can effect the way you read a picture. I think from these photos the buildings look dingy and dirty and very derelict, whereas in the previous photos there was something quite romantic about the buildings and the colours. However I do like the effect this has on my photographs and I am pleased with the outcomes with this experiment. 

Final Photo shoot

The photographs that you see below are a selection of images from my final photo shoot. I decided to continue to look at the areas that surround derelict buildings and also to use a shallow depth of field to photograph the actual structural elements as can be seen in the pictures that follow. Furthermore, I decided to keep this photo shoot in full colour in order to clearly see the different colours and details/textures at a derelict site.

 

 

 

I continued throughout all my pictures of the objects to photograph using a shallow depth of field as well as a wide depth of field which I think works well with these pictures as they are closely cropped and taken from a close up perspective. I also continued to look at the different colours and textures and some of my favourite show how the paint is peeling or where the objects have gone rusty or growing moss.

 

 

 

I then went on to photograph the actual buildings, looking at both the wider view and getting close up t certain aspects of it e.g. windows/doors e.t.c. the next set of images are from the same photo shoot but look to photograph in this way. What I like about a lot of these images is how you get to see the range of different colours, therefore I think full colour works best with these photos. I also like the different textures and how they go into one, for example the boarded up windows.

Within some of the photos many have been taken from very similar angles and perspectives, for example those of corners of walls and looking up towards the sky. I think I could improve a number of these photographs by experimenting with different perspectives and view points and perhaps trying to include more of the building in order to incorporate a range of colours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I continued to experiment with taking my photographs from dramatic slanted angles. I really like how this captures different areas of the building in one photo.

With all these photos I used the same editing process as seen before, however with the images that include the sky I adjusted the exposure even more in order to create a clear, white sky that then created a bold contrast with the buildings. What I like about these photos as a whole is the variety of different images that I was able to take and how many look very different from each other. Furthermore, I also like the colours and textures I was able to capture which make these photos look more abstract. I used only natural lighting and the occasional flash which made my pictures look clear. I think I could improve my images by being more adventurous with the compositions and perhaps experiment more with cropping the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Final Piece Plan

These are photographs of two of my sketchbook pages that show the different plans/ideas that I was thinking about for my final piece, the labels show how much my ideas changed especially from when I first started this project as I originally wanted black and white photographs however I changed this to having full colours images as part of my final hanging in order to show the textures and colours found at a derelict site.

Review (3)

I have now completed my fourth photo shoot and I now feel confident and happy with my project as I feel that I am progressing with it. I have now decided to be more adventurous when taking my photos and experiment with different angles/perspectives, I have been taking images from a dramatically slanted view as well as the normal portrait/landscape and I think this works well with what I am photographing as it allows you to see more of the buildings and different parts of it that normally in a photo you wanted be able to capture together when just taking them portrait or landscape. I am also experimenting with the different types of camera as I completed an iPhone photo shoot, what I like about the images from that shoot is that they do not look particularly clear which I think adds to the effect of the picture look old and neglected. Furthermore, I have also been experimenting with cropping and focusing on just one part of the building as well as the building as a whole. This is something I am definitely going to do when taking my final photo shoot as it allows you to focus on the detail of the decaying building. I began experimenting with this when taking photographs at the Klinger Factory as I liked the patterns you could see in the smashed windows and how each of them were different. At this photo shoot I also began looking at the barriers and railings that surrounded the site and how they were peeling away to reveal different layers and textures.

The Klinger Factory

History

The Richard Klinger Factory in Sidcup was built in 1937 to manufacture engineering parts. Klinger is an Austrian manufacturer for valves and borosilicate gauge glasses.

Figure 1

 

 

Figure 2

 

 

 

The photographs that you see above are all from the Klinger Factory location. at this photo shoot I looked at the building as a whole as well as zooming/cropping in on certain aspects of it. I also looked at the surrounding area such as railings. I decided to put my images in black and white again as I like this style and also so you are not distracted by the colours.

The day I took these photos was cloudy and raining which therefore makes the images of the building look darker and contrast against the sky. I tried to experiment with different angles and perspectives as well as thinking about the rule of thirds, particularly with Figure 1. However, I feel I could improve by furthering my composition.

Figure 2 is my favourite photograph from this shoot as I like how clear it is and how you can see the details of the smashed windows and the different shapes that occur. I also like the contrast you get from the use of monochrome colours.