I complained earlier that my work didn't feel enough like my work. However, working in this layered style feels much more 'real' to me, and much more natural, and, on reflection, it's a similar style of work to things I've done before whether it be this type of layering technique or the use of double exposures when working with analogue photography.
It's working in this style that gets me excited about the work I'm producing.
So I've gone back over the Cattfield images and had another play with some of the images.
Criticism of the print I already had included a 'flatness' to the image, and also that the structure on the right side of the image appears far too grounded and concrete for the style of the work. I attempted to negotiate this by digitally removing this structure (this isn't done as thoroughly as it will be if I decide to take it forward);
Although this result showed potential, I feel what I am really trying to do with the work is represent a place, and although this is being achieved through a technique that does not provide a concrete true-to-life representation, it is still not being clearly manipulated; you can visit the location and see the building as it represented in the work. To me, this means manipulating the structure for aesthetic value undermines the work.
So from this I tried, more simply, just realigning the layers to make the side structure appear more ephemeral;
I feel this is much more successful than removing the structure and it does appear far more natural than in the first version that was printed. However, I am slightly concerned that it has less of a quirky kind of depth than the original image did.
These are the new images I came up with;
It's interesting to note how the top image is working much more on a representational level - it is providing a brief glance - whereas the bottom image is working on a more formal, structural level. This is due to the composition, and although I've previously preferred to work on a structural, compositional level, I feel in this context is proving more effective to work on a more representational level in order to provide glimpses into the place and what it points to - in saying this I suppose I am saying that the key to the work is not it's formal qualities, but more the meaning (and feeling) behind it.
