Seaside

Took a trip to the seaside - thought unfocused images there might be pretty sweet. Turned out they weren't. I was hoping the colour range of the seaside would work well, but although I still think some of these images are quite nice, they're lacking in depth. Some of the figures are working because they're barely more than black outlines, but overall I don't feel this is going anywhere.

However, an interesting point that's occurring as I write this blog, is the scale of the images - now I've just made them smaller to save space, they actually look more effective. This is an important thing to take on board. I am in the frame of mind that you can't just shrink an image until it looks good, that would be ridiculous, but more the point that the scale of an image really does affect its reading.

This image however, (below,)  is working more than the others, regardless of its scale. This is probably because it has a strong defining feature which stands out from the background. Perhaps the key to this kind of work is that it can be very simply but then has to be a complete abstraction - to the point it's barely recognisable - or have a defining feature to give it an 'edge'.

A Physical Split

This is the physical attempt at splitting the images. I chose to use the market sequence as this has received relatively good feedback, and I wanted to see whether the repetition of the structures might provide good opportunity to play around with the order of the images;

I roughly mounted them to make them more concrete and provide more of a realistic impression of how they could work. I also tried using one of the unfocused night images that was working quite nicely on the projected version.

However, I'm not sure they're as successful made physically as they were projected. I think they may have been relying on the ephemeral nature of the projector as well as the different levels of focus that was unavoidable using different levels. Obviously this could be achieved digitally, but then I think it may feel fake.

Projections

Time to have a better look. It's important now to keep half a mind on how to present the work when it complete. I tried playing with a projector, initially to simply gain a perspective on things such as scale and how the images actually function off the screen in an in depth manner without having to print out vast quantities of every image at differing scales. An obvious problem with this is that by projecting them, they still don't physically exist and therefore maintain an ephemeral quality. However, the ephemeral nature of a projected image is actually quite effective paired with the nature of the images themselves.

I had some trouble finding both a smooth wall and a dark room at the same time - it was always one or the other so I used a piece of A2 mount board to project the images onto. I feel for the nature of the work this was pushing the smaller end of the scale. These images were working best as big as I could get them.

I also tried splitting up the projected image so it appears on different levels and, because they're all projected from the same source and the projector is set at the same focus, the different levels of the image then have different scales and levels of focus within themselves. This is a really interesting effect. I was working small scale because I was making the levels out of paper I had lying around (it was an impromtu experiment) but somehow I don't feel this would work larger. The nature of the levels creates a certain intricacy within the work that the smaller scale then encourages the viewer to engage with. It also further removes the work from its photographic nature and each section begins to take on an almost painterly quality, and the light, shapes and colours of each constituent part become ever more important. This work definitely has some potential. I would also like to try print out the images and mounting them on different levels to see if it works physically or if the projection is an essential part of the work.

Night Time (again)

I thought another round of experimenting with night shots was in order, as last time I couldn't work out quite where I was going wrong.
I clearly still haven't mastered unfocused night photography, but through experimenting with similar compositions at differing levels of focus I am starting to think that the more defocused images seem to be more successful. Some of the images with a higher level of focus have a frustrating appearance to them - like forgetting to wear your glasses.

Some of the images are again appearing incredibly abstract, where its not always possible to discern what the image is actually of. I like this quality but it isn't what I want to focus on in my work.

Next Steps

Feedback from FMP1 was generally positive. My next steps need to be moving the work more towards a final outcome. This means putting a great deal of thought not only to the images I am going to use, but also the way in which they are presented. I am still strongly considering the use of light within my work and am keen to test out the ideas of projections and light boxes. I feel these would both afford my work more depth than a print simply would, and as the work is about abstraction and is taking on a more dreamlike appearance, I think the correct use of light to present the work could really heighten this.
I also need to take more images to really hone where it is I'm headed with the work. This has evolved into using defocused images but I am still working on my technique so I decided the strongest path forward would be simply to experiment further and really start to explore the possibilities of this technique.

These images are beginning to blur the boundaries of the photographic medium. - they are almost becoming more painterly in quality than photographic. Some are also starting to reference abstract painting, however, this is not the direction I want to take my work. 

The skyline images are my favourites. They feel like hazy memories and there's definitely a romantic, perhaps almost nostalgic quality about them. However, I think I need to push the work further than this, as that kind of feeling from an image, although I am keen on them, doesn't necessarily achieve much depth. There's also something about the car sequence that I feel appealing - perhaps I could create a whole collection? But I am just not sure why I feel the need to do that. I think it's probably that the cars used look like the could be from a past time - I would naturally guess the seventies as they remind me of photographs my parents have showed me of their cars. So although I am drawn to these images, I do not feel there is enough scope for me to take them forwards - I like them on a personal level, but they are not achieving what I want to achieve, which is a more provocative, intense form of image.