Cliffe & Grain (Photoshoot #4)

Whilst I felt like I had made significant progress on the previous photoshoot, I thought there was no reason why I shouldn't go out again. I went to Cliffe to photograph some nearby energy facilities. I managed to get some great far away shots and also some close-ups within the area. I have again selected the best of the bunch from the photoshoots despite having up to one thousand images from the full day. These photos were steering my project in a new direction which highlighted the naturally beautiful delicate fragments of nature in comparison to the large cumbersome trates of the industrial facilities.

In these images I ended up travelling to the Isle of Grain again, except to take photos from a different angle. I explored the place with my 105mm Macro lens to grasp a closer up feel of the location. I ended up discovering new views and some fantastic photos that include reeds and wheat in plentiful availability. 

Sometimes, as much as these wires fill up the skies, you can still appreciate the glow of the natural evening sky. The messy tangle of metallic pylons cascade into the distance and yet it doesn't stop you from seeing the beauty behind it. The pylons create a subject, but the nature create's a background, especially in these pictures.

Chernobyl: 28 Years Later

Energy facilities are the main subject matter of my project, and in turn I have visited many places around the UK to see how they disrupt the landscape around them visually. But in this instance, there has been an actual disruption of the landscape, and on a large scale; Chernobyl's nuclear disaster rendered the place uninhabitable. The nuclear disaster happened just over 25 years ago, and to this day it remains a desolate and empty space.

Here you can see in the image above, the remains of life, an eerie shadow of what was once there. But it stands to reason that our destructive nature can bring upon grave danger to life surrounding these energy facilities, and the fragility of which we operate within these sciences makes me uneasy. There are instances of these types of things happening again, in Fukushima as an example. 

The facility lost stability on the 26th of April 1986, and it was the biggest disaster Ukraine had had in years. Many particles spread into the atmosphere after the event took place, putting the neighbouring towns and cities in jeopardy. Such a disaster would not be witnessed in a coal power plant or other through uses of other green energies. We have sabotaged our future with these structures that obscure the natural view and cause potential harm to those involved with these projects. There are claims that we have put measurements in place to prevent this from happening again, but we have witnessed that this isn't entirely the case yet.

The Diptych Layout

Sally Mann

Sally Mann is an American Photographer who is best known for her photographic work of her children. There are some candid shots, but there are some clear constructed photographs of her children, especially the one found in diptych format. The imagery itself is largely irrelevant to my project, but the syntax behind creating comparison imagery is all so very interesting. In this instance, "Jessie at 12" as it is named, presents itself as a transition of Sally's daughter Jessie as she progresses from having her hair extremely long to it being cut extremely short, and the contrast of hair length. These two similar images force you to find differences and similarities, naturally, as the subject material's placement achieves this with minimal space between both sides.

                          

Olga Zavershinskaya

In this next diptych, Olga shows a Fine Art style fashion diptych. The material covers each half the woman, showcasing the nude body for all it is, but only within half of each photograph. This half reveal for each side is fascinating, along with the curvature of the material stretching off out of the framing. This is a prime example of how a diptych can show two sides to a narrative, creating a more compelling story that would be less successful if they were separated. The success of the imagery is dependent on these two being together.

Cherry Key

In this next example, the diptych provides context to the landscape. The trees within the eerie woods, showing a lot of subject in the distance, along with an overarching and bare tree. Then on the right, you're presented with a close-up at the scene, something providing you with information of the ground this photographer stood upon. You are treated to the view of the leaves that have fallen, their origin presented within the first frame.

Project Direction: Dungeness (Photoshoot #3)

My project has developed dramatically since the initial start of shooting. I have found myself reshooting time and time again refining which images are going to be pinnacle to my idea, and this means discarding a lot of images that I feel would have been liked by the audience, but due to their more aesthetically pleasing nature I have had to cut them out.

Dungeness was the next location on the list to visit, and sure enough I made a day out of it, providing myself with plenty of material. Here is a small collection of some of the shots I had taken:

These images are unedited, the only modifications would have been in-camera as they saved as a RAW and JPEG. This is only a small fraction of the roughly 1000 photographs that I had taken. A refined pick, if you will. But even then all of my favourites are not present.

Professional Practice update

It hasn't been blogged about in length, but I am creating my professional development of marketing material, website, etc. Thankfully, I have materials which I created last year. It all started with the design process of my graphics, which meant starting with a logo. I spent an entire day designing my simple square logo and all the colour schemes that would go along with it: 

Once I had this in place, the creation of graphics surrounding this logo was a great task, refining each marketing material which would fit with my design ethos. I created my business card, artist statement, compliment slip, CV, letterhead, various forms (agent agreement, call sheet, commission estimate, invoice, delivery note, licence to use, model release and property release) of which are based upon the letterhead.

                                       

This older style I created last year is due a small adjusted updated to bring it up to date with my latest website, which can be found at www.samhornephotography.com. My website was bought through Squarespace to enable me to have a custom URL whilst also giving me capabilities of editing and uploading images as such. 

The professional development will soon be updated to reflect where I am a year on, and what changes I have made upon reflection of the work I did the previous year. Stay tuned for an update.

Critique Feedback

In no particular order, these were the comments made about my current work:

• Too aesthetically pleasing "They look too pretty"
• The background is too out-of-focus
• There needs to be far away shots compared next to close-up shots for context
• The older initial images convey the project's message clearer as they were more "mundane"
• The older images feel exhausted/tired and that's exactly what you want
• Exhausted imagery and photos that portray a landscape not producing joyous life
• Older ones introduce the power stations existence, newer ones show sheer monolithic scale
• Consider using a strip format of images (displayed next to each other horizontally)
• Shoot macro again with overcast sky, not sunny
• Research other's visual strategy so you can create and present your own visual strategy
• Concentrate on the presentation of each image
• Reflect upon the idea of brown earth; flat, lifeless landscapes
• Research Chernobyl landscape images
• Same lighting throughout all the images
• "Break" with Burtinsky's concepts of showing the landscape

In summary, I need to:

• Make it look dull, flat, lifeless, a landscape not producing joyous life
• Shoot all in the same lighting conditions
• Shoot again, with macro, on an overcast day and increase aperture to reveal more background
• Shoot far away AND close-up
• Find a way to shoot each image that gives the whole project a visual strategy
• Use a "strip format" of images (displayed next to each other horizontally)
• Research Chernobyl and "break" with Burtinsky-style landscapes (?)

Mini Photography Tour (Photoshoot #2)

Naturally, because my project involves photographing these power stations, I went away for a few days to visit select locations of some of them. The facilities I planned on visiting (in no particular order) were Ratcliffe Power Station, Didcot Power Station A, Iron Bridge Power Station, and Willington Power Station spread over a 3-day period. As I went through each location I found myself compelled to photograph the nature that was surrounding these locations as it was withering and dying. This may not be a direct result of all the facilities' existence, but it certainly pointed in the direction of them being somewhat responsible for the nature of our planet and it's response to the CO2 emissions we so carelessly release.

These photos were a small selection I had made from the many I had taken that represented a comparison between the two aspects of my project; Energy and Nature. Unfortunately, through my meticulous focus on the "aesthetically pleasing" I found myself post-processing it in a way that didn't best represent that idea. Thankfully, a few images stuck on. The first image was useful to see how such large objects block our view upon landscape, showing off the sheer scale and size of these power houses. I personally loved the second one, and would love to continue using it... although I cannot be sure if that would work until I've worked out a proper collection. The third one also can work if I choose to reprocess it and make it look a little more eerie and grubby, as that was the recommended aesthetic for my project.