Deconstructing Environment Photographers Urban Environment

Looking three photographers, Rut Lees Luxemburg, Richard Wentworth and Vera Lutter. These three photographers looked into urban spaces in a City Environment, however in slightly different ways they almost try to convey the same things. At a first glance Rut Lees Luxemburg and Richard Wentworth seen to have the most in common with their ways of putting across their concepts in their aesthetics. Showing the grime and pollution of the city, a direct view of dirt or litter where as Vera Lutter shows this by having the image inverted to negative give an unconfortable feeling for the viewer as it drops the norm of the city to show a darker side.

Rut Blees Luxemburg
Folly 2003

To start with the photos by Luxemburg, shes shooting with a 5 x 4 camer awith longexposures to pick up every detail of grime and dirt, this is shown in amazing detail in her image called 'Folly'  which shows a stair case leading to the waters edge but is submerged in the water.
After looking at this image i start to read into it that it could be a comment on the grime and forgotten or unused and therefore unseen areas of the urban environment. Her next photo 'Piccadilly's Reccadilloes' also carries this idea of city in increasing grime.

Rut Blees Luxemburg
Piccadilly's Peccadilloes 2007 

I think i prefer this photo to her last, to me it shows the underside, the un-noticed side to a colourful and glamorous city. The pavement with oil, chewing gum, dirt and a puddle in many ways can be a metaphor for the real city, the reflection of the glamorous side of the city, the glorified and in many ways beautiful side of the city reflected in the puddles cant help but leave the viewer questioning why at first impression when we see the lights of the city we do think its amazing, but after we look around maybe see it as a little bit fake, a front perhaps to cover up the problems of a city. The over population, the isolation, the sense of alienation and maybe in-superiority. I get this mainly from the gum on the floor, the trodden in and now a fixture to the floor of the city, each on their own but put there at different times by different people. This image to me starts to reveal so many underlining issues of a city.

After looking at Luxenburg i started to look at Richard wentworth and with ideas in my mind still from Luxenburg i started to read more into the images by Wentworth, the sense of dirt and human effect on the city. But uses a much different style of photography, more basic almost straight documentary style to show the similar idea to Luxenburg.

Richard Wentworth
Bottlestick 

Although Luxenburgs worked seemed more about the grime, loneliness and human effect, the direct sense i get from Wentworth is the effect of man on its environment, the fact that someone has made a conscious effort to place this bottle here rather than put it in the bin or recycle or anything else, they've placed it here. Almost a a knowing disregard to the place they live in, but at the same time because its all man made, all urban its in ways makes it almost acceptable . I think this is what Wentworth is getting across from these images, the ways its photographed, just a plain straight street photography documentary shot, no interesting shadows, tones, colours or aesthetics just information for the viewer to read. I think its a way of commenting on the effect the city has on the individual, maybe how the city is so big the identity of an individual can be lost, the anonymity in an act in a large urban area.  Similar to his next image 'Tirana' 

Richard Wentwoth
Tirana 1999

A similar aspect for this image by Wentworth in the way there's been a conscious effort to leave these scraps here. In a way Luxenburg and Wentworth are working on a very similar concept of effect by human on the environment, but coming at it in very different ways, Wentworth maybe more the conscious and Luxenburg the unconscious and also how the environment effects the main different ways, individuality or anonymity. Both gone about it in similar ways but Vera Lutter in a very different way.

Vera Lutter
333 Michigan Avenure, Chicargo 2001

In these works by Vera Lutter i again get the sense of loneliness but not within the city an isolation towards the viewer, because the image has been inverted it places the viewer in a much more unknown and uncomfortable situation. As the viewer is placed n this uncomfortable place to read the image we start to notice and read the image differently, it almost starts to alienate the viewer from what we think we know about the city.

Vera Lutter
Battersea Power Station 2004

For example the image of Battersea Power Station, an iconic piece of architecture becomes much more daunting and creates a harsher impression on the viewer now its inverted, something that should maybe be seen as a thing of beauty has now been changed to impose upon the viewer.

Vera Lutter
Venice, xx 2005

Again this is done with what should be a beautiful city scape of Venice, it creates a much different atmosphere when reading the image. Prehaps this is doen to create a daunting impression on the viewer as it would be for seeing it out of context in real life.