Environment Project Part Two Urban Spaces

Pastiche

Brassi
Paris After Dark, No.27

 I chose to pastiche this photo with out really looking into it, night photography has always interested me, the minimal light, contrast and especially in this case and with the work of Brassi the feel of film noir.

I need to recreate the mood and feel of the image, to me this mood doesnt seem to be threatening or dangerous, but just fairly relaxed scene of a Paris street at night. However reading into the image and reading around the works of Brassi there may be more to it than just a scene at night. Brassi was well known for taking images of shifty goings on at night between its subject matter. So maybe the street of hotels down a dark side street might not be as innocent as it is at a first glance, two men in the background walking away from the camera.

Location for pastiche ideas, i took these on 35mm colour film, scanned them in and changed to black and white, just to see how it might look. Walking around London looking for back streets with only a few lights and only a few people on the whole street.

                                                         

















I was looking mainly for the lighting here, i feel its slightly to light, i could change this in the dark room but i think it can be done a bit better.

I prefer this shot to the previous one i'd done because it was taken in Soho, dodgy area. I prefer this one because Brassi was known for taking photos which on first glance looked innocent enough but if you look at it a little deeper becomes much more grimy and a feel of indecent about it.
This is the view of the full street way, its a pretty dirty looking street with strip clubs and really dirt massage parlors.
It might look better if i don't crop it so much and show more of the street, this would agree with the aesthetics of Brassi a little more.

Test Pastiche 1

Pastiche of Brassi 

Test of print 

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Bouncing Ideas:

Idea 1)
An idea that came to me when i first got the brief was of place of waiting, waiting to travel or places of waiting for contemplation or relaxation. Place where people either make a conscious effort to wait or just have to wait out of necessity. To do this is was maybe thinking a slightly long exposure so it would capture the people in the image, but take away their identity and make it slightly more abstract, more impersonal in ways as to be read by anyone, keep the figure in the photo but at the same time take them out.
This does still need more work, and perhaps guidance from looking at other artist.

Idea 2)
An idea of keeping a city scape quite fairly beautiful, but not for how nice the architecture is but more for how it either blends or stands out or even apposes nature. This sort of idea came to me whilst looking at William Turners painting, how he uses the light and how the light intensifies areas or bleaches them out.

William Turner
Rain, Steam and Speed 1844

As an exploration of this idea and to see possible how i could either advance this idea or completely drop it, i went to the river side early in the morning to see maybe how i transfer this idea into the city. I'm thinking of combining the city with some sort of natural landscape to, where you see the crane in this photo maybe trying to find a sky scraper to 'poke' out the mist or early morning light.
The photo here works for what i want to use it for and show so maybe keep looking into this idea, see where it goes, explore it until i can feel comfortable with either dropping it or committing to it.

Test of an idea
shot early morning
Digital 

Idea 3)
After looking at Philip Lorca diCorcia street photography series of one person in a crowd. Isolation in the crowded city. He set up flashes and almost hid himself and with a telephoto lens snapped when someone walked past, this way the subject is completely relaxed and not aware that they're being photographed so are totally normal and unopposed.

Philip Lorca diCorcia

So maybe look at the people in the city, the people that make it a city, this at the same time could begin to influence the way i shoot idea1

Student Fees Protest
maybe use as a starting point for people in city

I decided to go to London and explore some of these ideas and see if i could come up with other ideas too.

Testing the idea 1)

35mm neg test shot 1
longexposure movement in theses spaces

35mm test shot 1
longexposure movement in theses spaces

I wanted to look into places of waiting, places where people dont really set out to go to or to perposfully go to spend their time, but maybe have to spend time in order to go to places where they intend to spend their time. Walker Evans briefly touched on this but called it 'transitional spaces'

I wanted to show the hustle and bustle, the busy and maybe chaotic nature of these places of people wanting to be there for the least amount of time or the reluctance to be in these areas.

35mm neg test shot 2
longexposure movement in theses spaces

35mm test shot 2
longexposure movement in theses spaces

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35mm test shot
Location of waiting
London Underground

A classic and well known place of travel is the London Underground, an iconic symbol of British transport of London. As im looking at transitional spaces i couldnt not look at the tube, this lead on to the next few test shots, of taking a slightly longer exposure shot in one spot, taking down the movement of the transitional space, an unwilling waiting area.


Shots from tube, 35mm tests

I set up my tripod in the corner of a station and took a long exposure from of people waiting for the train and people getting off and on.
The images are slightly over exposed but shows what i wanted to explore for this sort of idea.
The blurred figures give a good impression of how busy the city can be.







Tube Station Redone :

After taking these photos of the movement on the tube i started looking at the expressions of people in the tube as they become more and more in their own space. These are as they are coming down the escalator, this triggered off my final idea of people waiting in the areas where they dont intend to be.

35mm test shot idea

35mm test shot of idea

People using and reacting in these spaces.

After looking at the hustle of city area in waiting places or transitional areas i wanted to look at how people use these spaces, use the areas where they are almost forced to wait. I set up a tripod with my 35mm camera and using a telephoto lens (a 70 - 210mm lens) just waited for when people had to stop and got a snap of when they where waiting at a traffic lights.
I think the shot i got of the couple kissing really works, the focal point is the couple but what interests me are the people around them. How no one looks into their space, no one wants to intrude in their space. Everyone is dotted around, looking in every direction and just being in their own zone their own space.

35mm shot, how people using space,
how people react in these spaces
Taken with 210mm lens

35mm shot, how people use space,
how people react in spaces
Taken with 210mm lens

35mm shot, how people use space,
how people react in spaces
Taken with 210mm lens
(doesn't work in this set)

35mm shot, how people use space,
how people react in spaces
Taken with 210mm lens

Telephoto camera set up