Final photos – Evaluation

After planning my photos, I got my equipment together and went and took my photos. I made sure to stick to my plan as closely as possible but I did change a few things where I felt it would work better. Here are my final photos and how I feel they turned out:

 

For my first photo, I took a close up of one of the visible windows and a corner of the building. I felt this showed how much the building is vanishing into the floor/sand and how battered the bricks are too. This building has been through a lot and this really is shown on the corner bricks as they have been rounded off due to the sea passing over it every day. The bricks are no longer set shapes but are more uneven and jagged. The sand is flowing in through the window and filling the building up meaning that the building is inaccessible. In editing I made the outside darker due to Schreck’s work but I kept the building light and unedited as I like that side of Feijen’s work as it means you appreciate the natural look of the building. I did take them on an over cast day which helped get a bright look to the photos and also meant that the sky was completely grey. I like how your eye gets lead to the window and how dark and gloomy it is in there.

 

For my second photo, I tried to concentrate on the slant of the building and how much the building is falling into the sand. I also took it on the side with the door to show how there is no way in and to also show that you wouldn’t possibly know that that is the door way due to how covered up it is. I took the photo from a little away so I could include the beach going into the distance on the left and to have the sea on the right. This shows the surrounds and how out of place the building is. The slant of the building is facing the sea due to the backwash from the waves when it’s high tide. I like how this photo gives you a feel for how much this building is vanishing under the floor and will soon be completely gone.

 

For the third photo I wanted to show the same as the last photo but show more of the sea to make the viewer feel the threat of it and to understand the power of it and what it can do to a building. The picture also shows a window which is pretty much completely covered and part of another window which is like Schreck’s work where he only showed part of the second bed as it makes you feel like it could go on for ever. You can also see parts of the building where the bricks have come away due to it being battered by the sea. This building isn’t just disappearing; it’s also falling apart. I like this photo due to the feeling of helplessness that the sea makes the viewer feel towards the building.

 

For my fourth photo, I wanted to show the roof of the building being eaten by the floor. The way the sand is creeping up the roof shows the feeling that this building is being swallowed up by the floor/sand and every day it will be more gone and this is actually true as from the time I took my test shots to the point I took my final shoots I couldn’t take a photo through one window and out of the opposite window. It was only a little bit over a week between each shoots and there was already a massive difference in the amount of coverage. I like this photo as it gives a personality to the sand and makes it seem scary.

 

For my fifth photo, I took a faraway shot of the building to show how unimportant it is on the beach and how it could easily be walked past and not noticed. The beach is so big and vast that the building just isn’t noticed easily and can be walked past. For this photo I included a lot of sky and darkened it to make the photo darker and scary. I would have liked it more if the clouds would have had more texture just like in my test shots as it gives more emotion to the location.

 

 

For my last photo I took a closer photo from the same angle as the last but the purpose of this is to show how the importance of the building is stolen due to the pier being more important to most holiday guests and anyone on the beach due to the building not being fun or an activity which can be done. This means that the building is not important anymore and this photo really shows why. I also feel having all the people in the background helps prove my point as it shows that they are all walking towards the pier and are not interested in the building. I like how this photo came out and really helps show the viewers that this building doesn’t matter anymore.

 

Overall I feel that these photos show how buried and forgotten this building has become. The building went from being something that looked after our country to protect us from oncoming enemy boats to an unloved pile of bricks. This is also shown due to it once being on the top of the cliff and now being on the beach demonstrating its importance falling just like it did. I do feel that the clouds could have looked a bit more moody and had more shading but I’m overall happy with the way it shows the story of this building and it’s life on the beach.

Final photos – Planning

After researching different artists work and doing test shots this gave me enough time to experiment and find out enough information on what I want to do for my final photos. After looking at the different styles and using them in my own work, I found that the dark editing but not giving the photos a creepy feel worked best for my final location. After doing all my research I finally decided that I was going to take my final photos at the beach building in Norfolk. I’ve come to this conclusion due to the story behind the building and how forgotten it has become. I also feel that the way it completely vanishes when the tide comes in is crazy and more interesting than the other places I came up with. The thought that at least once a day the building cannot be accessed or seen from land makes the building distinctive as not many things get covered by the sea and stay complete. The building is also inaccessible due to it being mostly under the sand and full of pebbles too. The building is also at a slant due to the sea pulling it under on one side just like pebbles being pulled into the sea due to the backwash.

For my photos I would like to keep the focus on the building so I’m going to do this by trying to take close up photos but I also want to give a size representation and show how insignificant it is compared to everything else around it. I would also like to take them when the sea is pretty far out as I don’t want there to be any danger of getting stuck or splashed when taking the photos. I would also like to take them with natural bright light but not necessarily a sunny day. I like the idea of taking them on a stormy day or even just on an overcast day to give the photos a moody feel.

I would overall like to make the viewer see the beauty of this building once again and to give time to think about its history. I also want people to be intrigued by this photo and to want to find out the history of other places and to open their eyes to see things that they wouldn’t normally look at. I want to make people love the history of places again and to make people consider the story of run down locations.

Final photos

 

For my final photos I knew I wanted to use a public swimming pool due to the look which they have and so I could use a massive amount of water which just wouldn’t have been possible anywhere else. I did think about using an inflatable swimming pool in my garden but I didn’t feel it gave the same familiar feeling of a public swimming pool and also felt it could give a childish feel to the serious photos.

So I started my search by looking at different swimming pools and looking for ones with deep ends and that had lots of natural light. I wanted a deep end so that when my model ‘fell’ in he wouldn’t have the danger of hitting the floor. I also wanted lots of natural light as using fast shutting speeds makes the photos very dark if there isn’t a large amount of light. After searching for swimming pools to use I found 2 which seemed suitable for my photo shoot so I sent them both an email explaining what I wanted to do and if it would be possible to use their swimming pool. Straight away I got a response from one saying that they were too busy and a day later I got a response from the other saying that they could possibly help. I rang them and spoke to them about the details and they said that they could do it that day whilst they were setting up for a party, giving me only 15 mins to set up and take the photos. I accepted their offer and arrived with all my gear and my model and they were very helpful and couldn’t wait to see someone fall into the swimming pool fully clothed. I did four takes and each time got my model to put dry clothes on so that it would look like it was the real thing each time. This meant we had to work quickly but I soon got the hang of it and was getting a good selection of strong photos. I did at first have problems with starting the burst too soon and my camera stopping taking photos before he even hit the water but I soon got the timing right and got the complete sequence on the last take. I wanted to have 12 photos as I’d planned that I could take that many and I’d worked my zoetrope out to fit 12 photos perfectly. I think I want to edit them possibly but I’m not sure what would look good for the theme that I’m working in.

Here is my last take which got the whole series of photos:

I’m really pleased with the different stages of the movement that I captured and how it progresses a little bit more from photo to photo. My favourite photo from the take is the photo just before he hits the water and looks like he is balancing on the side above the water level. In some ways it looks like he’s trying to save himself and balance but it also looks like an elegance dance in midair. I also love the way the water reacts to his flat body hitting it and spraying up around him as if it swallows him. The splashes at the end are showing his struggles and him finding it difficult to get out of the water and the splashes slowing down show he’s not swimming any more but instead is drowning.

I feel that the photos turned out really well and that they possibly need editing to make them better and to give them a stronger main subject. I do really like the sign behind on the wall as it’s warning him that the water is there and it’s deep but he didn’t listen and fell in still showing that it’s his fault and he could have prevented it. I think that the angle from straight ahead works really well as it gives a better look at him struggling and his reaction to falling in. I think that all my test shots of things hitting water really helped me to know that the water would splash the correct way and give the look I’d planned. It meant that I could plan how my model would have to fall to get the correct splash and to make it look the most like they aren’t jumping but instead falling. It’s meant to feel like he’s looking over the water and then he falls in, showing that he could have prevented it from happening if he’d just read the signs and not been so close but this also tells the deeper story. He never listens to people warning him not to do things so he does it anyway and this is the last straw and it’s all catching up on him in a way that makes him feel like he’s drowning because he has so much stress.

I really feel that the paintings by Pedro Covo were a big inspiration for the way I wanted the boy to fall and hit the water and then disappear under it just like the people do in Covo’s paintings. I liked the way you could see the splashes go out in response to the way the person hit it and how all the attention is on the person. I also felt that they were very delicate just like dancers so I really tried to capture this. I tried to make all of those things in my photos and capture the feel of the photos. I really feel the elegance when the boy is falling before hitting the water with his arms out and just balancing on one leg just like a ballet dancer.

I would have liked to be more zoomed in so that when it’s in the zoetrope you can clearly see the subject and the small details that change but I wanted to try and capture all of the splashes created by him falling in which meant I had to be zoomed out as the splashes were bigger than expected.

Final Piece write up:

How I did it:

I used a little lamp at the end of my bed and used drawing pins to hold things up e.g. clothing, braid and duvet. I projected shadows onto the wall behind the bed by putting hands in front of the lamp. I took them at night time so it was dark everywhere other than where the lamp was projecting. I took it on a bed as it needed to be about sleeping so i used my bed as it is a loft bed meaning it is lifted off the floor. This meant good angles could be used for the photos but this also meant that ladders had to be used to reach onto the bed. Two people stood at the end of the bed under the lamp on a step ladder and projected hands onto the wall over the bed. One person had to hold the thing that was pinned up so it looked like they were being held up whilst the other person made hands that creeped in over top. I had it so I was the girl that was asleep in the bed as I knew what I wanted it to look like. I had another person taking the photos with my instructions. I wore white clothes as I want this to show I’m pure and the dark shadows are evil. I Photoshopped them by getting rid of any blemishes, things on the walls and bed, making it black and white with a tiny amount of colour as this is what would be seen if it was dark as you can only see a tiny amounts of colour in the dark. I also made the photos loads darker and brought the darkness around the subject so that it makes this the only thing you look at.

How I feel they turned out:

I really like the outcome of the photos and how they make people feel when they look at them. When showing the photos people said they felt uneasy looking at them and that they didn’t like them. They said they were amazing photos but they made them worry about it when they never had before. The photos took around 3 hours to set up, to take and then photoshop. Just the photoshopping took up around an hour of those three as lots had to be changed. The shadows were taken in the same shot as the girl asleep in the bed and the things being lifted. Nothing was added after, the only thing that was done was me taking things away like stickers on my bed. I really like how the photos turned out and how they make people feel and how dark and evil they feel. If I was to do this again I would possibly make sure that the person sleeping is more in the photo and that the white of the top doesn’t blend in with the wall as much. Also maybe have really long nail extensions on the people making the shadow hands to make it seem more evil.

My inspiration:

The Shadows in Notsferato:

I feel like my photos were inspired by how the shadows in Notsferato create fear without actually showing something scary. They show that Dracula is approaching without you actually see him. This also lets you think what you want as you can’t actually see all details of what it is so your brain can decide and if you’re scared then it might be worse than it actually is. In my photos the fear is brought on by the looming hands but they are shadows meaning this lets your mind wonder and make it worse than it actually is.