After researching into the work of Ansel Adams, in particular his images that capture close up details of nature, I've decided to use this as inspiration for my next development of images. I went back to the scrapyard in Coventry and produced this series of images which use a more still life kind of technique to show waste in a way that I haven't shown before. Hopefully it kind of turns this waste into something new and interesting which juxtaposes how useless it actually is. My favourite images from this development are shown below
This image works really well because the viewer doesn't really have any idea what its actually representing which makes them study the image for longer. I also like the clarity I have shown, which makes even the fine details of the engine show though. This clarity gives the image a nice tactility and appeal to touch from the viewer.
This image is a little different from the first because first of all you can tell what its capturing, and also there is a lot more going on due to me standing a little further back when taking the image. I have still used a high numbered f/stop, which allows the depth of focus to be wide and thus everything is in focus. I think this image would work really well printed off large, because the viewer could get up close to study every part of the image in depth.
I think compared to the first two images, these two above and below don't work as well. This is because the actual engines themselves are not as dark/oily which makes the colours look a little washed out and not as tonal. Also the image above isn't in focus throughout, which makes the overall composition less impacting.
I like this image because like my first one, it shows a part of an engine that you wouldn't recognise, so it means the viewer doesn't have any idea what they are looking at without some context to help them. Also the orange and brown colours add some vibrance to the image, which isn't seen in the previous ones I have taken.
This image is one of my favourites that I took from this development series, this is due to the objects on the outside of the image being quite large and simple, but with high detailed objects on the centre. This draws the subjects eyes into the centre of the image where the main focus is. Also this image has a nice tonal range with light whites and dark blacks, which makes it more pleasing to view.
The images above and below are another two of my favourites, because of their high levels of contrast between the lights and the darks. Also the image below has a few different sections of vibrant colours, which draws the viewers eye to those particular areas.
Like the first image I talked about this has the same level of detail seen, and thus its created a really nice tactility affect which makes the viewer want to touch the object. Also I think the shapes and lines that are seen and created in this image make it look really unusual and interesting to look at. It also means that the viewer has to guess what they are looking at, and might see completely unrelated objects in the image its self.
These two images where taken of a fan on a car engine, I thought the pattern would look really interesting and abstract if the image was enlarged. Also I love how the fan has been marked and discoloured in places, which creates a really nice imprint pattern, and gives the sense of age to the viewer. I think I prefer the image above because I have captured two wires which go against the manufactured grain, thus giving a little more added detail to the image.
This image is a lot to take in on first glance, which is why I think it would look better if printed out larger, which is the same for many of the other images I have captured on this development. I think it connects really well to the work of Adams because it captures the beauty and difference of all these bolts together. I think the image is more impacting because they are all the same object but in different sizes and conditions, which makes the viewer realise how different each one is even though they all look the same when looking from afar, which is also what Adams shows in his work.
I think this development worked really well in some cases but not so well in others. Some of the images have a really good tonal range with dark blacks and light whites, which definitely makes the image look more appealing. Looking at the images have made me think about potential final images, and possibly printing some close up images of waste really large to make the viewer study it in detail. Printing the images of waste off large might also help them understand the scale of the problem due to the scale of the image.
I think this is the last photoshoot I am going to carry out at this small scrapyard in Coventry because I feel that I have documented it from all different angles and what to photograph a larger place in Coventry that deals with scrap. These three shoots have made me realise that I think still life images may work better for my project and potential final pieces though.