My Visual Logbook

Yesterday

12:27

Yesterday I went and took some photographs of a variety of windows around Norwich. My aim was to get residential window with blinds or curtains to help create the composition similar to Anne Laure Maison.

This was my final outcome:

I am really happy with how this came out however it doesn't really fit with the rest of my images, which were mainly focusing on the people behind the windows. I feel this composition makes the viewer wonder about the lives behind the windows, but I think I want to focus more on them and documenting people through the windows.

BA1a

IKEA

21:00

Looking at Gursky's work (post here), I was reminded of an advert run by IKEA which I had seen whilst holidaying in Portugal last summer. Released in April 2015, the advert looks remarkably similar to the work of Gursky; focusing on plain, commercial landscapes and the repetition of them.

The images centre around a specific apartment which juxtaposes to the dismal building it is situated in. This heightens the effect of the repetition and regimented feel in which we are presented with by the rest of the landscape. The way the image is cropped, without showing an end to the building, suggests it could go on forever, which is also compliant with Gurskys landscapes.

If the image was a different colour, if it wasn't greyscale, then there would be a different feel to the photograph, and the advert wouldn't be as effective as the contrast between the brightly coloured 'IKEA' balcony and the rest of the shot wouldn't be as significant.

BA1a

Joy.

14:11

This series was a visual diary documenting Joy's first visit to Amsterdam. She noticed that throughout the city many buildings had such large windows but no blinds were used, even late at night, allowing for a voyeuristic view into a variety of different households.

Friday

Saturday

Thursday

Wednesday

Her images are shot from different angles and anyone in the windows remain anonymous. My personal favourite image from the series is the image titled 'Thursday'. In my own work I am experimenting with the prospect of boundaries and ways in which I can separate myself from my subject. This image illustrates two boundaries; The window which is in focus, a primary boundary between camera and subject, and secondly, what appears to be the top of a wrought iron gate or fencing, which is out of focus, which draws our eyes to the subject, the image would have a much less voyeuristic feel to it if the image was taken closer to the window.

By naming the image by the day of the week, she really documents and objectifies. This is consistent with the images being a diary, however, for example, Fridays image could have been named 'Maggie at Dinner' which suggests an insider perspective. I could do this is my work by not using anything personal when naming images. Such as naming them by the dates they were taken or simply 'Flatmate'.

I found Joy on www.cargocollective.com and tried to contact her directly to gain more information about her images, (or even a surname) however my e-mails went unanswered so I was unable to find any context other than what was already given. However this has helped me read into her images better and in my own way.

BA1a

Gursky: Apartment

11:39

Andreas Gursky is one of the most famous comtemporary art photographers. He was born in Germany in 1955. And studied under the Bechers at the Düsseldorf school in the 1980's, adopting their systematic approach to photography, creating regimented black and white prints. His large scale photographs are distinctive for their incisive and critical look at the effect of capitalism and globalisation on contemporary life.

His images give a flat perspective to a vast landscape, they have an abstract feel to them. This careful structuring is what Gursky is famed for; his heavily photoshopped and abstract view of the Rhine was bought for £2.7 Million, making it the most expensive photograph to date. However, the work is not solely abstract such as the work of Peit Mondrian's primary colour compositions, Gursky's work contains a degree of intimacy, as it is an image of where people live, through the windows residents lives can be seen. This voyeuristic aspect to this series is what links well to my work and the work of Anne-Laure Maison.

Gursky's view of modern existence tests the relationship between the individual, and their surroundings; displayed his dispassionate opinion of modernism through repetitive panoramas, much like Shizuka Yokomizo tests the boundary between herself 'one' and the 'other' in her series 'Dear Stranger'.

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/photography/andreas-gursky.htm

BA1a

Gail Albert Halaban

00:03

This series by Gail Albert Balaban titled 'Out my Window' captures views from her New York Apartment. Her work explores the gap between public and private life, what is seen and what is hidden. I am reminded of a quote from Hitchcock's Rear Window; “thats a secret private world you're looking into over there- people do a lot of things they cant explain in public.”
She acknowledges unspoken voyeurism and exhibitionism, and urges us to admit that we all do it.

What surprised me about these images was that they are all staged; all subjects are collaborators with Halaban who have all consented and whose apartments have been lit to allow the image to be successful. This contrasts to the feel of voyeurism the images give and the photographer is no longer an intrusive outsider, but an insider, and the feel of the photographs loose their authenticity as a voyeur; but become more empathic. She describes herself as a 'Friendly window watcher'.

The inspiration for this series came from when her son was a newborn and she would be woken up in the middle of the night by him crying. She would look out of the window and wonder about the stories behind the windows. Years later when he was ill in hospital and she had to find a way of completing a project which she was meant to be in Amsterdam for, she took note of how remote all the technology is, that the doctors were monitoring her son from another room, another floor even, and how she could look at the world in the same way.

“I barely knew anyone in the city. But even in the middle of the night, I didn’t feel lonely, I could see people spilling from a nightclub, the flower shops opening in the predawn. And, at times, in the most intimate of moments as I held my daughter, I would search the windows of others, and caught people returning my gaze.”

BA1a

Flatmates at Sunset

22:00

After my tutorial with Juneko and realising that my work can evolve in a way that isn't linear, I immediately knew I wanted to do a something similar to my initial ideas, of my flatmates doing their normal routines, because when you can't stop thinking about a shoot, there must be a reason for it.

My final Outcomes:

1/60 f/4.5 ISO 400 Canon 600D

1/30 f5.6 ISO 400

1/100 f/4.5 ISO 400 Canon 600D

I am really happy with the way these images came out. I used minimal lighting, using the lights from the cooker hood to light my models face and to highlight areas which picked up the light. I shot the image through the door to capture the reflection of the window in the far end of the room. There was a really pretty coloured sunset, which gave the whole image subtle pink undertones. This lighting worked well and the image would have a more mundane feel to it if the lighting was flat and white, and I am very happy with my decision to shoot at this time.

My models again, knew I was photographing them however I told them to not acknowledge me and to act as though I wasn't there as they had done previously, consistent with other images I have taken.

BA1a

In the style of Anne- Laure Maison

19:58

After looking into the work of Anne Laure Maison I chose to do a quick mock up of how my images could look together in a similar composition.

After doing a trial I realised I needed many more images to create a composition that looks somewhat realistic as I didn't want any repetition. I now need to go back out and take more images to compile an amount in which something like this could work.

I really like the effect this gives, and how I can create a scene which doesn't exist. Each window acts as a window into someone elses life, and the viewer feels like they are bombarded with many lives at once.

Another potential idea is to do a similar composition to Anne-Laure Maison and take photographs of individual windows with no one there.

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My Visual Logbook

Yesterday

This was my final outcome:

IKEA

Joy.

Gursky: Apartment

Gail Albert Halaban

Flatmates at Sunset

My final Outcomes:

In the style of Anne- Laure Maison

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