Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Tear Sheets
These 'tear sheets' are all from various National Geographic magazines. I've always loved the photographs in these magazines, and although nothing to do with Graffiti and my story, they're photojournalistic none the less have have either inspired me or just interested me. Sorry they aren't very good quality but they were taken on my phone as I don't have a working scanner at the moment.
Sorry they're all on an angle but no matter how I put them before I upload them blogger does this to them and I can't figure a way to turn them on here.
Sorry they're all on an angle but no matter how I put them before I upload them blogger does this to them and I can't figure a way to turn them on here.
A few edits
I thought I'd put a bit on my editing process on here. These images weren't neccessarily chosen for my final 8, but were the ones I chose to do a presentation on that I had to do in class.
My final 8 aren't on here as I'll post them a little later.
They are all edited on Adobe Lightroom. I havent done overly much to them, none of these are cropped or changed in any way, the only alterations made were to colours and lighting.
I've upped the clarity and contrast on all of the images as I wanted them to look a little gritty, due to the subject I felt it would be appropriate. Some of the images, I made them a little less exposed to bring out the sky detail, then added a little fill light to bring the detail in the buildings of ground back out. I have also added a vignette to the images as I feel it brings the viewers eye in a little better and helps the way you look at the images. I haven't altered any of the colours in the images as I felt, although a lot of photojournalistic work is in black and white, I wanted to use colour with this, as colour is a bit part of graffiti. A long with the fact they were shot in October, and the light in October is beautiful.
My final 8 aren't on here as I'll post them a little later.
They are all edited on Adobe Lightroom. I havent done overly much to them, none of these are cropped or changed in any way, the only alterations made were to colours and lighting.
I've upped the clarity and contrast on all of the images as I wanted them to look a little gritty, due to the subject I felt it would be appropriate. Some of the images, I made them a little less exposed to bring out the sky detail, then added a little fill light to bring the detail in the buildings of ground back out. I have also added a vignette to the images as I feel it brings the viewers eye in a little better and helps the way you look at the images. I haven't altered any of the colours in the images as I felt, although a lot of photojournalistic work is in black and white, I wanted to use colour with this, as colour is a bit part of graffiti. A long with the fact they were shot in October, and the light in October is beautiful.
First shoot unedited
These images are from a selection of shoots that I set out to take over a few of days. Using my canon camera and sigma wide angled lens (10-20mm) I set out in search of all the graffiti I could find in Clitheroe. The problem I found when I got there, after a few weeks of thinking about how I wanted my shots and remembering all of the places with Graffiti from when I was younger, it had gone. I was quite disappointed to tell you the truth as some of it was both funny, and in some places that would have been really photogenic. None the less, I set out with a fresh mind and trying to find new places with this art in.
I decided to let you see the main of the images on here in a decent size as a contact sheet being seen so small on blogger wouldn't of had the same effect. All of the images below are unedited and uncropped. I set out trying to only take one image per subject, as with using a digital camera I have got used to just snapping away and having to do a lot of picking and chosing later on. So I figured if I got out of this habbit I may get some better results, also making me think more about the shot whilst taking it instead of thinking I can just edit them later on.
Sorry these are pretty jumbled up and not in a specific order, blogger seems to be a pain for that and moving them around is almost impossible.
The first couple of images are taken from a final shoot I did, when I reviseted Clitheroe Castle grounds feeling I hadn't discovered enough on my first trip. The first one being behind the block of toilets, a pretty typical place to find graffiti.
This image was taken around the back of Trinity Youth Center in Clitheroe. Quite an interesting shot as only the one bin was covered in the graffiti, yet nothing surrounding it was. None on the walls or the other bins!
The next two images, are the humerous ones of my trip. You can't quite see it in this first image.
But in this image you see it exactly. Up near Henthorn Park, not the most classy areas of clitheroe, theres what looks like a bird cage that has been build near the dog walk. Local youths have taken over this shelter, and at night it can be quite an intimidating place, as they all sit in there drinking and often abusing passers by. Obviously, I visited in the safe work/school hours of the day so it was empty. What I found when I got there was that they had spray painted the words 'chavs (innit)' on the top of this shelter. Not sure about anyone else but, I wouldnt be very proud to call myself this, and definately not proud to paint it above where I sat.
This image was taken on Pimlico Road, near the Black Horse Pub. You don't see many of this red phone boxes anymore so I thought it would be nice to incorporate it. Especially sinse it had been vandalised and the metal box next to it had been tagged. This is the only image that in my final editing process I cropped. I took it with Lee Friedlanders use of composition in mind. With often telephone wire poles in the middle of shots and a lot of lines through the image.
These next few images were taken at Clitheroe's old depot. Where all of the buildings are no longer used, yet can be seen from on the train. I remembered this spot so decided to try and find my way in. After some climbing and cuts from Blackberry bushes I made it in and was glad I did.
These next few shots were taken on my first trip to Clitheroe castle grounds.
Not so obvious in this shot but theres graffiti on the green door in the center, I didn't want it to be the main focal point so its a pretty wide shot.
I decided to let you see the main of the images on here in a decent size as a contact sheet being seen so small on blogger wouldn't of had the same effect. All of the images below are unedited and uncropped. I set out trying to only take one image per subject, as with using a digital camera I have got used to just snapping away and having to do a lot of picking and chosing later on. So I figured if I got out of this habbit I may get some better results, also making me think more about the shot whilst taking it instead of thinking I can just edit them later on.
Sorry these are pretty jumbled up and not in a specific order, blogger seems to be a pain for that and moving them around is almost impossible.
The first couple of images are taken from a final shoot I did, when I reviseted Clitheroe Castle grounds feeling I hadn't discovered enough on my first trip. The first one being behind the block of toilets, a pretty typical place to find graffiti.
This image was taken around the back of Trinity Youth Center in Clitheroe. Quite an interesting shot as only the one bin was covered in the graffiti, yet nothing surrounding it was. None on the walls or the other bins!
The next two images, are the humerous ones of my trip. You can't quite see it in this first image.
But in this image you see it exactly. Up near Henthorn Park, not the most classy areas of clitheroe, theres what looks like a bird cage that has been build near the dog walk. Local youths have taken over this shelter, and at night it can be quite an intimidating place, as they all sit in there drinking and often abusing passers by. Obviously, I visited in the safe work/school hours of the day so it was empty. What I found when I got there was that they had spray painted the words 'chavs (innit)' on the top of this shelter. Not sure about anyone else but, I wouldnt be very proud to call myself this, and definately not proud to paint it above where I sat.
This image was taken on Pimlico Road, near the Black Horse Pub. You don't see many of this red phone boxes anymore so I thought it would be nice to incorporate it. Especially sinse it had been vandalised and the metal box next to it had been tagged. This is the only image that in my final editing process I cropped. I took it with Lee Friedlanders use of composition in mind. With often telephone wire poles in the middle of shots and a lot of lines through the image.
These next few images were taken at Clitheroe's old depot. Where all of the buildings are no longer used, yet can be seen from on the train. I remembered this spot so decided to try and find my way in. After some climbing and cuts from Blackberry bushes I made it in and was glad I did.
These next few shots were taken on my first trip to Clitheroe castle grounds.
Not so obvious in this shot but theres graffiti on the green door in the center, I didn't want it to be the main focal point so its a pretty wide shot.
A few opinions
When just researching graffiti on google, I found a forum website called thestudentroom.co.uk, on this somebody had posted the question 'Is graffiti simply modern day cave drawing?' and here are a few of the answers people posted in response:
"I don't think so because we now have designated places for art (like paper!) whereas when the cave drawings were made, cave walls were more or less the only surface to use."
"Cave paintings are the same as modern day graffiti in the fact that they are both artistic expression... but we only treasure cave paintings because they're ancient and rare...
"Wasn't the purpose of cave drawings to record events and places and other such stuff? Because in that sense, it differs slightly from graffiti in that graffiti doesn't necessarily have to have a point as such, and doesn't need to document where something is or what happened that day. But in a simple form of they are both done on walls and give the artist freedom then there is a similarity."
"Hmm , interesting question. I think cave drawings were used as a means of communication where as modern graffiti isn't. However I think modern and old graffiti/cave drawings are both ways of expressing ideas and thoughts ect........."
From reading these answers, I was pretty shocked as to their replies. From the earlier research I have done, graffiti holds great meaning, and does have a purpose. A purpose of marking territory, documenting where people were, and it is an art form, you can't say people like Banksy aren't expressing some great artistic talent in their work. I also don't agree with the first statement saying it was only cave art as they didn't have paper, art is everywhere in the world, from buildings to nature, anything can be art in its own right, and anything is beautiful in its own right, including graffiti.
"I don't think so because we now have designated places for art (like paper!) whereas when the cave drawings were made, cave walls were more or less the only surface to use."
"Cave paintings are the same as modern day graffiti in the fact that they are both artistic expression... but we only treasure cave paintings because they're ancient and rare...
Isn't that kind of obvious?
Graffiti is everywhere.. easily replicated and modern... so is of little worth."
Graffiti is everywhere.. easily replicated and modern... so is of little worth."
"Wasn't the purpose of cave drawings to record events and places and other such stuff? Because in that sense, it differs slightly from graffiti in that graffiti doesn't necessarily have to have a point as such, and doesn't need to document where something is or what happened that day. But in a simple form of they are both done on walls and give the artist freedom then there is a similarity."
"Hmm , interesting question. I think cave drawings were used as a means of communication where as modern graffiti isn't. However I think modern and old graffiti/cave drawings are both ways of expressing ideas and thoughts ect........."
From reading these answers, I was pretty shocked as to their replies. From the earlier research I have done, graffiti holds great meaning, and does have a purpose. A purpose of marking territory, documenting where people were, and it is an art form, you can't say people like Banksy aren't expressing some great artistic talent in their work. I also don't agree with the first statement saying it was only cave art as they didn't have paper, art is everywhere in the world, from buildings to nature, anything can be art in its own right, and anything is beautiful in its own right, including graffiti.
Hazel Thomson
This is a photo essay I found by a lady called Hazel Thomson, there are few on her website http://www.hazelthompson.com/violence/story.shtml that are all really good, touching stories. I found her very useful as her essays had a great format of photographs. beginning with a starting image, action shots and portraits in the middle, and a final shot. Her work is very touching, and done with great skill. Her compositions are interesting, and her images all work really well in colour. As I want my images in colour I found her rather handy.
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