When I was first given the brief ' cityscape ' I was really excited to really start exploring vast area's with a story to tell, something I could base my project on. I see myself as a landscape photographer, I’ve always enjoyed starring for hours at once place and then taking the opportunity to photograph it. But then it sank in at the start of the year when we was being introduced
To the course, to really push ourselves out of our comfort zones & try something different so we can start explore different area's of photography, so I did, with the help of Steffi Kleinz's Deconstruction brief on Richard Wentworth, Rut Blees Luxemburg & Vera Lutter, It opened my eyes to a completely different concept, so I started my research with Richard Wentworth.
At first I looked deeper into Richard Wentworth's series ' Making do & getting by '. I found it so interesting as it seemed to be the first set of photos of which I actually paid no attention to the photos themselves, but to see objects placed in such a way. The first thing that stuck me, was it seemed to be a form of neat littering, it was as it people didn't want
To throw there waste on the floor (which is the most common form), So they would wedge it between guttering or leave empty cups on ledges, in the 2 images below, its almost as if " well if your going to leave your cup there, I’m going to as well", and its began a chain reaction. I think it would be a completely different story if someone saw another person throwing there cup on the floor, I don't think they would copy that in such a way that it creates a sculpture.
Other aspects of his work straight away reminded me of quick decisions and idea's that pop straight in there head, for example the wellie wedging open the door is a quick decision as chances being the wellie was the first item to hand, the bottle cap being used as an ash tray, also most likely the first thing to hand, maybe a little bit of laziness chucked in with the not want to go and find the an ash tray.
Richard Wentworth was the first photographer that really opened my eyes to Sculptures made unknowingly by us.
After this, a friend of mine ' Richard Higginbottom ' introduced me to a photographer called Harry Watts, and before I go further into Harry Watts, my friend Richard made an image from his series,
' Vivarium ' (http://www.richardhigginbottom.com) of what’s looks like a smashed mirror of some sort but the colour’s & contrast are very beautiful and this inspired me to look at shattered items such as glass, or even bricks or tiles fallen from walls. Rich and me did a print swap just before Christmas and I’m happy to say I have an original C-type print of this framed on my wall.
So back on to Harry Watts, whom I actually managed to make contact with about his work & found out he was very highly
Inspired my Wentworth himself. He Sent me a copy of his newspaper named ' finds ' which is also an on - going series on his website. (http://harry-watts.co.uk/).
Harry watts explored the streets of London looking for sculptures created by us but only really seen by his eye, as most people don't pay attention to how interesting it can really be. The description on his website reads:
' This series is an ongoing set of images documenting incidental sculptures found on the street ‘.
I think its nice that there are some of us that do pay attention to other forms of art in the City instead of vast buildings towering the world, the small things are important too as I feel they also have a story.
Here are some of Harry Watts images
We create these sculptures without even knowing, with only a matter of time to find, they’re replaced and recreated every second of the day, all around the world. After this thought I went out and started to look for interesting moments I could photograph, I started off with a rangefinder taking snaps as I walked to & from university, one day I spotted this assortment of fruit salad out of its box
just laying on the path, and I felt like I was the only person that had ever walked past it & found it truly interesting, the colours where really bright and vibrant and the way it had fallen or been chucked was almost as if it had been arranged, I got my camera out & took a snap.
This was my result, I was really pleased, I felt it was really different, and said so much, looking at it now, where I framed it quiet tight leaving out the curb, I feel like I took it out the city and placed it on a wall. After this I walked past it every day & it always changed & became more decayed & kicked along the floor but because it was my first time really looking into this kind of work, I didn't think to photograph it everyday, I really think it would of made a interesting series if images. I did mange to make one snap a few days later just to put it on instagram (iPhone app).
And when it had finally disappeared I was surprisingly upset but happy as I felt I was the only one that paid attention to it and made a photograph of it & I think its probably one of my favorite images that I’ve made with many different meanings to different people. I carried on making photographs using the same concept & ending up making a small series on my site called ' the same Journey ' I wanted to do this as I could then start seeing different types of photographs being showed to together & see what worked.
(Link to website) - Series - The same Journey –
http://photosbyjoeearley.tumblr.com/thesamejourney
The idea was to see completely different things on the same journey to show how our perceptions and surroundings still change around us, as you can see I also photographed peoples reactions, reflections, items left outside houses, I wanted to get a real mix of what’s happening & to show if you do concentrate on everything around you how much actually does happen when you start thinking about it.
After I finished my emails with Harry Watts & shot some film, Harry moved me onto a photographed called ' Peter friseur ' (http://www.peterfraser.net). I found time to watch some of his lectures on his site & paid most attention to his ' 12 day Journey 1984 ' where he started at lands end & made photographs onwards from there, using a similar concept on the way he saw things. The first image is a set of building bricks on a site in Newquay half covered with plastic. I like how the purple plastic plays contrast between the bricks, which are pretty much the same colour of the sandy dirt. Some area's blend & some don't, found it really interesting.
At the top of site a small piece of writing on the series by Ben Lewis, from the Prospect reads " Eccentric and marvelous work, these pictures exploit photography's now well-known ability to turn dirt into beauty and to find emblems of the everyday from the edges of our vision "
Reading this made me feel like Peter Fraser has now opened Ben Lewis’s eyes to seeing everyday objects differently which I’m hoping within his work is in some ways the point of it.
After my research I went on to working on a final set of images for my series, I went scouting for opportunity’s but I found when I looked for them, I didn't find them, & when I didn't, I did. Which made me feel like it’s starting to come natural to my way of seeing.
I spotted a small smashed mirror in the gutter which I made a few pictures off over about 3 days, after that I scouted a bunch of teabags that must of made there way out of a bin bag & left behind, it then started to become endless & was struggling to make a choice on either using 3 different images showing different area's of unmonumental: For example, a person, a item left out or an item lost. Or to make a series on 3 images the same.
In the end I made these 3 images.
The reason for the large white boarders & smaller images is to show again how they’re the unseen & overlooked creations in life, I wanted to transfer that through the print as well as the image and subject.
At the end of it it wasn't really about the photos anymore, it was about paying attention to the smaller things within the city that are ignored but have more of a story than you think, they was
Made, sold, used, lost, disposed of, broken & left. & hopefully the photos will make people will think about what’s around them on there journeys from A to B.
