Exploration.

My first initial plan for my environmental brief was to photograph at a local industrial estate that I work in, Im not going back on my word, I still think its an incredible place, but Im afraid I really don't have a good enough reason to photograph it, because that is all I want to do, Just take photographs.

Iv'e decided to go with what I enjoy most, exploring places iv'e never been, the past few years iv'e been travelling to places in europe, 1 to get over my fear of flying & 2 to explore somewhere iv'e never been.

Iv'e always had a thing about never knowing whats around the corner, or over a hill. there is a sense of desperation and excitement to knowing whats there. and when it is incredible I get to stare at it with absolute ore, then take my time photographing it so I can them share it with other people & hope they get an idea of what I enjoyed.

I like everything about travel, I always try to pack at light as possible, I lay out everything i'm taking & photograph my items of choice. I love receiving all my fresh films through to fill with beautiful landscapes & objects.

its just an incredible feeling to be somewhere unfamiliar.

So iv'e decided to do a series of locations in the medway towns that are unexplored by me.. ive lived here for 23 years & i'm destine to know there are still some places that speak words.

Im going to shoot in the morning only, on large format & in colour, I did some test shots at a few places iv'e fell in love with, iv'e been there twice now hoping for myst, but it hasn't happened yet unfortunately.

I wanted to link it to work of alec soth who has just gone a series called ' somewhere to disappear ' which concentrates on people that want to run away and completely retreat themselves from society, alec soth try's to find out why they want to escape.

I do like my own space & to explore and enjoy a place iv'e found personally, it feels more of a personal place.

Im going to go back to some work I made in france about 4 weeks ago while exploring some small towns. whenever I found a place, I was literally pulling the camera out of my bag without even realising I was doing so, its just instantly of interest. I frame it in my head & it instantly shouts at me. sounds odd, but just one of those feelings!

Going to follow it on with some research on Sternfeld & more work from alec soth and a few other images of a qualk quarry we explored this morning.

France 2011.

Just a quick photo from france i'm quiet proud off, I new I was going france for around 2 weeks, so I decided to hit up google street view in the same area to find some nice places to shoot, always find it incredible to see places on the internet & then see it in real-life.

So I set myself a little project, I did a print screen on google maps, & then planned a route from where we was staying to the place i'd found.

when I actually got there, I found myself mezmarised the fact I was 700 odd miles away & now im standing in the exact place just looking at it.

Really odd, so I shot it Early morning around 7.

Set up was:

- Bronica SQ-A

- Kodak Portra 160ns

- Shutter Release.

I photographed it at f.22 / 8th of a second.

I feel odd when I look at it, not because of the photograph, but sometimes I just feel lucky compared to other life's people live, the fact I have the opportunity to do some of these things, & it makes me laugh some of the things that bother people in life when they dont have the slightest idea how lucky they are.

I think the Zebra crossing adds some life to it, following into that curved curb then into the buildings, feel it has some flow.

Whats going down

Been a busy week, really feeling the strain juggling 3 briefs at the moment, trying to get myself into a routine at the moment, but I think I will be o.k, new experiences & Im guessing its expecting!

So first of, I borrowed a Mamiya 7ii, As iv'e always wanted to have a go & what better opportunity to do so, so I grabbed a few rolls of Fuji pro 160 NS & waited to go shoot with Danny and Ollie on an Early morning we had planned.

- Google map view of Morning shoot.

-Mamiya 7ii

-Fuji pro 160NS

-Shutter Release

we shot in strood at 6 am, next to the river by the cinema, there are some fields, chalk hills, just a really cool place to explore & see whats going on.

Marked in red on the google maps is from where I photographed. there pretty standard pictures, Just wanted to get a feel for the mamiya & hit a few locations see how I felt there.

So when we finished, we headed back to mine for a quick tea before Uni opened & Jammed for a bit. Then we hit up uni to put through our rolls of film, really is the best feeling to have such a rad facility we can use when we need.

when I got home I did a bit of scanning.

And this is what I came out with, did a few colour ajustments, cloned out some dust ect. but im fairly happy with the results ( the sunset one was a one off, not really a fan of sunsets in photographs, I'm not sure why )

Iv'e allways enjoyed shooting more in the morning, feel more freedom to work, and you get really interesting people out and about, people say good morning, everything just looks different.

I preffer the shooting in natural morning light aswell, feels alot fresher.

__________________

I decided to do a little research in the library, find a nice book to look at, I found a book called

' INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPES ' by Bern & Hilla Becher.

A book iv'e only just started looking at, so I will put up further findings on it soon.

So to finish off I got out the Fuji 6x9 today. another camera Iv'e wanted to have a go with & im going to shoot some more work in the week. hopefully find me a nice industrial site.

- Fuji 6x9 /120

- Fuji pro 160 NS

- Sekonic light meter

- Manfrotto tripod

Enviroment / test

Went & shot a few rolls down at burham bridge a week or so back, got the 120 neg's back, been working on one for a while, just a test shot experimenting with lines, composision, colours ect. been cloning dust from this image for god knows how long.

but its all sorted.

- shot on medium format, Fuji pro 160 nc ( which im really liking for landscape at the moment )

shot at f.22 / 4th of a second.

Ideas for Enviromental project

Its perfect, Iv'e been waiting to base a project around a certain place for so long.

I work at Nuralite industrial estate in Higham, well I voulenteer, for a workshop called M.L.Motorsport dealing with classic mini's, amongst a lot of other businesses.

Since my interest for photographing landscapes and industry grew, I started to realise how incredible this place was.

Iv'e talked to a few people who work within the estate & found out it used to be a big producer of espestos, a lot of the builds are still actually roofed with the stuff. but its only dangerous if turned into a dust form, The rest is buried all around the site.

The buildings are all very much on there last legs, falling apart, rustic & decaying. but it just gives the place so much character, there is one small building outside the workshop which is just completely overgrown with ivy & anyone with an artistic eye would full in love.

The people who work there are all proper characters, all good people and are your typical bunch of cockney jokers.

I find myself wondering around all the time exploring new areas & little corners full of junk & scrap items.

There is also a part which is landfill, everything pretty much gets thrown there. bit sad really, but the pile has formed pretty large since Iv'e been there, so many random items.

When you walk into any industrial territory. you seem like you shouldnt be there, its a completely different place, the people change, the buildings change, the scenery & landscape change. its like youv'e just walked through a portal into a parrallell dimension. theres beams sticking out of buildings, damaged cars, scrap metal, buildings all different shapes & forms, industrial machines that almost look like the dream climbing frame for a child.

I just think they are completely different from your standard housing enviroment & really do feel a sense of ' I shouldn't be here '

Ive taken a few digital snaps around the place before, there is lots of potential, im hoping to do some Early morning work firstly with medium format, either the mamiya 7 of Rz, then finish off on Large format. hopefully shoot a set around 5. I want a very damp & eary feel to the photograph, morning lighting is usally very mystical like that. ill see what happens.