Asya Gurevich

Westminster University

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Project Report

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Project Proposal

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Editing

For the editing of the images i tried to change minimal amounts as I believe the photographs are more authentic when they are less is altered. 

I have a personal policy that photos should be adjusted minimally, as like to maintain the originality of photos. However, I will occasionally make minimal adjustments; in this case i have done some cropping on the image with teddy bear to make image look better compositionally by adjusting it to fit the golden ratio, thus making it more aesthetically pleasing. Also, i added some contrast so that the bright colors look more saturated in the photo.

Other final images have not been edited at all.

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Title Of The Project

 ‘Thats why it is so dusty on the streets.’

Coming from Russia where there is a distinct contrast between life before and after the Soviet Union and a completely different set of values, I am even more aware of how my generation simply throw away what we do not want fix it. Yet in the past, generations of people repurposed what they have and also treasured what was theres. All the discarded toys I see lying around on the streets now for me are like broken memories and have turned to dust like the waste which is lying around on the streets.

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Timeplan

Timeplan for semester two:

Week 1: looking for ideas for a Major project/ looking for exhibitions

Week 2: going to exhibitions

Week 3: formation of concept

Week 4: shoot (Russia)

Week 5: critical analysis of shoot

Week 6: final ideas - (toys, personal effects and etc)

Week 7: experimentation with media

Week 8: refinement of final idea

Week 9: shoot

Week 10: analysis

Week 11: reshoot/ final editing

Week 12: presentation of  final piece

Research will be continuing during all semester 2

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Developing of my project

Overall I have done three shoots. One was in Brixton and the other two were in  the countryside around St Petersburg. As I have seen all the photos together, I have seen how my ideas have developed and changed over the three shoots. At first, I wanted to do just soft toys at waste dumps. Then I decided to go around the countryside and look around houses and in the countryside. Most of the toys were just discarded and I was shocked how people did not fix or clean their toys. These shoots gave me an understanding about how I would like to continue with my project; that is, personal effects which are important to people. This has made me consider how I would like to continue with my future project and how I would like to present it. I will possibly look at the technical aspects, such as coloring photos, or combining photography with real toys to show the trauma and neglect they have experienced. I also learnt about my mistakes with printing and which paper would be most effective.

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Printing images

I decided to print images A4 format matt as my aim is to show the old and worn aspects of the toys. Gloss would be too pristine and would not match what I am trying to convey in my work. When I printed the final image of the teddy bear, the print was rather blueish and I think the paper has made the print like this because the paper is quite soft and is probably absorbing too much colour. For my major project I will use harder and heavier paper still in matt however as I want to retain the same feelings of something being old and used.

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Final Images For Pilot Project

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Contact sheets/test materials

This is test shooting from my last shoot. I have chosen five, which are my images for my final project. I was not happy with some of the images and the way the toys appear in them as the aperture and shutter speed were not correct. Also the composition was not very balanced. I chose the best five-seven because they have a coherence and pretty similar light. The placing of the toys fitted in with my theme and the idea of how I would like to see the image. I like the way the toys are framed or complemented by the buildings and also how they are lying around in snow. This white background brings out the toys and the peeling paint and worn weather beaten wood of the structures complements the worn surfaces of the toys.

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Technical/Logistical information

I have chosen to recreate a relatively simple shoot in terms of technology relying  solely on my camera to capture the moment. Therefore I have not run into many difficulties technically. The problems that i have faced are : 

I wanted to do test shooting in London before going to Russia to make the final images as I was looking for different dumps around London. I was calling different places to be sure that they have toys and also I was asking if I could  come and take some photos. I was really shocked that for shooting rubbish I need to have permission for it. So my plan didn’t go successfully and I decided to ask some of my friends who have children if it is possible to take some photos of their toys and also I have been going around Brixton where I found a lot of toys on the streets.

I’ve been looking a lot for a places which have a higher percentage of visible rubbish on the street in order to avoid unauthentic photos. In Russia outside St-Petersburg there are a lot of places like that. I was able to drive there and find some toys to shoot.

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Banksy

After the story which happened with the Banksy, I went to Sotheby’s to see the work which was partly shredded. The work is worth even more now than the day it was auctioned at the time of the shredding. The owner of the work decided to exhibit the work for free for two days in Sotheby’s and I was fortunate to see it and photograph it. It made me feel how art is not just about the final piece but is always a work in progress.

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Frieze

This is the Frieze exhibition in Regents Park. I went there for inspiration for my project as there is a lot of photography there. It gave me a lot of ideas about how to present my project; such as printing on glass or planks of wood. So it was idea to see these ideas being put into practice. The photos were mostly fashion photography, which is not my area of interest but I was more taken with the presentation rather than the theme of the photos. 

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Inspiration / @maax_sf

Maxim (@maax_sf) • Instagram photos and videos

88.7k Followers, 666 Following, 670 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Maxim (@maax_sf)

https://instagram.com/maax_sf?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=13c33b81i4omx

Maxim is a blogger who is exploring old flats with a history in Saint-Petersburg.

Looking at his photos and reading his stories writing about places gave me an idea of how residents of these apartments live a life of Soviet Times and doesn’t want to change nothing. They are living with the same values and ideas.

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Experimentation

I tried to do my project on Iphone as the new generation of phones produce really good quality  images. I had the opportunity to photograph at my friend’s house as he has children. So I photographed their photos and toys not try to build up an image of the people and their connection with their toys.

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Shoot

I was looking for toys on a streets in the Brixton. it wasn’t my main theme for project it was a test shooting. I did it on a Iphone as the quality is good and i really wanted to try to do a project on my Iphone as this seems to be the main way people record random things they see on the streets. I wanted to show just how quickly we throw not only things away but even our photos. We take them, delete them and do not treasure the moments our they toys in the way old photos and toys were appreciated.

I have used VSCO filters to have the same colour and tone of the images.

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Mark nixon - much loved

Flopsie, age 6, height 14 inches

Belongs to Lua Spencer.

Teddy, age 15, Height 8 inches

Belongs to Luke Foley

Bobo, age 34, height 12 inches

belongs to Shane Maher.

This is a serie of photos which show old cuddly toys such as teddy bears and others. These were probably once the types of toys that children would take to bed with them, cuddle them to ‘death’ literally as these are now old, with lose threads and possibly missing eyes or limbs. The toys are part of each person’s personal journey and many of them know the person’s deepest secrets. The photos each identify each personal toy and are like a page from every person’s or toy’s life story.

I like the photos as they are beautiful personal portraits and one feels the sense of how important these soft toys were and still are to their owners. How some of them tried to be fixed.

Moving portrait gallery of people’s beloved bears and the occasional rabbit many hugged and kissed down to bare threads to emerge as affection-ravaged amputees and bittersweet survivors of the immortal combat of growing up. They brought with them not only their stuffed animals but also an outpouring of highly emotional memories and stories.

“It was as though they had been keeping a long-held secret and could finally tell someone what their teddies really meant to them. Their strength of feeling took me by surprise. They would tell some usually funny story about their teddy ...or would speak emotionally about what it meant to them. So the stories and memories became integral to the photographs, adding significance to them and bringing them to life”

“Ted lost his eye defending me from a terrier at day care. (That’s the short version of the story.) He also keeps all my secrets in the compartment created by his flattened nose”

https://marknixon.com/much-loved/

Portraits and stories of “loved to bits” teddy bears.

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Vsevolod Tarasevich Leningrad Siege. The City and the Front

A moment of silence. Leningrad Front, 1944. 

Citizens of besieged Leningrad take water from the canal. 1942. 

The fighters of one of the partisan detachments in the woods near the fire. Leningrad region, 1941.

The subject of Leningrad will always be relevant for me and it will always inspire me to study some details, such as toys.

Having been at this exhibition in St Petersburg in RosFoto, I decided to single out three photos that emotionally touched me, especially the photo ‘A Moment of Silence. Leningrad Front, 1944′., how difficult it was to get a phonograph at that time, but at the front it was almost impossible. and this is the name of the photo that has the deepest undertones. Still I look at the photo and hear this joy and laughter. looking at the photo, I realized that having nothing, people could enjoy things and moments. But today, having all the opportunities to acquire anything, people do not appreciate it and do not want to see these details of happiness. Therefore, it has become so dirty in the cities, since everything is thrown on the streets. There is no longer any joy in enjoying the simple things in life and the feelings of joy are etched on the faces of the soldiers in the photo. This again really highlights the values of the time and is quite powerful as the soldiers gather around the phonograph and really take in the music.