ALEX BATEMAN: e - Journal

BA Photography Student @ University of Westminster

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project - Formal Proposal

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1 - Project Plan: GANTT Chart

Project shows key tasks, dependencies and critical path over duration of the project

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1 - Project Proposal Budget

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1 - Digital C-Type Tests: The Print Space

I recently tested producing a digital C-type print of my work, than in the traditional darkroom method. This is a considerably more modern means of producing C-Type prints, is faster and allows for greater control over the look of the image.  I am largely very happy with the results of these tests; though this test print has come out slightly yellowy - green (though this is not immediately apparent in the photograph above), it produces a sharp, uniform image whilst retaining the look of the narrower gamut of the CMYK C-type paper.  Despite this, I am more broadly interested in developing my C-type hand printing skills as part of undertaking this project, and an enlarger - made print has a softer, more painterly feel to it which I prefer; particularly for portraiture.  I intend to print my major project in the darkroom, than using digital C-types, though this is an important test as it may serve as a backup solution should my darkroom c-types fall short of the standards I set myself due to my relative inexperience to produce a high quality print.

In addition, from producing prints in this manner (Screen - Paper) I have realised that my interpretation of colour on-screen seems to be a long way off from the actual result when printed. Whether this is as a result of monitor images being backlit, or a level of colourblindness that I am unaware of, there is unfortunately plenty of scope for me to make several digital c-type prints that are badly colour balanced. I seem to work much better working Negative - Paper, as all aspects of the colour balancing process is done with a reliable reference source than an interpretation between the two; even when soft - proofing on screen.

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1 - Presentation Considerations: Hayley Louisa Brown - Children of Graceland (2017)

At present, I am unsure of the style of presentation I wish to use for my Major Project. I intend to produce a series of C-type prints, a mixture of portraits, landscapes and details photographed around the route of the North Circular road.

Due to the nature of the project - Its subject matter and the road’s use as a thoroughfare from East - West London (and vice - versa) it makes sense to present the images sequentially, in the order of which they were made. However, the ‘traditional’ means of doing this - hung at a uniform level upon the wall in a simple order from left - right, seems a little boring to me as it doesn’t draw the spectators eye into the work, between its differing elements and encouraging a different level of engagement with the work from person to person.  Instead, I really like Hayley Louisa - Brown’s layout used for her exhibition of Children of Graceland (2017). The project itself focuses on young people in Memphis whom are engaged with the culture around the 50s/60s singer Elvis, and features a mixture of details and portraits. Her use of a variety of print sizes and image formats, laid out in differing combinations draws the eye to different parts of the work, clearly elevating certain images above others to convey a particular sense of the projects outcome - The performer on stage and large, neon American flag printed much larger than others are the first things that hit you, before being drawn to mixtures of portraits of the children that are the subject of the project itself.

This is something I intend to use as inspiration for my own final layout of my project, and will clearly take some time to experiment with in order to achieve a coherent sequence. I also intend to seek out others’ presentation methods for further ideas.

Image from Hayley Louisa - Brown’s Instagram; installation shot of show at Ace and Tate https://www.instagram.com/hayleylouisabrown/

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1 - Pilot Project Submission: Preliminary Final Edit

Above is a the preliminary final edit for my pilot project submission; I feel many of these photographs give a feel about the direct and theme of my project, and is largely illustrative of what I have been shooting so far and what I intend to continue with over the course of the project.

There are some considerably stronger images than others here, and in many cases I have tried to include a mix of those that I like as a possibility for a final selection and others that I would like to revisit to re-shoot.

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project - Research: Visit to Edmonton SCC

As part of my research and planning for my project, I contacted a number of organisations along the route in order to request permission to visit their premises for the purposes of photographing them, and what they do. I recently received a response from the Edmonton Sea Cadets, whom invited me down to their spot next to the North Circular on the site of a large power station. Having visited the ‘Chief Petty Officer’ and second - in - command, I discussed the premise of my project so far, amongst some other administrative details such as obtaining consent forms (photographing minors) and providing a synopsis of the project itself to give the parents’ of some of the attendees an idea of what the purpose of the project is about.

Additionally, I discussed any concerns they had. The two local management team were both happy with all aspects of the project, but remarked on their superiors concern about the ‘context’ of the photographs. In particular, they did not want my project to purvey the work of the Sea Cadets as preparation for the Royal Navy. Though they are associated with it in many ways - in Uniform, exercises, rank and ritual - they were concerned about being portrayed in a negative light.

This is something I intend to be aware of at the time of photographing, but explained to them that I did not seek to portray their activities with any bias in particular - rather, to shoot images that reflected the landscape and attendees of their work with underprivileged minors in the community.

I have drafted a project synopsis so far and have asked for a copy of the parental consent form/releases once compiled by the Chief Petty Officer. I hope to be able to organise at least one full day of shooting at a weekend in the springtime. An example of the project synopsis so far can be found below;

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1: Route Tracking (ViewRanger)

As my project involves doing a lot of walking over a considerable distance, I have decided to track the route I take whilst exploring the area around the North Circular road.

I recently downloaded a free app for my phone called ‘ViewRanger’ that allows you to track your route at a desired frequency to determine how detailed the final plot will be. You can then export this route as a ‘.GPX’ file that can be input into other tracking devices (such as Garmin cycling/walking/running computers) or uploaded to web apps to produce a plot on a detailed street map, such as  the above route I tracked from my work to the pub on Friday evening.

At present, I have not worked out a way of consolidating these routes into a single plot; though it appears some web apps exist to do so, I have not recorded another route to understand whether these join the two together. 

I intend to do some further research on this either using walkers’ forums, or chatting to some staff in a walkers/outdoor pursuits shop. I think this additional info would prove useful in producing a detailed trace of the parts of London I have covered, perhaps joined together and enlarged using Adobe Illustrator for the purposes of creating a wall transfer, for example. 

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1: Visual Research - Jon Tonks, Empire (2014)

I came across Jon Tonks’ project Empire at a library of photo books at my workplace. Tonks travelled to the islands of St Helena, Ascension, The Falkland Islands and Tristan da Cunha to investigate the remnants of British life that remain on the islands that are some of the furthest reaches of what remains of the British Empire.  Published in book form, the book features a selection of portraits of the inhabitants of the islands amongst landscapes of the parts of the islands themselves, punctuated with short stories or snippets of information about what is detailed in the photographs.

Some of my favourite photographs from this series show the quirkiness and small - town nature of life on the islands themselves. Combined with the information about the details in each it gives a rich basis from which to imagine the relation between each of the elements Tonks has selected and the true nature of the characters whom he has photographed. The combination of short excerpts of topical information on each is something I will consider for my own project’s final presentation, as I feel it gives the viewer an additional piece of interest to what are otherwise fairly anonymous or nondescript photographs. To do so, I intend to research further into the areas I  am passing through and hope to meet with some interesting characters along the way.

All photographs featured above are taken from Jon Tonks’ series Empire (2014). Available from https://www.jontonks.com/work/

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1 - Contacting Institutions/Business: Feedback

Having email the clubs and institutions outlined previously, I have so far received some positive feedback.

Both the Edmonton Sea Cadets and the ‘Imps Motorcycle Display Team’ have responded to my emails with interest and asked me to contact them in order to discuss some further details with the possibilities of visiting them in future.

This is something I intend to do in the New Year, in order to have the ability to plan dates more accurately once I have completed my dissertation.

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1 - Contacting Institutions/Businesses

So far, I have emailed the institutions and businesses mentioned previously in the hope of organising visits once the dissertation has been completed. This is a copy of the email I have sent each one;

“Dear Sirs, I'm a third year BA Photography student at the University of Westminster, and am presently completing a major project about life around the route of the North Circular road. I am looking to develop my own knowledge and understanding of, as well as bring exposure to the many institutions, businesses and domestic life that goes on around this often overlooked part of London. I was wondering whether it would be possible to come along to photograph what goes on at your training ground in the hope of using some frames in my final major project. I hope this email finds you well and thanks in advance for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Best regards, Alex Bateman 07710413663″

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1 - Approach Considerations

So far on my project on the A406 North Circular, I have trialled a variety of approaches with respect to what I choose to photograph. However, my method of looking for interesting photographs has predominantly focused on merely walking around the areas that live in the shadow of the route in question, hoping to come across interesting things to photograph. Due to the nature of the project, it is of course necessary to be out shooting as much as is possible in case of photograph opportunities that are only temporary.

Having planned a vague walking route alongside the A406 of parts that may be interesting to photograph using Google Maps, I have come across other interesting phenomenon by chance - institutions, clubs and activities that occur along the route that in themselves paint a picture about what goes on in this often overlooked hinterland. I intend to contact some of the institutions I have identified so far in order to organise a more in-depth look at what they do, and hopefully take photographs of their activities and those that use them. I have so far contacted the following in hope of opportunities to visit them;

- Edmonton Sea Cadets  - ‘Docklands Riders’ (Motocross training centre near Woolwich) - ‘The Imps’ - A motorcycle display team’s training centre, near East Ham.

In addition, I hope to re - visit some of the locations I have passed so far in order to re - photograph them in better lighting conditions. Much of my shooting process so far has been in a research capacity, and I hope to use the knowledge I have obtained from my shoots so far to produce a better standard of images as the second part of the project evolves.

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1 - Shoot 5: Edit/Reflection on Images

For my most recent and final shoot prior to Christmas, I explored a part of the North Circular closer to home - from Wood Street to Walthamstow stadium. Shooting with the same film stock in winter light, I was forced to use a tripod for moreorless every shot. However, in doing so I realised that this approach suits me far better; the additional time spent setting up the shot means that I consider my compositions more, as well as my exposures and what I choose to photograph and what I don’t bother to photograph.

Largely, I am much happier with the photographs I shot over this session - both in their style and what I pay attention to (which is still fairly random) but also the fact I shoot far less, shooting only five rolls over the course of a 4-5 hour day. One aspect of my shooting I wish I could change is the ability to shoot a more establishing perspective - i.e. that which shows the surroundings more of what I want the viewer to pay attention to. Frame 8 of the tiled images above is a case in point, as the overgrown shopfront would look much better if the viewer could understand what surrounds it, and what environment it sits within. This is something I will experiment with further, maybe using a different camera format.

I have since carried out some high resolution scans and hope to produce some high quality edits of my favourites in order to prepare some for digital C-type test prints.

[bateman-90]

6IMAG001W Major Project 1 - Major Project Presentation: Reflection

At the end of the first semester of final year, it was useful to present our projects in their current states to others in our tutor groups, whom we had not engaged with in our work since the start of the module in September/October.

It was particularly eye opening to see the progress others had made with their projects, and where they still were in serious development / refining the final details. Having presented my approach and project so far, I received little in the way of feedback from my peers in the session itself. I feel that the prints that I had been working on in the darkroom were not of particular interest, and as a result had little in the way of affect upon engaging further interest in my project.

Feedback from Gavin was supportive, and he encouraged me to work further on producing a high standard of print for the Pilot Project submission, alongside refining the final details of my work for the formal submission with a view to developing my aesthetic further in the second semester.

[bateman-90]

Major Project 1 - Shoot 5: Reflection

Having spent some time printing my own work and getting to know the images I have shot thus far, as well as reviewing the negative scans from my fourth shoot to establish where I was still making errors, I set about spending Wednesday morning walking a section of the North Circular close to my home; that which borders upper Walthamstow.

Much of this route was that which I had originally covered over the summer on an unrelated photo exploratory mission to see more of the area, and I felt that in re-walking this route (in part) I would have a better chance of reshooting some images I liked that I produced on 35mm. There was a significant shortage of light on this shoot, which required use of a tripod for almost every shot. In doing so however, I found myself considering my compositions and exposures more, slowing down my approach as necessary for the poor lighting conditions on 400ISO film.

As part of walking this route for a short period, I was also able to come across some new and interesting subject matter as well as some potential locations to reshoot later in better and more aesthetically pleasing lighting conditions.

I hope to process the film I shot and review this set of images with a hope to have obtained some for another edit of images.

[bateman-90]

Major Project 1: C-Type Darkroom Printing

Having reached a point with my shooting thus far where I was struggling to achieve a visual strategy or aesthetic that I was happy with from more recent shoots, I decided to go about producing test prints of some of the better frames shot earlier on in the project so far.

I have had somewhat of a love/hate relationship with the C-Type process in the past, so decided to spend some time in the darkroom honing my colour balancing skills and learning to use the enlarger more effectively. Working through the three images seen above over a course of 2-3 days, I set about achieving a colour balance I was happy with on the image from Woolwich ferry bus station upon which I could base the ‘look’ of all subsequent images. Overall I am largely happy with the results I have achieved, though feel that the colour balance/exposure of some of the images I still don’t quite have the skill level to match perfectly. Despite this, I feel that I am now far more competent with my colour judgement in the darkroom, including matching prints. It has also helped me get a better understanding of where I lie with the images I have produced so far and should hopefully inform my approach in future shoots.

I now intend to experiment with some larger print sizes for the images that are more landscape in feel, and to print some 10x12″ images of the photographs that are closer up/of smaller details.

[bateman-90]

Major Project 1: Shoot 4 - Edit/Reflection on Images

Having processed the film I shot around the North West London area on my fourth shoot, it was interesting to consider the difference in frames I had shot after taking into consideration Gavin’s feedback. Working in a more considered way, I wasn’t able to cover such a large area as previously but I found that many of the images were still of a questionable quality, with respect to their composition and exposure.

Though I tried to make a concerted effort to consider composition and exposure before taking each photograph, many of the images so far were still not of a standard I was especially happy with. I feel that most of the imagery was less randomised; in that, it was clear I had paid more attention to colour/form/lighting, I had still not come across any subjects of particular interest in themselves and was still shooting many of them just in case they could be of use later.

I have made a selection of my favourite images from the set shown here, yet it is clear that my present approach of walking a section of the route of the North Circular and hoping I come across some interesting subjects does not yield a particularly interesting set of images. There were some interesting subjects that had the potential to be better than those I captured however; potentially under different lighting conditions or with a wider - angle lens.

I will now seek to review the areas I have covered so far, and try to identify locations to revisit at specific times/lighting conditions in order to try and gain some images of a higher standard for my pilot project submission.