Work Record 1; Waltham Abbey

Work Record 1; Waltham Abbey

Overview of Shoot:
In this shoot I have taken images of Waltham Abbey during the night and during the day. The night images I have produced are of light trails which I explored in my previous 8 shoots with regards to Ian Egner, I have also taken images of the natural landscapes that we find in Waltham Abbey. The images that I have taken all relate to each other and land use because it shows how there are man-made land uses but also natural land uses. By exploring both of these factors it helps reach a judgement of land uses in the world.

Contact Sheet:
Below I have created a contact sheet which displays all of the images that I have taken within this shoot. I have annotated these images by highlighting the ones I won't use or I don't like in red and the ones I do like and will potentially use are highlighted in green.

Straight Images:

Below are some of the images that I have taken within this shoot that I believe are the best or ones that require some more improvement.

Best Images:

I took this image on top of the M25 bridge that runs through Waltham Abbey, it displays light trails within the image and shows how a long exposure time can manipulate the sky in this way. I have chosen to use this as one of my best images because it links to land use and shows how a road can be considered as a man-made land use. If I had taken this image without the light trails it would've still had the same effect but by using these it adds an aesthetic effect to the image. By using a longer shutter speed it has manipulated the image in a way where the sky becomes more visible and effective and the car lights are more vibrant. To take this image further I am going to edit it in Photoshop by manipulating the colour scheme as well as merging it with the daytime shot. This image can be related to land use because it shows how man-made land uses consist of transportation.

This was taken in the same place as the previous image but at a different point during the day, I can use these two images to compare them as they show a different effect when night is compared to day. I kept the exposure time for this shot low because I wanted to capture the freeze frame movement of the cars. There is still a small amount of blur visible in the image but I think this adds more effect and shows the movement slightly. To take this image further I am to carry out a physical experiment where I leave the image out in the rain to see how nature manipulates the image. As well as this, I am also going to experiment with the images in Photoshop to manipulate the colours in the image. This image relates to land use because although it gives off a happy effect it shows how man-made land uses are around us and their main form is transportation.

This was taken at Theydon Bois train station on the bridge which looked down on the incoming and outgoing trains. Similar to the images above I wanted to show how transportation is a land use and it is continuously used everyday. I chose to follow a similar path to the first image I annotated, I used a longer shutter speed to capture the blur and the minimal light trail of the train. I think this adds a good effect to the image and can be compared to the images of the m25 bridge with regards to transportation. To develop this image I am to carry out similar paths as I have mentioned in the previous images by using Photoshop and physical experiments to manipulate these images. This image links to land use because it shows how transportation is used as a man-made land use and expands on the fact that we need these types of land use.

This was taken in Waltham Abbey in a field that is segregated from the city area, it gives an example of the natural landscapes that can be found in this area. I chose to document the natural landscapes in this area because in my shoot in Stratford I have captured some city landscapes which contrast to this image. I think this image relates to land use because it shows how there are natural land uses as well as man-made ones but these land uses do not get as much recognition as the man-made ones. To take this image further I am going to produce a panoramic image with this one and a few of the other images that I have taken, this can be done by stitching them together in Photoshop.

Images that require some improvement:

This image was taken on the M25 bridge like a few of the images above. Unlike the images above this one doesn't work as well as those ones because of the camera technique I used. This image isn't in focus and doesn't display the deep light trails that I was aiming for, although this image doesn't work I still managed to produce some images that worked better. To improve this image I needed to focus more on the moving cars but this was extremely difficult because it was dark and I couldn't get a clears view. If I had carried out these improvements I would've been able to capture an image with less light trails so it could've been compared to the other light trail images I captured.

This image was also taken on the M25 bridge. I don't this this image works as well as I had hoped it to because doesn't give a very detailed view like some of the other images. The main factor that I don't like about this image is the lightness of the sky because it doesn't show the deepness of the blue like the other images. To improve this I could've changed the settings and aimed for a lower exposure time which would've let less light into the image.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained investigations informed by research and other sources.

The main aim of my shoot was to show how important natural and man-made land uses are, I believe I have carried out this factor well because I have shown examples of both land uses and explained how they compare or link. The main comparison in this shoot is the night time vs day time shot of the M25 bridge. Although these images are different they link by showing a man-made land use but they compare by showing how the atmosphere changes with night time and day time. Also, in this shoot I have focused more around the transportation aspect of land use because this can be found a lot within Waltham Abbey. I believe that I have captured a good body of work in this shoot which can be directly linked to the Stratford shoot I have also carried out because it establishes a link but also a comparison of the city and country landscapes. 

There a few photographers that have influenced my work in this shoot. With regards to the light trails that I have produced I have explored the work of Ian Egner. His work focuses mainly on the light trails of cars on busy roads which is what I have established in my work, as well as taking exact ideas from his work like the busy roads I have also developed it further by using trains to create light trails but also by using the longer shutter speeds to capture the moving vehicles on the roads. 

This is an image taken by Ian Egner, as displayed it is very similar to the image that I have produced above in the straight images section. He used a long shutter speed to capture this image because it has the same effect as my image where the sky is manipulated to produce a different colour. It is obvious that this has been taken at night but by producing a longer shutter speed it manipulates the colour of the sky and changes it, the sky in his image has been changed to a blue but my image changed to an orange which can be concluded that these images were taken at different times. I think that his work links well with land use because it shows how land use can be used to produce a man-made effect such as a road. His influence is obvious in my work because of the light trail images but I have also taken his work further slightly.

As well as being influenced by Ian Egner, I have also been influenced by Ansel Adams, the main influence I have taken from his work was his production of the natural landscapes. As well as this, another big factor that has influenced me is his use of the zone system which can be discussed when looking at black and white images, an example of the zone system can be seen below. Ansel Adams' ideas can be seen in my work because I have used his natural landscape ideas, his influence will become more visible in my work when I begin to edit my images as I will be using the zone system to manipulate my images in black and white.

Above is an example of Ansel Adams work, it is clear to see where I have established the natural landscape idea from his work, I am going to take my images further and edit them in this way which will produce more of a link to his work. His use of the zone system to edit his work produces a different atmosphere and begins to recognise where the negative land uses come in and also the positive ones. I am going to use this idea of his to show negative and positive atmospheres in my work. 

Ian Egner and Ansel Adams have a big influence on the images that I have taken and the way I am going to edit them. By using both of these photographers in my work is establishes the way in which I discuss land use and open up my ideas within this topic.

An artist that has significantly impacted the physical experiments I carry out is Arian Behzadi, he can be considered as a contemporary artist. Throughout my shoots I have been mildly incorporating artists with photographers and his work has been significant during my exam shoots. The idea behind his work is to cut out sections of his pairings and stick them back together in a different way, I have taken this idea on board and attempted to carry out a similar task which will be shown in AO2 below. An example of his work is also below...

This is a painting created by Arian Behzadi, to create the image he has cut up the painting that he has produced and stuck it back down in a different way to create the effect. I want to work with this effect because it will refine and develop my work within physical experiments. By using this technique it won't necessarily increase the idea of land use but it will add another experimentation factor to my work and show how I am using different effects to produce my work as a final piece. One idea that I want to follow regarding this experiment is cutting up two pictures that show either a man-made land use or a natural land use and stick them together in a different order to show how the man-made and natural land uses come together to make up the world.

AO2:  Demonstrate your ability to experiment with photographic media, techniques and materials.

To take these images I used a Nikon D3300 which worked well alongside a tripod. The tripod was a necessity when taking these images because it helped when focusing the image and positioning the image within the frame to achieve the best composition. With regards to the camera settings I used there was a different setting for each type of image, when photographing the images of the light trails I used settings at, 10 second shutter speed, f.25 and ISO 1600. The ISO needed to be high when capturing these images because it was dark and more light needed to be let into the image so performing with a high ISO helped achieve these light trail images. When capturing the images during the day of the M25 bridge the settings I used were, 1/30 second shutter speed, f.20 and ISO 100. As these images were captured during the day it helped having a smaller ISO because it reduced the noise that was within the image. Finally, when capturing the natural landscape images the settings I used were, 1/40 second shutter speed, f.20 and ISO 100. When capturing these landscape images I needed to have a wide depth of field so a high f stop helped me capture these images. By experimenting with different settings and camera techniques it enabled me to develop my work in a way where I am able to produce more images with different effects rather than having extremely similar images. 

Next I took some of the images into Photoshop and experimented with them, I also used physical experiments to follow different editing techniques.

The screenshot and the image above show the steps I carried out to produce this panoramic image, this is one example of how I am refining and developing my work because I have experimented with some computer experiments to carry out this panorama. I thought the best way to produce a wide shot of the natural landscape was to make it into a panorama because this will show the depth of the landscape that we are surrounded by in this location. To create the image I used 7 images and stitched them together using photo merge which resulted in this panoramic shot. There was a chance I was going to use these images to create a 360 shot but this proved harder then I imaged and it didn't work as I had hoped. I think this image opens up more to land use and shows how I am continuing to develop and refine my work. I have also produced this image in black and white which corresponds to the zone system and the idea that Ansel Adams produces in his work.

To edit this image I brought the two images above into photoshop and overlaid them. At first I want sure if this idea was going to work well but I think this image looks good because the light trails are still visible but so are the cars. I wanted to create an image like this because it shows a clare comparison between night and day in the same location. I think this has expanded the idea of land use because it shows how land is used in a man-made way at all times of the day. This idea has been taken from my previous shoots I carried out leading up to the exam where I began to merge images together in this way to produce comparison images. Although this experiment wouldn't work with all of my images I think that it has produced a good image in this way. 

To create this image I created an orange watercolour wash on some watercolour paper and then scanned it into the computer. I took an image from the shoot and used the overlay multiplier tool to combine these images. I had hoped that it would turn out slightly better than this, it doesn't look the way I had hoped because of the way the paper had dried. I am going to continue with this experimentation and try to create another image similar to this one. 

To create this image I have taken the same approach as the previous image but instead of using overlay multiply i have used overlay soft light to achieve this effect. Instead of keeping the colour I changed the image to black and white before I begun. It has worked better then the previous time I attempted because the paper had dried properly before I scanned it into the printer. I think this gives the image a good effect and adds to the aesthetic element of the image. It doesn't really add to the land use aspect of the image but it does show how I am combining physical and computer experiments, by doing this it also shows how I am refining and developing my work. I have also followed these steps with a few images as shown below...

As well as carrying out the computer experiments I also carried out some physical experiments to develop my work further. I printed this image out on watercolour paper and left it outside overnight. Originally the image was black and white so we can see how leaving it outside has discoloured the image. Also, it rained overnight which allowed some of the ink to run and create the droplets on the image. I think this was a good physical experiment to carry out because it shows how the natural sources effect the image. I chose to use this experiment because it shows how although it is a man-made land use it can still be affected and dominated by the natural land uses. 

To create this physical experiment I printed out two images from this shoot, one of the road and the other of the natural landscape. After printing them out I used a craft knife to cut the images in diagonal way and then merged them together to create the image above. My main idea for this image was to show that although the man-made land uses and the natural land uses are extremely different they can be merged together like they do in the world to create this scene. By creating this experimentation it shows how Arian Behzadi's influence has been positive in my work. 

As well as experimenting with the water-colour wash in Photoshop I also wanted to experiment with the photo filter settings in the image because it will add different effects to the image. I think both the water-colour and the photo filter work well within the images. To make this image I created 4 photo filter layers in different colours, then I filled the layer with black and after I used the white paintbrush to bring the different filters into the image. I think this is a good use of experimentation because it shows how the different colours can be incorporated into the image. 

AO3: Reflect critically on your work and progress.

In this shoot I believe that I have created a body of work which relates to the exam topic of land use. The main idea I had for my shoots was to compare natural land uses and man-made land uses and I believe I have done this well because of the natural landscapes I have achieved and the transportation landscapes that I have also documented. To improve my work and respond to the exam title better I need to continue with the write up of my next shoot to expand more on the comparisons of land uses. The main images that I am using from this shoot follow below...

I think these images above are the best final images from this shoot because they show how land is used in both natural and man-made ways. To improve these shoots I would've looked more closely at the natural landscapes because these would've made more contribution in my work if I had established them further. To create more of a response to exam title this is the only other aspect I would've explored further. I think I have made a real comparison to the different land use and their effects on the world. I have used my previous shoots leading up to the exam to help decide the path I was going to follow here, when looking at the previous shoots I carried out I have got a few images that are similar to some here because that was the main idea I wanted to follow. Ian Egner and Ansel Adams have significantly influenced my work in these shoots because I have used some of their ideas in my shoots, Ansel Adams' effect becomes more prominent when I have edited my images as they show the use of black and white and the zone system. Although Arian Behzadi didn't have a huge influence on my work it is still important to mention him because he influenced one of the experimentation images I created.  My idea behind the exam will become more obvious when I begin editing and analysing the shoot I completed at Stratford.