Machines
I chose to base my work on the theme of machines because of the importance and relevance it has in every day tasks. Machinery is a huge part in the way in which the world works, and as technology continues to advance it can be an interesting concept to photograph the different elements in its evolution. Machinery can be interpreted in numerous ways, both challenging or not. I'm hoping in this topic I can link to different photographers and topics in photography such as street photography.
Conceptual forms - Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer and architect. I feel that him working in the industry of mechanical and industrial surroundings may have influenced his interest in this type of photography. A lot of Hiroshis work is based around sharp lighting as seen on the image to the left. As well as this, shadows is a huge aspect to his work and is very prominent in his images. This may have been been manipulated by the different shapes and forms in architecture. Some of his work looks as though its been taken with pinhole photography. This usually gives a more out of focus, grainy aspect to the image. Despite this, I think these images have been taken with a digital camera as the images appear clean and crisp.
The depth of the images isn't as important, and the majority of his work with 'Conceptual Forms' are close up images of mechanical objects.
The depth of the images isn't as important, and the majority of his work with 'Conceptual Forms' are close up images of mechanical objects.
Hiroshi Sugimoto approches Machinery as a topic in a simplistic, minimalistic way. His series of photographs 'Conceptual Forms' includes a range of images capturing things either used for machinery or made by. Sugimoto seems as though to mainly focus on the element the photograph is trying to present. For example, the images to the right are purely focused on portraying the composition of bolts, gears or drills. He uses a plain, enhanced dark background with angled lighting to emphasise the the main focus of the photograph. Using a black and white filter for the images gives an emphasis on the detail of the objects rather than looking at the colour. Presenting machinery in this way contrasts from how some photographers often focus on industrial areas. As well as this, it gives more of an abstract representation of the topic. It shows the intricate detail of something that is seen as an everyday, simple object and structures the details of these objects in depth detail.
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Things Come Apart - Todd McLellen
After researching Hiroshis work on 'Conceptual Forms' I then decided to look on Pinterest for further research. When looking at the theme of 'Machines' I found the photographer and artist Todd McLellen. In this period of McLellan's work, he presented machinery in a way of disassembling the object then photographing it. He published the book 'Things Come Apart' to present the materialistic objects our society rely on. McLellans photographs range in the way he presents the dismantled objects. One way in which he captures the images is by displaying them piece by piece in mid air. He creates this effect by capturing it in a video then choosing a still image, which I find this to be quite a unique way of photographing the composition. Another way McLellan portrays his photographs of machinery is by carefully laying each piece on a flat surface. This is quite a precise and detailed way of showing each element of a mechanical object. In both ways of photographing the devices, McLellen uses a harsh, bright white light as well as a high definition digital camera. This fighting emphases the actual machine being presented rather than its surroundings. This links hirosis way of portraying 'Machines' also.
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Kevin Twomey
Further looking into machinery I continued to research artists that take a similar approach to 'Machinery' as Todd McLellan. Kevin Twomey focused on taking images of typewriter mechanics and the intricate detail of the small elements from the machine. Kevin Twomey is known for his use of theatrical lighting which I think is fairly present in the image to the left. I feel the intense brightness of the images emphasise each shape involved in the creation of the machinery and makes the main objective of the photograph to focus on detail. As well as this, the way he has chosen to display the image is simplistic and relates to the way in which Hiroshi Sugimito presents machinery. But, the too artists contrast in the choice of lighting. one being very dark and the other being very light.
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Martha Cooper
When researching artists who based there work on machinery, I then began to branch out and research photographers who involved machinery in their images. Martha Cooper is in fact a street photographer who I had previously researched but when looking at her images I found that machinery played a huge part in the overall composition of her photos. In the image to the left, the main element of the photograph is the large vehicle.
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For this task, I was instructed to take images based on my theme of 'Machines'. Despite there being mechanics and machinery almost everywhere in the modern world, I found this task rather difficult. The way I chose to reposed was by walking around and visiting roads and industrial areas and seeing what I could find relating to the subject. The images above are my interpretation of the theme 'Machines'. Overall, I wanted to try and incorporate the ideas of Hiorshi Sugimito and Todd McLellen to my approach but found this challenging as they both take a simplistic outlook to their photography. Despite them not being presented in a similar, dark way as Hiroshi Sugimito has, I have taken into account the colour schemes of the objects as well as what they relate to. This links to the artist Todd McLellen. He very much focuses on the contrast of colours as well as the details in machinery. I have chosen to take photographs of objects and signs that could possibly link to the theme of machinery. I did this buy looking at roads and industrial areas, resulting in images mainly consisting of things like cars, tools, chains and locks.
Below are four images that I found worked best together and represented the theme 'Machines'. Half of the images are objects that help in the creation of machinery and the other being working mechanics. The overall colour scheme for the few images are yellow, blue, orange and grey tones. I find that this is emphasised by the rust and metallic elements to the objects which is very frequent in machinery. These images range from being taken in the morning to the end of the day. I found this to be an important factor to the overall look of the photographs as it left the lighting of the objects to be neutral, matching with the colours. In addition to the lighting and tones, I also chose to focus on the perspective of the photographs.
Below are four images that I found worked best together and represented the theme 'Machines'. Half of the images are objects that help in the creation of machinery and the other being working mechanics. The overall colour scheme for the few images are yellow, blue, orange and grey tones. I find that this is emphasised by the rust and metallic elements to the objects which is very frequent in machinery. These images range from being taken in the morning to the end of the day. I found this to be an important factor to the overall look of the photographs as it left the lighting of the objects to be neutral, matching with the colours. In addition to the lighting and tones, I also chose to focus on the perspective of the photographs.
Response
I chose to reflect my images inspired by the photographer Martha Cooper. Martha is in fact a street photographer but when researching different mechanical photographers, i found numerous examples of coopers work to link to the idea of Machinery. Mechanics is a huge element in society and is seen round very street corner you turn, Baring this in mind, i decided to take the approach of looking round my local area and finding vehicles, bikes, tools and electrical that linked to the idea of mechanics in the street, The reason i find this links to Martha Coopers street photography is because i found that the majority of mechanical photographs i took were all over streets of London. I decided to focus my photographs on other elements such as electrical lights as well.
The 6 images above stood out to me the most. Not necesarilly because I thought they were my best 6 photographs, but because i thought they best represented the ides of mechanics in street photography. Overall the main focus of these images is to present the simplicity of manufactured objects on the street. At firstI found it difficult to only focus on electrical, working machines so then decided to look at things that have any link to machines. The images above are of objects that are machines, made by machines or work like a machine, for example the movements they make.
Experimentation 1
For my first experimentation I would like to try presenting both different perspectives of machinery as well as different locations and scenery they're presented in. The way in which I did this was through photographing different elements of machinery in my local area. These include objects like cars, lamps and things made by machinery. To portray the different perspectives, I've chosen to take close ups as well as different angles of singular objects, presentation inspired by Hiroshi Sugimoto. The idea of seeng different view points of mechanical objects will hopefully present the idea in a new way.
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To the left is a piece created by Bernalt and Hila Becher. The way in which they chose to present machinery is through the different ways in seeing the mechanical object. The simplistic composition of the different view points shows a good representation of the complicated item. If I were to take inspiration from this way of presenting 'Machines', I feel the minimalistic approach would be a good way to emphasise the intricate detail of the objects |
For this small experimentation I chose to try out two simplistic ways of presenting my already taken images. Firstly, the photographs consisting of the blender blades follow a linear, rectangular structure. I find this to be a very typical way of forming the images, but a starting point to trying different arrangements. Despite the structure appearing almost 'easy', the photographs are placed so the different perspectives of the blades are facing inwards. I'm not sure why I chose to do this, but it could potentially be a representation of how machinery all works as one in the centre of society.
Secondly, the mages of the yellow car has been presented differently. They still follow a slight linear formation gradually rising upwards to the centre photograph. However, what I chose to do differently was the amount of photographs I used. I only chose to print three different photographs and then mirrored the 4 outwards images to again create the effect of facing inwards. Overall, I chose to try these different representations to be a starting point of trying other formations. I want to continue with the idea of different machinery perspectives either facing inwards or shown at different levels. One of my main visual ideas is creating a pice in the model of a mobile.
Secondly, the mages of the yellow car has been presented differently. They still follow a slight linear formation gradually rising upwards to the centre photograph. However, what I chose to do differently was the amount of photographs I used. I only chose to print three different photographs and then mirrored the 4 outwards images to again create the effect of facing inwards. Overall, I chose to try these different representations to be a starting point of trying other formations. I want to continue with the idea of different machinery perspectives either facing inwards or shown at different levels. One of my main visual ideas is creating a pice in the model of a mobile.
Focusing on light reflection
Above are more images I've taken of the blender blade. For these photographs I used a DSLR with a macro lens to intensify the detail of what I would be looking at. This time, when taking the photographs I chose to focus on main elements; reflection and light. I feel the choice of camera and dark background really enhanced the contrast between the sharp silver of the blade and the black backdrop. Shown in the photographs above, I've concentrated on a singular blade and the range of light it can reflect. I did this so my overall composition can show variations of elements on machinery and things created by machines. As well as this, I'm hoping that the minimalistic approach of the light reflection will make the viewer of the piece see machinery differently. I'm hopefully going to edit and refine these images into another collage representation or so they fit well with my idea of a mobile sculpture.
Experimentation 1- PhotoShop
Above are images that I've chosen to fade together using photoshop. I did this by laying an image on top of another than trying different opacities to see what reflected a clear fade. The purpose of this experimentation is to hopefully later incorporate it into my final piece for this theme. I chose to fade and interlock the different images of machinery to present how its all quite similar. For example, to represent how machinery is all combined in the way it works as well as its importance. When fading the two images together, I made the decision to have a circular shaped object on top. I did this to again show the similarities between machinery by composing them in a matching way. The top left image consists of a car headlight and a tray of metal nuts and bolts. I chose to put these two images together as I feel the shining metal of the light with the luminous orange works well with the dark metal of the tools with the slight snow. The tones only consist of a glowing from the sun and bright, eye catching orange of the headlight. The image underneath consists of a car and a vehicle wheel. I felt it was quite obvious why these two machine relating objects worked well together, as they're apart of the same machine. The tones of the images are darker then the one above but it contains bright yellow from the car and a dark metal from the wheel. This relates to the overall image above as it also presents a vibrant colour as well as a dark tone.