Decay - Artist Research Unit 03

The learning aims and the criteria are pretty basic and there's no heavy emphasis on any specific details needed from the research, so it's basic 'Fun' research. 

All you're required to do is show that you've included research as part of your process, so it needs to be at the start and needs to be relevant. Therefore the only information you need to include is information relating to how the photographer used their MTP's to enhance the sense of decay. So in this case your research might be as little as a column for each photographer as above. (By all means if you want to do more you can). 

Look at the equipment and MTP's used by the Photographers and identify why their approach used in the shooting and production of the images suits the theme of decay. 

The artists - 

Ed Burtynsky - Pentimento (Black and white shots). Of all the research that you do this is the one I'd like to see you get right. Use this link here and then use CTRL + F and search for Type 55 then read the text from a paragraph or two above Type 55. 

https://aphotoeditor.com/2011/11/30/edward-burtynsky-interview/

Chris Jordan Midway. http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway/#CF000313%2018x24

Sally Mann - Warning this next series is optional. Sally Mann is one of the USA's greatest photographers, but she deals with hard-hitting subject including death. Her projects include 'Body Farm' and 'What Remains'. These feature photographs of dead people left out in the open for scientific research reasons to see how quickly they decay in different condition for the assistance of police investigations. Mann though doesn't shoot it using digital instead she uses a View camera and the Tintype process the same as Ed Drew. If you look at this work it's interesting from the point of view of how the technique/process and materials are used to enhance the sense of decay. 

Body Farm - Also search on Youtube looking for her camera and process (Wet plate collodian). Also search Body Farm Sally Mann

The Burtynsky image was sourced from http://www.howardgreenberg.com/exhibitions/edward-burtynsky-pentimento/selected-works?view=slider#5

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Once you've completed the artist research for this Unit you also need to add a page of image research to generate some initial ideas with more realistic themes especially as you're increasingly constrained in what you do by the current Covid 19 situation. Click here to go to the next stage. 

Examples of how to layout your work (Research)

For this assignment you can probably get away with just 2 columns of written work because the criteria doesn't  demand that artist research is an important aspect to the work. So 2 columns aimed at appropriate artists will be enough and I'd recommend Burtynsky and Pal Hansen because how integral the materials and the process they go through fuses with the decay theme.

Because the theme is decay it's that aspect of the research your written analysis needs to focus on.

The final column is the Gibbs reflection

If you're into your research and you want to do more than 2, once you've done Burtynsky and Hansen do more, but I would suggest 3 more so that you have five columns of research leaving the 6th for the Gibbs.

The reason I suggest this is that it just looks ultra neat and tidy.

If you struggle to fill a whole column with the Gibbs reflection increase the size of the text or put the bibliography in this column rather than under each artist? 

Image only research

 Step 1. 

Collate at least 2 pages of images in your design sheets off the internet (Or books, journals & magazines). 

Try searching using the term using Google images...

"Decay in Photography"

This search will probably generate images of decaying buildings.

Add on the end of "Decay in Photography" additional words...

Shoes - Leaves - boats - rust - metal - and any others that you can think of.

Put together 2 pages of images that you find and see if this helps with generating an idea.

Step 2 - Your own ideas - (Generating ideas) 2 pages...

In my local woods, for some reason shoes are thrown away and if I look around they're easy to find and quite interesting to photograph, and once shot in situ, can easily be brought indoors or a more controlled environment and shot again different backgrounds. Other things to look out for - Dolls, burnt out cars or motorbikes that have been stolen and dumped.

Flattened drinks cans - run over by cars are scratched and degraded again easily shot in situ and easily taken home and shot under controlled conditions.

Food cans - keep some rather than throwing them away, leave them outside and allow them to go rusty. Look on Youtube and you'll find suggestions to increase the speed of the rusting process. Again options to shoot inside and outside.

Garage doors with peeling paint or even normal doors of old shops and work places. 

Roadkill - not nice, but interesting and possible to remove from the side of the road and shoot in a more controlled environment? 

Benfleet creek near Canvey Island just outside the station there are burnt out cars, rotting boats, jetties and all sorts. Canvey in general has loads of old industrial waste land with stuff dumped all over the place.

Shoes at home - do you have old shoes that you could shoot - how could these be shot to make them interesting.

Skin - Peoples skin starts to decay and wrinkle as you get older. Have you got grandparents who you can photograph either as close up portraits to show the decay process and how it affects their skin. You could get really interesting and shoot older peoples feet (if they don't mind)!

Dogs - do you know any old dogs? Look at Danielle Naude's 'Africanis' and do 4 old dogs like his images or maybe portraits of their faces which tend to show age quite well. 

Mental health decay - it's more subtle, but if you're clever and capture the sense and mood in your images?

Rusty and old tools done as still life?

If you do small things like shoes try not to shoot just one pair of shoes. Try and find 4 different pairs of shoes.

Also consider scanning your objects on a flatbed scanner if you have access to one as another developmental stage. 

Search Decay on my blog here www.listofphotographers.blogspot.com 

https://www.billy-kidd.com/flowers

Next stage - Planning and executing your initial shoot.

Planning your Decay shoot

 In accordance with following the creative process once you've reflected on the research that you've done, you now need to plan your first shoot. Before you do this have a look at the link here regarding the development of your work. 

The plan for this assignment doesn't have to be exhaustive, but should include things like where you're going to shoot, what camera you're going to use, what light you're hoping to use, who might be helping you if you have an assistant, whether you're hand-holding the camera or using a tripod, when you're going to do it, when you're going to get it down-loaded and put in to your design sheet by.

You can include a lot more, see here for guidance on planning.

In this example above, the planning is high-lighted in the light blue part of the design sheet.

next stage DO IT!

Now put all of that into practice...

Recap - 

(1). You've written about research and explained what it is and why and how we do it.

(2). You've written about the need to reflect on your research and makes sense of it.

(3). You've written about the fact that once you've reflected on your research you then have to plan your first activity.

(4). You've written about having to produce an initial idea e.g. a first set of images/photoshoot.

(5). You've written about having to reflect on your practical activity (1st shoot) and analysing what you need to do next in order to develop your idea or skills so that the work improves.

(6). You've written about the fact that with this process you now repeat stages 3, 4 and 5 over a number of stages so that your skills, idea and the images improve shoot by shoot. 

That is the first stage of the work.

Since then you have made a start on the actual project itself. If you're reading this now, you should have completed your artist research  and collated a couple of pages of image research to help generate ideas and you would have planned your first shoot. 

Take your camera and spend some time taking pictures. Shoot loads, but keep it basic at this stage, maybe do the first shoot using your phone in order that you show development by using a DSLR on the 2nd shoot. 

You can go about this in 2 ways.

(1). You might have already had a good idea that you've come up with as result of doing all of your research and you might already be focused on what you need to do. You might have stumbled upon the barge wreck in the River Thames in Kent...

Image source - http://discoveringkent.weebly.com/seascapes.html

So all you now need to do is shoot it as your first shoot and get the images into your design sheet. 

(2). You might have several ideas and you might shoot a whole bunch of different things just to see what has the most potential. If you go about it this way, you need to quickly do this first shoot of lots of things and decide which idea/theme you're going go with and pursue and develop. 

keep on top of this - do it daily don't leave it.

As soon as you've shot the images - get them into your design sheets, include a contact sheet and at least a page of the best images - preferably 2 pages? Then write up your reflection.

Developing your work

 Developing your work

Development relates to improving and refining your work and it can be approached in a couple of ways. (See the link in the sidebar "Mistakes students make re Development'. 

Covid scenario

Given the issues around Covid and the fact that this work will have to be completed at home where you have no access to hard-copy resources, the development aspect will have to rely on the development of photographic skills and the idea. In essence the work has to be seen to improve over a series of stages.

I would suggest that you do it this way...

Do some research into what it is you might shoot. What we might do is during one of the teams sessions we'll all brainstorm ideas for 'Decay' maybe add pictures to the chat and share ideas. Once you have a an idea or two then start to shoot.

Stage 1. Keep it simple and basic in order that it can be developed further. Shoot it on your phone using a really basic setting. Remember each of these stages needs to be planned . 

The more basic the 'Phone shoot' the more opportunity for it to be developed further at the next stage. So don't give any real consideration to the light or the composition, just do the first shoot almost as visual notes, just to get something to work with and develop further. Perhaps only shoot 9-12 images and do a pages worth for the design sheet, that way one of your developments will be to shoot more the next time to give you more options. 

Put the work into the design sheets following the creative process.

Your reflective work should reiterate the fact that this was just a basic shoot and the next stage you'll look to improve it further. In your plan (intention) explain what you'll do to improve the work. This might include using a DSLR, shooting more images - walking around your subject, trying different focal lengths, view-points, angles compositions etc.

Stage 2. Shoot with your DSLR, but again keeping it basic, maybe use your WB in auto mode and shoot in auto-exposure mode and auto ISO? Hand hold the camera. Don't give any consideration to the light - again approach the subject in a relaxed way as you still need to develop the work further still at least one more time. 

Put this work in the design sheet in accordance with the creative process.

Stage 3. Shoot with your DSLR like a pro. (a) Use a tripod. (b) Consider the light; plan it in terms of the light being point light or diffuse explain what impact that has on the image in terms of enhancing the sense of decay. (c) Use your camera manually and use the correct white balance for the light situation (d) Bracket the shots. (c) Shoot on Raw + JPEG files, (e) Explore the subject by walking around it shooting lots of images, shoot using different focal lengths, viewpoints and perspectives. (f) Shoot horizontal and vertical images and maybe angled too. 

If you're shooting small objects maybe go further by introducing different backgrounds, lighting it with different lights, use reflectors or a flash gun if you know how to control it subtly. 

You can go on and shoot more stages if you wish (and have time) looking to improve the work further still. 

Another examples of development is - If you don't know how to use your flash on your camera and you do a series of experiments figuring how that works and identify those experiments in your work - that's skills development and that's another aspect that counts.

Changing the idea and improving it - is ideas development. So for example, you might start off with something small you've found. (1). You can shoot it where you found it, but that may not make a really interesting image and you're limited to the light in the area and the surround stuff might look untidy and cluttered and may be the same kind of colours as your subject so the whole thing looks lost and has no impact. (2). You could move it to somewhere else with a better background that's more suited? (3). You could pick it up and take it home start experimenting with your own backgrounds. (4) Now you're at home start controlling the background enhancing that perhaps or use your light more appropriately? That's all ideas development rather than skills development. 

Leaves

These fallen leaves have started to decay and merge into the tarmac floor. If you look around you'll see that different surface give different affects and the leaves look different as they gradually degrade and rot.

But the same leaves could be taken home and worked with on different backgrounds, the potential to develop the idea as a still life is enormous. 

As with all of these assignments the more you look at photography (Books, journals and quality websites) see www.listofphotographers.blogspot.com and search 'Decay' the more you'll be able to generate ideas. If I was doing this I'd probably have ideas initially based on things I know I can get access to locally...

Another example of how work can be developed in terms of the idea...

If you're really interested in a theme like fashion and you get a project 

Ideas for Decay

In my local woods, for some reason shoes are thrown away and if I look around they're easy to find and quite interesting to photograph, and once shot in situ, can easily be brought indoors or a more controlled environment and shot again different backgrounds.Other things to look out for - Dolls, burnt out cars or motorbikes that have been stolen and dumped.

Flattened drinks cans - run over by cars are scratched and degraded again easily shot in situ and easily taken home and shot under controlled conditions.

So, you've explained the process and its stages. The next stage is to produce 

Food cans - keep some rather than throwing them away, leave them outside and allow them to go rusty. Look on Youtube and you'll find suggestions to increase the speed of the rusting process. Again options to shoot inside and outside.

Garage doors with peeling paint or even normal doors of old shops and work places. 

Roadkill - not nice, but interesting and possible to remove from the side of the road and shoot in a more controlled environment? 

Benfleet creek near Canvey Island just outside the station there are burnt out cars, rotting boats, jetties and all sorts. Canvey in general has loads of old industrial waste land with stuff dumped all over the place.

Shoes at home - do you have old shoes that you could shoot - how could these be shot to make them interesting.

Skin - Peoples skin starts to decay and wrinkle as you get older. Have you got grandparents who you can photograph either as close up portraits to show the decay process and how it affects their skin. You could get really interesting and shoot older peoples feet (if they don't mind)!

Dogs - do you know any old dogs? Look at Danielle Naude's 'Africanis' and do 4 old dogs like his images or maybe portraits of their faces which tend to show age quite well. 

Mental health decay - it's more subtle, but if you're clever and capture the sense and mood in your images?

Rusty and old tools done as still life?

If you do small things like shoes try not to shoot just one pair of shoes. Try and find 4 different pairs of shoes.

Also consider scanning your objects on a flatbed scanner if you have access to one as another developmental stage. 

Search Decay on my blog here www.listofphotographers.blogspot.com 

https://www.billy-kidd.com/flowers

The Creative Process in Design

 Later on the course you'll be required to learn about the 'Production process'. This is the process you go through when putting together a Photo-shoot. From the very start when you research and work out what it is you'll do, to the point when you send the file to the client with the images to be used/printed. Having some knowledge of how complex these processes are is beneficial to you overall knowledge of Photography and Design.

It's important that you grasp and realise that all forms of art and design are subject to processes that enable them to come together. Most of these processes are quite lengthy and involve a lot of knowledge of the people involved and a good understanding of the stages and roles different people play in the process.

In commercial Photography where products are involved,the creative process involves the design process before-hand. The Photographers role in process is relatively small. It's important to be aware that your projects involve the whole process. You're the designer of your images as well as the photographer. 

Have a look at this video to get a sense of the creative/design process.

Click the image for the website

(4) Adidas x Mohamed Salah | Adidas X Ghosted | 2020 - YouTube

(4) UNOZERO Premium Soccer Cleats - YouTube

New product need/requirement - need to keep things updated and fresh

Focus groups - research 

The design process...

Design of the product - In house and or Freelance

Presentation of Final images & Portfolio

 Most of the assignments finish with a requirement to produce 4 images.

These images should be printed on A3 card and the suggested approach is seen here below...

Using MS Word, simply insert an image into an A3 page making sure that it's centered - there are various tools in MS word that make this easy and you should aim to have all of your images in the same position on the page, all the same size, so that when they are seen together they look like a set of images.

An A4 image or slightly smaller on an A3 page looks fine. 

Note the image you import should be saved at 100 dpi and should be approx A4 in size (Do this in Photoshop).

"Insert in A3 page". 

This next approach is known as a 'Full Bleed' where the image goes off the edges of the page. 

This you would save as an A3 image at 100 dpi before importing/inserting.

Again you would try and get all of the proportions of the person similar so that they fill the pages in a similar way, with the top of the head being a consistent distance from the top of the page and space between the body and side of the page similar.

*Presenting your images in this way requires that your images are sharp and in focus.

• Don't mix and match techniques
• Make your white backgrounds crisp and white - use auto contrast in Photoshop.
• These images appear at the end of your assignment in the design sheets followed by the final evaluation, they should be designated as being "The finals" in the page preceding the images.
• A set should then be printed off on A3 Photo-copy card and these should be put in your "Portfolio"each time you finish a brief.
• Ideally your final images must be from your final shoot and should be as a result of your practical and ideas development.

Note Sometimes once you've completed the assignment/brief you feel that some of your earlier work is as good as if not better than your finals if that's the case there's no reason why that work can't be included within the main body of the design sheets just as examples of work you're really happy with. But they cannot be presented at the end with the designated finals. 

Again these other good images can and should be printed off on A3 card for inclusion in your portfolio. 

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