in the eyes of a stranger
DESCRIPTION
SPACE project - about the subjectivity of places seen from a tourist/ strangers perspectiveTRANSCRIPT
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Table of Contents
Ideas behind the project SPACE ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3 How? ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Why is this series interesting? ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3 Genre ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Techniques/ methods ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 The order of the series ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 The series and the text ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Where to exhibit the pictures? ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Robert Frank ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Methods & techniques ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6 Description ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6 Context/idea .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Response ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6 Relation to my work ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Marco Zanta ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Methods & techniques ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 7 Description ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 7 Context/idea .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Response ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 Relation to my work ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Other artists that inspired me ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Tim Veling .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 8 Eugene Atget .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Alexey Titarenko .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Evaluation ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
References ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Appendix ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 15
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Proposal slide Ideas behind the project SPACE A space can mean different things to different people. The perception of a place will also vary according to one’s cultural and social background. Everything depends on you and your eyes that see this place. There is no such thing as objectivity when looking at a space.
That I found interesting.
As a newcomer to Wellington I choose to use my own cultural and social understanding in this project. I have chosen to capture Wellington with my eyes. The eyes of a stranger.
On a trip from my house to the city I have photographically captured places that was different from my Danish culture and my capital, Copenhagen. I come from a different culture, I see the city with a newcomers eyes and I have different expectations to the city, than an inhabitant in Wellington or a tourist from another country will have.
The purpose of “In the eyes of a stranger” is to take the audience on a journey through Wellington. A journey that will enlighten your understanding of subjectivity and space, in this case in a Danish point of view.
How? I have been wandering around in Wellington with my camera and captured places that felt abnormal to me either because my culture is
different or because the development of my capital, Copenhagen, has developed in a different direction. The important thing is that I tried to capture my reactions, attitude and perceptions of Wellington as a newcomer in this city.
Why is this series interesting? This series is interesting because it put spot on people and the subjectivity in relation to spaces. Nothing is objective, when we are to see and perceive something. Everything from culture, social understanding and previously experienced urban environments will affect our attitude towards a new place.
My own personal interest shaped and developed my purpose of this series. I am a marketing student. As a marketing student and especially when dealing with tourism marketing this subjective perception of a place is important to understand. Without this understanding you cannot do proper marketing.
Everybody can go to the “must see” places” but it is each individual person that create their own meaning and attitude towards a place.
One must always remember the subjectivity when we operate with meanings and perception of things. Every person is unique and every place our eyes capture will be perceived just as individually.
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Genre I choose documentary as my genre to this project. Even though we perceive places subjectively, the eyes are still capturing the reality or the non-‐fictional motion of pictures. With this series I am documenting a Danes perception of Wellington.
Techniques/ methods I have worked with reality in my photos and they are thus snapshots from Wellington.
Long shutter was a tool I used actively to create life in many of my pictures. I was striving to create something in my photos that would catch the audience’s attention. The shutter length was also used as a tool for controlling the light in my pictures.
As for composition I have used several kinds to create different and interesting pictures. It was important that my photos told the right narrative for my own opinion of the places. I found that composition could help with communicating the right story.
In the first picture I worked with front, middle and background. In the front we see the branches that surrounds the city, as an example of the interplay between city and nature The second picture shows the running man I front in the rule of thirds. The middle shows the nature and the background shows the city. Again I tried to communicate this interlink between city life and nature. In the third picture I focused on the framing. The framing of the steep path going down was the story in this picture. Therefore I used to trees to frame this part.
In the forth picture I actively used point of view and how you can change what is real by tilting the camera. I also tried to create some balance with a pattern of two almost similar cars in the front.
In the fifth picture I used shutter time to get a feeling of something in motion. I also used the traffic sign as a frame for the story: the cars.
In the sixth picture I used rule of third to create focus on the bus with wires and also patterns in the building behind. I also found inspiration to this picture in one of my precedent artists, Marco Zanta. He also uses the bipolar of something old and new in his pictures
In the seventh and eighth picture I wanted to tell the story of the high buildings. I did that by using different and unusual point of views.
The ninth picture has a strong vanishing point. Together with the bright colours in this picture, I wanted the mood of the picture to be positive and trigger people’s curiosity of what is beyond the vanishing point.
The last picture is meant to create a different mood. The blurred car in motion and the items in the photo that we associate with danger or an accident are supposed to create a mood of chaos and something beyond our control. My hope was that this mood of something uncontrollable should give associations to the nature and thereby create a link with the first picture where we see Wellington as an integrated part of the nature that surrounds it.
I have not used Photoshop or any other editing programs for this project as my focus has been to work with composition and getting the camera functions right.
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The order of the series I had many considerations in relation to the order of my series. I chose to start with an overall theme that relates to Wellington; the interconnection between city and nature. After that I strived to create an order that matched the content in the photos. I started the first two pictures with nature and continued with nature on the third picture. The forth photos included cars and I thus continued with the topic of transportation. The link between the sixth and the seventh picture is the same building and the rest of the photos have buildings from Wellington in focus.
The series and the text A quote is connected to each of my photo in the series. The text is supposed to represent quotes from a diary. A tourist will often take these kinds of photos and a diary is often relation to experiencing something new and tourism.
The reason why I chose quotes was due to the subjectivity in the photos. All the photos are chosen as they represent something different from me and my Danish culture. The audience is not very likely to have a Danish background and, therefore, to understand this series, the quotes were needed.
The text is supposed to anchor the photo with meaning. Creating this kind of link between text and picture is called anchorage and was invented by Roland Barthes (Sells and Gonzales, n.d.). Without the text it is difficult, if not impossible, for the audience to understand the intended meaning of the photos. The quotes are there to enhance and create meaning and a clear communication to the audience.
Where to exhibit the pictures? This series is about being new to places, which matches well to tourism. Therefore, I have chosen that one of the main target groups for this project would be the tourists coming to Wellington, as they are going through the same process as I did in this series; to understand and perceive new places. Therefore, my series should be on display where tourists (and of course also inhabitants of Wellington) can see the photos.
Since this series is about the outdoor live, urban environments and a walk through the city, I have chosen that the series should be placed outside. A good place would be Cuba street or the Civic Square close to the I-‐site of Wellington.
We have these kinds of out door exhibitions in Copenhagen. A lot of different people walk by every day and are exposed to the pictures. This is some inspiration of how the exhibition could look like:
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Artist Precedent slide
Robert Frank Title of artwork: Parade, Hoboken, New Jersey Date: 1955 Medium: A book, “The Americans” Size: one side in the book (Frank, 2008:8) Genre: Documentary
Methods & techniques The snapshot is in black and white. The light is rather dark on the photo, which might be due to fast shutter.
Description The composition shows a pattern with two windows and a flag that destroys some of the pattern, since it is in front of one of the windows. In each window is a person standing, but in the window to the right the flag is covering the persons face.
The lines in the picture are mostly horizontal, but the flag has some blurred lines and destroys this balance of verticality in the photo
The photo has been taken with the point of view of a person standing down and looking up at the windows.
Context/idea He captures the lives of Americans, as he perceives them. It might not be the way that they perceive themselves. He captured emotions, moments and thoughts on the American lifestyle and culture.
Response Frank is like an anthropologist, an outsider that wander around and documenting America back in days. But the photo also has a twist and a story to tell. In this case it shows that the flag is more important than the person. I really like this picture because of this double effect in it and the emotions that are attached to the photo. He was one of the first photographers to integrate emotions in documentary (Kim, 2013). I like the composition with the pattern of the two windows, it is just sad that they are not cut equally. It gives some unnecessary unbalance to the picture.
Relation to my work I can relate my own project very well to the idea and context of Franks book “The Americans”. Both are based on an outsiders view on a different culture and place. He has been a great inspiration as for the overall purpose with my project.
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Marco Zanta Title of artwork: Urban Europe Date: 2008 Medium: Book Size: large photos in the exhibition, but A 3, one size pictures in the book (Zanta, 2008;79) Genre: Documentary and urban environments
Methods & techniques Snapshots of real life, long shutter e.g. people in motion are blurred.
Description The colours of the two buildings are very different. The new building is white and almost clinical by appearance. The old building is brown and is very noticeable with the red door. The composition of the picture shows a front, middle and background. The rule of third is seen with the red door and one of the blurred people in motion. The lines are mainly vertical with the old building being very dominant with its lines but the background building help creating a more alive and interesting photo with its lines that looks like water. The different shapes create and interesting perspective between strict/straight and old vs. more modern and creative/alive and new. The point of view is as seen with a normal humans eyes and helps creating a balance in the picture with the moving shape of the building in the background.
Context/idea The idea of this picture and the rest of his book are to document and capture interesting buildings and urban environments around in Europe. The buildings in the book, Zanta thinks, will one day be considered iconic pieces and landmarks in the future.
Response I like the balance in the picture between old/stable and new/creative. The colours also match the buildings. White =clinic (new and unused) and brown = old (dirt that have been mere always). The blurred people in the picture also help the picture to come alive. As humans we look for human life. I find it a good choice to have blurred people. They are not the important part in this picture, but they still use the space and should, thus, be a part of it.
On the other hand, the colours are a bit dull due to the light. Sunlight without clouds would have given the buildings a better light and thereby made them more interesting and rightfully represented. The sky is too white and does not give the right contract to the white building in front of it.
Relation to my work I used Marco Zanta as an inspiration to my method, but also the idea. As for method I also shot in colours and tried to capture the reality of buildings and places that I found important. . I used the photos from his book to look for interesting compositions that could help me capture the right narrative for my series. We also both strived after the same idea: to capture important documentation of a new place.
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Other artists that inspired me
Tim Veling Why: He is also documenting the streets. But the interesting about his work "Red Bus Diary" is the part that he tried to capture the city in the eyes of a stranger. That is the same as I am doing in my Space project.
Period: 2003-‐2006, the Red Bus Diary (Veling, 2006)
Method: He used a Leica camera and took snapshots of Christchurch. The pictures are also in black and white.
Description of his work (The Red Bus Diary): He captures the life in Christchurch while he is riding the bus. He captures moment that he finds interesting seen with his own perspective and his background.
"The book comes from Tim's interest in travel and the experiences afforded by it. It was born from his recognition that an individual's perspective of place tends to be shaped by their personal circumstance and routine (Veling, n.d.).
Eugene Atget Why: He is also documenting the street and the urban environment of a city, Paris. He documented all of the architecture and street scenes of Paris before their disappearance to modernization.
Period: 1888 – 1927
Method: drawn-‐out sense of light due to his long exposures, black and white and sepia pictures. He used an old camera (large wooden camera with a rectilinear lens) and this resulted blurred people.
Description of his work: The empty street and the blurred people is due to his camera and the extended exposure time. This required that many of his images had to be made in the early hours before pedestrians and traffic appeared.
Alexey Titarenko Why: He also documented the street, but is Russia. His pictures capture the condition of humans in Soviet Union, unrealized hopes and captures places where time seems to have stopped.
Period: born 1962 -‐
Method: He often used long exposure and thereby had many blurred people on his pictures. Black and white pictures
Description of his work: The pictures of the streets e.g. in the old Soviet Union all express emotions -‐ emotions of the people living in the country and a motion of the past and the present time in the chosen city.
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Final images
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In the eyes of a stranger A city walk exploring Wellington in the eyes of a Dane
”Denmark: 5,6M people, 43,000 km2 New Zealand 4,4M people, 270,000 km2
-City and nature are equal companions in this capital”
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”…This is how I wish Wellington looked like”
”This is how Wellington looks like…”
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”They drive in the wrong side of the road…” ”…And they need wires to get around in the city
…I miss my bike…” … I miss my bicycle”
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”Buildings here seem to grow into the sky…”
”…Literally
We can only have 3 floor buildings in Copenhagen”
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”Absolutely positive and colourful Wellington…” ”…Or more chaotic, confusing and uncontrollable Everything depends on the eyes of the viewer…”
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Evaluation A new world This is the first time I try working with photography, besides from various tourist photos. Photography and thinking creative in that way was all new to me and a bit of a challenge. As a marketing student I am used to models, fixed rules and not free and creative thinking. The learning process Taking a good photo is one thing, but taking a photo with the right composition, the right light and the right shutter time proved to be very difficult. I have used many hours trying out different settings and functions on my camera. I learned much more about my camera in these weeks that I have learned in the last three years. As for inspiration I also went to the library and on the Internet to look at work form different photographers. It has helped me a lot in relation to composition, creating the right framings and ideas of my overall context in the series. The tutorials have also been very useful. I found it very beneficial to be able to talk with others about my ideas and photos. They gave me useful critics that I used to improve camera techniques, the order of my series and even my overall purpose with the series. The outcome and difficulties I wanted to create photos that told stories about the difference between Wellington and Copenhagen. I felt that the outcome of my photos do tell these stories rather well. I could not expect an audience to understand the hidden cultural difference in the photos; therefore I
chose to add diary quotes to the photos to improve the communication of my purpose. The difficulty was to communicate the purpose to the audience. I am aware that the photos might be weaker in their direct communication with the audience when they need quotes to support them, but the whole concept was to see Wellington in the eyes of me as a Dane and thus a different culture. I fell that the outcome matched the overall purpose of showing how places evaluated subjectively from person to person for example due to different cultures. I also found it a difficult process to choose and find the right order for my series. The photos had to say something individually but they should also link with each other. In the end I chose to create an order after themes such as nature, transportation and houses. How to improve for next time? I mostly focused on composition and using the camera functions in this project, I felt that it was important to get a hold on the basic first. I did not have much focus on moods and emotions in this project and that is something I think my photos are missing. To add this next dimension to my photos could be an improvement for my next project. In order for me to be more confident about finding the right order and photos for my next project it would be a good idea to visit different photo galleries, I already have two in minds, and keep searching for new and interesting artists that can give me inspiration, methods and techniques for my next project I don’t know anything about editing pictures using Photoshop at the moment. That is also something I have to work with. It might have been able to add a last touch to my photos.
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References
Appendix
Frank, Robert (2008), The Americans, 2nd edition , Steidl: Göttingen Kim, Eric (2013) Robert Frank’s “The Americans”: Timeless Lessons Street Photographers Can Learn. Retrieved 05. August 2013 from: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2013/01/07/timeless-‐lessons-‐street-‐photographers-‐can-‐learn-‐from-‐robert-‐franks-‐the-‐americans/ Sells, Peter and Gonzales, Sierra (n.d.) The Language of Advertising. Retrieved 05. August 2013 from: http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/Unit_03/anchor-‐relay.htm Zanta, Marco (2008) Urban Europe, Contrasto: Rome Veling, Timothy Jaap (2006) Red bus diary, Hazard Press Ltd.: Christchurch Veling, Timothy Jaap (n.d.) Red Bus Diary Retrieved 02.08.13 from: http://www.timjveling.com/redbusdiary
Appendix -‐ Contact sheet