Spent 2 days waiting for the weather to break.
Too windy for tripod, rain, fog etc, no chance for photographs.
1 hour before leaving Brid, clouds broke and the sun came out. I had to run round trying to find fishermen, only got medium format, but managed 4 rolls.
Fingers crossed I got something to print - was a little rushed
Good old british weather.
But it did allow me to frequent a few pubs and catch up on my drinking. Oh - and an awesome Indian meal.

Preparation

Preparation for Bridlington Shoot

So I‘ve booked a flat for 2 nights, rather than a hotel room, gives me a lot more room to work, loading slides, storing my gear and basically a bit more freedom in case I wish to nap on the afternoon before heading out on a late night shoot. In-fact it works out a little cheaper.

Due to work commitments, it took me 2 evenings to prepare all my equipment. Could not believe how much I’m taking, but seems I’m after large format colour images and I can’t rely on the British weather, I also packed medium format for speed compared to the large format, but I also packed digital too just as a complete back up.

Taking in to account that I’m after night time shots, I had to pack flash, batteries, chargers, tripod, remote shutter release etc.

4” x 5” wista camera

90mm lens

150mm lens

Remote release

Light meter

Hood

Magnifier

Darkslides

Changing bag

20 sheets 160 colour film

40 sheets 400 black & white film

2 boxes for used film

Metz flash

Tripod

Reflector

Portable softbox

Medium format

ETRSi Bronica 6 x 4.5 with 40 & 80mm lenses

SQ A Bronica 6 x 6 with 40 & 110mm lenses

5 x 400 colour film

5 x 400 black & white film

Canon 6D plus spare battery

Flash plus plenty of rechargeable batteries

24-70mm f2.8 lens

50mm f1.2 lens

Remote shutter release

SD cards

Trigger & receiver

Energy bars to give me the strength to carry it all, plus 6 bottle of cava and prosecco to get me through - sounds about right

After all this bet it just rains or no one will be there, so may just need a back-up plan for harbour, boats and equipment.

Major Project

Major Project

So here we go – major project time.

I have ideas spewing from every orifice, some would liken it to being the visual equivalent to verbal diarrhoea, which can only be better than constipation of the imaginary gland. Post-it notes stuck to everything that stayed still long enough for me to stick them too, writings and ramblings of a concept, that at the time seemed to be mind blowing, but whence the bubbles had worn off, seemed a little lacking of the buzz from the night before.

Bearing this in mind, I am going to just take photographs, start each of the concepts with a few images and yes, see what develops.

• Digital

• Analogue

• Black and white

• Colour

• 35mm

• Medium format

• Large format

The world is out there just waiting, there is more to the world than the sanctuary of the four walls of my living room. The safe haven of predictability and warmth, where legs can be stretched and drinks poured.

So it is off on my first shoot this weekend, out in to the cold world of Bridlington at night, with inspirational images from such photographers as Corey Arnold.

 http://www.coreyfishes.com/koken/albums/fish-work-bering-sea/

First came across him last year in a magazine called OjodePez.

Also Bryan Schutmaat whom I stumbled upon in Hotshoe approximately 16 months ago.

http://www.bryanschutmaat.com/grays-the-mountain-sends/

Also my list of photographers that I am researching for all my possible Major Project concepts:

• Alec Soth
• Thomas Ruth
• Joel Sternfeld
• Dina Litovsky
• John Milisenda
• Bruce Grant
• Natan Dvir
• Alvaro Sanchez
• Mike Brodie
• Tomasz Gudzowaty
• John Decker
• Erik Almas
• Chase Jarvis
• Michael Muller
• Chris Harrison

Just a few for now!

As for blogging about equipment, technique, printing etc, I think due to this being level 6 and the final project, surely you’ve got to know your equipment by now. It’s just a case of getting out there and enjoy taking the images, composing a bit of structure to the chaotic world of unpredictability with the release of your shutter.

My aim:-

No stress, no imposing timescale per se, enjoy producing final prints for my embryonic concepts, bringing the vernacular to life, whilst hopefully developing my own personal style that will capture the eye of my intended audience.

Yeah – LoL –easier said than done.

Evaluation

Darran Milburn

BA(Hons) Photography – Fine Art Path

Level 6

Minor Project

Evaluation

My original concept was to photograph trees, in close proximity to buildings, that may over time effect the foundations and concrete slabs of these structures due to the root zone influence of the said tree desiccating the substrata beneath. The initial photographs were taken at Teesside Airport and Teesside Park, but with the influence of Lewis Baltz and Stephen Shore, the concept evolved in to photographing Teesside Industrial Estate in Thornaby, still with the initial idea of including trees in a number of the compositions.

This subject matter is closely linked to my profession and where I started out when I was 16, the design of industrial units on a specifically built estate.

My initial thoughts were to combine black and white analogue images with colour analogue images, with a mixture of large and medium format, printed at 20”x24” and 16”x12”. During the project, comparing the prints, I felt the colour gave the project an added dimension and proceeded to continue with just colour film. I was also trying to capture the compositions in bright sunshine, again to add another aspect to the images.

After driving around the industrial estate, taking reconnaissance images with my digital camera and noting the location of the sun at certain times of day, I wrote myself a shooting list, things I wanted to capture. I thought this would help save time and organise my shoot a little more professionally, rather than walking around blindly and just shooting. This helped considerably and over a couple of sunny weekends I had got to know the industrial estate quite well, knowing exactly where I needed to be and what I wanted to shoot.

The major problem I encountered, along with one of my cameras not working correctly, subsequently ruining a full 5 rolls of medium format film, was the good old British weather. I had to check the weather in advance and have my cameras loaded, bags ready and be prepared to just go as soon as the clouds cleared.

Due to the evolution of the project I believe my compositions captured the essence of my concept and for the first time I feel I put everything I could into the project, I have done everything to the best of my ability and feel a sense of achievement.

The project has improved my technique with my 5x4 field camera and medium format cameras, slowing me down and spending more time in setting the compositions up. I feel this will benefit all future projects and help to develop my individual style. I also believe I have improved my printing skills and gained a slightly better eye for colour, although this will only get better with practice.

Editing your own images is still one of the trickier aspects of any project, trying not to be influenced by your favourite images and rather what images work with each other and why. This was done over a number of evenings, with re-printing carried out as and when necessary.

On reflection if I could restart and carry out the project again, I do not think I would do anything differently. If I had to be critical, I would have liked to look further into presentation, but due to the inclusion of computer aided drawings of an industrial unit on white paper, the traditional black frame and non-reflective glass was the obvious choice for presenting the compositions in a gallery.

Overall I am very proud of my final images and know I have carried out this self-initiated project to the best of my ability. Bearing this in mind I am looking forward to continuing the project and adding to my collection of presentation prints.

Late Sunday Night Edit

Of course accompanied by a bottle or two, I got my final 16x12 prints down to fourteen.

Adding mental depictive space

Darran Milburn

Thornaby Industrial Estate, 2014

Concepts

Stephen Shore

Beverly Boulevard, 1975

Darran Milburn

White Haven, 2012

Hahahaha I wish I was as good 

The frame

Stephen Shore

Proton Avenue, Gull Lake, 1974

A passive frame where the structure of the picture begins within the image and works its way out.

Stephen Shore

Main Street, Gull Lake, 1974

An active frame, the structure of the picture begins with the frame and works inward.

Although the buildings continue beyond the edges, the world of the photograph is contained within the frame.

Darran Milburn

Thornaby Industrial Estate, 2014

Active framing

Darran Milburn

Thornaby Industrial Estate, 2014

Passive framing

Equipment used

                  

So – a brief insight to my project.

The project has evolved over the 2 months and probably will keep evolving, as I don’t think the project will ever end.

I have kept the initial idea with trees and structures, but the influence of a mixture of Lewis Baltz and Stephen Shore was just too strong. Starting with colour my first impressions were that it didn’t seem right, I was used to black and white and the introduction of colour was almost alien to what I thought would be classed as artistic, but after sitting a couple of evenings over a weekend looking over my images and the above mentioned photographers (accompanied of course with the odd tall glass of something bubbly and cold)  you start to realise there is only one Lewis Baltz, there is only one Stephen Shore, there is only one Ed Ruscha.

I also realised, a little too close to the end of the project (or should I say hand in date), that I shouldn’t put myself under pressure, I should just be out enjoying taking images, enjoy the time in the darkroom producing my prints. Once this happened my work started to come alive, become me and became something I wanted to do everyday. It became easier.

I focused more on colour, looking around and taking images of what people don’t see, the colour and beauty in something that people just look at – they don’t actually see it. People work in these buildings on a daily basis and don’t see the building, or notice the tree or shrub parked right outside. Each structure having its own personality, colour, aesthetics and place on the industrial estate. An estate that is like an island with a band of green fencing it in, a wall of steel clad structures keeping the general public out, yet an access road made to look inviting and appealing to entice you in for a look around, a road system set out just for learner drivers when the workers have left, car parks used by the ladies of the night for one of the oldest professions known to man, a community of dog walkers and joggers on a sunny weekend, a 24 hour island that is watched over by security cameras on every corner, this is a man made world on our door step in every town in every city.

For the basis of this project I kept my focus on the buildings and tried to capture the odd tree in close proximity, the community within the island of the estate would come later over time. I tried to capture all the colours, the similar shapes and aesthetic similarities, the vernacular, the normal everyday building that’s looked at yet never seen until the finished print is put in front of the intended audience.

As part of my research I looked at the framing of the composition, the focus of the image, what was in the composition and what was left out, the visual grammar of the final print “that elucidates the photographs meaning”.

I read a book that blew my mind and helped me to find an understanding of what I wanted in my images. Gave me an understanding of the print just being an object on a 2D plane, a flat static object with edges, a static window with its own dimension, an illusion of a window in to the world I want to show.

I read how the image can give the illusion of depth, be transparent and draw the viewer through the surface of the print in to the images depth. Your eyes appear to refocus and yet it is 2D, your mind refocuses to give the illusion of diminishing perspective, an image with deep depictive space but shallow mental space or vice versa.

Using the frame to corral the content of the composition, giving the image a relationship with the edges of the print, either a passive frame or an active frame. Using vertical and horizontal lines to give stability and tension or diagonals and curves for dynamism and movement.

From this I experimented with my compositions, flat and parallel to the lens, low vantage points for added depth of field, shallow depictive space and deep mental space – adding almost another dimension to my finished images.

Printing

I don't think I need to write loads about the process of printing, what I used, how I did it - blah blah blah.

I think a persons print speaks for itself, it shows their mood, their feelings etc.

I do believe the more time you put in the more you get out of your final print, but also if you take the pressure off yourself of say the final hand in date and just create, you address the process of printing in a whole different way.

My first mistake when printing was trying to make the print perfect, almost digital. We live in a world where we are told how things should look - the 3D HD super smart TV with its super intense vivacious saturated colours, making half the world believe that Hollywood is so bright and the people have an orange glow. The TV's leaving the manufacturers with pre-programmed settings telling you how to view the world, telling us this is the true green, blue and red.

For this reason I experimented a little, especially with one particular image of a stand alone tree breaking through a concrete slab, where once stood some world war II pilots living quarters. I remembered back to when I was a kid and my parents used to take me to Great Yarmouth every year on holiday (wow LoL, those were the days). My dad had this big pentax camera over his shoulder, coz everyone is a photographer, taking the usual holiday snaps. He'd get the film processed, made in to slides and we would sit and see our whole experience on a pull down screen with the lights out and a glass of ginger beer.
The colours I remember were fantastic, I don't remember whilst being there seeing the world through a yellow or green tint, seeing blurred distorted faces or bright halos where peoples heads should be.
My experimentation could be looked at as though I was printing wrong - "there's green in that", "no, no I see yellow" everybody has a different eye - yet Ant says he has the best one ;-) LoL
But something must have gone right, people liked my prints - so much so that I've lost a few to family, may be they reminice too about the good old days.

So although I print to get close to reality, although my first goal was for saturation and vivacious colour, as I've progressed through the long autumn evenings in the colour darkroom, I finally think I'm improving and enjoying bringing my visions to life.