Exploring creating atmosphere of time and movement through reportage.

Bjorn Lie, surface and texture.

He is using a technique where he cuts into the papers surface with a scalpel, and using charcoal or pastels, he rubs in slightly, giving an airbrushed effect. With stencil cutting, if there’s a mistake, you have to incorporate it and enjoy the mark making. 

I used his method of scalpel and paper, rubbing charcoal into the exposed paper.
 There are some difficulties i came across, how on earth does he get it so clean cut? Obviously he has had a long time perfecting it.

I tried using the scalpel into paper, taking only a slight layer off. This was hard if you miscalculated the pressure and went through the paper, of didn’t press evenly enough through the line and end up peeling sections off and making a mess.

 I used a paintbrush to place charcoal in the areas and spread it, occasionally using the stick directly for saturation. I haven’t achieved the high finish Lie has, where it looks as though he has used stencils or something to keep the paper clean. 

 I have chosen his aspect of cutting into the surface and will create a woodcut.

His work is of botanical, nature, strange animal creatures....

I have chosen a quirky shop front from Stroud to work with, as it has difficult reflections to capture and because its a building i had to make up interesting marks to describe flat surface. I just about remembered that with woodcut, you have to mirror the image and work from a backward image, so when it prints the text is the right way!

reference point : I chose the aspects of carving and cutting into the surface... I followed wood cut as the next thing. It was very enjoyable to do and I would like to produce more.

A pencil rubbing of the relief, to show texture 

Woodcut in teal, with use of stencil print for the texture on the walls. The text is a bit  misshapen as when i was cutting into the wood, slight layers would lift off and then you lose the height of the wood needed for ink.

I intend to sell these at a stall in Stroud on the 13th February. 

I painted watercolours and gouache onto one of the prints. It was relaxing to do, and i spent a day working into it with limited colours of peach, yellow, blue and dark blue as well as the use of teal from the print.

 I used opacity of watercolours by mixing with white gouache. 

I love that now I have two completely different images from one starting point..... referring back to Bjorn Lie, He drew some botanical studies, inspired by Ernst Haeckel. Daiz, an Australian fashion company, asked if they could use the prints for shirts. An email from a friend who had just released a vinyl record asked if he had any work he’d like to give for the cover - flowers! A german teeshirt company also saw the work and printed it on teeshirts, and the art director of the New York times (Alexandra) asked him to create an editorial per ice for an article about opiets.  From the drawings, he also was approached to create labels for Scarlett Spritzer, featuring a prehistoric duck... all from one image, he had many outcomes. 
I feel that my print has the same potential of becoming separate art in their own means.

I liked working in the multimedia way and will try out more methods. 

Languages – Mechanisms of communication./Surrealism/ Humour/ nonsense/ Abstraction, decorative, pattern./ metaphor/conceptual/symbolic/ montage/juxtaposition/emulation /documentary, reportage/ interactivity/ realism/ anthropomorphism Aspects of production / Composition/ Viewpoint / people/gesture/expression/performance Character/ / Simplification/stylization / Scale . Narrative structure/sequence/ Time colour / place/context/background / 3d elements, made objects / platform- – Layout.

Charlotte Ager, wordless narrative

http://charlotteagerillustration.tumblr.com

Intent -
Observing a place, time after time, and creating a wordless narrative from it...

Content - 

view of the library, the use of masking tape is intuitive. 

waiting at an airport lounge - the fact that not every detail is shown makes us imagine the rest of the scene, we know what seats look like and most of us have sat in departure lounges. A minimalistic approach.

The pastel colours  adds beauty to what I can imagine as the grey concrete city. The people sitting and watching the busy life continue adds a sense of observation and them relaxing.

Observations at a swimming pool. I like her use of simple colours, the white and blue and the technique of using collage. 

dynamic with the diagonal cut of water.

What is it?

A wordless narrative about an everyday activity. 

What does it communicate? 

Charlotte Ager has used only two characters, wordless in speech, But we look at the technique and composition more. Her observational sketches of the one place has restricted her in a way and made the attention focus on the movements and people within the space rather than the space itself. 

It communicates the tranquility of an activity participated alone, and the interaction of another in their own world (the passing of the woman swimmer). The use of black and white at the beginning and end show his routine in life, whilst the colour in the swimming pool shows, as the title suggests, his escape, his meditation and relaxation from the mundane world of black and white.

 reference point: ....

Communication Objectives:  study one place/environment e.g shopping centre, post office, kitchen .... create a wordless narrative describing the beauty of everyday actions.

What do you want people to think or feel when they see it?

To be able to relate to the actions of the character and feel  an appreciation in ordinary actions.

How does it work?

Languages – Mechanisms of communication./Surrealism/ Humour/ nonsense/ Abstraction, decorative, pattern./ metaphor/conceptual/symbolic/ montage/juxtaposition/emulation /documentary, reportage/ interactivity/ realism/ anthropomorphism Aspects of production / Composition/ Viewpoint / people/gesture/expression/performance Character/ / Simplification/stylization / Scale . Narrative structure/sequence/ Time colour / place/context/background / 3d elements, made objects / platform- – Layout.

experiment ...

I chose a seat from above so i could see what they were doing without getting in the way and without the staff noticing me.
Here I sat and noticed the movements at the till, processing money and the card machine. 

I studied the use of the milk steamer (top) as well as some of the customers (bottom).

A study of the atmosphere within the canteen, the strong sunshine is coming through and casting great shadows, adding dramatic lighting.

I put a warm tone for the background to portray the warmth felt by the sun and the happy chattering in the hall. I added light yellow for the strong sunlight in a textured brush. The contrast between peach and teal works well.

Again, playing with warm tones but making it more dramatic. 

 I looked at what the barista and staff were doing, how they interacted with people, what they did in a moments rest.

trying to come up with character design... it is difficult to know how much or little detail to include...

The set up - a sign, till, coffee machine including stacked cups and a hot water boiler.

rough story ... trying to organise paned. I changed the pencil into a blue tone and contrasted it with a mustard. The background colour works well and is effective running out of the boxes.

several hot water boiler frames (top left) and a study of milk. I will add more frames later. 

(1) http://charlotteagerillustration.tumblr.com

Grayson Perry, The vanity of small differences

What is it...?
A look into society as reportage, through the media of tapestry, Perry emerges himself within the social classes, taking part in their activities. He asks for stories and studies their homes, working then from sketches to create characters and a story all on one image. He created a total of six tapestries.


"I decided to make a series of six tapestries. I usually choose a medium because of the resonances it has acquired; tapestries are grand – they hang in the vast saloons and bedchambers of ancestral piles, they often depict classical myths or military victories....”
"In my series of six works, The Vanity of Small Differences, we follow the life of Tim Rakewell, from humble birth to famous death. The main thread of this journey is his progress through the social strata of modern British society...”
“We chose the three locations for our television series – Sunderland, Tunbridge Wells and the Cotswolds – because they are each already strongly identified with the social classes....” (1)

"A three-part documentary, All in the Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry, accompanies the exhibition. It follows Perry as he develops his ideas for the tapestries and travels to towns and cities across the UK, investigating what ‘taste’ is and how it differs from place to place.” (2)

Content - 

The adoration of the cage fighters.
The pink outlines frames the characters like an umbilical cord, The mother and child within a coral sac, sat in similar position to the Virgin Mary and Child. The cage fighters kneel with gifts, and the grandma sits in a yellow orb, much like the star of Bethlehem. It is reminiscent of the birth of Jesus, with visitors and guests. 
The women dress in short dresses, exaggerated make-up. 
The fictional character it follows, Tim Rakewell, is shown with bright red hair.

The agony in the car park.
A karaoke singer raises above the suburban environment. 
The labels and drinks cans are all props, as well as the souped up cars in the right. Survalance cameras roll and the England flag flies. The red colour pops out and is harsh. 

Expulsion from number 8 Eden Close.
The image is split in half, with the two characters in the centre, in the middle of a transition. Grayson has used the weather to symbolise the changes, escaping to a better place. The model of the cars contrast with the luxurious pattern on the wall. Tim has the apple iPad and headphones, an improvement from an Adidas bag, and has also gained a blonde girlfriend.

The Annunciation of the Virgin Deal
The colours are bright and cheery, With fruit and veg on the table in front, perhaps to show the availability of fresh produce and health. An AGA cooker sits with a percolator, everything is very proper and indulgent. All the trinkets of middle class shine.  Tim and his partner have a baby and things seem to be going well...

The Upper class at bay.
Clad in tweed, the old stag runs from a large country home, in the middle of a hunt. The house is situated at the top of a hill, associated in the housing market as more expensive due to the views and large garden. The hounds are red and look like blood falling from the body of the deer. 

Lamination. 
Things have not ended too well, the money seemed to have driven Tim crazy and his beloved Porsche is in pieces due to his selfishness, He is shown indignant, with trousers by his ankles. He is almost back where he came from, where he belonged, with the neon lights or the petrol station and in the city. 

Having watched the tv documentary, it was amazing to see that each ‘class’ truly believed that they had to buy and show what was tasteful in their own class in order to fit in and be accepted as a society. However if you were to take a lower class man, with his souped up car and pitt terrier and placed him in a country home in the cotswolds... it just doesn’t happen. As social class and therefore money increases, so does taste and exuberance with labels. For example, lower class people show off their lables, on clothes and branding. However those of higher classes begin to get clothing without in-your-face branding, to show that they don’t need to.

How does the surroundings effect the content? Does environment affect us? How?

Content- 
 (3) Brecht Evans piece here resembles Perry’s Lamentation, with the dynamic compositions, high use of red colour and the scene of a car crash and blood. The dynamic lines go diagonal across the image, heightening the drama. Figures are fighting, onlooking, running in the distance.

(4) A picture from Greater Manchester news, depicting NYE. The drama and amount of figures in different actions creates a dynamic composition.

intent -

To explore this further, I will create my own scene of people and the environment - The comparison of places and people.

Communication Objectives

 Create a comparative scene of different surroundings, showing the effects of location on the people.

The lower high street includes Kebab shops and low price DIY stores . How does this compare with further up the high street onto the promenade of Cheltenham... how does the facade of shops change? What kind of people are found there, what breed of dogs do these people have and is there a change in the different areas. Does the road cause the two to have dramatic differences? 

Reference point - 

I will observe places associated with popular and unpopular areas of the town. I have chosen the lower high street as it is not in the centre, and so less people need to go there. The shops are small, independent shops whilst on the high street there are big chain stores. 

Experiments - 

I took a discrete  notebook to draw on the street. Although I am not interacting with the people as Grayson did, I observed at various points along the street, and let the atmosphere of conversations, noise etc help my observations. I had to try to not be bias, drawing only what I associated with the area. For example there was not only people in tracksuits and bad hair dyes, but a few women walking in smart shoes and coats. However, they were quite distinguishable from the people who had saggy smokers skin and bad fitting clothing.

Lower high street...
Cut out people observed from the area, with construction on an old pub in the background that has been closed for several years. 

A builder throws out buckets of water from a window, whilst a man in a suit, who stands out, surveys the area with one of the workers who is dressed in a puffer coat and baggy trousers.

The shop sign for ‘Aerials and cables’ is missing a few letters but is otherwise well painted in a dull grey. Above it sits a historical and battered up brickwork of the old ironworks, a plaque states. Plaster cracks in the buildings and windows are single glazed, filled with a layer of condensation from cooking in tiny kitchens. People talk harshly and fast. 

From left - A mother with her hair high up in a pony tail drags her reluctant child, who sobs in squawks. The dad pushes a pushchair in front, looking back occasionally. 

A woman walks with her head down, headphones on. Her bulky body is hidden beneath a bulkier jumper and loose trousers.  Her headphones cover some of her roots that are coming through her hair. 

Two men on a break walk across the road, A tall skinny man and a stockier man, both drinking coca cola. The shorter mans legs bow out slightly. 

A bald man had baggy clothes, and the almost symbolic two stripes down the tracksuit bottoms. 

A woman with bleached blonde hair walks, her face furrowed with folds like crumpled paper. She pass on her phone, wearing a puffed jacket. It doesn’t seem to be a friendly phone call.

The Promenade 

The upper Prom.  People carry shopping bags and colourful handbags. There are couples arm in arm and elderly men in long coats.

A man singing, he was originally outside M&S and the trumpet man was on the prom, but here I have put them together as a cacophony of sound. There is usually live proformers, and over christmas there were carol singers. It is a pleasant atmosphere to sit and have lunch.

A woman spotted outside Bella Italia, enjoying a relaxing cigarette and coffee. She watches the people that I am drawing.
The old man walks past.

She spots me. I move places. 

Lower high street...
The woman on her music device, Looking intently at the screen.
I’m very fond of this shot as the distortion of the flattened characters in the background isn’t too great.

All the small child sees are legs and feet, no wonder she is crying. Those trainers are so last season.

Lower (left) and higher high street (right). 

I have taken some close up, atmospheric shots of the scenes. I think its interesting that a close up angle gives a different story, you can imagine the full image as an opening scene from a movie, and the close up shot of a character to begin a narration form their pint of view. I could explore with producing backstories for these characters and maybe some still shots with their thoughts. I like the thought that every single person has a complex life, each with difficulties and ambitions, all moving in the same space.

 (1) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/10117264/Grayson-Perry-Taste-is-woven-into-our-class-system.html
(2) http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibitions/touring/grayson-perry-the-vanity-of-small-differences
(3) http://www.brechtevens.com
(4) http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-new-years-eve-pictures-10673770#rlabs=10%20p%241
(5)http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/the-creation-manchester-internet-reacts-10675641

Steve McCurry

Fred Herzog, use of partitions within a composition and the presence of people.

BORN: 1930 in Germany


“The photographer treated the pictures “as a form of journalism,” using Kodachrome ISO10, a film that severely limited him technically in terms of what he could do.” (1)

He exhibited some of his photos at a much later date, when he was into his 70’s. Many of the photos were restored be scanning and printed through a laser jet printer.

“The greater body of his images focus on the grittier aspects of Vancouver and they were a response to the culture he found in Canada.”(1) 
Herzog found the contrast between his native Germany and Vancover to be interesting, as no one would be seen to buy second hand items, whilst in Canada the shops where an integral part of town. 

Content - 

A hardware store selling all your outdoor needs. The warm tones of yellows and browns of the clothing, belts and spades contrasts with the green paint of the store and blue price tags. I find I am drawn to the white signs and prices, then follow the red handles and orange clothing through the image.

The shapes I found within, the frame of the window, the levels of the spade handles and the pattern of the labels. It at first looks cluttered, there’s so many patterns within the photos and the subject itself is cluttered. 

I find myself constantly drawn to the hand drawn and independent stores, I like that the owner has had to decorate the window display as they think best attracts customers and looks appealing - a subjective matter and so creating a wonderful collage of shop windows. Chain stores are given out beautiful decorations to put up, especially at christmas and for sales, however, chain stores are taking over the high streets, and the duplicate windows are loosing their effectiveness. Each town is becoming the same, with the same shops and items. What is the point in visiting another town if all the shops are the same? 

Contrasting orange graffiti against the pastel tones of the tights and wall. Here, juxtaposed is a masculine, graphic shape of the stencil, and the curves of the ladies legs, It uses rule of third as the post divides, and the furthest leg to the right. We don’t see her face, and feel a lack of connection with her. There is a triangular shape, point at the graffiti and base at the waist and shoes. There is a juxtaposition of the gangster silhouette  in a dynamic pose, in orange, and the green woman resting in heels and skirt.   

This photo can be split into the Rule of Thirds.  The line of the window follows, and across it cuts through the portraits and the sign, and below it follows the bottom of the pictures and the mans leg. This division of the picture leads us through each section, adds busyness and dynamics. The texture of the wall is mimicked in the creases and folds of the photos pinned to it.

Rough rule of thirds. There is still a strong sense of vertical lines within the image.

The shape of the triangle adds dynamic movement to an otherwise static image. the bold red is really the focus of this picture as its so vivid in hue.

The colour red runs in a triangle, from the fence and scooter to the left, to the CocaCola signs. 

The theme of in and out. The striped decoration makes for a dynamic feeing, clashing with the tiled pattern both inside and outside. The white within the stripes, the window ledge, stool and within the tiles connects the separate pets if the image, creating a theme throughout. The contrast between red and blue tones also creates a strong composition, with the bold red door just off centre. 

A bold red door stars out,  and  a single limb breaks the otherwise linear image, however it becomes part of it through the straight outstretched nature. There is something secretive about the house, with curtains drawn, but an invite for the curiose through the parting.

How does the presence of figures change the sense of movement?

I have edited some of the photos, I have taken out the figures to see if they are still engaging. Is there still a sense of time? Is there any movement now?

Our attention is on the photos, but the balance is thrown out on the right by the painted sign feeling too high.

We are instead drawn to study the photos, although the inside seems bland compared to the painted windows. Our focus is on the table and wall- who are these people? Are they from a catalog or real customers? The lack of life makes us study the portraits further, and the outside seems closed off to us.

Again, the balance feels out. The weight is towards the centre and right. The lack of activity makes the shop look empty.  We look at the bold signs of the drink advertisement. Is it sinister now we know the unhealthiness of fizzy drinks? There is no subject within the place. 

The focus of the photo is removed, and we are left with the foreground of red. The photos are strongest beside each other as it shows narrative - where has the man gone? Has the cafe shut? There is no central focus to the second image, and emphasis is put towards the red of the font and the red coats of Santa the CocaCola mascot.  With the man included, he wears a dull, red shirt that links us visually between the painted shop text and the ornaments on the ledge. There is no interest or point to relate to in the image. It leaves us unsatisfied.

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BRECHT EVENS(3)

 I have chosen this image as it shows the outside street, and the windows of inside,  a factor of Herzogs photos I’ve chosen to look at.  We are up above the street in perspective, but can see into the street windows and rooms. There is no real link between the outside and inside, They are like two seperate art works.

This image shows people doing various poses, but no surroundings. What is the difference? There is a feeling of something happening but with unknown context. They have stories but it’s not written down. It differs from the empty scene of a room without figures as the room holds a story and what has happened, but it is in the past. If there are no figures then the story can’t be told, it has happened. If there are no surrounds the story is happening but with no pages to hold the words.

reference : inside/ outside/ partitions.

I plan to take photos through windows, to have an inside and outside. I will then experiment with taking out people, or even replacing them with others to see how this changes the story. 

Communication objectives: To give a sense of divide, of space within placement.

What do you want people to think/ feel? 
To think about the future and past, what just happened? What will happen? To study the layers of the image and find new things to look at.

I took this through a glass door... Looking at the reflection in the large mirror as well as the window on the left. The table and chair give strong lines. I took several, this one has a woman waking, looking up. Is she looking at the shop display? To the left, a man just enters the frame. I like that I have managed to capture the woman in line with the angle of the table. 

Here, There is the front layer of the painted glass, then the glasses themselves which are central to the image, and the back layer of the mirror. The person in it is me, although i did try to disguise myself, poorly.
Who owned this cabinet before? would it look good in my house?

Shot through a window, featuring a poster.  The alcove of the shop shows the door and other side of the window display.

I was attracted by the contrast of the green and pink, and the reflection of the trees in the window adds depth. The juxtaposition of the painting, showing a racecourse and people, and the plastic bags behind and the overgrown plant. I think I could improve it by capturing a person inside or trying to capture more reflections.

Shot through a window, it shows part of a beautiful heart shaped mirror and a vintage dress. A figure walks away. The reflection on the top left of a lamp post breaks the romanticised theme. The figure is off centre, and most of the focus is weighted to the left, a side often associated towards the past. Is there something this person has lost?

A man studies the discount goods. Would the shop be having a successful sale if there were no customers? 

Languages – Mechanisms of communication./Surrealism/ Humour/ nonsense/ Abstraction, decorative, pattern./ metaphor/conceptual/symbolic/ montage/juxtaposition/emulation /documentary, reportage/ interactivity/ realism/ anthropomorphism Aspects of production / Composition/ Viewpoint / people/gesture/expression/performance Character/ / Simplification/stylization / Scale . Narrative structure/sequence/ Time colour / place/context/background / 3d elements, made objects / platform- – Layout.

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Inside/ outside...
Looking at the elements of the outside and inside, what does it reveal? What is behind closed doors? 

Cutaway, flipbooks, exploded diagrams...

Stephen Biesty.
(4)

What is it? Biesty produces highly detailed illustrations, often showing large action packed scenes, such as what is happening on a boat and cross sectioning its compartments, a cut out of a helicopter and how the people are sat in it, and below, a fort. There is humour added in too, when looked upon closely, the people are caught up in they on drama. He has created a Where’s Wally esq scene, where the more you look, the more you see.
He studied MA at City of Birmingham Polytechnic where he specialised in historical and architectural cutaways.

Experiment with cut outs....
I have created my own small scale cutout, it was fun to explore what to show and what to hide, and what makes the bigger picture when revealed. It is a form of story telling, where each room is like a page in a book. I will definitely look into this as there are a lot of quirks you can hide in the images.

Communication objectives:
To show what may happen away from the public eye, with humour.

What do you want people to think or feel?
I want them to be explorative and find the pictures funny as they are relatable to some level.

House, with front facade and holes cut to see through into the inside. 

Inside, various rooms with actions happening in them. I have tried to add humour as like Biesty, with cats clambering everywhere and not so welcome guests.
This was a quick sketch, the perspective and dimensions are not perfect. 

Detail of some of the ‘windows’. You can just glimpse the poor boy under the bed, and the normal dinner proceeding below.  

Languages – Mechanisms of communication./Surrealism/ Humour/ nonsense/ Abstraction, decorative, pattern./ metaphor/conceptual/symbolic/ montage/juxtaposition/emulation /documentary, reportage/ interactivity/ realism/ anthropomorphism Aspects of production / Composition/ Viewpoint / people/gesture/expression/performance Character/ / Simplification/stylization / Scale . Narrative structure/sequence/ Time colour / place/context/background / 3d elements, made objects / platform- – Layout.

Next .....From this I think I could combine the street observations from my experiment from Grayson Perry’s work, and add a dimension of Brecht Evens, with the street scene and a flap of the houses so you can see inside.


(1)http://time.com/3782667/vancouver-vanguard-fred-herzogs-early-color-street-photographs/

(2)http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Acclaimed+photographer+Fred+Herzog+receives+Audain+Prize+Lifetime+Achievement/9737855/story.html

(3) http://www.brechtevens.com/

(4) http://www.stephenbiesty.co.uk