Evaluation

As it has come to the end of my collaborative project with Penarth, I am going to do an evaluation of what I feel were my strengths, weaknesses, challenges and rewards whilst working on this project.

I would say that my strongest aspect of this project has been my ability to change to a different idea, as my original idea didn’t work out for me. Originally, I wanted to photograph a working farm in Penarth, however when it came to contacting the farms to ask for permission to visit them, not one got back to me. As I couldn’t wait around due to the fact I had 3-4 weeks to complete this project I therefore had to come up with a different idea.  Normally, I would of struggled a lot with changing my idea, however because of my previous projects I think that I was strong enough to deal with the fact that you can’t always have your photography exactly how you initially imagined. I also think that by changing my idea to photographing Penarth pier, it reflected far more on my given title of ‘industry/commerce’ due to the pier being the biggest industry and attraction in Penarth, from which I found out during my research into Penarth.

The biggest challenge that I found was finding relevant photographers that have worked on ‘seaside’ photography but not in a stereotypical ‘holiday maker’ way. Therefore I had to use their techniques mainly as influence such as their compositional framing, computer manipulations and viewpoints. I do think that if I was given more time then I would have been able to experiment far more, however due to the three week deadline for submission I wasn’t able to as much. I do understand that I have to balance my time far better next time, I think that I was just expecting a longer date due to it being my last project for my first year.

Whilst working on this project, I really did enjoy the collaborative side. I think that by working in a group and that group having the same title, you are able to feel far more comfortable, and help each other out with theirs and yours ideas. I was lucky enough to be put into a group with four other girls who were very helpful and interested in what we were all deciding to do.

Working with the town of Penarth was also very rewarding to me. As I have never worked on a collaborative project before, this has made me want to continue working on them as I think that working in a team and creating a good working environment with others is key. Before the project, I had never been to Penarth before and since it has become a favourite place of mine.

The final outcome for this project was a fully up to date blog showing my research and journey throughout my collaborative practice work, I have also got four professional printed images that will be my portfolio to accompany my blog. The images I have chosen are my strongest and I think would work very well as postcards.

Final Photographs

Here are my four final images for my Penarth collaborative project.

I am very happy with my final images and think that these 4 as a set going very well together. I wanted to keep my composition as strong as possible throughout, I did experiment with centring the main focus in my images (as you can see on my contact sheets), however I felt that when it came to selecting my finals that the use of rules of thirds were stronger and the framing was far more tighter, ensuring everything was within the frame.

The first image is my favourite out of the four, I really love the clouds definition and the elderly woman sat on a bench enjoying the beautiful Penarth view. The slight desaturation is exactly what I wanted, especially from my previous artist research. I would of liked to not have the bench on the right side poking in, however I didn't want to crop the image. 

For this image, I was highly influenced by William Eggleston for the low angle viewpoint and Martin Parr for the British stereotype and humour. As you can see in the top right of the frame the Welsh flag is blowing in the wind which I made sure was kept within the frame. I think that the lower angle viewpoint works really well and gives the image a much better viewpoint. 

The two last images above work very well together as a set I think, as the first image shows a sign saying 'No Fishing' and in the last image you can see an old man fishing over the pier, I thought this was showing a humorous side much like Martin Parr and definitely fits in with my commerce/industry title that I was assigned for this project. 

Photoshop Tutorial

When it came to editing my images I decided to edit them using the same techniques so that my 4 final images worked well as a set of images. Because of the dull weather I knew that I wanted to pay close attention to the clouds whilst editing and definitely show the clouds definitions.
I found an online Photoshop tutorial that helped me enabled to define to clouds and make them 'pop out'.

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/photoshop-sky/

Below, I have print screened one of my images through its manipulation, I didn't do this for every edit because I am using the same technique through and I didn't want to overpower with print screens all looking the same.  

This is the image when I began my editing process. 

The first I made was to make a background copy and then adjust the levels of the image to change the exposure. 

Next, I went onto to layer - new - layer which created a new blank layer over my levels. 

To enhance the clouds, I went onto the 'gradient tool' and chose 'foreground to transparent' as my gradient

Next, I used the gradient tool and pulled down from the top of the clouds to the metal railing which then created this black covering over the clouds, I then simply changed the filter in the top right to 'Overlay'. 

Finally to finish the image I saved it as a Jpeg under the best quality.

And here is my final image… I am very happy with the way that this turned out as I think that the simplicity and empty space creates a very mundane atmosphere which I was hoping to achieve. 

Contact Sheets

Below are the contact sheets from my recent shoot of Penarth pier. On the day that I went to photograph, the weather was very overcast and cloudy which is did initially want as I didn't want my images to be overpowering with people which it would of been if the weather had been sunshine and warmth. From the images on the contact sheets I have chosen 4 photographs that I think are my strongest and best chosen, I have edited them and will put them up shortly. 

Whilst taking the photos down the pier, I wanted to photograph the different elements of the pier, including the pier itself as it is the biggest industry in Penarth, ice cream stalls/shops and fishermen. 

When photographing the fishermen, I was lucky enough to talk to one of them and he was more than happy for me to get closer to photograph him fishing and retrieving the fish. 

Nick Wapplington

Nick Wapplington is a artist and photographer who currently lives in New York City. 

He is most known for his series of images, 'Living Room' which documents the lives of two working class families in Nottingham over a four year period. Wapplington's photography is saturated capturing narrative and unexpected humour much like Martin Parr's photography. 

His work isn't to show a dramatic social statement, instead it's more to look at the daily struggle of working class families. 

These two images are my favourite taken from the Living Room series. I really love Nick Wapplington's unexpected humour and his use of clear composition within the frame. In the first image, I particularly like that the ice cream van isn't to the side of the frame in the rule of thirds, I think that sometimes using off compositioning can be really effective, especially by centring the main attraction instead. 

Within my photography, Wapplington's use of composition and 'off colour' will really influence my own work. I particularly like his use of centring which I have noticed that he uses a lot within his portfolio. 

Martin Parr

Martin Parr is an English photographer who is most known for his contemporary images highlighting the British stereotype. 

Parr's images are full of propaganda and humour which reflect brilliantly throughout his series of images from The Last Resort. This album looks are the British stereotypes of families and individuals from working class backgrounds, many enjoying days out and holidays at a seaside resort in England. 

"With photography, I like to create fiction out of reality. I try to do this by taking society's natural prejudice and giving this a twist."

The images above are taken from his Last Resort series, and personally these are my two favourites. I have chosen Martin Parr as an influence because I love the slight desaturation in the images and his clever use of British humour. Although in my images I don't really want many people in them, I still want to use Parr's use of humour so hopefully I will be able to show the Welsh stereotype or elements within my images. 

Paul Tucker

Paul Tucker is an 'up and coming' London based photographer, he works with a range of different galleries, artists and designers to ensure a comprehensive photographic service. He is capable of working across many different genres of photography rather than sticking to one individual genre. 

I have chosen Paul Tucker as one of my photographers to influence me because I love his images from his 'Beside the Seaside' project. The series of images show such a beautiful colour tone to them, slight undersaturated which I think works very well for seascapes to stay away from the typical over saturation. 

These two images are my favourite from his series.

As you can see both the images are in square format, from which I noticed that Paul Tucker has done for the majority of his projects, which I think makes a nice change when looking at landscapes in square format.  

In the first image I love the depth of field leading towards the end of the wooden pier. I also really admire his toning of the image and how the natural lighting has brightened up the image so much that the whites almost disappear. 

When looking at the second image I am immediately drawn to the framing with the sign post pole positioned directly in the centre of the frame, I am a big fan of centring when best and the symmetry that it creates when it splits down the frame. 

William Eggleston

William Eggleston is an American photographer, known for his colour landscapes of  urban America.

His images composition is always perfect and the positioning within his frame is a clear strength of Eggleston's. His first experimentation with colour photography was back in 1965 using a Canon and Leica which were very popular cameras of that time, from then onwards Eggleston's primary use was colour film within his photography. 

Above are a selection of my favourite images by William Eggleston, showing his American urban landscapes. The main reason I have chosen Eggleston's photography to look at as influence for me is because of the mundane atmosphere that is shown particularly in his landscapes and I think that if I could achieve this in my images that it would work really well with the empty pier. 

One technique I love of his is his use of viewpoints and angles within his images, especially lower angles photographs which I think make his images look more powerful and uniques.

Another technique of Eggleston's is his use of natural light and he uses the time of the day to focus on his lighting, e.g a lot of his images have been taken in the evening with the fading light. 

St Augustine's Church Penarth

During the Easter holidays I went on a trip to visit St Augustine's Church in Penarth.

St Augustine's Church is a Grade I listed building from back in 1989, the 19th century Parish church was structured by architect William Butterfield and was built between 1865 - 1866. 

The church has been described as 'one of Butterfield's finest churches, big boned and austere outside,   highly charged in the polychromatic patterning of its interior'.

Whilst visiting the church, I had to take 10 images inside and around the grounds of the church, however the Wednesday that I arrived the church was closed so I had to take the photos outside of the church and the grounds. 

- 2 x Close up of architectural details

- 2 x A sense of place or time

- 2 x Creative images of the building (inside or out)

- 2 x Abstract images

- 2 x Nature meets man made

Penarth day out!

A couple weeks ago, I took a trip to Penarth with a couple friends from my class to explore Penarth and it's most noted attractions. On the day itself we were very lucky with the weather and had a full day of warmth and sunshine. Whilst looking around Penarth I began to feel far more confident about my idea and the fact that I had to change my idea didn't daunt on me as much. 

The first stop we made was to the town centre to look at all the different business's and see the people of Penarth. I particularly like this photograph, I like the low viewpoint looking up slightly at the round about, along with the curve of the roundabout going across the image. 

The next stop we made was exploring Alexandra park where I was able to take this image of the beautiful blue bells growing. Whilst looking around the park I found that the majority of my images were close ups of the nature surrounding me. I like the colour tone of this image, and the fact that it's not really overly powering, instead a more subtle beauty. 

This is another image I took in Alexandra park, for this image I was lucky enough see the squirrel quickly and I was able to follow it on its quest to explore the park. I took several different photos of the squirrel but when he finally stopped running about I was able to get this shot. I would of liked to have gotten closer however my lens was limited to 135mm. 

The final stop we made was to Penarth pier where we rewarded ourselves with a long break of watching the beautiful sea view. As I did have an idea that I was going to photograph the pier for my main project, I mainly spent my time looking around the pier and imagining how I want my photos to turn out. When we visited the pier it was very busy because of the sunny day so the photos I took were quite packed with people (something I don't want for my finals), however as it was a test shoot this didn't bother me. 

Statement of Intent

For this project, I aim to produce an online blog showing my progress and research whilst working on my collaborative project with Penarth, along with a portfolio that contains a selection of my strongest images. 

Originally when starting this project, my initial idea was to document the life of a working farm in Penarth. However, as I did email several different farms, unfortunately none of them emailed back to give a reply, as I obviously couldn't spend a lot of time waiting around I therefore came up with another idea which I think will work out better for me. 

As my title is commerce/industry I am going to look at Penarth pier, and focus my project around the different industries that are on the pier, including the pavilion, cafes, ice-creaming stalls and the fishermen that sneakily fish (fishing is banned on the pier). I decided to chose the pier because of my previous research looking into Penarth I discovered that the main attraction and industry in Penarth is the pier.

I will be researching different photographers so help influence within my own work, one photographer I already know I am going to look into is Martin Parr, particularly his work showing British stereotypes. In my photos I don't really want to show the 'cliche' seaside photography that is crowded with people, instead I want my images to be very simple and spacious, definitely influenced by contemporary landscape photography where the mood can be seen as quite 'mundane'.  

Penarth Pier

Penarth pier is from the Victorian era, opened in 1895 at 750 feet long. 

The pier was created because of the growing popularity as a seaside resort as well as the need for much better communications in Cardiff. The regular ferry services between Cardiff and Penarth were started in 1856 and continued up till 1903. 

In 1929 the pier was sold to Penarth Borough Council, this helped to update the pier as a new concrete landing stage was built at the end, along with in 1930 an Art Deco pavillion was built. Sadly, only a year later in 1931, a fire broke out in the wooden theatre, the pier was rebuilt but however the theatre was not. 

In 1994, a restoration project was carried out with the cost of 650,000 pounds, repairing the rotten substructure and opening up a souvenir shop. Two years later in 1996, a program began replacing the steelwork, decking and berthing pontoon. Another two years later and the final restoration of the pier was carried out, the Heritage Lottery Fund gave a grant of 1.1m to pay for the final restoration.

The pier pavilion became a popular destination in Penarth during the opening of the pavilion in 1930's by the council. It was used as a cinema, dance hall and night club. The pavilion much like the pier, was renovated and became back up and running in the summer of 2013. 

The History of Penarth

The name Penarth comes from the Welsh words 'pen' meaning head, and 'arth' meaning bear, becoming  Head of Bear/Bear's Head and is still reflected upon nowadays with the Penarth crest with two bears and the sailing boat to show the towns sea commerce. 

During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the town founded some of the finest architecture of that time, including churches, public and commercial buildings along with houses that belonged to the ship owners, coal workers and master marines who lived in Penarth. 

Penarth has many listed buildings including; St Augustine's church, The Pier, The Yacht Club and several different telephone boxes selected around the town. 

In 1963, Penarth Dock closed down after 100 years of it being first opened to the public, this saw a significant period in the history of the town. Yet, in the 1980's, the town witnessed a complete revival after the closure of the docks. 

Commerce & Industry

For this collaborative project with Penarth, I have been put into the 'commerce & industry' group, along with 4 other girls from my class. 

Commerce - 'the act of buying/selling, especially on a large scale 

Industry - 'economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacture of goods in factories'

Penarth industries:

1) Penarth Pavilion - Cinema, cafes, ice-cream stalls, art club, fishermen, exhibitions

2) Banks - HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, Santander, Nationwide, Natwest 

3) Restaurants & Cafes - Busy Teapot, The Fig Tree, Manor House & Hotel, Waterloo Tea House, Blue Pelican Cafe, Bar 44, The Pilot, Coffee #1, Starbucks

4) Services - Police station, Dentists, Post Office, Library, Solicitors 

5) Retail shops - Tesco, Boots, WHSmith, Hamptons

Penarth

Penarth is a town on the Vale of Glamorgan.

As this brief is based in Penarth I thought I would find a little about the town and where Penarth actually is.

Penarth is a small town on the Vale of Glamorgan, it is known for being the most wealthiest seaside town and is the second largest town on the Vale of Glamorgan. During the 1830's-1900's Penarth was the main destination for holiday makers looking for a seaside escape, nowadays it is still a loved holiday resort destination with many visitors coming to see the famous Penarth pier.