I decided to link this image with the concept of triumph, a sense of pride to comprehend the level of brightness entering the image. This perspective was formed through the given environment; taken in the middle of St. Helier, this office rose above the life of society and looked down upon the rush of working life. To extend this perspective, I altered the entire exposure of this image to stress the angelic glow that radiates the office exterior in attempt to send a signal of success towards the meaning of this modernistic building. Giving the tonal value a profile of how education and finance appears to be the given spotlight within society today.

With great influence from Van Damme’s work with architect, I have presented my image with such significance on the shadow play due to the impact of leading lines. By increasing the saturation of this image, I was able to create a greater contrast of the warm escape that entices the viewer against the mysterious darkness that echoes further into the compact alleyway, directed through the thickness of the shadow and its leading lines. Given this context, I figured this image presents an opening of freedom that is tightly fitted between the urbanism of working life. Located in St. Helier, this scenery was taken in the center of a block of finance offices named ‘Liberation House’  a major new landmark within St. Helier, with clarity of form and the use of grey and pink granite cladding, combine an effect of fashionable hierarchy that dominantly overcomes the exposure of nature. With this ongoing issue of densely populated areas of society, man-kind continue to proceed with the compact demands of finance and how the economy is harshly cropping our perspective of atmospheric views as presented in this image.

With inspiration from both Fontana and Schulze, I have given this image a stressful demand of colour to the viewer. For this reason being; I took knowledge from both artists and formed a response to abstract photography. Originally capturing the structure of apartments located in First Tower, Jersey; I noticed a vision that seemed dull and flat, sparking my decision to introduce Fontana and Schulze’s technique of entering vibrant, bold colours to give elements of reality a sense of enthusiasm and fantasy. Playing with this concept, I also formed a set of formation towards the composition of the image, diving three portrait segments of colour, supporting my corporate objective to achieve structure.

Mounting Photographs for Presenting

Experiments with my artist references and how they polished their images taught me a range of techniques within Photoshop that allowed me to highlight/expose hidden structures by adjusting the curves and also through layering different shades of light inside the image.

Olic inspired:

STEP 1: Using the basics of Photoshop, I increased the brightness of the entire image before layering in order to estimate the level of exposure entering the image from behind the building.

STEP 2: Then I furthered my ability to expose certain tones within my image by altering the saturation levels. By doing this, I was influenced by Olic’s work on contrasting the warm and liberated skyline the darker shade of blue exterior of the building. His work represents this multiple times and I agree with this technique in terms of exposing a structure, as this tool allowed me to sharply cut an embodied significant shape inside the image.

STEP 3: This effect on Photoshop is known as Curves, this allowed me to construct a smooth and angelic tone of the image, it also allowed me to put emphasis on the saturated colours, putting stress on my idea to give the foreseeable background a hint that glowed with brightness.

STEP 4: Adding a layer to the silhouette of the building.

STEP 5: Then I began to alter the image with complexity, adding various layers in order to adjust elements of the photo without adjusting as a whole. Once I created the layer that formed a new and separate element of the image, I used the brightness tool to greater the contrast between the skyline by decreasing the brightness in order to maintain the exposure and highlight the significance of the given glow arising from the building.

Van Damme inspired

STEP 1: Adjusting the basics first, I manipulated the levels of saturation that entered the image from the bottom left and also from the center, giving that extra warmth towards the contrasting shadows against the leading lines of contour.

STEP 2:  After renewing the colour, I selected the shadows evident from the center point of my image.

STEP 3: Identifying very little light within the middle third of my photograph, I decided to stress this tonal value by decreasing the light even more to form a stronger shape within the contour of the shadow.

Fontana inspired

STEP 1: Lowering the brightness in order to signify the lines, and texture that segmented the image and to also darken the shadow directed in the left third.

STEP 2: Adding this layer to form a profile of the shadow allowed me to strengthen the contrast between the walls, forming a shape of dimness that over hanged against the sun trap that exposed the vibrant paint.

STEP 3: Once I had implemented the shadow tones, contrast levels and brightness; I was inspired by Franco Fonatana’s work of selecting various colours to manipulate the given shapes that can be identified within urban construction. Adding vibrancy and formation, changing the concept of the image; by giving it a warmer tone that directs adventure and the ability to explore further into the image, giving it more life than the original.

The process and geometrical element of my photo shoots were based on locations that consisted of the ongoing commercial impact on housing estates and apartments offices. Approaching my photo shoot with this modernistic approach enrolled a perspective of how society has become a very repetitive, monotonous lifestyle for man-kind. I noticed how the apartments formed a stack of homes, giving the impression that our leisure has become compressed and so structured due to the economical demand of widespread finance offices that have harshly populated our environment. 

As part of my process, I also referred my work to Van Damme and how his work involves the presence of light within his structures. I planned half my shoots on capturing angles within light, hence the shadow features within most my images. I believe this effect enabled me to express a higher status of leading lines. This effect also created a contrast, which then spiraled my idea of merging my knowledge of two-frame filming and also David Hackneys technique of ‘joiners’. This contrast formed a juxtaposition within the image, conflicting both light and darkness within structure. 

I also linked my photo shoots to Nikola Olic and Julian Schulze who both focus their work on geometric abstraction and compositions that lacked in huge details or decoration. The simplicity of this effect gave me inspiration to replicate abstract shapes that are presented on frontal surfaces, both artists also use a variety of bold colours to liven the scenic view of urbanisation.

Throughout the shoots I completed in preparation for this exam, I aimed to achieve a sense of understanding towards shape, symmetry and form. These three skills in photography all aid the idea of structure, especially in relation to my artist references. Shape supported my perspective and how to angle my camera; also compromising with the composition of the photograph, dealing with how distant i was from the scenery in order to capture the entire shape. This links with my motive towards symmetry as this technique allowed me to identify possible shapes that co-inside with each other, forming a moderate approach to a structured, symmetrical view. This also put emphasis on the rule of thirds, a tool that aligns a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section.  Form was also an addition to the two motives since both resulted in the general idea of form; the visible shape or configuration of how something appears.