Original – Portrait

Original – Portrait

Original – Landscape

Original – Portrait

Square–

Original- landscape

Original- Portrait

Circle 1-

Merged/ experimentation

Contact sheet-

Immediately, I began by going through my images and rating them followed by rejecting and flagging each image. After I executed that, I then continued it by putting them in order of colour within the range of how much I prefer and like them. This makes it a lot more time efficient and manageable when it comes to editing as I now know what I am going to edit and what I am not.

My flagged and green images unedited

Editing these images in lightroom

I decided to keep this image in colour, rather than black and white because I think the two buildings in contrast of colour is an important factor within this image, essentially bright vs dark. The subject is the women and considering she is right in the centre rather than one or the other creates a creative factor. This photo had to be in colour as it could make every viewer individually have a different approach and perspective on it if it was looked into on a deeper level. Another factor is the red ball on the darker side which leaves a sense of curiosity on why it is there or whether the women was related to it and if she is walking towards it. Therefore, colour was needed to emphasize my thoughts on this image itself.

Within this image, I used the rule of thirds to make sure the subject aka the woman was in the very centre of the image and the buildings were equally on each side. I personally thought this image was eye catching due to the fact it gives off the effect of tunnel vision in-between the two buildings where the woman is standing. This draws you’re attention to the centre of the image as it shows far away. This demonstrates a factor of mystery. I decided to experiment by putting my photo in black and white to create a variety within my photographs and as it is in the historical Royal Square famous from WW2, therefore I decided to continue the vintage and old aesthetic due to context.

I experimenting this image in black and white and colour, but personally I preferred the in colour image. This is due to the fact there is a lot of contrasting factors. I think the vibrant royal blue chairs definitely add a lot to the image as it is contrasting with the tapestry and the black building. The interesting factor is that this image contains cool and warm tones that significantly contrast. Another big factor is that it contains every day scenes and scenarios. Such as the singular woman on her phone vs plural women talking with drinks. This is useful as I had to wait for the ‘ Decisive moment’ without asking them therefore the ‘ posing’ is not staged and is completely real. This is useful in this image as the people are not adjusting there behaviours as they are unaware of this image being taken. This is significant as people are definitely what make an image in street photography.

This image is definitely my personal favourite outcome within this photoshoot, I like it the most because it involves many people doing a variety of things. The man on the phone is definitely my favourite touch to this image which I had to wait for the right moment to include this. I edited this image to create more warm tones rather than cool to highlight the vintage aesthetic and just to make the image more appealing. The top bit of the images exposure is slightly too high, however this could be an advantage as it keeps the viewers eyes focused on the main subject; the restaurant and the people surrounding to make the image.

I again, experimented with black and white however I realised I actually preferred it in black and white. This photo is definitely the ‘ decisive moment’ due to the fact it is 5 people I assume accidently meeting. Because there is a variety of different people, you can see the different identity’s and personalities through their mannerisms and clothing. This image definitely would not be as significant without these factors. Another factor I thought added to this image is the geometry and lines surrounding the main subject; the people. Lastly, the reflection within the lining of the building behind them creates this image to be less dull and more eye catching. The reflection is so clear that you can see what the camera cannot. This highlights a sense of mystery with a slight peep. Where I am standing it is beneficial as you cannot see the back of the people instead you can see what the viewer would not guess to see or can see already. The Jersey flags with square shapes add significance to the image through conveying the heritage of Jersey. Also making sure the sky is not overly exposed because of the observance of the flags and shapes make the image less dull.

I like this image because it is very simple, I put it in a slower shutter speed to create variety and show the moment more. There isn’t much going on this image however that is personally what I like about it. There is nothing that draws the attention away of the main subject; the people. I believe people are definitely what makes ‘ street photography’. I think their behaviour and mannerisms look completely natural and realistic as I did not have to ask them to adjust their posing. This makes it completely natural and they show a sense of love and fun. This image I personally think has a very warm feeling to it which is the best feature as there is nothing in the surroundings to draw that away.

I love this image as there is a sense of love but also mystery, the mannerisms the viewers can see from the back tells us a lot about the image; the arm placements. The mysterious factor comes from the fact it is taken from behind the main subject, rather than in front. I increased the shadows to decrease the visibility inside the shops to make sure there was nothing too eye catching that drew the attention away from them. I originally put it in black and white and worked from there, however I thought it looked slightly dull so I experimented with a filter to see the difference and preferred it. The geometry and lines in the top of the image through the windows, creates different shapes and variety, specifically rectangles with visibility in the reflection. This slightly links to Bresson’s work as he often brings in surroundings especially reflections.

This image is by far my favourite out of the whole photoshoot, this is because it is showing 2 people sat down assumedly representing love, and separately it shows motherhood. This shows a variety of different types of love. I put it in a fast shutter speed which you can tell through her skirt as it is focused and very clear. The tree shows a sense of natural environment rather than man made features like my other photos. The filter I put on after I had already edited my image in black and white completely added to this image and made it 10 x more eye catching. I think it has a variety of elements which differentiates this image to others.

Instantly, it is clear my camera settings were in a slightly low shutter speed through the van, as it is moving we can see that through the fact it isn’t completely still and is slightly blurry. I decided to add warmer tones to differentiate it to the rest of my images, and slightly make a vintage aesthetic. The main feature that makes this image is the van and the people walking as it is definitely representing the ‘ decisive moment’.

Virtual Gallery-

I chose all these images specifically, due to the fact they all have one factor and meaning but in a variety of ways. Each photo shows a different relationship; yet every photo has an element of love. For example, a mother and child, wife and husband, acquaintances, and friendship. These are my favourite as you do not take notice of these things on an everyday basis. To take photos of these you really do have to find the ‘ right/decisive moment.’ I have chosen these images as my virtual gallery because of this element to it, and I believe people are a massive part in street photography which really brings it together.

Further experimentation

“The simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression.”

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), a French photographer who is considered to be one of the fathers of photojournalism and masters of candid photography. He sought to capture the ‘everyday’ in his photographs and took great interest in recording human activity.

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French artist and humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as capturing a decisive moment. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson pioneered photojournalism as an art form by traveling the world and capturing honest scenes of day-to-day life. Born in France in 1908, his passion for photography took him around the globe and saw him covering many of the 20th century’s major world events in stunning black and white.

He wrote,

“For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to ‘give a meaning’ to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.”

Bresson stated in his documentary,

” photography is my version of physical pleasure, it is like hunting without the killing.”

“ Contemplating of how things just are”

This quote is very broad however expresses a very large opinion that can answer many factors. He is stating how impressive his work can be by photographing reality and every day scenes and scenarios. Conversely, this can be seen by a different angle due to the fact people naturally adjust their behaviours as it is human instinct to if they are aware of the photographer. Therefore, this genre of images are not completely realistic and accurate but can be differed to this opinion.

MOODBOARD OF HIS WORK

The Decisive Moment, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s influential publication, is widely considered to be one of the most important photobooks of the twentieth century. Pioneering for its emphasis on the photograph itself as a unique narrative form, The Decisive Moment was described by Robert Capa as “a Bible for photographers.” Originally titled Images à la Sauvette (“images on the run”) in the French, the book was published in English with a new title, The Decisive Moment, which unintentionally imposed the motto which would define Cartier-Bresson’s work. The exhibition details how the decisions made by the collaborators in this major project—including Cartier-Bresson, French art publisher Tériade, American publisher Simon & Schuster, and Henri Matisse, who designed the book’s cover—have shaped our understanding of Cartier-Bresson’s photographs.

Street Photography: the impulse to take candid pictures in the stream of everyday life. Street photography is a form of documentary but it is decidedly not reportage and rarely simply tells a story. Sometimes a street photographer captures something truly unusual – an extraordinary face, an accident, or a crime in the making. But more often a good street photograph is remarkable because it makes something very ordinary seem extraordinary.

These factors significantly influence street photography

SUBJECT MATTER/ CAPTURING A MOMENT > people and humanity, theatre of everyday life, poetics of streets, comic absurdities and humour, small acts of kindness, scenes of unexpected beauty, ordinary moments, visual pun and humour, gestures and poses, faces and crowds.

LOCATIONS & PLACES > inside the walls and on the ramparts, back alleys and sidewalks, beaches and coastal promenades, parks and public spaces, cafes and shops, street corners and intersections, signs and advertising, facades and architecture.

POINTS OF VIEW > low/ high/ canted angles, deadpan approach, light and shadows, intensity of colour, reflections in shop windows, shoot through glass, frame within a frame, focusing and un-focusing, up-close and details, shallow depth of field, artful and funny juxtapositions, geometry and space, lines and form, textures and patterns, signs and shop windows, advertising and graphics, reflections and mirrors.

APPROACH > capturing decisive moments, candid portraits, informal snapshots, inobtrusive observations (Cartier-Bresson style), interactive and confrontational (William Klein approach), spontaneous and subconscious reactions, poetic possibilities, inquisitive mind and roaming eye, looking and prying, shoot from the hip, serendipity and good luck.

CAMERA HANDLING > Lenses (focal length): use wide (18-35mm) to standard lenses (50mm). Focusing: automatic or manual – whatever you prefer. Exposure mode: S or T mode – (shutter-speed priority). Shutter-speeds: experiment with fast (1/125-1/500) and slow shutter-speeds (1/15-1/60). ISO: 100 (sunny weather), 200-400 (overcast ), 800-3200 ISO (inside or evening/ night). White Balance: auto

Camera settings

Henri Cartier – Bresson was known for using a Leica rangefinder with a 50mm lens. These cameras were compact, reliable and their design was quite small and discreet, making it very inconspicuous. This allowed him to use a quick and unobtrusive shooting style, which is essential for street photography.

He loved how stealthy the camera was, the shutter was quiet, making capturing moments easy to do without attracting attention to himself and therefor allowing moments to unfold naturally before him. This silent lens was crucial for someone who believed in capturing authentic unstaged moments.

He preferred the 50mm lens because it offers a field of view close to the human eye, ensuring he captured images that felt natural and immersive to the viewer.

Image Analysis – Using the rule of thirds

This image is specifically in Paris, there is not a specific ‘ moment ‘ however I would say the wheel barrow is the main subject as it is drawing a few other people in. This photo does not focus on one thing but rather focuses on a natural every day scene. This photo is interesting as the middle section has more light and lighter tones leading to shadows which outstand the 2 people in the centre, this helped me through the rule of thirds. This significantly contrasts to the top and bottom of the photograph as it is in the shade and has darker tones meaning there isn’t as much significant and vibrant shadows. Another factor that is important in Henry- Cartier Bresson’s work or even street photography itself is the environment around especially the geometry and lines. This split within shadows creates lines into thirds horizontally which effectively contrasts with the pattern of vertical lines and rectangles within the buildings and windows surrounding. The left foreground of the image I assume is stairs, so it creates a small amount of mystery of what is behind, when usually a viewer would not even give a thought what is behind. Lastly, another thing that caught my eye is that this photo is completely natural, because it is not focusing on one subject or person, he did not have to ask to change or adjust a pose. Therefore, these people in the image have remained there behaviours. Which means that this photo is not contradictory and is ‘ The Decisive moment’ as he probably waited for the right time to take this photograph and succeeded.

Outcome 1- Typology

Outcome 2- This equals That (juxtapositions)

Outcome 3-

Outcome 4-

Outcome 5-

Evaluation and critique-

Overall, my favourite outcome I significantly produced is my typology. This links to Anthropocene as it is representing the issues within human activity and what the consequences are. Although it isn’t showing exactly the consequences. It is reminding people to be more thoughtful within their every day basis uses aka petrol. I likw how my artist reference did s similar thing and I put them in black and white

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence is the science of making machines that can think like humans. It can do things that are considered “smart.” AI technology can process large amounts of data in ways, unlike humans. The goal for AI is to be able to do things such as recognize patterns, make decisions, and judge like humans. AI is a machine’s ability to perform the cognitive functions we associate with human minds, such as perceiving, reasoning, learning, interacting with the environment, problem-solving, and even exercising creativity.

At its simplest form, artificial intelligence is a field, which combines computer science and robust datasets, to enable problem-solving. It also encompasses sub-fields of machine learning and deep learning, which are frequently mentioned in conjunction with artificial intelligence. These disciplines are comprised of AI algorithms which seek to create expert systems which make predictions or classifications based on input data.

Over the years, artificial intelligence has gone through many cycles of hype, but even to skeptics, the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT seems to mark a turning point. The last time generative AI loomed this large, the breakthroughs were in computer vision, but now the leap forward is in natural language processing. And it’s not just language: Generative models can also learn the grammar of software code, molecules, natural images, and a variety of other data types.

AI in photoshop

I have chosen these images for Anthropocene to represent the appealing aesthetic of the world as it is something humans should put more care into, therefore I will be using AI to represent past, present and future and portray the difference humans can potentially impact the world and convey what it could be in years time due to humans affecting it. I used Photoshop to create depictions of the past, the present and the future of the Anthropocene.

Past

Before-

After-

How I executed and produced my outcome-

Present

Future

Virtual Gallery

Aim and intention

My aim after my recent post was to instead take photos of one gas station, take multiple of different petrol stations around the island. This will create variety and an attempt to replicate Ruscha’s famous photography work through his ‘ Twenty six gasoline stations’. After he succeeded within his travel, he later finalized them by putting them into a book in a very simple and dull way. Conversely, to create difference within my project I will be putting them all in a typology edited in a vintage aesthetic to show the contrast and comparison within each image. My aim is to try take them from an a far outside perspective aiming straight on to get the full view of each station. My editing, I will try to replicate the old aesthetic however this may be challenging as technology as evolved and always looks modern.

Photoshoot 2

Contact sheet-

I flagged my best and preferred images green and starred them to what I thought suited each image. This will create accessibility for me to find them in a more time- efficient way.

These were my variety of favourite images–

Edited Images

Typology

Old-

Improved/ Finalised product

Virtual Gallery-

Why did I choose Ed Ruscha?

I personally chose Ed Ruscha in relation to the Anthropocene as I wanted to focus on the cause rather than the subject itself within how human activity impacts the earth. Ed Ruscha was a perfect artist for inspiration as he is known for taking images of twenty six gas stations. This significantly links to the Anthropocene as the petrol and gas humans use massively effect the air pollution. Therefore, my idea was to take images of petrol stations in the modern aesthetic and attempt to edit it to make them look vintage and nostalgic. This is effective as it isn’t normally an every day thought when it comes to people filling up their car. Although this was not Ruscha’s aim, it is my aim to focus on the impact of petrol and gas specifically within the sector of air pollution. For context a typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of CO₂ per year. This assumes the average gasoline vehicle on the road today has a fuel economy of about 22.2 miles per gallon and drives around 11,500 miles per year. Every gallon of gasoline burned creates about 8,887 grams of CO₂. So, instead of taking photos of animals becoming extinct or suffering due to air pollution e.g. polar bears in Antarctica. As Anthropocene is a project to show through art and photography the effect on the earth because of humans or what it could be potentially if us as humans began to make better choices. I wanted to significantly instead show the effects and impacts itself but the cause. I think this will benefit my project as it is different and links well to an artist reference.

What is my intention and aim?

My intention and aim is to significantly edit my images to look old and in a rusty aesthetic so it looks like Ruscha’s work which may be significantly harder to do so as everything has evolved to be modernized whereas Ruscha actually took the images in the 1960’s. Aside from that, my next step would to put them into a typology to add another technique towards my work as Ruscha sometimes did that. I want to keep my images dull and simple so it does not draw away the main factor to the image which is simply to remind the viewers that every-day basis factors that us as humans do not give a second thought about actually massively impact the earth. This links to Ruscha as in his famous book ‘ Twenty-six gas stations’ he kept it simple with little words and only the image to keep it interesting and eye catching to make the viewers focus on one thing; his photographs. Ruscha kept them in black and white potentially because he chose too or because colour was only beginning to evolve. I will edit some images in black and white to relate to his work but I will also keep some in colour to compare and contrast the modernized and vintage aesthetics. To keep it from being too dull and boring, I personally think putting it into a typology technique will significantly add an interesting and eye catching feature. Overall, my aim is too to show the causes of the damages not the damages through photography.

My Photoshoots and edits

Contact sheet-

Edits in Lightroom & Photoshop-

Typology–

How this became my outcome-

Firstly, I began in light room by making sure the exposure and contrast was correct to my aim and put a tint on it to make it look old and vintage to try replicate Ruscha’s camera in the 1960’s. I did this through ‘presets’ and chose ‘cinematic 2 VN07’ as it had a warm tone that I personally preferred the most. My next step was to find a frame and add a layer onto my original images on photoshop. I blended them by merging them together and chose one that wasn’t standing out too much. I then chose the rubber tool to make the original layer the main focus of the image not the frame itself. I repeated this with different layers to experiment and see my preferred one. I kept them in black and white as my aim is to pretend that I have taken these images on old images.

What I could of improved on

Personally, I think I could of improved on texture to make it look more realistic. To do this, I would have to photoshop and edit to make my images grainy with a old and bad camera aesthetic. This would make my images more believable as I think my images are very clearly modern day looking. However, this may be challenging as it is very hard to make my images look grainy and vintage because of how much cameras have evolved and became so complex. This makes difficulty to try replicate Ed Ruscha’s. I also think I could of improved on my images itself within my first step. I think it would of been more beneficial for my typologies to execute a similar thing as Ruscha to take photographs of multiple gas stations. Therefore, each image would be the same thing however a different type. This would ultimately make my typology a lot more eye catching and draw attention to the eye as it is a lot more to look at and the viewer can compare and contrast each petrol station. To improve, I will take images of multiple gas stations and edit them to make them look realistic and old and put them into a typology to try and replicate Ed Ruscha’s famous book.

What I liked about my photoshoot vs his work

What I liked about my work was how it is a typology but however each image is the same. But I personally like how each edit is diversified which significantly keeps attention to my images for a viewer. This also creates creativity and experimentation to be able to figure out which my preferred style is and helps me learn from my mistakes or recent work to benefit for my future work. I loved the frames I added in photoshop as it added an old aesthetic and interesting feature which was needed as the images I chose were the same so it was not too dull and simple. Conversely, I liked his work as it was realistic and not edited in a book but also not too dull and boring as he diversified the gas stations by taking images of multiple gas stations rather than editing which kept it very simple, however mine was simple but in another factor. However, to try to improve and benefit my work I will try replicate his work but with my photoshop and editing to make it more my work and diversify it. I also liked how he kept his work in black and white to keep an old aesthetic but also so colour will not draw any attention to his images.

Experiments

How?

My plan is to relate my work with Ed Ruscha and Peter Mitchell. The main objective is to keep my images vintage and keep an old aesthetic. I will continue to take images of a variety of petrol stations like Ruscha and edit them into a typology to create difference. I will slightly edit them to make it look as if I am using an old camera however this factor may be challenging as technology as evolved and is difficult to make it look not modern. Within Mitchell, my focused objective is to take images of old buildings and compare them with modern buildings such as a modern cinema, shops, churches and old housing. With Mitchell, I will not be editing my images completely due to the fact it is not the image that is old it is the subject. This creates a contrast between the two artists as they are both obtaining an old aesthetic however in a varied way. A similarity I will be executing is the front on from far away point of view so the viewers can see the whole aspect. A large feature that is different is the time these were took and the choice of colours. I will be keeping my images in relation to Ruscha black and white and Mitchells in colour so I obtain my clear aim and succeed in my objective.

Where?

My work with Ruscha is specified as it is targeted towards petrol stations due to the carbon footprint which links to the Anthropocene. Furthermore, my plan is go around everywhere in the island to take multiple images. However, my plan with Mitchell is to focus in St. Helier as I believe it has the oldest features of every day life. However, it may be challenging to find old aesthetic factors as everything is evolving to be modern. Therefore, to make it easier and more accessible I will compare modern and vintage buildings to create variety.

Why?

In particular, I have chosen these artists in relation to the Anthropocene because I wanted to photograph the causes rather than the outcome and consequences. This is why I chose Ruscha due to the fact petrol has one of the largest carbon footprints and effect air pollution massively. So instead of completely showing the viewers the effect, I will be making viewers think deeply about every day factors people use and execute without giving it a second thought. I have chosen Mitchell to show the materials and the effect of evolving to more modern features due to building and the use of materials etc.

Who is Edward Ruscha?

Edward Joseph Ruscha IV is an American artist associated with the pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and film. He is also noted for creating several artist’s books. Ruscha lives and works in Culver City, California.

Who was Ruscha inspired by?

In the 1960s, inspired by artists like Raymond Hains, René Magritte, Jasper Johns, and Kurt Schwitters, Ruscha became a vibrant part of the art scene surrounding Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles. Ruscha became well known in the late 1950s when he began making small collages using images and words taken from everyday sources such as advertisements. This interest in the everyday led to him using the cityscape of his adopted hometown Los Angeles – a source of inspiration he has returned to again and again.

Why did Ruscha typically take photos of gas stations?

The son of an insurance auditor, Ruscha was raised in Oklahoma City, but moved to L.A. in 1956. The gas stations he photographed all sat on Route 66, the highway he rode on his regular visits home.

“I just had a personal connection to that span of mileage between Oklahoma and California,” Ruscha explain

The gasoline station is Ruscha’s most iconic image. He began

The gasoline station is Ruscha’s most iconic image. He began experimenting with the subject in his first artist’s book, Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963), which reproduces a series of banal photographs the artist took while driving on Route 66 between Los Angeles and his hometown of Oklahoma City.

Ed Ruscha often edited his images to collage all together to make it even more eye catching then it is. This is called TYPOLOGY.

A photographic typology is a single photograph or more commonly a body of photographic work, that shares a high level of consistency. This consistency is usually found within the subjects, environment, photographic process, and presentation or direction of the subject.

An example of typology

Ed Ruscha’s typology

Mood board of Ruscha’s work within gas stations

As shown, Ed Ruscha clearly had a love and soft spot of gas stations in the 1960’s. He typically preferred photographing in black and white especially as colour was starting to evolve during 1970’s as a number of American photographers turned increasingly to colour. This creates an interesting factor to Ruscha as he decided too keep it in black and white during the time colour was trending due to it starting. However, as these photos were taken in this time it may of been more challenging and difficult to be able to get them in colour. Until well into the 1970s, the only photographs that were actually collected and exhibited were in black-and-white. The reluctance to accept colour photography was mainly due to conservation reasons, since the pigmentation in early colour photographs was highly unstable.

Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963)

As seen, Ruscha made a book and documented him taking images of 26 gas stations and put them into a famous book in a very simple and dull layout. The simple layout and the black and white images makes not the book itself interesting but the images as his aim and intention was to get viewers to focus on the images rather than the pages in the book.

It is often considered to be the first modern artist’s book, and has become famous as a precursor and a major influence on the emerging artist’s book culture, especially in America. The book delivers exactly what its title promises, reproducing 26 photographs of gasoline stations next to captions indicating their brand and location. 

Ruscha has said:

I wasn’t coming out here [California] to do anything in particular, or to be anything in particular except…except out of Oklahoma…a long way from Oklahoma, that’s what I wanted to be, and everything it stood for. And away from the Catholic Church too, and Sister Daniella who beat my knuckles with a pencil the one year I was in parochial school.

Image Analysis

In this image, its interesting as it depends on the way you view it. One factor is, the fact it is deserted and you can instantly tell that is there is not many surroundings. This could be on purpose as his intention and aim may to get the viewer to focus on the gas station itself or to show the different features and difference within each gas station in California. This makes the viewer think of things that you wouldn’t think of on an every day basis. This is what makes his photos so interesting as he is the first to take something of something so simple but yet an underlying fascination. The photo is in black and white possibly to keep it in an old aesthetic but also to stop viewers from getting distracted and to focus on the gas station. It is slightly fuzzy which represents and tells modern viewers that it was taken before cameras had evolved. It is a bit unclear so it makes it difficult for viewers to focus but challenges them to look harder to create more time viewed on each image.

Peter Mitchell (born 1943) is a British documentary photographer, known for documenting Leeds and the surrounding area for more than 40 years. Mitchell’s photographs have been published in three monographs of his own. His work was exhibited at Impressions Gallery in 1979, and nearly thirty years later was included in major survey exhibitions throughout the UK including at Tate Britain and Media Space in London, and the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. Mitchell’s work is held in the permanent collections of the Royal Photographic Society and Leeds Art Gallery.

MOODBOARD

In 1979 Impressions Gallery showed his work A New Refutation of the Viking 4 Space Mission, the pictures showed the traditional urban landscape presented on a background of space charts, the concept being that an alien has landed from Mars and is wandering around Leeds with a degree of surprise and puzzle. Martin Parr described this show as ground-breaking.

Martin Parr is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in particular documenting the social classes of England, and more broadly the wealth of the Western world.

About & Lifestyle

Peter Mitchell was born in Eccles, near Manchester, in 1943. Shortly afterwards his family moved to Catford, south-east London, where Mitchell spent his formative years. Even in his youth mitchell was a keen collector and diarist, beginning the archive that would later form part of his autobiographical publication Some Thing Means Everything to Somebody.

Leaving school at 16, Mitchell moved to Hampstead heath and began training as a cartographic draughtsman with the civil service where he learned to make architectural maps and drawings, an interest he has maintained, most notably in the self-published Memento Mori.

By 24, Mitchell was seeking new challenges and won at place at Hornsea College of Art where his interest in photography and typography developed.

Peter’s first solo exhibition of 1975, entitled An Impression of the Yorkshire City of Leeds, was funded by the Yorkshire Arts Association and Arts Council of Great Britain formed a part of Leeds’ contribution to the European Architectural year.

It was a success, with the curator encouraging Mitchell to focus on his photography over his screen-printing practice. The 1970s was a key time for photography in Britain, seeing photographers such as Martin Parr and Tom Wood rise to prominence, and Mitchell’s practice was bouyed by this national cultural interest.

Mitchell’s work stayed local to Leeds, and during this time he began the long term project on the city which would become A New Refutation of the Viking 4 Space Mission.

He would walk everywhere, taking note of the places he passed, returning later with his camera, ladder and tripod to photograph them.

These walks regularly took him through the Quarry Hill estate in the centre of Leeds, but he had never photographed it, until the first signs of demolition appeared. The demolition of the ill-fated development provided Mitchell with the perfect subject matter to explore his interest in urban regeneration against the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain.

The redevelopment of Leeds progressed at a lightning pace in this period, Mitchell would photograph a shop front or row of houses one week, only for them to disappear the next.

Mitchell’s work remained resolutely personal, seeking out the people and places of local interest rather than seeking to reveal any great and gritty truth of 1980s British life to a wider audience.

My Analysis

As shown, Mitchell photographs everyday factors you see in the city e.g Leeds and Manchester. This is quite unusual from an outsiders perspective as most photographers are ultimately famous for taking ‘ aesthetically pleasing’ or ‘ beautiful’ according to the human eye, however Mitchell does not glamourize the reality and viewers seem to like it. Each image is differentiated through a variety of themes, however they all portray an old, vintage aesthetic. This is in an interesting and significant factor as by first look you assume that they are not edited which creates a realistic factor to it as well as the vintage aesthetic. This makes you question, what is making it give off this aesthetic. In my opinion, it is the images of the brick buildings and old looking churches through the surroundings and the state it is in. The reason of this, is in this generation the world is becoming more modern day by day. This links to this image.

As shown, Mitchell photographed this brick building with a more modernized and larger building behind it to create contrast. This shows the change in human activity and trends which ultimately relates to the Anthropocene and Robert Adams in the way of contrasting two large factors to one another.

In each image he does not edit the images such as the weather to glamorize it. Within his images, he is using photography to photograph the normality and reality of his lifestyle and possibly even old images to create archives of around the city to then compare and forecast future trends and see how much human activity can impact the earth, such as these images.

Clearly, the typical cinema has changed and become modernized through generations and I assume these houses could be getting taken down possibly for new things. Although people may be living there which creates a sense of inhumanity which significantly links to the Anthropocene as Mitchell is using photography to express the inhumanity on earth and how it is increasing. This links in a different way through how humans leave a large carbon footprint causing climate change but humans doing little about it which could be a sense of inhumane.

MY PHOTOSHOOT PLAN

My plan to relate my work to the Anthropocene and Peter Mitchell is to take images of everyday scenes such as shops and even the cinema. My intention and aim to make some images look old and vintage and compare it to more modernized things such as the typical cinema nowadays and buildings.