Final Style

I decided to work on my editing style using one of the images I will be using in my final. I followed my usual editing style, but I also focused on what I wanted to show. I began to like the use of the purple highlights as they add a futuristic style. This suggests that the phone box is a lost relic in the future of technology. The lighting is still cold, and the image is muted in tone, but the highlights give off a deeper meaning and add an atmosphere that may not be seen but it is still understood.

I really like this style, it fits my intention of wanting to show the power of nature, the grunge and unloved abandonment of the boxes as well as how out of place they are in and ever evolving society.

I am going to begin using this image as a reference when editing the other photos.   

Editing method

I have now collected all my images and am editing as well as deciding which ones to use. In this post I want to look at my editing process as well as how I will be choosing my final images. This is a style and image I have chosen not to use, but I think it is important to breakdown why I will not be using these things.

The first thing I do is set the brightness (I bring it down) and contrast (down) then add a slight S line. This gives the image a darker look.  

I then work on the Hue and Saturation, I lover the light levels, take down the Hue and Saturation to drain the colours while also adding more depth to the greens.  

After that I work on the RGB leaves and just make the image more cold by deepening the blues and greens and lessening the reds. 

I then take the Dodge tool and brighten up the greens, to show their importance in the image  

I lastly add Noise in the form of Grain to create a more grunge look and add to the ruff look.

Although I like this style I think it only works for some of my images, I want to make sure my images are uniform, and I also want to give my editing more thought. I don’t want the editing to just look good I want it to add to the meaning of the work.  

Phone Box - second shoot

These are the shots I took on my second phone box experiment. I used wild flowers and weeds for this shoot along with some blossom branches and tropical like leaves to add a jungle/wildness to the images. I focused on close up's in this image to highlight the phone itself.   

I really like the way the closer images came out (the long shots were not to strong for me). They really take things down to an intimate level as if the viewer was in the boxes small. tight space. 

I also really like this image as it shows the graffiti and the unkempt nature of the box. The image also draws attention to the boxes surrounding as oppose to just the phone. Though the image still uses the nature as a key element not forgetting the message of the strength of nature. 

This like the first image uses the phone as the centre, especially the numbers. Again the nature is not forgotten it frames the works, as a reminder of its power and want to take back what was once it's own.  

Overall I am happy with these images, I think I would need to shoot again, keeping in mind I need some long shots to set the scene of the phone box. I am considering taking my first shoot, second shoot and the upcoming third shoot and using them together to display different ideas's of the boxes abandonment and the strength of nature.  

Nature Photography

In this post I want to go through some of my images of my images of nature, and discuss what sort of flowers and plants I want to use for the phone box.

As spring has come, we have seen many blossoms begin to bloom, I myself have to blossom trees in my garden. Although these trees are beautiful they are also common, meaning there are many all around England. This makes them the perfect plat to use in my phones box as they are well known, and not rare. As well as that the tones of the flowers are beautiful with its soft pale colour I am able to drain the photo to make the box as well as the flowers more muted. 

I think I will be using a variety of  leaves in my work, but I want them to look more ruff, like this leaf. I want to show that there is an abundance of nature but the nature is what most would see as wildness or untamed. 

I think weeds would add a certain wildness to the images, they symbolise a more looming growth as they are usually undesired. This will help to balance out the more 'pretty' flowers and give a tone that suggest natures power. 

This has helped me to break down the sorts of plants I want to use and how best to show my ideas about the power of nature and the beauty of wildness. 

Phone Boxes

As my project involves phone boxes I wanted to have a look at some, I decided to take some pictures of some and do a couple of sketches and colour tests. In this blog post I will be looking through the images and the sketches, while analysing the meaning and themes that come through.

When I began to look for phone boxes, I realised just how many I had passed without even a gaze, this very phone box was on the street that I have been living on. This box was covered in grime, posters and graphite, yet almost invisible unless you are looking for it. 

The actual phone still looks to be working, although there was an odd feeling in the box, I was almost embarrassed to be seen in it and did not want to touch anything. This is weird to me, the atmosphere was so cold and uninviting, hence why I edited these image with a ruff grain and blue tone.   

Inside the phone box there was a CCTV in operation sign and it go me wondering if that was true, or have they stopped watching the phone boxes because they are barely in use. Through this little look into phone boxes I have begun to think about the deeper meaning of what they represent, a forgotten object that was once considered new and futuristic now reduced to dirt. I want to add life to the box while also symbolising its insignificance and eventual fall, that is why I think adding the flowers will both add beauty and show how the phone box is just blending into nothing and returning to nature. 

Film inspiration

As a filmmaking student I am inspired by film, live action and animation. These films have always had an effect on my work and in this post I will be looking at some of the films that I am inspired by (that explore a looks I like or a story I think links to my project).

'The Secret World of Arrietty' (2010) - I find this shot from the film beautiful, it captures a life among nature. The use of common flowers and plans as decor and furniture has an inside outside feel, the frame is filled with a warm yellow green tone that has a whimsical and charming feeling. The appreciation for nature in this film and this frame is what I want to capture in my image, for a moment I want the viewer to be lost in the depths of nature then see the phone box, as nature is at the for for front of my work.   

'Swiss Army Man' (2016) - In this still the characters have made a small town like structure out of urban rubbish and nature. The film looks at how human wast can be useful and powerful and displays the disruptive nature of human, leaving their old to wast in natural landscaped. When these characters find a safe home in the woods they are able to use the junk and nature to live a life of happiness. The shot itself has a beautiful use of lightning, with the soft yellow light coming from behind them, this elevates the frame and gives a warmth to the otherwise cold tones around the characters. 

'The Secret Garden' (1993) - This shot shows the children in the film playing in the garden. The shot uses the wildness of nature in a whimsical way, there is a playful, nostalgic tone that is displayed throughout the film. As a child I was fascinated by this film, the ruin's in the wild secret garden were amazing to me, I wanted to find a place like that, where nature was in control and overgrown. I want to show this power of nature in my work. 

From looking at these film shots I have become more aware of the tone I want to show, I want to have a whimsical feeling for the nature part of my shots but also show a power to nature in the way it can take over and grow wild. I also want my images to be cinematic and tell a tale of the strength in nature and how it can take what it wants. 

Photoshop Experments

I decided to have a closer look some of the images I took over the holidays and to edit them a little, using Adobe Photoshop. In this blog post I will discuss my editing and why I have edited in this way. 

I began with this phone image, using the adjustment bar to lover the contrast and brightness and heighten the blue tones in the image. This gave the photo a cold feeling, tying into the grungy, urban landscape. However I made sure not to put the saturation to low as I wanted the flowers to still have a pop of creamy yellow to them.

  

I then added a grain to the image by going into filters, distort, noise and putting it up to 30. This again added to the melancholy grunge vibes of the work.

 

These are two other images I decided to experiment on, but I was dealing with mush more negative space so I did not put the contrast or white levels too high. I also used the sharpening tool around the branches and chimney to give a more refined edge. As you can see in the colour of the brick, the first image has a higher saturation and blue, while the second image has a low saturation and contrast as well as having more blue.

Through these experiments I have been able to find a style and tone I like and have learnt more about Photoshop. Editing can have the power to completely change an image and that is why I have learnt ti always think about the meaning behind my editing. I want there to be reason for the images to be darker or lighter as I feel this can really excel the understanding of photography. 

Phone Box Experiment

In the holiday I decided to go to my local phone box and take some photos of it with some flowers added to symbolise how nature will take it over because of mobile phones taking over and lessening the boxes use. The are some of the images I took:

These are some before images of the phone box, which is on a main road. The door has been removes and the box looks dirty and unused. There is also a lot of litter around it. 

I took some close ups of the phone box, and tried to tie in the background to show the main road, as it displays how the phone box is seen my many yet left in a terrible state. 

This shot is a little further away and show most of the flowers I used. The main flowers were babies breath as they are fairly common and grow wildly when not kept.  

My main aim while taking this image was not to capture reality, rather to show a view. The view that nature has the power to take back what once destroyed it. 

Overall I am happy with how these experiments went, I want to try and explore some more phone box locations as well as different plans and flowers I could use. I will also be editing these images to experiment with the colour and tones I want to go for and how best to express the message further. 

Crimble Mill - Heywood

Crimble Mill was built in the 19th century and has been unused for many years. The old factory is situated in Rochdale, England, a northern town where many factories were placed in the industrial boom, only to be abandoned in the 21st century. "Roe Acre Dyeing and Finishing Company Limited was registered on 16 Mar 1907 with its registered office in Manchester. The business has a status listed as "Dissolved""(DueDil description). I was born in Rochdale and returned there this week, I decided to visit Crimble Mill and take some photos, these are some of them:

As the mill has been closed for many years there is a lot of graffiti and vandalism on and around it. This sign is one of my favirite parts of the mills surrounding area, as it captured the damage of humans even on there own man made objects.  

This image captured how nature is reclaiming what was once taken from it, the branches coming out of the windows show the power of nature and how the factory has returned to it. 

This would have once been where the smock and steam would rise out of the mill, causing pollution the the natural fields and woods around, but now it is inactive and it to has been silenced and returned to nature. 

This is a wide shot of the mill, it displays the wast natural area around, the mass amount of trees that were knocked down to make it become evident when looking at it's surroundings. 

This low angle shot, should show the factory as powerful but instead it looks sad and run down, the sky overwhelms the image and looks as though it could engulf the mill. 

This is another close shot of the mills windows, smashed and dark, with some nature peering through. 

I really like the way this shot shows how powerful nature is, the branches growing out of the windows shows the beginning of nature taking over. 

This image is a little to over exposed but it again focuses on the windows and the branches forming from the inside and outside of the mill. 

Again a side shot showing the mass of nature on and in the mill. 

I really enjoyed looking at this theme of nature reclaiming its old home, but the Mill is unfortunately not accessible to me through this project so I will be taking this theme and what I have learnt from taking these images and applying it to a more modern device that has become outdated, phone boxes. I wan to use art and the idea of creating something beautiful when nature is allowed to blossom in places it was previously ripped from.