Arundel Gallery Trail 2013

This year was the 25th year of the trail. The 65 venues were scattered around the historic town of Arundel and offered a wide range of painting, ceramics, photography, jewellery, furniture, textiles, illustrations and sculpture.

For me this year's trail was an opportunity to talk to some of the photographers exhibiting their work. I came across Darrell Gale's exhibition 'scandelight' early on. He focuses on architectural photography and I was interested to learn that he did not use Lightroom or Photoshop believing it better to limit the amount of post production processing.

More interesting was the discussion I had with Celia Henderson about one particular image she had amongst her exhibition. It was an interesting abstract but what drew my attention was the colour and play of light within the image. She described to me the commission that led to the image and the need to conjure up the colours of a peacock's feathers. This was done by casting a few drops of petrol onto a puddle of rain water, then using curves and levels in the processing of the image. An amazing image!

I also took the opportunity to chat to Christian Doyle, a photographer who was exhibiting   some very good images of school life. What struck me was the impression that came over from the pictures that the subjects were not conscious of the camera. Thinking about Chris Killip's techniques of immersing himself in the community he wanted to capture and over time taking images that avoided the self consciousness of many subjects having their photo taken, I wondered what technique she used. It turned out that as you might expect with a commercial commission that time was limited which meant that the results came from skill, technique, imagination some degree of luck!!

Patrick Caulfield and Gary Hume at Tate Britain

I enjoyed both these exhibitions run in parallel at Tate Britain.

Starting with Gary Hume's exhibition first...the exhibition was designed to highlight Hume's
' innovative approach to colour and composition, developed over the last 20 years'  so said the Tate guide.  This was the first time that I had seen his work and I found that some works resonated better with me than others. His colour combinations are often very strong and sometimes dissonant  and for me some worked better than others.

P 588

The above image taken outside the exhibition shows the entrance doors  created for the exhibition by Hume. These doors recall his earlier work on graduating from Goldsmith College in 1988, when he  began creating paintings based on hospital doors produced in high gloss on aluminium.

Later work moved away from doors to focus on various subjects from birds to flowers, people and motifs. I particularly liked the work below:



Older 2002  Gloss on aluminium  Private collection Gary Hume

I think the composition works well here; the silhouetted figure standing sideways can be interpreted looking away or towards the viewer. The shape of the figure conjures up old age ; a concept emphasised by the use of colour - a simple but at the same time complex interpretation. 





Window at night 1969 .Oil paint on canvas. Private collection Patrick Caufield ( 1936-2005) 

Patrick Caulfield's work was an interesting and in a sense complimentary exhibition. Early on he opted to use a more anonymous technique of painting derived from commercial sign painters producing work that has simple outlines and areas of  flat colour. I enjoyed looking at his 'signature use of black outlines ' and simple colour backgrounds. I thought the painting above, 'Window at night', very striking ; the angled lines somehow giving it energy and drawing the viewer in. I could see this composition as a photo image but then wondered whether this would as well as the painted de-cluttered version?

Later in the 1970s, he began to explore the concept of combining different styles of representation in the same painting. This interested me as the next part of the course focuses on reality and intervention  - see below :




After lunch 1975 Acrylic on canvas  Tate. Patrick Caulfield 

I suspect that part of the appeal of Caulfield's work for me is the abstract simplicity and I do wonder how this could be done as effectively using a camera.

Colours into tones 2

I chose a colour portrait for this exercise.

P420

The aim was to lighten the complexion without significantly altering the rest of the image.





P586

In P586 I lightened the skin tone using the target adjustment tool in the Hue section of Lightroom; this prevented the bright colour of the subject's scarf and fleece from being lightened as well.





P587 : black and white default

Here in the default version (P587 ), the image has a lighter interpretation; the uniform approach delivering what seems to be a slight 'colour cast'  almost a yellow / orange feel.There does not seem to be a huge difference between the two pictures. Perhaps the default version works better against the black background but subjectively I prefer the first interpretation in terms of the actual face of the subject...

Colours into tones 1

My aim here was to produce two black and white versions of a colour image containing two strong contrasting colours using the channel sliders in my Lightroom software.  I chose an image taken last autumn - leaves collected  between the base of a car window screen and the car bonnet. - and began with making a default 'black and white' version.




P582: F5 @1/160  ISO 80  11mm  Canon IXUS 210

 

P583 :Default black and white version

 

 

P584 below is the result of darkening the grayscale of the yellow and lightening the contrasting blue.

 

P584

 

 

 

P585

 

The second version (P585) above is the result of lightening the yellow and darkening the grayscale of the blue.

 

Looking at the three black and white versions, a number of thoughts occurred to me. Would transforming the colour image into black and white result in losing the distinct nature of the image i.e. leaves though possessing significant visual interest through the line, shape and texture of each leave photographed for their distinctive autumnal colour. Again would the composition be sufficient to hold the interest without the colour ?  The version where I darkened the yellow tone while lightening the contrasting blue (P584)  resulted in significantly less leaf detail becoming more abstract with an interesting  play of light and shadow within the tones and a clear cut image of the car bonnet. Reversing the process brought out the leaf shapes more and a far more contrasty feel to the overall image - I felt that I could almost see the autumn sunshine playing across the leaves. The abstract nature of the composition is different with the curve of the bonnet less obvious.  Which version do I prefer? P585  I suspect due to the 'sunshine' lifting the image ..it feels less flat than the default black and white and nearer to the original colour image for this very reason.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Strength of interpretation

The idea behind this exercise was the demonstration that the removal of colour from an image allows for more interpretation of the tonal range. I chose two photographs where I could make the following adjustments:

• A strong increase of contrast that will include clipping in at least the shadow areas.

• Low or high key treatment, in which the entire brightness range is shifted down or up the scale.



 

P572 : Original image

 





 

P573: Strong increase In contrast 





P574:  High key treatment




P575: B/w  Strong increase in contrast 

P576: B/w High key treatment

Looking at the various versions above, I think the high key treatment gives more a sense of the wintry day; the black and white version being my preferred choice as the difference in tone works better. Both colour and black and white  images where the contrast was significantly increase lose a lot of detail .




P577: Original

 

P579: High key treatment

P578: Strong increase in contrast

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 








P580: B/w Strong increase in contrast

P581: B/w High key treatment

The above images are interesting.. The colour image reworked with a strong increase in colour gives a sense of the hot sun of the day through the bright orange / yellow tiles  which I expected though detail in the shadow is lost. The black and white version seems more extreme  and does not work as well in terms of representing the 'hot sun'. In the high key treatment version the detail remains but the ' bleached' appearance does not work as well I thought it might before completing the processing. Again the high key black and white version works better for me.

Black and white

This black and white exercise required choosing a subject, lighting condition or picture situation that would look better in black and white than colour. The starting point was a colour image; the black and white version being produced during processing. I found this exercise a tricky one as I came to it with pre conceived ideas as to what might make a good subject.
Thinking about the play of light on water and the textural element of trees/ vegetation etc. I spent some time at Swanbourne Lake in Arundel. My eye was drawn by a dilapidated boathouse which offered shape and texture with the peeling paint and graffiti adding some visual interest. The end result taken in colour was disappointing ..perhaps the play of  light was not as good as I had expected; certainly I could see that the image lacked sufficient volume to present a good subject for conversion into black and white. Processing the image confirmed my post capture thoughts.

I then decided to look for images that could offer more shape, texture and volume which led me to explore the possibilities of the steam collection at Hollycombe. This site has steam driven fairground rides, farm machinery and steam vehicles. I had in mind images of fairground 'horses' and maybe working machinery ( cogs, brass fittings, steam etc. ). I shot a series of images in colour bearing in mind my end  black and white image.

I ended up with two images that I liked in black and white.




P568: F5.6 @ 1/50 ISO 100   22mm AWB

Machinery can give volume, and shape but as I discovered can end up less interesting than expected. I realised early on that building in  a human element worked better both in providing volume but lifting the potential interest to a less specialist viewpoint and additionally adding in some movement. I cropped the colour version before processing it in black and white as I felt the need to enhance the composition.  



P569  

The black and white version has had the contrast, shadows and highlights adjusted. With hindsight I feel the composition is rather derivative and in part influenced by Chris Killip's image 'Threshing', Grenaby, Isle of Man, 1973 seen at the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2013 exhibition earlier this year. Looking at it again, I am less convinced that the black and white version works better than the coloured image


On balance I have opted for the second image below as my preferred version for the exercise.




P570: f8 @1/8  ISO 100  18mm  AWB

P570 was taken in the tented hall of images after a few trial shots to get the composition right regarding what could be seen in the mirrors placed around the edge of the tent. At the time I thought it would work well in black and white due the reflected light and textured volume of the tent walls.  A secondary consideration was my image on the right hand side which I thought might be less distracting and more balanced if in black and white. I also cropped a little from the right side to balance the composition.





P571 : f8 @1/8  ISO 100  18mm  AWB

I am pleased with the black and white version, I think it does work better as the eye is not distracted by the pink vertical stripes and can rest better on the curious images framed in the vertical mirrors. There is an abstract feel to composition which I enjoy.

Mass Observation : This is your photo exhibition

This was a fascinating exhibition at the Photographers' Gallery which demonstrated the role of photography in the Mass Observation Archive. I have read some of the Mass Observation material set out in Simon Garfield's Our Hidden Lives ( Ebury Press 2004) which set outs some remarkable diaries from post war Britain which provide a fascinating insight into the lives of ordinary people just after the Second World War. So I was attracted to this particular exhibition as I was intrigued to see what part photography has  played in the Mass Observation ( MO) since the experiment began in 1937.


The images chosen spanned decades from the 1940s to more recent Directives set in the 2000s including black and white as well as colour images with contributions from such as filmmaker Humphrey Jennings and photographer Humphrey Spender as well as members of the public. Alongside these images there were examples of anecdotal evidence from people's everyday lives. The first part of the exhibition covers 1937 - 48.

Humphrey Spender : Parliamentary by-election - children hanging around outside 1937/8 c Bolton Council

Researching Humphrey Spender ( 1910-2005), I found that he was a pioneer of the documentary style of photography who joined the MO team in 1937. I was interested to learn that he felt images of people worked bet if they were unaware of the camera. Certainly it seems that he took very little equipment with him and often concealing it with a mackintosh. I wonder if street photography has become even more of a challenge these days given people's increasing concern about personal space and the intrusiveness of photography into people's everyday lives  i.e. when out and about the high street...and suspicion that images could be taken for the wrong reason or used against them e.g. by the 'authorities'. Again I wonder how much time was actually spent amongst the subjects being 'studied' by MO given the approach Chris Killip took in getting to know the people who became the subject of his work What happened, Great Britain 1970-1990.

The second part of the exhibition features photographs, many snapshots, that come from questionnaires called Directives.

Image taken by Observer no. 2203 , a reply to the 2007 summer directive ( You and Gardens )

The above image is an example of how photography started to become a more central part of the narratives sent in by people about their lives. Understandably the images seem far more personal, maybe more directly emotional  than the earlier ones taken by such as Spender.

I had never heard about the MO Directives and wondered how people got to hear about them  - obviously many people did find about them judging from the many individual 'home' photographs on display. Looking at the MO website, it seems that you can apply to be an observer ( i.e. writer ).They are currently only recruiting male writers aged 16-44, living in all regions except the South East...see http://alturl.com/4pzti

I was also interested in  this link takes you to the Photographers' Gallery and a current project inspired by the MO:

http://goo.gl/OulP1Y


A great idea and all in all a very interesting exhibition..

Interpretative processing

I thought that this exercise would be particularly interesting as it required the search for an image that would give a variety of opportunities for different creative interpretations and varied processing. The exercise required the production of three different versions of the same image.Before going ahead with the chosen image, I spent some time experimenting with the various pre sets in Lightroom which was great fun. The image that I eventually chose to use was one taken on holiday in San Francisco - the inside of one of the famous street cars.

P564: F2.7 @ 1/640  ISO 400  4.3mm  AWB Original image



P565:  Sepia

Given the age of the streetcar  and the timeless look of the people inside, I thought that I would see how a 'sepia' type look would turn out. It took a while to get the colour I was looking for working through the black and white panel. There was a great deal of light coming in from the right of the image producing an over exposed aspect which made it difficult to get a result that revealed the dog in the bag clearly. That said, I was reasonably happy with the resulting finished look in P565 as I felt that it did give a timeless quality to the image. 



P566: Picture Post

Next I tried a black and white version as I was reminded of the kind of images that I used to see in old Picture Post type publications. This image was the result of playing around with various colours to achieve the look I wanted. I feel it conjures up the1950s.

 

 

P567 : Sunny side up 

The day on which the image was taken was very hot ...clear blue skies and dark shadows. The original image suffered from the bright light coming in from the right which bleached out some of the interior colour. I decided to produce a warmer version which echoed the warm summer's day inside and felt this worked well. Aplus factor was the interior detail being enhanced as well.