AD7801 Establishing Practice – beginnings
Sept 17th ’20
I have several aims that I would like to achieve during my time on the MA. I want to embrace the opportunity to shoot and engage with projects… as many projects as time and resources allow, but away from my ‘familiar’. I photograph people substantially, and want to move away from this by moving into areas that are more fine art based, possibly around landscape and perceptions. I wish to re-establish myself as a photographer, reinventing my path to be more art and project based. Within this, I want to step away from my previous commercial route and adjust my focus to have greater purpose and meaning. I have already started this by moving my freelance attention away from weddings and editorial and adopting a new business approach. My freelance photography is still portraiture, but it is now captured solely on large format black and white film. Five-by-Four portraits is now established, is in its second year and is a lovely side-line business to my main job as a photography lecturer.
With regard to my lecturing practice, this is also an area that I wish to better and further whilst on the MA. I think the MA will enable me to better establish myself as a practising art photographer, and put me in a better position to discuss this area with my cohort.
I am incredibly excited to begin my explorations into photographing, researching and progressing with Uni Glos. I studied here twenty years ago, when I began my adventure in the world of HE. To be able to continue my development as a practitioner here, just around the corner from my first (and second) student digs (Granville Street) twenty years ago is incredibly exciting. I feel as though everything happens for a reason, and the main reason for me is photography…
Sept 18th ’20
First Shoot
Middle of the road – potential project
The A470 is an iconic road that links South to North Wales. My idea and intention for this project is to create a body of imagery about the road itself. It will be a visual exploration of the impact of the A470 upon Wales’ landscape. This body of work will explore the impact of human endeavour upon our landscape, from an aesthetic, environmental and nostalgic point of view. This project will follow 186 miles of infamous road that cuts straight through the middle of Wales, and will allow me to recollect memories past of family road trips and journeys made in more recent times that have a strong emotional attachment. The project will juxtapose the beauty of the Welsh landscape against the scar of the road, charting its mountainous evolution as I travel from South to North… and possibly back. The project will capture the physical condition of the landscape, considering the man-made element against natures structures. The project will remind me of times past, future endeavours and the history of the road. The work will confront notions of humans as destructive beings and the place of the road in current affairs. I envisage this project culminating in a book…
The first shoot for this project happened in late July, in response to a prompt from Tony. Shooting digitally, I focused on a small part of the A470 to conduct this test shoot.
Working along an initial 17 mile stretch of the road, I travelled from Merthyr Tydfil to Brecon, stopping in laybys and parking areas that held meaning to me. I was amazed as I drove as to how many different memories I had from childhood and from more recent times, just within this limited area. Admittedly, this part of the A470 is close to home, and features several areas that I have frequently visited over the years (Garwnant, The Storey Arms, Pen Y Fan, Llywn On reservoir, Nant Ddu reservoir, to name a few) but still the memories were clear and photographing and driving felt nostalgic and easy. Across the 17 mile stretch I have gained eight images that I feel are a good starting place, hold memories, address the concerns of scars on a landscape and highlight mans impact upon his environment.
Sept 18th ’20
Research – Todd Hido, Landscapes
http://www.toddhido.com/divided.html
Todd Hidos work is one of the main influences for my A470 idea. Shot through a window of a car, the work is ominous, sugestive and beautiful. My original idea was almost the same, visually, but Hidos work is so unique that it could not be emulated. This led me to evolve the idea, and rethink the visual aesthetic of the work. As I have previous experience working with Typologies (my Power Stations project, from 2003), my progression took me to consistent positioning. But Hidos work also influenced me in another important way – memories. As I looked at these beautiful, abstract, surreal images, I wondered what was going on in Hidos head at the time, and they reminded me of a visual recollection; they looked like thoughts or memories. The idea to use the project to inspect moments that the road has given over my time came from this work.
Sept 19th ’20
Contact sheet – first shoot ‘Middle of the Road’
The first shoot was a success. This project has been in my mind for several years, and has gone through a mental process of change as it has evolved in thought over time… Potential problems that arose from the first shoot were:
Position – I am in the middle of the road. This could be deemed dangerous.
Motorway/dual carriageway sections – until Merthyr, the A470 is a dual carriageway. I will have to utilise bridges to gain imagery.
Position of sun – I will need to photograph on cloudy/overcast days to offset the glare from shooting into the sun. This is my desired condition to shoot in though, as it promotes a dark aesthetic theme and adds a sense of the ‘unreal’.
Lockdown…
Sept 24th ’20
Research – Paul Graham, A1; The Great North Road
(www.paulgrahamarchive.com, n.d.)
Paul Graham’s social documentary about the A1 is the obvious place to start with regard to inspiration for my project. To me, this is a remarkable body of work (published in 1983) and an example of a project vast in scope (considering the length of the road and size of the chosen camera format) and perfect in theme and context. It is all encompassing, capturing the landscape, buildings, details and people, creating a historical document of a moment in time.
My project certainly takes inspiration from the fundamental mainstay of the A1 study – the road. The main difference between A1 and my study is the fact that my project won’t stray away from the road; the road is my focus. Visually, my project will have consistencies. Viewpoint, position and conditions will create a familiar aesthetic between each image and the editing style will hopefully impart a message of ‘memory’ through black and white and heavy contrast.
The images that stand out to me are the ones that include the road…
This image (Ferrybridge powerstation, West Yorkshire, Nov 1982) in particular interests me, as it holds similar content and feel to possibly my favourite image of all time – John Davies ‘Agecroft Powerstation’ 1983 (which I will discuss later on):
Paul Grahams ‘Ferrybridge powerstation’ is an image that solidifies the importance of the road in Grahams project. The name of the road is written on the dual carriageway lanes, and human impact is evident in every section of the photograph, even the sky as pollution belches out from the industrial chimneys. The eye is drawn by the road to the industrial features, with the petrol station linking the road to the vehicles, to the power station and finally to the implied destructive nature of us as humans. The way the road leads out of the frame offers the viewer the chance to continue a journey. It is a brilliant image that is all about power. The image depicts nothing but human involvement and interference with our landscape. I hope my project offers a similar context.
Grahams ‘Looking back on the city’ is probably how I will have to shoot the section of road between Cardiff and Merthyr, as it is dual carriageway and too dangerous to stand in the middle… Elevated perspective from bridges will unfortunately break the visual consistency, but will be a necessity if I am to document the entirety of the road. Grahams image is remarkable in the way the eye is drawn through the image. Timeless yet full of history; a document of the time that only the vehicles reveal.
Grahams ‘Hedge in the wind’ is another example of the road being the mainstay of the project. It runs through the image, cuts the landscape in two… Just as I hope my images will, but vertically through the scene.
http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com. (n.d.). Paul Graham Archive. [online] Available at: https://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/a1.html [Accessed 20 Sep. 2020].
http://www.johndavies.uk.com. (n.d.). Agecroft Colliery, Salford 1983 John Davies. [online] Available at: http://www.johndavies.uk.com/ox.htm [Accessed 20 Sep. 2020].
Research – Glenn Edwards -A470 North to South
https://www.glennedwardsphotojournalist.com/north-to-south-a470
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-49180014
When I first had the idea to document the A470 several years ago, it came from a love of typology and topographics. I have been heavily informed by Paul Grahams work, and through research I have subsequently found Glenn Edwards study of the A470. I have worked with Edwards in an educational environment in the past, but did not know about this study. Route 47zero; north to south is a study not of the road itself, but is a social documentary study of the life and people along the route.
Research – Bechers / New topographics – September 25th ’20
My project is a topographical typology study. My viewpoint is the same in each image. The position of the road remains the same, while the landscape changes, evolves, rises and falls. Sometimes flat, sometimes mountainous, the landscape is the variable, while the road is the constant. There are a plethora of photographers who work with typologies, but the Bechers have been an influence of mine from the first time I saw their work twenty years ago. I was lucky enough to see their work very recently in Cardiff; their work close up is treat for the eyes. My four year old daughter was completely engrossed by them.
The Bechers’ straight images of industrial structures are architectural in form, and typographical in aesthetic. Similar in style to the work of Karl Blossfeldt or August Sander, the beauty is in the shape and detail. The Bechers images excluded any details that would distract the viewer from the central theme and instead set up comparisons of viewpoints and lighting through which the eye is led to the basic structural pattern of the images. I am hoping that some of this beauty will be apparent in the shape of the road in my visual study. I might play around with the Bechers format of display in the book, or in an accompanying wall piece, showing the entirety of the project ‘in one go’…
Sept 27th ’20
2nd Shoot
Middle of the road
I have a new name for the A470 project – Petrichor. As I was out shooting today, I smelled that fabulous aroma that you only get on hot summer days. The smell of summer; that earthy ascent that smells so wonderous after rainfall. It is the smell I most associate with summer holidays as a kid and with my family whilst growing up. I remember the first time I smelt ‘summer’… I was in the French Alps (Haute-Savoie) with my mother, father and sister, I was ten years old and we were walking amongst the mountains around La Clusaz. As a kid our holidays were to the mountains of Europe, not to the beaches. As we walked there was a brief downpour. It only lasted a few minutes, and while we sheltered under trees an incredible smell became apparent to me. It was beautiful, and I remember the moment vividly. I realise now it was the first time I had smelt Petrichor; a molecule (geosmin) that is released into the air after drops of water fall on dry soil (Halton, 2018). I have a picture in my head of the moment we walked out from our leafy shelter of the Aravis Ridge looming the distance, and the trail we were following being wet and shiny with bright bursts of alpine flowers and ferns. It was incredible.
I also distinctly remember the second time I smelt Petrichor. I was standing on the side of the A470, and we were on our way to Snowdon for a weekend break. We had stopped in a layby to ‘stretch our legs’, and it had just rained. Again, mountains looked down on us and the scent of Petrichor filled the air.
All of this came back to me today as I was out shooting this project. I smelled the scent of summer; the smell of my childhood. The smell of the A470. It fits.
Halton, M., 2020. Petrichor: Why Does Rain Smell So Good? [online] BBC News. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44904298> [Accessed 27 September 2020].
Petrichor
The second shoot today was good, although the weather conditions were not perfect. Ideally, I am looking for heavily overcast days, to accentuate the scale of the mountains, and to reflect the tone of the road. Today was a little too bright; too much blue in the sky. I covered a twenty mile stretch of the road, moving from Brecon up to Erwood.
Again, as I drove I allowed my mind to wander, just as the road does. Memories and feelings returned as I weaved the road. It’s amazing how much I think as I drive along this project. I realised that music is my constant companion, so I wonder if this might be an avenue for the incorporation of text… A snippet of lyric that hints back to the time that I remember, maybe?
The project seems to be working as a ‘drive back in time’, and it also works in relation to documenting mans interaction on the natural environment. The road dissects the landscape. The landscape is ruptured by the road. I feel as though the project is evolving in terms of its context, and I quite like the fact that the context is currently loose. This is not my normal way of working, to have two themes, but I am comfortable with progress. I realised today though that a hypocritical consideration is the fact that a part of this project could be about human impact, and I am performing this study by driving my car…
I gained nine images that I am happy with from this 20 mile stretch… Visually, this segment of the road is a little different as it winds through small villages and some enclosed forests.
Editing style
The edit is heavy. I would almost consider it over edited. This is not my usual editing style… my usual editing style is very subtle and very representational of the environment in which I took the photograph. This style of edit is something a little bit different for me but I’m okay with this and I think the look suits the imagery. This project is partly about memory and by offering a heavy edit the project will hopefully take on a somewhat more nostalgic and fanciful aesthetic. The shadow detail is lost, just as some moments and details of a memory are lost, and some of the content remains on the periphery of vision, just as a memory does. The black and white, heavy contrast tone also adds to this aesthetic by adding an unreal visual theme to the imagery.
30th Sept ’20
Edit/style research
Alan Schaller
Marcus Andersen
Ray Metzker
David Bailey
Trent Parke
The above images/photographers have all influenced my edit, and the visual style of theirs I have imparted into mine. Dark, brooding and with a sense of foreboding, the imagery has different reasons for the dark undertones.
For Trent Parke, coming from a country town to a big city (Sydney), he found himself in isolation, and this is apparent in the lack of shadow detail and edit style. Parke spent five years creating his series Dream/Life.
Parke says “I left everything behind – all my childhood friends and my best mate – and I just felt this sense of complete loneliness in Sydney. So I did what I always do: I went out onto the street and used my Leica to shoot how I felt at the time. I’m always trying to channel those personal emotions into my work. That is very different from a lot of documentary photographers who want to depict the city more objectively. For me it is very personal – it’s about what is inside me. I don’t think about what other people will make of it. I shoot for myself” (Foster, 2020).
Parkes imagery is complex on a contextual level.
“I wanted to present a truer version of Sydney – with lots of rain and thunder storms, and the darker qualities that inhabit the city – not the picture-postcard views of Sydney that the rest of the world sees. I also wanted to make images that were poetic, but I actually found the city to be quite ugly in terms of the amount of advertising and visual crap that clutters the streets. I found I could clarify the image by using the harsh Australian sunlight to create deep shadow areas. That searing light that is very much part of Sydney – it just rattles down the streets. So, I used these strong shadows to obliterate a lot of the advertising and make the scenes blacker and more dramatic. I wanted to suggest a dream world. Light does that, changing something everyday into something magical” (Foster, 2020).
“I went out shooting every day – it became like a drug to me. I loved the ‘rush’ of getting out amongst all the people and I just needed to get the images on film. My mum died quite suddenly one night from an asthma attack. That was it. It was all over. It was the turning point in my life that left me desperate to grab hold of everything while I can. There is no certainty of tomorrow” (Foster, 2020).
Foster, A., 2020. Trent Parke: Dream / Life. [online] ~ Talking Pictures ~. Available at: <https://talking-pictures.net.au/2020/09/12/trent-parke-dream-life/> [Accessed 30 September 2020].
The darkness in David Baileys Valleys Project work has a different projection, however. Representative of coal, scale and cold, there is a dark narrative that is suggestive of the demographic and history of the area.
The work of Ray Metzker is an influence on my editing style also. Known for his black and white heavily dark imagery, and his composites, the look of the work has undertones of suspense and a heightened sense of drama. This is something I wish to draw into my own work during this project.
Research – Edward Burtynsky
Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian photographer whose imagery explores the collective impact we as a species are having on the surface of the planet. Burtynsky’s work chronicles human impact on the planet. His images are widely regarded as key visual documents of our time (London, 2018).
“When I first started photographing industry it was out of a sense of awe at what we as a species were up to. Our achievements became a source of infinite possibilities. But time goes on, and that flush of wonder began to turn. The car that I drove cross-country began to represent not only freedom, but also something much more conflicted. I began to think about oil itself: as both the source of energy that makes everything possible, and as a source of dread, for its ongoing endangerment of our habitat.
I wanted to represent one of the most significant features of this century: the automobile. The automobile is the main basis for our modern industrial world, giving us a certain freedom and changing our world dramatically. The automobile was made possible because of the invention of the internal combustion engine and its utilization of both oil and gasoline. The raw material and the refining process contained both the idea and an interesting visual component for me.” (Burtynsky, 2017).
He often positions himself at high-vantage points over the landscape using elevated platforms, the natural topography, and more currently helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
Burtynskys work is a direct influence on the Pertichor. It has familiar themes, such as human impact / landscape / environment / detriment… Burtynskys Oil work has direct links links to mine, as occasionally the main focus is either road, or transport. While my project has other themes within (the importance of the road to me), human impact is vastly evident upon the landscape that the A470 slices through.
London, P., 2018. Photo London. [online] Photolondon.org. Available at: <https://photolondon.org/event/photo-London-master-of-photography-edward-burtynsky/> [Accessed 29 September 2020].
Test Project – first shoot – 3rd October
I very much enjoyed the first two shoots I performed for ‘Petrichor’, but I do want to make sure that it is the correct idea/project for this module, and I am conscious of Covid potentially causing issues with travel. With that in mind, today I visited Ogmore Forest (also known and Countess Wear) as I have always been fascinated by the landscape. Found on a dog walk years ago, I have always wanted to photograph the location and have always felt a project there… Ogmore forest itself is an average Welsh Valley forest, accessed via a pretty valley trial, along which runs a small river. It is a two mile walk into nature to reach the forest, which is a mix of deciduous and evergreen, with the beech tree being the main species. The landscape rises and falls with hills and it is a beautiful place, but it is one section within this 870 acre forest that I am captivated by. Stumbled upon several years ago, as I wandered away from the main path through the woods, I found a gorge nestled away. It was an unexpected find, as the topographic is entirely different to the rest of the woods that surrounds the gorge. It was as though I had stepped back in time. I felt as though I had discovered something magical.
As you walk along the main trail, about three miles into the walk, there is an old footpath, overgrown and unkempt, that leads uphill through brambles. It is quite inaccessible, and a tricky traverse until 50 yards in it opens up, and you are presented with a new landscape made of imposing limestone cliffs, huge boulders and ancient Beech trees. It is remarkable.
As you keep walking (there are no trails there, just your own off piste perceptions of where your feet should fall) the landscape continues uphill offering a new view as the trees open up to reveal the gorge.
My initial idea for the shoot was to investigate the landscape, but as I walked I noticed human interaction – one wall has hooks embedded for climbing, there is graffiti, an abandoned car, etc… I photographed with both my digital camera and large format five by four, loaded with harman direct positive paper… It was very heavy going trudging along with all this equipment.
I photographed with both my digital camera and large format five by four, loaded with Harman direct positive paper… It was very heavy going trudging along with all this equipment. I did two loops of the gorge, once with digital and the other time with the large format… whilst shooting digital, I hid my large format equipment in the undergrowth…
My overall feeling for the shoot is that I am not happy with outcome. I don’t feel as though the digital results represent the landscape well enough… something is lost. And the positive paper was a total failure… The light meter readings were totally misrepresentative of the available light, and as such the paper held little to no content. This is enormously disappointing, as the paper positives would be a much better aesthetic for the landscape.
I have attempted to research any history behind this gorge – there appears to be none documented…So a potential idea is to create my own story. This is what came into my head whilst shooting –
This is the story of the boy called Alfred… It is a story of re-occurrence. It is about resurrection. The story will chart an individual as they die (always in the gorge) and remerge in a new era. It will be a story of how Alfred came to find himself in this same environment and why and how his life comes to an end in this gorge. There could be 20 (or so) different stories of Alfred being chased, driving his car off a cliff, committing suicide, bloody death, hanging, falling, getting drunk, getting laid, of dying with a story to accompany the end result (death)… It would start in the 70’s and culminate in the future. The imagery simply documents the precise location of death in the landscape, and would be shot on polaroid film to represent the fading nature of life and immediate nature of life. The polaroids could be embedded with elements from the environment to better represent trauma (ashes, footprints, soil, etc…).
There could be an accompanying video piece to add narrative to the story. It would offer a sense of the environment; a better sense of the environment. It is one of those places that photography really doesn’t do justice to. When we photograph we don’t really do justice to anything that we are able to see with our own eyes – life is about senses, life is about smell, taste, touch, hearing and vision. Whenever you eliminate those things something is lost; by taking a photograph we take our wonderful three-dimensional world we eliminate smell and sight and memory and everything else and we compress into a two-dimensional representation of what we have seen, smelled, heard and experienced. The video should help to bring some of that back.
“He wanted her the rest of his life, and failing that, he wanted permission to walk along beside her while she lived it.”
― William Gay, Provinces of Night
The project could be called ‘Last Exit’
The accompanying stories would be first person, thoughts, meanderings, straight from the head of Alfred at the end of his life (lives). An example could read:
“I’m in love…
All I do is with her in mind…
And I can’t tell her…
I’ll never be with her…
I can’t have the only thing I have ever wanted so badly…
All my thoughts are with her in mind. All my actions aim to impress… her.
I’ve made my decision…
I can’t help it…
I wish you were mine…
As I walk through these woods, my mind does not let go of the single thought that consumes my head daily. Everywhere I go, I want you by my side. In those sparse moments when I am with you, I feel proud and I never want that moment to end. But those moments alway end, because what I want is impossible.
There is no point in me, if all I do is for you, and you do not see.
So in these woods I will walk and fall.
I have made my choice, today. I am on the edge. I will step off. I will hang in the air, I will suspend my life and my impossible feelings will end.
And I will drop...
And drop...
And drop.”
This is my back up project, should things fall foul to Covid.
Establishing Practice Proposal – MA Photography – 5th October
My project/art practice/ideas for the MA seem to be veering toward landscape. My main practice currently is wedding/portrait/commercial. I no longer want or need these, so I aim to develop a new path whilst on the MA. Whilst creating a new pathway for my photography, I also wish to draw on knowledge from these previous areas.
Idea – Petrichor
The A470 is an iconic road that intersects Wales. The idea initially came from observing Edward Burtynskys work into human impact. Human impact has always been a present theme for my photographic thought, from the first time I saw John Davies image ‘Agecroft Powerstation’. My idea and intention for this project is to create a body of imagery about the road itself. It will be a visual exploration of the impact of the A470 upon Wales’ landscape. Different to Paul Grahams A1; The Great North Road, it will not be a social commentary or documentary photography… This body of work will explore the impact of human endeavour upon our landscape, from an aesthetic, environmental, industrial and nostalgic point of view. This project will follow 186 miles of infamous road that cuts straight through the middle of Wales and will juxtapose the beauty of the Welsh landscape against the scar of the road, charting its mountainous evolution as I travel from South to North… and back. The project will capture the physical condition of the landscape considering the man-made element against natures structures. This photographic study will also allow me to recollect memories past of family road trips and journeys made in more recent times that have a strong emotional attachment. The project will remind me of times past, future endeavours and the history of the road. The work will confront notions of humans as destructive beings and the place of the road in current affairs.
I have arrived at the project via several avenues of research. Todd Hidos landscapes, photographed through the windscreen of his car, initially influenced me in terns of visual style, but I quickly realized that the visual parity between my project and Hidos would be too similar. I have performed two shoots already, and experimented with visual styles. The resulting imagery is best when the viewpoint is the same, and the road becomes the main content.
The edit is heavy. I would almost consider it over edited. This is not my usual editing style; my usual editing style is very subtle and very representational of the environment in which I took the photograph. This style is something a little bit different for me. The style is influenced by David Bailey, Alan Schaller, Ray Metzger, Trent Parke and Markus Andersen. I think the look suits the imagery because really this project is about a memory and by offering a heavy edit the project will hopefully take on a somewhat more nostalgic and fanciful aesthetic via implication of black and white, and deep shadows. Memories are lost, so an element of content will be lost.
I envisage this project culminating in a book, with accompanying text. The text could many forms, but I do not want it to be clichéd in any way. The text will bring attention to the memory. Each image could have an entire story, or there could simply be a sentence. There could even be a single word; I’m undecided. Another option could be a line of lyrics that evoke the memory, from a song that links the journey to the memory.
Desire
What do I want? To do something different
If I can’t do something different… I want to do something big.
I don’t want to perform photographic projects that look like someone else’s. I don’t really want to do straight documentary photography. I don’t just want to perform a study of a place, or a culture, or a society. I don’t want to simply ‘document’. That said, I do have documentary projects that have developed since starting the MA. I am currently performing a study of Cheltenham, from a personal perspective, and a study of the Garw Valley, from a topographical and demographical point of view.
The Cheltenham project, called ‘No Future’, is a visual exploration of the prominent places from my first time studying in Cheltenham, 20 years ago. I am revisiting the locations that meant something to me during my three years there from 1999 – 2002 (shops, student digs, places where good/bad/funny things occurred…). Here are some results from shoot one:
The Garw Valley project is an in depth look at a specific valley in South Wales. It’s an amazing place, which as I refer to as the Welsh Alps. It is a study of the mountainous region, and how this (living in a valley) affects the towns topographical structure and the mentality of the people living in this valley. Here are some results from shoot one:
I’ll continue to shoot these projects, even though they will more than likely be for ‘me’, not hand in…
Research
Richard Misrach – Petrochemical America
Misrachs petrochemical America is an astonishing body of work, documenting ‘Cancer Alley’. The images juxtapose ‘life’ against an incredible industrial background, and is a prime example of human impact on human life. This landscape narrative has a flow within the book, that unwinds as you progress through the pages, and could almost sit amongst the New Topographic movement.
Oct 9th ’20
3rd Shoot
Petrichor
During todays shoot I developed a little more clarity in defining my project idea. As I drive I see how the ever changing landscape is affected by the road. As the landscape erodes and changes, and so does the road. So do we, as humans, aging and changing, physically and mentally. I wonder if the road is a metaphor for change, via the memories that it evokes as I travel along its rough surface. What I am seeing is change. It is subtle, but constant. Just like us as human beings. You look in the mirror, you look the same. You look at a photograph, you look different. That is what I am seeing. As the landscape erodes over time, the environment also changes.
For this reason I have decided to experiment with the use of colour… I considered this in my photographs and compositions today.
I travelled between Builth Wells and Llandiham, covering a distance of 33 miles. The landscape is beginning to change, the further North I get. The region gets more mountainous, the landscape more dramatic. The road sweeps and turns through the foothills of giants, and the flora and foliage change as frequently as the songs I listen to, as the road passes underneath. The road becomes more scar-like as the mountains get bigger. It seems to cut the landscape in two.
I gained eight images that I am happy with from this 33 mile stretch… The end results are little more representative of the dwellings and buildings along the route.
Research
Having not created a book before, I decided to perform some research into layout, cover, positioning of image and design. I looked at many books from the library in work, but two in particular stood out to me as inspiration. I loved the small form of the Hoxton Press books, especially Samuel Zeller, Botanical. I also appreciated the design and style of East. The cover was simple. I feel like I will emulate this for my hand in, with a linen cover that emulates the coarseness of the road.
October 11th ’20
Topographical Documentary Landscape Photography
Topographic
ˌtɒpəˈɡrafɪk/
adjective
- relating to the arrangement of the physical features of an area.
2. “a topographic map of the site”
Topographical photography:
• A visual record of the environment/landscape
• Images that evoke a ‘sense of place’
• Documentary images that provide a narrative of an area
• Can be natural and/or manmade
New Topographics – A photographic exhibition in 1975 of the American landscape. The show was curated by William Jenkins at the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, New York. Photographers included:
• Stephen Shore • Robert Adams • Lewis Baltz • Joe Deal • Franke Gohlke • John Schott • Nicholas Nixon • Henry Wessel Jr. • Bernd and Hilla Becher
Frank Gohlke (2009) said “I think it wouldn’t be too strong to say that it was a vigorously hated show”…
The New Topographics exhibition contributed towards developing a new photographic vision for landscapes in the seventies. The Bechers images excluded any details that would distract the viewer from the central theme and instead set up comparisons of viewpoints and lighting through which the eye is led to the basic structural pattern of the images. The majority of imagery and photographers within the New Topographics movement have been an enormous influence on me, as they have on photography in general. In particular, documentary photography, and documentary landscape has forever been influenced and injected with New Topographic style. Perceptions of how a landscape ‘should’ be represented have evolved since and because of this movement.
Gohike, F. (2009) ‘LACMA traces photography’s New Topographics movement’ LA Times November 15th 2009 [Online]. Available at: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-photos15-2009nov15-story.html (Accessed: 11th Oct 20)
Oct 11th ’20
4th Shoot
Petrichor
The next leg; Llandinam to Mallwyd (25 miles). I left home at 7am. It was raining when I left but the projected weather forecast was favourable for the shoot. I got onto the A470 at Cardiff and travelled up to the spot where I left off last time. The plan was simple; to simply see how far I could get with the time that was available to me.
The monotony of the road continues…
The shoot and drive today were fabulous. The weather was entirely favourable, the road was quiet and my brain whirred with thoughts as I photographed this winding snake.
Out of only 17 images captured (one accidental strolling shot) I have made eight that could end up as final images.
Oct 13th ’20
Robert Frank – US 285, New Mexico, 1956
Robert Franks US 252 image holds similar visual traits to the work that I am producing for this project. The road leading in, heavy black and white, stark tonality…
Editing Style
End result thoughts
I have been thinking about how to submit this project. As the end of the road draws nearer, a book seems to make the most sense. I have been researching methods of book printing, and there are a wealth of options. I could use a company, I could source the pages and cover separately… I do know I want a linen cover, to match the texture and colour of the road.
Idea
Within the book, it might be nice to include a map of the route of the A470. While these maps do not fit the visual aesthetic of the work, they have offered me the idea…
Random Instagram research
Oct 28th ’20
5th Shoot
Petrichor
This time I travelled between Mallwyd and Bleanau Ffestiniog (34 miles). I again left home at 7am. It was raining when I left but the projected weather forecast was favourable for the shoot. I got onto the a 470 at Cardiff and travelled up to the spot where I left off last time. Again, I was to see how far I could get with the time that was available to me.
The drive and shoot were great and incorporated the most visually interesting aspects of the road so far. Winding through Coed Y Brenin forest, into the truly mountainous regions and up past the wonderful trawsfynydd, the road is very interesting and the landscape beautiful. I got some additional imagery to compliment the road, for my own purposes. The drive culminated in Bleanau Ffestiniog – a weird and wonderful mining town, known for its slate mines. Slate mountains scatter the landscape and it is dwarfed by the mountains that jut up against the towns border.
I achieved 30 images today – my highest count from any shoot to date.
I also captured some worthwhile landscape shots today…
Paul Graham exhibiton Huxley Parlour
Research – Typologies
I stumbled upon this great article about photographic typologies recently, and I keep going back to it.
https://www.photopedagogy.com/typologies.html#
Book research – Dan Woods Gap in the hedge – How the cover of a book could look
https://anotherplacepress.bigcartel.com/product/dan-wood-gap-in-the-hedge
November 10th ’20
Shoot 7, Petrichor
This afternoon, I visited Cardiff to shoot the beginning of the narrative. The A470 starts right outside the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff Bay, which in itself is the perfect starting place. The drama of the WMC is an incredible starting image, and again one which holds many memories for me personally. I focused just on the Cardiff area today, slowly travelling just six miles.
Six images were the result of the Cardiff leg today. The weather was great, as I am in need of heavy skies to represent the mood of memory.
Research
John Davies
John Davies is a photographer that I have followed and appreciated for years. Being Welsh, his imagery and work in Wales has been a constant to me, both as inspiration and in the classroom. He is well known for photographing industry juxtaposed against the landscape.
Utilising his own black and white methods, he influenced me when I studied my degree in photography. Under rating Ilford FP4, and using yellow filtration to subtly enhance the sky, I learned from his techniques when first shooting 35mm and medium format. Known for his big skies and sweeping vistas, he is also an influence on this project. While his ‘style’ does not fit in terms of edit or contrast, content certainly does. His images speak of industry and nostalgia, as do mine. There are similarities that I can draw from and keep in mind when shooting.
“IN RECENT YEARS I HAVE DRAWN INSPIRATION FROM ISSUES RELATING TO MY SURROUNDINGS AND CONDITIONING. INITIALLY I DEVELOP AN INTEREST IN DOCUMENTING ASPECTS OF MY IMMEDIATE SOCIAL POLITICAL LANDSCAPE. THESE CONCERNS OFTEN REFLECT A NATIONAL IF NOT INTERNATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE. I AM NOT SO MUCH INTERESTED IN ENTERTAINING AN AUDIENCE OR PROVIDING VEHICLES FOR ESCAPE BUT IN DELIVERING A HIGHLY CRAFTED DETAILED IMAGE CONVEYING A SENSE OF REALITY. A REALITY THAT SHARES A RECOGNITION OF ASPECTS OF URBAN LIVING. BUT IMPORTANTLY, MAKING IMAGES OF A LANDSCAPE THAT ATTEMPTS TO QUESTION OUR ACCEPTANCE AND PERCEPTION OF THE INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCES OF LIVING IN A POST IMPERIALIST SOCIETY AND WITHIN A POST INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE”
Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station, 1994
Joh Davies is such an inspiration to me that his work gave me a project several years ago (2003). My FMP whilst studying for my BA hons was all about the impact upon the landscape of PowerStations across the UK. The above image was my starting point. Here is my interpretation of it, in 2003:
John Davies. 2017. John Davies Photographer – home page. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.johndavies.uk.com/. [Accessed 11 November 2020].
Davies, J., 1987. A Green and Pleasant Land. 1st ed. English: Cornerhouse Publications.
Idris Khan
One additional piece I might produce for hand in is a blended image containing all end results from this project. I have been researching the work of Idris Khan as this would involve a similar techniques of overlaying multiple images to create singular digital composite.
Khan is a multi-disciplinary artist but it is his photographic work I am primarily looking at. Khan investigates an images meaning by repurposing them, stepping away from the images original intention. The overlaying of images creates new, hidden meanings to typographical work, hence why I think it fits my project. Both Idris Khan’s work and my own investigates memory.
The work is fascinating, and visually challenging. The representations of time and memory are apparent, and this method of presentation allows for the passing of time via perceived movement. The similarities in my own typographical project via context is relevant, as I invite the viewer to consider memory and the passing of time.
Having looked at Kahns work, I feel his methods would certainly suit my project, via imagination and enhanced viewer experience.
Sally Mann
The work of Sally Mann is intriguing, as I am totally in love with the processes she uses. She uses large format to produce wet plate and ambrotypes, delivering life oriented imagery with the most perfect imperfections. The dream like quality is non cliched and resurrects thoughts of memory and time passing.
Sally Mann. 2018. Sally Mann. [ONLINE] Available at: http://sallymann.com/. [Accessed 12 Nov 2020]].
The Art of Photography. 2014. Sally Mann – YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_eXLr11aOQ. [Accessed 12 Nov 2020].
Sugimoto – theatres
The typographical content of the Sugimotos work is wonderful. His theatres are portals to another world, the seascapes a glimpse at a future unseen.
Sugimoto – Sea
Lee Friedlander – roads
Ryan Weiderman – taxi
The Guardian. 2018. Between the lines | Art and design | The Guardian. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/sep/02/art. [Accessed 20 Oct 2020].
November 17th ’20
Shoot 7, Petrichor
Tricky section today as I navigated from the outskirts of Cardiff up to Merthyr Tydfil. This section is all motorway/dual carriageway, so I had to search for bridges to photograph from.
Research
Research – Tracy Moffat text
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/tracey-moffatt-2669
https://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/exhibition/scarred-for-life/pjihb
Bill owens suburbia – text options
Jim Goldberg
Research – Wordsworth – Tintern Abbey
http://www.bbc.co.uk/poetryseason/poems/tintern_abbey.shtml
Ken Lum is a Chinese/Canadian artist. I have been looking into how the various texts opperate on different coloured backgrounds and in relation to the images. http://kenlumart.com/untitled-collection/
RESEARCH – history of the A470
https://www.roads.org.uk/photo/a470-end-end
Image and text
Willie Docherty (early b/w image and text pieces)
Duane Michals
Roni Horn (USA, b1955, ‘Still Water, 2000, Images River Thames with text beneath)
Andreas Muller-Pohle – 1951, Germany. Danube River Project. Camera partly submerged shows below water and above. Text on image gives pollutant percentages – http://muellerpohle.net/projects/the-danube-river-project/
Melanie Manchot, series – ‘Love is a stranger’.
Karen Knorr – series ‘Belgravia’- portraits of residents in their homes in Belgravia with text beneath the caricatures. Made 1979- 81, beginning of Thatcherism. Also series
Gentlemen, 81-83
Alec Soth – Mississippi
John Gossage – book ‘Looking up Ben James’ – book layout research
Book – ‘The Open Road’ – features key photographers that have used the American Road Trip – https://davidcampany.com/the-open-road-photography-and-the-american-road-trip/
Research
A470 – health and wellbeing – memories – investigate by looking back at memories
A 470 – in the book the text will be single line lyrics from the time that I remember, while the voice-over will be the story attached to that memory and song.
A 470 – all images in one like idris Khan becher style
A 470 – I decided to go out to shoot the final segment of the a 470 today my plan was to photograph the section between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Llandudno. The weather looks great, conditions looked superb, but I got an hour and a half into my journey and my power steering failed. Managed to reset it, but it was far too dangerous to continue, and I didn’t wanna risk being stuck in North Wales. So I abandoned ship, turned around, and went home.
“Knowing reality means constructing systems of transformations that correspond, more or less adequately, to reality.”
Jean Piaget
Thoughts:
You’re in my head. You’re in my day dreams. I like you. I trust you. I think you’re funny. I think you’re weird.
A470 lyrics for the book:
Genesis, free, Nina Simone, jazz, the Beatles, Cocteau twins, Tori Amos, Portishead, Nirvana, Ffion Reagan, simply red, lead belly, Joy division, Lenny Kravitz, Marvin Gaye, Lost boys soundtrack, Turtles soundtrack, levellers. David Gray this year‘s love, Imagen heap the walk, pitsellah, humiliation. (I got baby to pound me), mad season wake up, Love steals us from happiness, Lord Huron setting sun(The book ends on the setting sun lyrics, you might never have known you might never know it girl but I’m all yours). Say hello goodbye, take a look at my face for the last time. When the light hits the water lyrics
You said something stupid like… This could be either lyrics for the song or it could be words in the book,
A470 – script/song
Book page linking text idea:
I went on a trip. I remember it well.
December 2nd ’20
Today was the final shoot for Petrichor. I undertook a three hour drive to reach Bleanau Ffestiniog, which was the starting place for this final leg. The final 30 miles are incredibly interesting from a visual point of view. The road winds its way to its conclusion via 90 degree bends and beautiful hills.
At the very end of the road lies Llandudno. This tourist town perches right at the top of Wales and as you approach the seafront there is a strange shift in perception. You feel like you are standing at the edge of a skyscraper or on the summit of a mountain. There is a sense of height at the journeys end, almost as though you have scaled a peak.
Book ideas:
Jan 2nd ’21
My new instagram account is going well (@peterbrittonphoto). I’m using it for project promotion. To help separate projects visually, I have made the below separator. I am aware of the commercial aspect of a logo, but I quite like it…
Book creation/proof
I have shot nearly 600 images for this project, driven countless miles and really enjoyed this process. For each of the shoots I selected the images that represented moments and memories best, and came out with 90 final images. To help with the selection process for the book, I decided to print the 90 images out on a laser printer at 6×4 size to visualise the study as a whole. This was a really useful thing to do as I was able to visually assess the project achievements and foresee the project as a typographical study.
Book introduction
Petrichor
Running the length of Wales, from Cardiff Bay to Llandudno, the A470 is an iconic road that cuts straight through the middle of the country. Like an artery that keeps people moving, this 186 mile infamous road provides communication and links throughout Wales. The road has its own tale, with an enormous history of change, decay, progress and destruction. These photographs portray the road set against the striking and beautiful backdrop of Wales, but also highlight its importance personally, as moments created whilst on the road are recalled. Moments that have shaped my being and nature, the images forming fragmentary insights into the accompanying text. This journey is an adventure of human endeavour, from an aesthetic, environmental and nostalgic point of view. Memories past of family road trips and journeys made in more recent times are juxtaposed against the beauty of the Welsh landscape while the scar of the road is ever present, ever consistent. Moments in our lives shape us, allow us to evolve and become better people. Knowledge gained from experiences both positive and negative offer us a subliminal reference point to make informed decisions about our futures. The memories that occurred on this road are some of the most important moments to me, and they have shaped my future.
Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real – Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses.
Within photography and art the journey is a constant theme. Whether it be a contextual journey through narrative or a visual journey in aesthetic terms, the journey has always been a vibrant source of storytelling. The A470 reveals its own story the further North you travel along the road. The topography changes, the mountains rise, the landscape increases in drama. The road sweeps and turns through the foothills of giants, and the flora and foliage change as frequently as the songs I listen to, as the road flows underneath. The road becomes more scar-like as the mountains get bigger and it seems to cut the landscape in two. Villages offer respite from the journey and the views are awe-inspiring. At the very end of the road lies Llandudno. This tourist town perches right at the top of Wales and as you approach the seafront there is a strange shift in perception. You feel like you are standing at the edge of a skyscraper or on the summit of a mountain. There is a sense of height at the journeys end, almost as though you have scaled a peak.
The original working title of the project was ‘Middle of the Road’, because of the constant position of the camera within all of the images and because the road cuts through the middle of Wales. But as I was shooting one August day, I smelled that fabulous aroma that only appears on hot days after rain. The smell of summer; that earthy scent that smells so wonderous after rainfall. Petrichor. It is the smell I most associate with summer holidays as a child and with my family whilst growing up. I remember the first time I smelt ‘summer’. I was in the French Alps, in the Haute-Savoie with my mother, father and sister. I was ten years old and we were walking amongst the mountains around the ski resort of La Clusaz. As a kid our summer holidays were to the mountains of Europe, not to the beaches. As we walked there was a brief downpour. It lasted only a few minutes, and while we sheltered under trees an incredible smell became apparent to me. It was beautiful, and I remember the moment vividly. I realise now it was the first time I had smelt petrichor; a molecule (geosmin) that is released into the air after drops of water fall on dry soil (Halton, 2018). There is a picture in my head of the moment we walked out from our leafy shelter with the Aravis Ridge looming the distance, and the glistening trail we were following, wet and shiny with bright bursts of alpine flowers and ferns. It was incredible.
I started noticing the smell of petrichor more after that first experience. That same summer, I was standing on the side of the A470 with my family, and we were on our way to Snowdon for a weekend break. We had stopped in a layby to stretch our legs and it had just rained. Again, mountains looked down on us and the scent of petrichor filled the air; the scent of summer, the smell of my childhood. From then on it became my associated aroma of the A470.
The road itself is beautiful. Stoic and solitary, it exudes a certain melancholy that is forever present as the tenants of the environment change and evolution manipulates the landscape. This ever-changing landscape is affected by the road. As the landscape erodes and changes, and so does the road. So do we, as humans, aging and changing, physically and mentally. When we look in the mirror, we look the same. But when we look at an old photograph of ourselves, we look different. Physical change occurs so slowly that we don’t realise it is taking place, until we look back. Until we look back at our old photographs. Until we delve deep into our memories. Travelling this road from end to end has created a new beginning as the past recedes.
“Art exists because reality is neither real nor significant.”
― J.G. Ballard
Peter Britton, December 2020
Halton, M., 2020. Petrichor: Why Does Rain Smell So Good?. [online] BBC News. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44904298> [Accessed 27 September 2020].
These images form fragmentary insights into the accompanying text:
Book content
Down this grey road.
I remember something.
I went on trips.
I remember them well.
Trips with my family. Trips with my friends. Trips alone.
I remember them well.
I have memories.
This road.
It has made moments.
I remember them well.
I’m small, maybe five or six. I’m in the back seat of the car, our Austin Allegro. I close my eyes, my imagination soars and the world is submerged. I’m in an underwater abyss. Colours fly by the window as fish flutter past. Movement surrounds the car as bubbles flow all around. Mum and dad are oblivious to this watery world as we glide along the underwater road, in our car that has become a submarine. I imagine. I’m small, maybe five or six.
I’m older, and we have stopped for a picnic lunch, just off the road. The sun ablaze in the sky beats down on us like a weight, but a good weight, like a heavy duvet at night. It’s a hot day and the water in a nearby lake is inviting in its glassy calm. The black, red and yellow blanket floats on the plush green grass, dimpled by flavoursome finger food. Ham and cheese sandwiches for me and my sister, dad has salami and salad, mum picks at something. There are crisps, pop, chocolate, Mr. Kiplings. Pickled onions; my sister is obsessed with them. She plucks one out of the brown vinegar from the jar, and pops it into her mouth. But she breathes in as she does so… it gets stuck. She chokes. Her face turns blue, and her eyes bulge. Dad grabs her and hits her on her back. It doesn’t come out, so mum puts her fingers in my sisters mouth, right to the back of her throat and gouges, prises, pinches the onion out from my sisters gullet. A cough, and a fingernail nicked onion rolls into a dimple on the picnic blanket. It looks like a dead eye.
The immensity of the mountain looms over us, the sky forms a ceiling of wild and bubbly clouds. The water in the lake gently breaks on the shore a few feet away from us; a small but consistent lapping at the land. Dad has locked the keys in the car, and we all stand around peering at them through the front driver side window. They are in the ignition, ready to be turned, waiting to start the car to take us home. But we are out here, looking in, wondering what to do. I think we will be stuck here forever, so I start making a plan. I say we could live on fish from the lake, and I start looking for a stick big enough to make into a rod. I start collecting firewood too, and as I turn around I see my dad pick up a large rock. With his gentle hand he taps it against the drivers side window. I wonder what he’s doing, and with the next tap, harder this time, I understand. The flat glass panel shatters, becoming a hundred thousand component parts. Dad reaches in through the new aperture, and unlocks the car. He gets a carrier bag from the boot, opens the driver side door and brushes the sharp shards into the bag. Several shards spill onto the gravel by the door, the small rocks cut through with islands of translucent blue. Glass, gravel and filtered light play with one another, a Mandelbrot derivative of never-ending microscopic depth. I walk out to the edge of the water. Leaves lay in the shallow water, the cloak of floating flora disturbed by the quivering legs of a saturated hoverfly.
We’re riding our bikes through the landscape, me and my family. Riding to the pub for tea. We went there yesterday as well, and we are going back this evening because of the ‘death by chocolate gâteau’. Opulent chocolate sponge, cream and cherries. I can’t wait to dig my fork into the voluptuous sponge and unctuous cream. On the way we ride past a pond and I see sticklebacks zooming around in the crystal clear pool. I have a thought that I’ll catch some and take them back to the holiday cottage… keep them in the bath. We ride on, we come across a deserted house, behind broken gates. It’s huge, three floors, more mansion than house really. We ride up the tree lined driveway and stop to look. I push my bike to the double front doors, only one of which remains upright. I get on my bike, ride into the house and go speeding off around the large ground floor, whooping for joy at the extravagance of the experience. I crash into furniture and skid on the parquet floor. Mum and dad tell me to ‘come on’, and we ride on, toward the pub, and death by chocolate gâteau.
Mum is driving and I’m staring out of the window, with tears in my eyes. Dad has died, just weeks ago. Not unexpectedly; we had been waiting for years. Mum helped him stay alive, and he was happy. He was dignified and fearless. The pain was enormous, engulfing. But he was brave. He laughed and joked. He listened to music with me in the front room, because he knew he needed to be lost and absorbed in his favourite melodies before the blackness swallowed him whole forever. Cancer. But mum is brave too. Mum has decided that we need to get away for some days. We arrive at a cottage, just me and mum. She cooks tea, drinks wine. I read my book and go for a walk by myself to the top of the hill that sits behind the cottage. It’s dark by the time I get back and mum has gone to bed. She has nightmares in the night, the screams starting without warning, her terror realised in the dark. We leave the next day. Mum is driving and I’m staring out of the window, with tears in my eyes.
Years later, I’m driving along the grey road, the girl sits beside me singing along to the music, one hand in mine as we drive. Mist floods the sky, and the mountain tops are nestled in cloud. Despite the mist (or maybe because of it) I stop the car by a lake. Suddenly she’s naked in the seat next to me as we change into our swimming gear. We jump out of the car, excited by the damp air. Our feet feel the nip of the cold water as we creep from the shore, our bodies tensing at its icy touch as we submerge deeper into the clear pool, so cool and deep. We swim out into the lake and the cold is all I can take. Her blue eyes shine with life as we bob amongst the misty ripples, the rise and fall of the almost still water barely perceptible. Light begins to creep through the mist, and a shaft of gold illuminates the water vapour as it glides across her face. I envelope her in the light and cold, and as her perfect lips turn blue, I kiss them. We swim back to the shore, water below and mist above, the cold receding from our bodies as we shiver up the shore. Back at the car, wrapped in towels, I enfold her in my arms. I let my towel fall to the ground and she welcomes me into her towel, our tummies touch, dimpled with the cold. And in that moment, nothing moves.
We stopped the car and turned to look at the view, the light of the sun selecting parts of the landscape as the clouds shifted across the sky. Our shadows spread out before us, long and thin. We looked like giants.
It’s my 23rd birthday. I’m on my way to Trawsfynydd to photograph the nuclear power station. There’s a steak in the fridge at home, waiting to be cooked. My mobile rings, my pocket vibrates and I pull over. Fine drizzle slowly dapples the windscreen, and the power station sits watching me through a miasma of painterly blur. It’s you. I’m glad, because I’ve got a joke I’ve been dying to tell you. But you don’t want to hear the joke. Looks like the joke is on me. I wish I’d never answered, but I suppose I was bad news for you. I know you never meant to hurt me. There’s a steak in the fridge at home, waiting to be cooked.
And now I’m on the road again. To me it is a road well travelled and well known, but this time it leads me in a new direction. A direction driven by fate, evolution, circumstance and reason. I know not what the future holds; nobody does. But I do know that time is short, and just like my parents, I must too be brave. Just like this road, everything has a beginning and an end.
I’ll remember this well.
This road.
This trip.
This is the beginning.
Book outcome
I am so pleased with the book. It has a shadow linen cover, with UV printing. The pages are Mohawk fine art paper, and it is totally superb quality. It is the perfect way to showcase the project.
Middle of the road
I have decided to create a composite image from all of the 90 end results. Based on the work of Idris Kahn, it is a representation of my memories of the road up to this point. I think it works very well, and makes a fitting additional piece. The abstract aesthetic lends itself exactly to notion of memory and the past, as all the thoughts and stories meld into one, just as they do in real life when looking back.
Middle of the road – A composite image made from 90 images, merged together to show the entirety of the A470 in one final piece. Running the length of Wales, from Cardiff Bay to Llandudno, the A470 is an iconic road that cuts straight through the middle of Wales. Like an artery that keeps people moving, this 186 mile infamous road provides communication and links throughout Wales. The road has its own tale, with an enormous history of change, decay, progress and destruction.
Harman labs
I decided to get the ‘Middle of the Road’ piece printed properly, via Harman labs. The images are true silver prints, but unfortunately they were unable to supply the large 20″x16″ piece because of Covid. The smaller insert for the book however is fabulous.
Essay/Evaluation
This project has been a difficult one; probably the most difficult project I have undertaken to date. The photographs in this project portray the infamous A470 road set against the striking and beautiful backdrop of Wales. The A470 is an iconic road that links South to North Wales. This project follows 186 miles that cuts straight through the middle of Wales. This work highlights the importance of this road to me personally, as moments created whilst on the road during my life are recalled. These are moments that have shaped my being and nature. Memories past of family road trips and journeys made in more recent times are juxtaposed against the beauty of the Welsh landscape while the scar of the road is ever present, ever consistent. Moments in our lives shape us, allow us to evolve and become better people. Knowledge gained from experiences both positive and negative offer us a subliminal reference point to make informed decisions about our futures. The memories that occurred on this road are some of the most important moments to me, and they have shaped my future.
My original idea and intention for this project was to create a body of imagery about the road itself. It was to be a visual exploration of the impact of the A470 upon Wales’ landscape. The original intention for the work was to explore the impact of human endeavour upon our landscape, from an aesthetic and environmental point of view. This evolved and changed as the project progressed, and a clear memory based narrative emerged. Photographing took place from late July until early December, capturing nearly 600 individual images of the road.
Todd Hidos work was initially the main influence for my A470 idea. Shot through a window of a car, his landscape work is ominous, suggestive and beautiful. My original idea was almost the same, visually, but Hidos work is so unique that it could not be emulated. This led me to evolve the idea, and rethink the visual aesthetic of the work. As I have previous experience working with Typologies (https://five-by-four.com/topographics-powerstations/), my progression brought me to consistent positioning. But Hidos work also influenced me in another important way – memories. As I looked at these beautiful, abstract, surreal images, I wondered what was going on in Hidos head at the time, and they reminded me of a visual recollection; they looked like thoughts or memories. The idea to use the project to inspect moments that the road had given over my time came from this work.
I also noticed a thread of constant that weaves through my new work and ideas. ‘Human interaction with the natural environment’ is my familiar theme and my developing area of study is ‘natural environment and how we as humans interact with it’.
Paul Graham’s social documentary about the A1 is another obvious place to start with regard to inspiration for my project. To me, this is a remarkable body of work (published in 1983) and an example of a project vast in scope (considering the length of the road and size of the chosen camera format). It is all encompassing, capturing the landscape, buildings, details and people, creating a historical document of a moment in time.
My project certainly takes inspiration from the fundamental mainstay of the A1 study – the road. The main difference between A1 and my study is the fact that my project doesn’t stray away from the road; the road was my focus. Visually, my project has consistencies. Viewpoint, position and conditions all create a familiar aesthetic between each image, while the editing style imparts a message of ‘memory’ through black and white and heavy contrast. The edit is heavy. I would almost consider it over edited. It is not my usual editing style, which is very subtle and very representational of the environment in which I took the photograph. This project is about memory and by offering a heavy edit the project takes on a somewhat more nostalgic and fanciful aesthetic. The shadow detail is lost, just as some moments and details of a memory are lost, and some of the content remains on the periphery of vision, just as a memory does. The black and white, heavy contrast tonality also adds to this aesthetic by adding an unreal visual theme to the imagery.
At the start of the project, the underlying theme was human impact. By also researching Misrach and Burtynsky I felt that the A470 would make a worthwhile study of the impact of this scar on the landscape and environment. As it the project emerged, however, the theme of memory became more apparent. As I drove, my mind began to wander into the past and the future. This progression from human impact to memory is much more personal than I anticipated, and I have struggled to let go, and allow my memories to be told. But this change has made the project what it is, and I am incredibly pleased with the narrative based outcome.
Visually, the project is a topographical typology study. My viewpoint is the same in each image. The position of the road remains the same, while the landscape changes, evolves, rises and falls. Sometimes flat, sometimes mountainous, the landscape is the variable, while the road is the constant. There are many photographers who work with typologies, but the Bechers have always been an influence. I was lucky enough to see their work very recently in Cardiff; their work close up is awe inspiring.
The Bechers’ straight images of industrial structures are architectural in form, and typographical in aesthetic. Similar in style to the work of Karl Blossfeldt or August Sander, the beauty is in the shape and detail. The Bechers images exclude any details that would distract the viewer from the central theme and instead set up comparisons of viewpoints and lighting through which the eye is led to the basic structural pattern of the images. I feel that some of this beauty is apparent in the shape of the road in my visual study.
The original working title of the project was ‘Middle of the Road’, because of the constant position of the camera within all of the images and because the road cuts through the middle of Wales. But as I was shooting one August day, I smelled that fabulous aroma that only appears on hot days after rain. The smell of summer; that earthy scent that smells so wonderous after rainfall. Petrichor. It is the smell I most associate with summer holidays as a child and with my family whilst growing up. I remember the first time I smelt ‘summer’. I was in the French Alps with my mother, father and sister. I was ten years old and we were walking amongst the mountains around the ski resort of La Clusaz. As a kid our summer holidays were to the mountains of Europe, not to the beaches. As we walked there was a brief downpour. It lasted only a few minutes, and while we sheltered under trees an incredible smell became apparent to me. It was beautiful, and I remember the moment vividly. I realise now it was the first time I had smelt petrichor; a molecule (geosmin) that is released into the air after drops of water fall on dry soil (Halton, 2018). There is a picture in my head of the moment we walked out from our leafy shelter with the Aravis Ridge looming the distance, and the glistening trail we were following, wet and shiny with bright bursts of alpine flowers and ferns. It was incredible.
I started noticing the smell of petrichor more after that first experience. That same summer, I was standing on the side of the A470 with my family, and we were on our way to Snowdon for a weekend break. We had stopped in a layby to stretch our legs and it had just rained. Again, mountains looked down on us and the scent of petrichor filled the air; the scent of summer, the smell of my childhood. From then on it became my associated aroma of the A470.
All of that came back to me as I was out shooting this project. I smelled the scent of summer; the smell of my childhood. The smell of the A470. It fit the project.
As I drove I saw how the ever changing landscape is affected by the road. As the landscape changed, and so did the road. So do we, as humans, aging and changing, physically and mentally. I feel as though the road is a metaphor for change, via the memories that it has evoked as I travelled along its rough surface. What I saw was change. It was subtle, but constant. Just like us as human beings. When we look in the mirror, we look the same. But when we look at an old photograph of ourselves, we look different. Physical change occurs so slowly that we don’t realise it is taking place, until we look back. Until we look back at our old photographs. Until we delve deep into our memories.
One additional piece that I have produced as an accompaniment to the book is a composite image made from 90 images, merged together to show the entirety of the A470 in one additional piece. I have been researching the work of Idris Khan, as the process involved a similar technique of overlaying multiple images to create a singular digital composite. The piece is a representation of my memories of the road. I think it works very well, and makes a fitting addition. The abstract aesthetic lends itself exactly to notion of memory and the past, as all the thoughts and stories meld into one, just as they do in real life when looking back.
The work of Kahn is fascinating, and visually challenging. The representations of time and memory are apparent, and this method of presentation allows for the passing of time via perceived movement. The similarities in my own typographical project via context is relevant, as I invite the viewer to consider memory and the passing of time.
Having looked at Kahns work, I feel his methods certainly suited my project, and the additional piece offers an enhanced viewer experience. My intention was to mount it on aluminium, but as I needed to post the work for submission, this was not viable.
The narrative of the work is where the greatest development has occurred across this project. It has progressed from something standard (human impact), and advanced into a story that I am incredibly pleased with. From the first shoot, I had already gone through the idea development stage of visual aesthetic. I knew I how I wanted the project to look. This ‘look’ was a departure for me, as even though I have experience with typologies, my usual style is diverse and varied in image making. This project is not. All the images follow a format, and I feel that this is why the storytelling aspect works so well.
This project has not been without issues. Lockdown has been restrictive. I have a full time job, and two small children, and home-schooling which means time is non-existent. But I feel very proud of this project. I am so pleased to have achieved such a vast body of work, from locations that are not local to me, under pandemic restrictions and massive time constraints. The book is a fabulous conclusion to a lot of hard work, many miles covered and much recollection of moments not considered for years.
My future progress from here looks promising, as I now have a wealth of new ideas to draw from, that the road gave me as I drove. With time to think and consider my area of practice, this project has given me new objectives and a desire to produce work like never before.
“Knowing reality means constructing systems of transformations that correspond, more or less adequately, to reality.”
Jean Piaget
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Peter Britton 