Project 18: How space changes with light

Reading the brief for this project, I felt like I’d done it twice before – Art of Photography & Landscape – the difference being that this is potentially about internal space rather than an external situation.  I had thought that I would use a room in our home where the light changes significantly as the day goes by but, whilst on holiday, decided to shoot images of a room in the house where we were staying, looking at it in two very different forms of light – the morning sun and the internal tungsten lights of the evening.  Following the theme of the previous post, I didn’t try to photograph the whole room or even a significant proportion of it in any specific image but to select five compositions, which I then repeated in the two different forms of lighting to get my comparative images (though I did two versions of ‘evening’ for one of the shots.

The first composition looks into a corner of the room that is potentially lit from two large window spaces – one in the frame, behind the chair, and the other off camera to the left.  I say ‘potentially lit’ because the window that actually appears in the frame is actually quite shaded by a tree and the walls of other buildings, so actually provides very little light on the scene.  These are the two images.

 

 

Both present photographic challenges with contrast, the first because of the bright patch of sunlight on the floor in the foreground and the second because the light source is in the frame.  The first is actually lit from the window that is out of frame to the left, with the sun creating sharp highlights on the surface of the leather chair.  The comparative outcome of the images is quite interesting in that I first considered using the room for this project because of the attractive light in this corner in the morning sun, but in the end, it is the tungsten-lit image for this composition that comes out most effectively – to my mind.  Even though a large part of the chair is in deep shadow because it is a dark colour and back-lit, the contrast between the soft orange tungsten light and the blue cast of the evening shade outside in the garden works better than the harsher and less evenly sunlit first image.  Shooting this corner in the daytime would probably work more effectively if done in a more consistent afternoon light, when the sun is no longer coming directly through the window, or when there is no bright sunlight.  (Would that I could back to Carcassonne to try it!)

The next composition moves 90 degrees to the right.  The sunlight doesn’t reach across the room to this wall, so the daylight image is lit in a consistent manner with none of the sharp contrasts of the previous framing.

 

 

I think one of the characteristics of these selective, ‘incomplete’ framings that I have been trying is balance – or at least an attempt at balance – and this image hopefully demonstrates that.  Yes, the pot in the alcove is probably the immediate attraction, but so is half a clock, part of a red brick fireplace, a sofa arm and some CDs propped against the side of the fireplace.  I don’t necessarily want any one thing to dominate.  With the soft, even, natural daylight, the lighting helps to achieve that result, but because the alcove has a concealed light that is the main source in the second image, it is the alcove and pot that dominates the frame.  It still makes for an interesting image, but it doesn’t deliver the same balanced result as the first.

The next composition turns a further 45 degrees to the right, and there are 3 versions.

 

 



Once again, my own preference is for the soft, even natural light in the first version, shot in the morning.  As in the previous composition, the brightly lit alcove is interesting in the middle version, but it dominates and looks unnatural (and is difficult to expose for, of course).  I switched off that light and went for a longer exposure, lit by other tungsten lighting to the right, but it creates odd shadows.  I used the ‘open door’ technique to suggest things ‘off frame’.

Moving to another corner of the room, I selected this framing.

 

 

Once again, the change of lighting has a marked effect on the way the eye interprets the image.  In the left hand version, where there is natural light entering from the right of the frame, from a glass doorway in the other room, the eye is drawn out of the frame in that direction, particularly with the pan hanging on the wall and the radiator.  Whilst the same is true to some extent in the second image, that effect is balanced by the bright wall light, which increases the ‘pull’ of the left half of the composition.  Oddly, that seems to me to create a slight sense of menace from the right side of that second image – perhaps because the light is obviously less natural.

The final composition looks back across the room, towards the doorway that features in the one above, which leads into a kitchen.  Now, the balance is more even in the daylight image, with a reasonable it between the strength of the cupboard in the foreground and the kitchen area framed by the doorway.  The eye moves to the kitchen, but it is aware of the furniture in the room as well.  In the second, the brightly lit kitchen is the dominant area by some way, and that is where the eye goes immediately.

 

 

So, conclusion – not surprisingly, that the position and nature of the light entering a space will significantly affect the balance of an image and could lead to quite different decisions about where to position the camera and what composition to choose, depending on one’s intentions with the image.  Further subtle differences could also have been achieved in different forms of natural light at different times of the day and, as illustrated with the third composition above, by the choice of which artificial lighting to use and where to position it.



Project 17: The user’s point of view

It proved harder than I might have expected to come up with suitable ideas for this project.  The brief says “... a particular activity that is undertaken from a specific, distinctive position.”  Taking that literally (and I’m not saying one must) there aren’t too many places that fit the bill – toilet (no!) ...  However, I think I’ve come up with three suitably diverse situations – one domestic; one ‘public’; and one that is probably best described as art.

Starting with a fairly obvious, domestic space, this photograph is taken from the point of view of a diner in a kitchen/dining room (one could obviously do something similar in a restaurant, bar, or whatever).

The camera is on a tripod, more or less at eye level, where someone would be sitting, looking out across the room.  Height is a fairly straightforward decision here, but there could be variations on the camera angle and the focal length, and both might vary depending on whether one included other people in the picture.  In an otherwise empty room, and maybe even if there was someone cooking in the background, the wide angle (this is c16-18mm in 35mm equivalent terms) seems most appropriate here (and indeed, most of the time when simulating the human viewpoint in a room like this).  If there were other people dining at the table on the other side, then the user is more likely to be focused on them, with the room somewhat secondary in the background, and one might come up with a different answer  (albeit it might not then be about the use of the room – or maybe it would?).

The second example goes out into the public domain.



This is a bus shelter in the centre of Holmfirth.  It doesn’t totally fit the brief, in that there is a choice of places where one might be sitting, and the ‘user’ might even be standing.  However, I do think it illustrates the user’s point of view.  Height-wise, I have gone for the sitting position again and the camera angle is, naturally, looking in the direction from which buses would be coming.  I did think – should I wait until there is a bus in view? – but truthfully, the user spends most time looking at an empty road, waiting.  The camera angle is quite a wide one again – 24mm equivalent.  Again, one might say that the user would be looking out onto the road, so I could have used a longer focal length, leading out of the shelter.  Apart from the fact that this would have made for a messy composition, I think it’s also fair to say that the user’s line of sight would be taking in the electronic sign in the top of the frame, and that they would also be aware of the graffiti on the seat.

And the final example, I suggested, is a work of art.  It is James Turrell’s Deer Shelter at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park – see here – and I have photographed it from the point of view of the human ‘user’, not the deer!  It is a space that provides an opportunity for cool, quiet contemplation (most of the time – never been in during a thunder storm, for example!).  Appropriately for a photographic project, it creates art out of light – changing light.  I did consider photographing it for Project 18, but I don’t anticipate spending a whole day there, interesting as it might be.  The ‘skylight’ is square, of course, but its shape is distorted by the wide angle – 16.5mm equivalent – and the patch of light on the right hand side is the direct sunlight penetrating the space in the roof.  I have tried to capture the softness of the light in the space that is then broken most strikingly by the sky through the roof void, and the harsh sunlight on the side.





Quite an interesting project, this has focused attention on a viewpoint that one doesn’t always consider when photographing a ‘space’.  All my examples have ended up using a wide angle, which, as I mentioned above, feels like the natural route to go when simulating human eyesight.  I was trying to think of exceptions, and I guess that if one was taking a photograph that looked into the space occupied by the user, and then onward into his/her line of sight, then a longer focal length would work perfectly well.  The following is a terribly ‘noisy’ and uninteresting example that I have just shot in the living room, but it illustrates the principle – 72mm equivalent focal length, but still representing, more or less, the viewpoint of someone sitting on the sofa that is just visible in the foreground because it is shot from a distance behind the sofa.

Project 16: Exploring function

So far, I have to admit to feeling underwhelmed by the ‘Buildings and spaces’ section of the course.  I can’t quite put a finger on why, but it may be that I havn’t found too many interesting/stimulating buildings or spaces to photograph; or alternatively, that I have not yet got myself fully engaged with the subject. However, I have been working on it over the last couple of weeks.  I started out looking at this project in a domestic context, but I have also been looking ahead to Assignment Three & photographing some other potential buildings and spaces, one of which I thought might fit well into the context of this project – Huddersfield Queensgate Market.  There is a bit of history here, which might come out again in the assignment; but, here it is in brief.  Huddersfield used to have an old Victorian Market Hall, which was replaced in 1970 by the current Queensgate Market Hall.  Some argued at the time, I believe, that it was a tragedy to lose the character of the old building, even though I’ve also seen it described as soot-covered and dominating the local environment.  They almost certainly did not like its replacement, which was an ‘iconic’ contemporary building with unique architectural features and specially commissioned artwork on both the inside and outside walls.  That building was itself threatened by redevelopment in the last ten or so years, but survived, and is championed by a pressure group looking to preserve its unique qualities.

Now, this project is about function, not architecture, so what might be the primary functions of a Market Hall?

·         Provide a flexible and convenient space in which trading can take place;

·         Make it easy for traders to bring in and display their goods, at relatively low cost and with minimum ‘fuss’ on a daily basis, if necessary;

·         Attract customers to visit easily and regularly to view the goods on display;

·         Provide a convivial atmosphere in which successful interaction between trader and customer can take place.

The project asks for a personal opinion of how effective the selected building/space is in delivering its function, so I havn’t been canvassing opinion, just looking at it and forming my own judgement.  Having visited a few times in the last month or so, I have to express my doubts about it, certainly in a contemporary context – and that is mostly based on the observation that there don’t seem to be large numbers of people in there buying goods.  It is a large, well-lit, clean and modern-feeling space.  Whilst I get the impression that there is a turnover of traders (evidenced by the occasional mis-match between signage and what is on sale, as well as by some empty spaces), it is, on the whole, well-stocked with a variety of goods (though relatively little in the way of fresh produce).  But, there are very few people around buying anything.  Positioned on the edge of the town centre, just inside the ring road, it is, I would think, convenient for the traders to access, and there is a public car park attached, so consumers don’t have any difficulty either, albeit there is no obviously inviting public entrance to draw people in.  The frontage onto the ring road is much photographed for its artwork, but it is essentially a solid wall with sculptures on it rather than an invite for the consumer.  And the inside has, to me, more in common with a sports hall than a retail space.  It lacks the intimacy and obvious hustle and bustle that I would associate with a market.

So the challenge is to sum that up in a single photograph.  Well, I’ve taken a few recently, and I think that some will feature in Assignment Three, but this, for me, illustrates my impressions most effectively.

I wanted to find an angle that would include some of the architectural features, simply because so much is made of them by those who praise the building.  For the record, they are ‘inverted freestanding rectangular asymmetric hyperbolic paraboloid umbrella shells in reinforced concrete’.  And I’m not making that up!  But, is it anything at all to do with encouraging a convivial atmosphere for market trading.  Or does it just make the same big open well-lit space that one could find in any modern out-of-town shed?  Look at the clean shiny floor – fantastic!  But there is just one customer around at about 2 o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon!