Over the weekend, I went to Swansea and so took my new video camera, shot lots of footage and then decided to edit it, perhaps try and achieve some of the things I want to do for the final project. Obviously I want to have more than one trip for that piece, but this was a good chance to experiment with my camera since I hadn't used it before and also see what works and what doesn't.
So it was a very rough piece that is basically an experiment, although I do like it to a point. I think speeding it up is the key to making it work and I do like the shot in the service station, discussing how much further we have to go in the journey.
There are some shots which work much better than others and now I know what sort of things look good and visually compelling i can carry this forward into the next section of my work. I kept the underlying motorway sounds and also used the sat nav lady's voice but admit i didn't want the chipmunk effect sound. I just forgot to slow down the audio on those clips.
But as an experiment I'm happy with it and look forward to shooting more video. I'm going to Cardiff this weekend, but the only problem with that is I'm driving. I'm contemplating strapping the camera to my dashboard and just recording, see what i capture, but I may just try and take stills from places we go to/stop instead.
Anyway, here's the roughly edited video. I might go back and look at what other sound i can add. One of the things i meant to do was have the radio on in the car so that you'd get a mixture of music which would change with the clips, but I forgot as I was concentrating on filming.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Research- A couple more photographers
I'm still trying to look at how other artists and people interpret road trips and so I'm still looking at other people's work. Noah Kalina's own look at road trips on his site is interesting and again different to previous ones I've looked at.
His road trip series reads to me more like a narrative of their journey, and features people which I've yet to do so far. Perhaps it's something I shouldn't just rule out. Interestingly, he also composes using windows terrifically.
This image is probably the most interesting in the set. I'm not sure what it is (possibly the lighting or the set feel to it) but it makes me think of Crewdson's images. Either way, it's a great image and one of the best in the set. Very different to most road trip imagery.
I also love this image. It's simple but very, very effective and the composition is great as are the colours. I tend to forget about light trails, maybe because they're so overdone, but they are beautiful and this is great use of them, particularly having the car in shot.
The other photographer I found is Ryan Jones. He isn't usually photographing road trips but needed some time away and made some images while he did. A lot of them are based around people, and they're great photos, but I still prefer still life or landscape stuff and so these two images stood out to me.
His road trip series reads to me more like a narrative of their journey, and features people which I've yet to do so far. Perhaps it's something I shouldn't just rule out. Interestingly, he also composes using windows terrifically.
This image is probably the most interesting in the set. I'm not sure what it is (possibly the lighting or the set feel to it) but it makes me think of Crewdson's images. Either way, it's a great image and one of the best in the set. Very different to most road trip imagery. 
I also love this image. It's simple but very, very effective and the composition is great as are the colours. I tend to forget about light trails, maybe because they're so overdone, but they are beautiful and this is great use of them, particularly having the car in shot.
The other photographer I found is Ryan Jones. He isn't usually photographing road trips but needed some time away and made some images while he did. A lot of them are based around people, and they're great photos, but I still prefer still life or landscape stuff and so these two images stood out to me.
Research- "Miss Shayna"
I stumbled across this page here. Miss Shayna is a visual artist and went on a coast to coast American road trip in 2006. The photographs have been published as a book and some of them are great.
The polaroid style really reflects the feel you want to get when photographing this kind of road trip. I also like the presentation. Numbering them all and putting the locations beneath is great.
The presentation of the book is amazing, put in a box and beautifully crafted. Very inspiring. Photos below...
For my own work right now, I'm thinking that polaroids would be the perfect accompanying thing for the road trip video I want to make.
Research- Brad Zellar
Brad Zellar has also shot on polaroid based around the theme of road trips/journeys. He went through the rural deep South of America, and some of the images are interesting. He takes a less serious approach to things, capturing often ironic things.
They're all quite interesting images and document the places, the things he saw. Again, he's been able to concentrate on framing the image with the lack of control over the camera.
Research- Noah Waldeck
Polaroids were well used, but photographers seemed to turn to them even more during the digital age and these days, particularly when they got discontinued (though they're now remaking them again) they got very popular.
I came across Noah Waldeck's work and find it fascinating. He has a blog where all of his images go. It was particularly interesting to go through all of his polaroid posts. I love the simplicity of his polaroids.
Something I love about polaroid is that it leaves you to concentrate just on the image. You have so little control over anything except framing and what goes in the image, but I think this helps because you concentrate on capturing a subject rather than getting perfect lighting.
Anyway, Waldeck's work is great and perfect inspiration for when my polaroid films arrive.
I particularly like this image. The reflections in the window are what make it, and the figure in the foreground, but only seeing the expression faintly in the reflection. Research- Kendrick Brinson
The gallery that represents Matt Slaby, also represents other photographers which led me to finding the work of Kendrick Brinson. Specifically the project "Viva La Vida", the photographic journey through Guatemala and Mexico.Similarly, a lot of it is about the framing, the use of mirrors, I wish I'd found these people earlier as I think my own images could have been better, though it's still useful to find them now and learn from them.
She really captures the essence of the places, but keeps it visually interesting and they're composed very well.
This image is brilliant. So simple, but so lovely. The colours are great and you get a sense that it's just her, her camera, the driver and the car.
I looked at this image and immediately thought of Lee Friedlander. The framing, the simplicity but yet the interest in the image. Perhaps she was also influenced by his work. Research- Matt Slaby
Researching for other photographers who've used polaroids to show off a road trip or journey, I came across work by Matt Slaby. It's really great stuff. The composition and framing of his images is amazing and very inspirational.
The project is called "My Diving Bell" and you can see the whole series here, but I've put a couple below. Here's the text that accompanies the project on the site...
"A WYOMING TRAVELOGUE IN ONE ACT Driving all night into the heart of Wyoming, I finally pulled the rental car off the road to rest. I reclined the seat but quickly sat back up, exhausted but unable to sleep. Peeking out the windows of this peculiar car, the world had suddenly changed, refocussed through these strange, little frames, their inset into the body of the automobile making them appear as awkward maritime port-holes. Lost in a sleepless haze, the metaphor seemed appropriate. It is how we travel, always peeking through a window into another world that is not completely ours, those foreign places we pass by at 65 mph, rapid-fire zoo exhibits, places we imagine as much as we experience."
Personally, I find these images really interesting and very different to a lot of photography based around cars and road trips. The frame within a frame is a very successful technique and some of my better images have followed that rule. I also love the stark contrast between the black of the inside of the window and the bright colours outside.
The subject matter is very much classic American travel culture which I love and I got a little of inspiration from this set of photographs.
Photo experimentation
So far, in terms of photography, I've gone down two clear routes. One documenting my journeys, mostly using the car mirror to frame things and then also the ruined cars/scrapyard work.
In terms of thinking about what I want to do with my scrap yard images, I would either mount them simply or put two or four of them together, I've done experiment of this below...
(click for larger view)
In terms of thinking about what I want to do with my scrap yard images, I would either mount them simply or put two or four of them together, I've done experiment of this below...
(click for larger view)
For the other set of images, I'm experimenting with text at the minute. Either simple, factual stuff, or adding a narrative element by perhaps adding a diary format to it. Something not necessarily about what's in the image, but explaining something from that day.
Abandoned petrol station. Glentham, A46
123.7 miles left
Abandoned petrol station. Glentham, A46
123.7 miles left
The above ideas I'm not so keen on, I like them, but the text doesn't look real enough and it would be better if i had the polaroids and could write on them. However, the prosepct of polaroid and being able to write on it is interesting. It adds that kitschy feel and seems a lot more personal. I would need to get hold of more polaroid films but now they're back in production this shouldn't be an issue. For now, there is a program i can use to simulate the Polaroid look.
Because I want to carry on photographing the things you see on a road trip, I can carry across the idea of illustrating the images with text and maybe receipts. I can collect things I pick up on road trips. Because most of my road trips are due to football, I will have tickets from this, as well of receipts and maybe other bits. It might be quite interesting to present it as a scrapbook like I've researched.
The next thing for me to do is to look at all of my images for both tangents of this project and pick out the best ones for the assessment.
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Research- tomas Vrzala
Going back into some of the earlier stuff I researched but I came across Tomas Vrzala and really liked his road trip photography. He shoots quite a bit of it through the windscreen of the car and I do like that look.
The way the images, the effect of taking them in the car, through the window catapults you into being there, makes it come alive and seem more real.
Research- David Zaitz
This photographer does a lot of commerical work, but his personal project "Texas Road Trip" is great. He really captures what they call the "rust towns" brilliantly. Making them look run down, isolated and often empty. There is the ocassional sign of a personal, usually a shopkeeper he encounters, but it's the buildings and landscape shots I prefer.
He goes with captions beneath the images, which are often informative of the place but sometimes witty. I particularly like the one that goes beneath the below image that says, "Edie, apparently unclear of the concept of customisable signs."
I'm really liking the idea of putting text with my images to enhance the feel, to help explain them or add another dimension to them. I shall get my best mirror/journey shots and try adding text or laying them out somehow.
He goes with captions beneath the images, which are often informative of the place but sometimes witty. I particularly like the one that goes beneath the below image that says, "Edie, apparently unclear of the concept of customisable signs."
I'm really liking the idea of putting text with my images to enhance the feel, to help explain them or add another dimension to them. I shall get my best mirror/journey shots and try adding text or laying them out somehow.
A lucky find...
While browsing the internet I came across this site. Someone found a photo album/journal that his Grandma made in 1937. She and her husband went on a road trip and took photos and kept logs of things like gas used, where it was bought from, how many miles they got from it and how much it cost. They put all of this into a journal and it makes for a fascinating read, particularly so many years on.
It's another interesting way of photographically documenting a road trip and presenting it.
Here are some examples of the pages. But the whole thing can be seen here.
It's another interesting way of photographically documenting a road trip and presenting it.
Here are some examples of the pages. But the whole thing can be seen here.
Research- Stephen Shore
Stephen Shore did a project on road trips, in 1973. Here's an official description of what the book/project "Road Trip Journal" entailed...
"On July 3, 1973, Stephen Shore set out on the road again. This road trip marked an important point in his career, as he was coming to the tail end of American Surfaces and embarking on a body of work that is known as Uncommon Places. While traveling, in addition to taking photographs, Shore also distributed a set of postcards that he had made and printed himself. While passing through Amarillo, Texas, Shore selected ten of his own photographs of places of note, such as Doug's Barb-B-Que and the Potter County Court House, and designed the back of the cards to look like a typical generic postcard. He sent these images to a well-known postcard printer and ordered 5,600 copies of each card. Then, driving from town to town, Shore surreptitiously inserted his own cards into postcard racks in stores across the country, mixing his own work with 'real' postcards and giving unsuspecting shopkeepers new stock free of charge.
In a deadpan, unemotional style, Shore's month-long journal itemizes where he stayed, what he ate, which television programs he watched, what photographs he took, how many miles he drove, and how many postcards he distributed on each day of his trip. The journal also includes postcards of the towns where he stayed as well as some of his own photographs alongside hotel, restaurant, and gas station receipts. As he traveled, recording his experiences in his journal, Shore photographed the towns and cities through which he passed, the people he met, the food he ate, the beds he slept in, and even the toilets he 'encountered', from New York to California and back again.
A Road Trip Journal marks the turning point between two major bodies of work in Shore's career and includes some classic portraits from this pioneering color photographer. Each page of the journal is reproduced exactly and bound in a book that matches the format of the original book down to its cover. Following this, every photograph taken over the course of the trip is also featured, whether a perfect composition or a slightly fogged negative of the same scene. A map marks Shore's journey and his own text on the history of the road trip in America is also included. The book also contains reproductions of a number of postcards that Shore made on his trip, allowing the reader the chance to tear them out and use them, or keep them as a piece of 1970s Shore memorabilia."
Below are some examples of the pages in the book. It's particularly the layout, and the including relevant things from the trip that inspire me.
I'd toyed with the idea of adding dates or miles into a journey beneath images, perhaps going back to my mirror images and adding text beneath them. Perhaps just the place and the miles into the journey, or more information about the place, or perhaps even treat it like a diary entry so posting just something from day with the images. That is an experiment I can try.
"On July 3, 1973, Stephen Shore set out on the road again. This road trip marked an important point in his career, as he was coming to the tail end of American Surfaces and embarking on a body of work that is known as Uncommon Places. While traveling, in addition to taking photographs, Shore also distributed a set of postcards that he had made and printed himself. While passing through Amarillo, Texas, Shore selected ten of his own photographs of places of note, such as Doug's Barb-B-Que and the Potter County Court House, and designed the back of the cards to look like a typical generic postcard. He sent these images to a well-known postcard printer and ordered 5,600 copies of each card. Then, driving from town to town, Shore surreptitiously inserted his own cards into postcard racks in stores across the country, mixing his own work with 'real' postcards and giving unsuspecting shopkeepers new stock free of charge.
In a deadpan, unemotional style, Shore's month-long journal itemizes where he stayed, what he ate, which television programs he watched, what photographs he took, how many miles he drove, and how many postcards he distributed on each day of his trip. The journal also includes postcards of the towns where he stayed as well as some of his own photographs alongside hotel, restaurant, and gas station receipts. As he traveled, recording his experiences in his journal, Shore photographed the towns and cities through which he passed, the people he met, the food he ate, the beds he slept in, and even the toilets he 'encountered', from New York to California and back again.
A Road Trip Journal marks the turning point between two major bodies of work in Shore's career and includes some classic portraits from this pioneering color photographer. Each page of the journal is reproduced exactly and bound in a book that matches the format of the original book down to its cover. Following this, every photograph taken over the course of the trip is also featured, whether a perfect composition or a slightly fogged negative of the same scene. A map marks Shore's journey and his own text on the history of the road trip in America is also included. The book also contains reproductions of a number of postcards that Shore made on his trip, allowing the reader the chance to tear them out and use them, or keep them as a piece of 1970s Shore memorabilia."
Below are some examples of the pages in the book. It's particularly the layout, and the including relevant things from the trip that inspire me.
I'd toyed with the idea of adding dates or miles into a journey beneath images, perhaps going back to my mirror images and adding text beneath them. Perhaps just the place and the miles into the journey, or more information about the place, or perhaps even treat it like a diary entry so posting just something from day with the images. That is an experiment I can try.
Video shooting
My road trip to Swansea went pretty well and I was able to take lots of footage over the three days. All with different weather conditions and at different times. Only midway through the editing process but I'm beginning to get an early indication of what kind of shots I want and how I want it to look.
The idea behind it is to document a road trip. The passing of time, how slow or fast it seems. The things you see on the road, be them mundane or interesting. The way I'm editing it is in sequence for now, as I like the way things change and flow in an order, like telling a narrative.
Below are some screenshots I took from the rushes, just to indicate the type of thing I was shooting. It's my first attempt at shooting anything for the road trip video that I'd like to continue into the negotiated project so it's pretty rough, but there are some bits i'm happy with.
Because I'd followed the theme of mirrors in my photos for this project, I always wanted to try and incorporate this into the video as I feel it's an effective/interesting method. The mirror acts as a frame for the moving traffic. Though the clips of the mirror will only be short and interspersed amongst the other footage.
The idea behind it also explores similarities/repitition. Ultimately are there many differences in the roads we travel on? Or in journeys/travelling in general? There's lots of symmetry or parallel lines and sometimes you could be anywhere. It's the ambiguity and reflects how a journey can really blend together.
I'm having a big editing session tomorrow, so I should be able to upload a clip or something. I still want to explore the other aspects of journeys/travelling but this road trip video is what is capturing my imagination the most. I have another five or six oppurtunities to travel over the next month, the next being this coming weekend where I will either film or shoot stills every 10 seconds to create a similar feel.
The trip will either be to Cardiff or Bristol so will involve similar roads whichever one it is.
The idea behind it is to document a road trip. The passing of time, how slow or fast it seems. The things you see on the road, be them mundane or interesting. The way I'm editing it is in sequence for now, as I like the way things change and flow in an order, like telling a narrative.
Below are some screenshots I took from the rushes, just to indicate the type of thing I was shooting. It's my first attempt at shooting anything for the road trip video that I'd like to continue into the negotiated project so it's pretty rough, but there are some bits i'm happy with.
Because I'd followed the theme of mirrors in my photos for this project, I always wanted to try and incorporate this into the video as I feel it's an effective/interesting method. The mirror acts as a frame for the moving traffic. Though the clips of the mirror will only be short and interspersed amongst the other footage.
The idea behind it also explores similarities/repitition. Ultimately are there many differences in the roads we travel on? Or in journeys/travelling in general? There's lots of symmetry or parallel lines and sometimes you could be anywhere. It's the ambiguity and reflects how a journey can really blend together.
I'm having a big editing session tomorrow, so I should be able to upload a clip or something. I still want to explore the other aspects of journeys/travelling but this road trip video is what is capturing my imagination the most. I have another five or six oppurtunities to travel over the next month, the next being this coming weekend where I will either film or shoot stills every 10 seconds to create a similar feel.
The trip will either be to Cardiff or Bristol so will involve similar roads whichever one it is.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
More research. Photos- Sam Horine
While looking for road trip videos and inspiration of that kind, I stumbled upon these photographs. Sam Horine hadn't been brought to my attention before, but I'm glad I've seen it now. He had to travel to Los Angeles to transport his work for a show there and on the way decided to document his journey and what he saw.
The images are largely compelling and definitely fit with the theme of what I wanted to look at for road journeys.
The text below is his...
"I recall the clean open sky against all the buildings that the wind and sun had bleached like the dry grass. I also remember the difficulties trying to remain inconspicuous driving around small towns at night in a moving van while putting my posters on buildings. The most striking moment of all had to be when we ventured off the interstate and through what appeared to be a graveyard of trailer park meth-labs, with firecracker-like marks on the foundations where the buildings had been and large meth-mouth billboards in the distance, eventually arriving in a biker town that's only visible rule was “Don’t Feed the Burros.” The arrival in Los Angeles seemed almost bleak compared to the majesty of the wide open road."
The feeling of just getting in a car and going where the road takes you is the sense of feeling I get when I look at these images, despite the fact that Horine had a set destination.
The images are largely compelling and definitely fit with the theme of what I wanted to look at for road journeys.
The text below is his...
"I recall the clean open sky against all the buildings that the wind and sun had bleached like the dry grass. I also remember the difficulties trying to remain inconspicuous driving around small towns at night in a moving van while putting my posters on buildings. The most striking moment of all had to be when we ventured off the interstate and through what appeared to be a graveyard of trailer park meth-labs, with firecracker-like marks on the foundations where the buildings had been and large meth-mouth billboards in the distance, eventually arriving in a biker town that's only visible rule was “Don’t Feed the Burros.” The arrival in Los Angeles seemed almost bleak compared to the majesty of the wide open road."
The feeling of just getting in a car and going where the road takes you is the sense of feeling I get when I look at these images, despite the fact that Horine had a set destination.
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