Connecting Essay 1

CONNECTING ESSAY 1 

When taking my landscape photos I was inspired by Stephen Shore and his 'Uncommon Places' collection of images. I was intrigued by these photos due to the fact that to majority of people they aren't recognisable therefore to recreate the photos they could be taken anywhere. 

http://www.stephenshore.net/photographs/six/index.php?page=8&menu=photographs 

I was especially drawn to this photo because of the composition of it. I like the perspective of looking down this rundown, dark and abandoned road to what looks like a rich, bright and well kept home. This contrast shows rural to urban but also rich to poor. One other aspect that I liked about this photo was the way the light is used to the photographers advantage. The use of shadows over the foreground of the image emphasises the background (it almost acts as a leading line). I think this image is interesting do the the rarity of it, it is quite an 'uncommon' contrast to see in this way. 

When taking photos for landscape I went to the top of a car park near college. I decided to take photos up there because I was thinking about Stephen Shore's 'Uncommon Places'. When taking this photo I wanted to work on the composition of it to make it more intriguing, to do this I made the building on the left side the main focus of the image that leads you out into the background. I really like how due to the height that I took the photo from it means that I got the tops of buildings in the background. The light of the photo is very soft which indicates the time of day that it was taken at, the colours of the sky are also reflected off the ground of the photo which really ties the image together.

I believe that my image and Stephen Shore's image connects through the similar composition. Both photos include the building at the front standing out and being the main focus of the image which then draws your eyes to the background. I also tried to use the light to my advantage similar to how Stephen did in his photo, however on mine I used the soft evening light to give a soft and quiet feel to the image. Lastly I tried to keep the theme the same, of using uncommon places to reflect how landscape images are all around us even when we can't recognise them.