Objects

After taking some photographs at a petrol station as part of my systems and processes brief I have decided that for the commercial products section on the Objects brief to concentrate on Petrol. This is because of two reasons; one being I found some really interesting subject matter and secondly I didn't really want to do it in the studio.

Petrol is the commercial product that I will be focusing on but I will be keeping the subject matter much more open. My two main ideas are the station itself or the pumps.

I have chosen this as there is something quite political

about it. One day oil is going to run out and therefore petrol stations in their current form will be no more. Yes, there might be similar stations selling things like hydrogen but they may be much different than petrol stations as we know them. I would like to capture all different types of petrol station from big commercial ones to small family-run type station and old, derelict stations to highlight the issue of petrol and oil running out.

Originally I was inspired by an image by Alec Soth which you can find lower down the page as well as in this post. Its the typical American fuel stations that you find in many documentary photographers images that inspires me. They are a terrific subject and always seem to create atmospheric photos. I am going to try and re-create this look in some of my images but by using a more modern, European style petrol station. The lights at night will be very helpful but I aim to be a lot more broad about when I shoot them.

I love this image and it is definitely one I will look to when photographing at petrol stations. I love the atmosphere created by the lighting and background. The contrast between the very urban kind of foreground and the very rural, undisturbed background adds quality to this image. Negative space is used really well in this image.

As of the 7th December I have been to around 3 petrol stations so far. One for my Systems & Processes brief and the other two for the Objects brief. The first petrol station that I visited; for the systems & processes brief was my local Spar in Accrington. The second two were two abandoned petrol stations; one in Whalley and the other in a village near Longridge called Whitechapel.

I found the latter to produce the best of the images so far. To put it into words, it is an old derelict garage; one that would just service cars with two extremely old, American looking pumps. In the very rural location that it is in, it is a place that very much reminds me of a horror movie. Something like The Hills Have Eyes or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre etc. It was quite a creepy place that had not many people and was very spread out. This produced a certain atmosphere to my images and added a quality to my photographs. Below are a selection (2) of images that I have taken at Whitechapel Garage.

This to me reflects what I have set out to do quite well in that the meter looks very much like a clock. It represents that one day in time petrol will run out. This is also reflected in he closed sign next to the pump and how old the pump actually looks. I really like this image, I like the strong contrast and tones. This adds atmosphere to the image; It reflects exactly how creepy the place was and how I felt taking the image. There was a lot of noise and muttered chat going on from a farm behind the garage. This made a creepy atmosphere so to add a creepy look to this photograph was something I wanted to do. I am very pleased with this image overall.

With this image I decided to include the surrounding landscape to add a lonely feel to the 'dereliction'. This again creates a creepy atmosphere. I like the 'aged' look it has. I did this by using a lightroom preset and then desaturating it ever so slightly. I adjusted the highlights and tones to bring out some detail in the clouds. This made the image much stronger.

This image is very different really to the others. This is a newer petrol station but one that is still derelict. This to me still has a foreign sort of feel to it. Maybe more of a European feel. I like the editing to this. Originally I tried this image in black and white but this didn't really work due to the sky. I de-saturated it and upped the clarity; I feel this made the lighting look really nice. My only problem with this image is I have cropped it just a little bit too much. On the left side of the the frame the container that once contained gloves or wipes has a bit missing off slightly. This is one thing I will look to change.

Fortnightly Project: Treasure

'Valuable or precious possessions of any kind'

I wouldn't say I suffer from, but I have the most common neurological condition in the UK today; Epilepsy.

To put it simply Epilepsy is the 'proneness' to any form of seizure. These are very irregular and inconvenient, so much so that epilepsy is 'officially' classed as a disability. It can prevent you from going about day-to-day activities and requires permanent medication. Without this medication I wouldn't be able to lead such a normal life. That, therefore is why my medication is so valuable to me.

Its not until my seizures have got under control recently (fingers crossed) that I have fully appreciated exactly what these small items mean to me. Without them I would be fitting again on a regular basis; something which would make my life quite irregular.

I shot this on my DSLR and edited it later on using lightroom. The image is of the boxes, the strips, the pills and the bag which they are delivered in; the 'treasure chest' almost. I edited it to B&W to add atmosphere and added a vignette to 'draw' you into the image. The imperfectness of the work surface and the tiles reflects the imperfectness and 'irregularness' of the condition.

Its now been 8 months since my last seizure so its only 4 months until I can have my driving license back. Happy Days :-)

Shallow Depth Of Field

Coming from the National Diploma course I find the shallow depth of field effect quite an easy one to create. I have two possibilities for this response. One is an urban image ( which is posted in this blog) and another is an image I shot on a shoot for the Objects brief. That image is posted below on another blog.

This an image of a bollard. Although it is a simple image it utilizes the shallow depth of field effect well. I shot it from this angle due to the road in the background as this is basically what bollards are used for.

Shutter Speeds

For now I have decided to use a slow shutter speed in response to the brief. I plan to add to it with a fast shutter speed. The reason I have done a slow shutter speed is for the 'artistic' qualities. The blurs it creates create a really interesting and in my view a very pleasing on the eye effect. Below is my favorite image so far.I chose this image as for me it represents Accrington town centre. Although it comes under criticism many people still use it as a place to shop. It comes under criticism for precisely what's in this image, a pound shop. I like the symmetry created between the prominent gap in the paving and the line of people. I shot this image 'from the hip' as I believe when shooting in a busy place it creates a nice effect and it keeps you 'out of view'.

Halogen Lighting

Halogen Lighting is a form of powerful lighting used for many things. It can be used from things such as, car head lamps, to security lights and to floodlights. Below is a section taken from wikipedia's article, 'Halogen Lamp'.

A halogen lamp is an incandescent lamp in which a tungsten filament is sealed into a compact transparent envelope filled with an inert gas and a small amount of halogen such as iodine or bromine. The combination of the halogen gas and the tungsten filament produces a chemical reaction known as a halogen cycle (see below) that increases the lifetime of the bulb and prevents its darkening by redepositing tungsten from the inside of the bulb back onto the filament. The halogen lamp can operate its filament at a higher temperature than a standard gas filled lamp of similar power without loss of operating life. This gives it a higher effiacy (10-30 lm/W). It also gives light of a higher colour temperature compared to a non-halogen incandescent lamp. Alternatively, it may be designed to have perhaps twice the life with the same or slightly higher efficacy. Because of their smaller size, halogen lamps can advantageously be used with optical systems that are more efficient.

A halogen lamp in operation.

Below are a selection of images that I like that use halogen lighting.

This image was taken by Alec Soth in Fountain City, Wisconsin. I really like how he has used the dusk time of day and the lighting from the petrol station to draw your eyes yo the petrol station. I love the contrast between the seemingly unaltered background and the very modernized petrol station.

This is an image taken by Lise Sarfati. I love the lighting. Although the lighting is massive and harsh in this image it kind of has a subtle look to it. I really like how it catches the goal posts. It has a nice composition to it as well.


This image was taken by Paolo Pellegrin in Gaza. I love how he has captured such a hostile moment. I also really like the silhouettes created by the head lights on full beam. It adds atmosphere and tension to the image; which when photographing conflict is something that should be done in my view.

Below is the photograph I have taken. Overall I found halogen lighting quite and easy one to utilise. There will be more images to follow.

I shot this image at a petrol station near to where I live. I shot it using my DSLR camera. The original file was in colour but I like the tones the harsh light creates when turned to black and white. I also added a green filter for more contrast. Overall I like this image. I like the contrast and the composition.