a bit of lost feelings

i do not know what to do.

i want to go haed with colours plus i have been going to my westmoreland market for over a month.

there, i am getting good results and good contacts.

if think i should give a go to the market and keeping doing colours for my own satisfaction.

6th Tutorial

I thought about  project Adam suggested me to do  and the meaning behind it. the main aim would be documenting the area has it now showing that what the architects wanted to achieve in the 50’s 60’s become an uthopian urban dream. this would have , then , moved a step forwards and rised the following question: ‘ is this regeneration another uthopian plan?’

It is worthy to consider this approach, i believe. 

anyway, i really want to go head with my colours. i love it.

I decided to give an other try. this time , i decided to evolve it in a more structure way. after a long consideration, i came to the conclusion that i should base the choice of the places i want to photograph on people opinion and suggestion.

STRUCTURE

 

FIRST STEP

• interviewing and videoing people:
•  WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU ASSOCIATE WITH ELEPHANT AND CASTLE
• I AM YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER, PLEASE , WHERE CAN I FIND THIS COLOUR IN ORDER TO TAKE PICTURE ON YOUR BEHALF.

SECOND STEP

• GOING TO THE PLACES SUGGESTED TO ME AND TAKE PICTURES.

AIM

My aim is to create a body of work which starts from my idea, the colour, involving the elephant and castle community ( this allows me to expand my knowledge of the area and give a social  prospective to the project) and finishes again with me in control of my photography. Does it make sense?

IDEA>BRING IDEA INTO COMMUNITY> DIRECTED BY PEOPLE CHOICES>ME, PHOTOGRAPHER IN CONTROL OF SELECTING THE COMPOSITION OF FINAL PICTS.

during the week i interviewed over 20 people. what it became clear is that such a question is not easy to be answered.

fortunatelly, i got some interesting material. i have to say that it was a bit challenging. sometime it took about 4 hr to get 5 interviews of 2 min. each.

in the next few days i went and took pictures of the suggested places.

then i edited some interviews in a kind of chess screen video.

HERE SOME EXAMPLES

i have been trying to upload the video in the last 2 hr but NADA.

here some still frame to give you an idea of it.

PEOPLE’S SUGGESTION

BLUE/YELLOW OF THE ST.MARY CHURCH YARD.

RED/PINK OF SHOPPING CENTRE

BROWN OF BUILDINGS

GREEN OF PARK NEAR EAST STREET MARKET

 

NOW, the final editing is still on the air in a way. still thinking.

i presented it at tutorial. even this time, no chance. 

i am a bit disappointed i have to admit.

i know it can be a good project if it is developped in a good way and at this point i am quiet fed up to change projects.

i want to go ahead.

circle line drinking ban party

5th tutorial

the 5th tutorial was about two weeks ago… i have never been happy since ahahah.

during the week,

• i did my research on old colour picts. really difficult u know…almost impossible….for the reason i explained early on….Elephant is not an atractive woman…nobody wants her…not even in the background. i tried my best. i went to the archieve local library and i photographed some newspepar cuts and the old shopping centre regeneration architect’s impressions. I have to say that i noticed some familiarity with the drawing of the new regeneration but i did not give much attention. I mean, my comment was” the same story is going to be repeated and who knows if it is going to work….i doubt’. For me it was so obvious that architects always create an ideal world which is drawn on the same way, it is their style.

 

 

Please keep this picts well stuck into your memory box….

let’s go head with my research story. desperate for picts, i decided to go to second hand shops, local library,begging people on the street. nothing. i decided to post an ads on gumtree and urban75.

gumtree no hope.

urban75 BIG TIME a lot of answers….the only problem was…..this….check yourself 

http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=7527543#post7527543

Shall i answer or not…. i think there is no point in doing it .they will not understand again. well here it is part of my documentation.

• I contacted the architects again and again. sent e-mail, followed by phone calls ect…a certain point the regeneration team Ms Zoe suggested me that maybe i should consider to change the focus of my research. i think she did with her best intention or she was a future teller…
• I went out and film over 3 hrs around the shopping centre. When i was editing , i realised that i was using LP resolution which means low quality and not ideal for a final piece of work. so, i edited a bit to show how i approached it. this time, it is me moving around and filming. by the way the police stopped me under the Terrorist Act. ( i am having some problems uploading videos)
• i took some picts in focus and outofocus

i presented the work and …..TO BE CONTINUED (GOODNITE)

after nearly a month later i am here again to tell you more about my elephant project.

Soooo, after i presented my work, Adam was really impressed my descovery of the 50’s regeneration and the fact that there is a similarity with the current regeneration.

a certain point he said: ‘ forget about the colours and forget about videos’ ‘ what i want u to do is going out and start shooting, shooting… try to take pictures in the same point of views as the regenration drawing are…’ 

CONFUSION, CONFUSIONAND AGAIN CONFUSION.

THIS IS THE 3RD TIME I AM CHANGING PROJECT AND NOW I REALLY WANT TO CARRY ON MY 2 PROJECTS.

Well, i do understand that a good research can open up different and various possibility to develop a project. thatis is an extremelly positiove thing and i am really pleased about it.

4th tutorial…. my colour presentation

Well, let’s say that so far , that thursday has been the best one.

during the week, i followed Adam advice ” do not take any picts and concentrate on giving us a presentation on colour next week. You need to become an expert in a week”

I thought: ‘easy-peasy” …I started and…Holly S***…. it is a vast subject and the architects of this regeneration seem more precious than  God. impossible to get hold of them.

Any way, i started going to my old University UEL where there is an established Architecture faculty. I interviewed 3 architects about colours. and here is the video (TO BE UPLOADED LATER)

I decided to experiment a bit with the video camera and i filmed  a journey bus to the elephant. I edited the footage in a way that colours would have prevailed. it is just a mock video which will be refined later. (TO BE UPLOADED LATER)

i wanted my group to grasp the idea of my exploration and the importance of documenting the colour palette of an area which never been part of any tourist guide.

In fact, the big obsticle with the elephant area is finding recent colour material. 

anyway, the tutorial went brilliantly, and i got a real bust from it. i felt better than i was after my easter project.

i know i need to work hard to be able to become the photographer and i am trying my best.

Now, i told the group that i am still doing my market and i showed the picts…Adam looked at them and said ” FORGET ABOUT THE MARKET” ( PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THIS SENTANCE….SOON OR LATER I WILL USE IT AS MY TITLE).

adam suggested that i should carry on with filming, getting colour picts of the last decades and interviewing the architects.

see you next week.

The following sunday…holly weather

do u reckon that soon or later i will be able to take some pictures and do my project?

even this time…. an impediment….

now, let’s sum up

 

1. GRAND DESIGN
2. CAMERA CHITTED ON ME

 

NOW…… RAIN…RAIN… NO MARKET….U SEE…NOOOOOOOOOOOO

well there were just a few stalls

 

.

i managed to take some pictures of local people, danny introduced to me.

the nice thing is that they are really happy to help me and they do not mind being filmed, too.

so i arranged to meet some of them during the week to record some anedocts about the market and the road.

I ll tell you…u should really visit the market…it is like to be in eastender without the square ahhhhh.

 

so far i managed to take these picts and having an interview.

i am seriously thinking of developping this into a local exhibition just for them. they deserve it and I deserve it,too.

I talked to john about it and he seems positive and he can write a reference letter for the owner of the shop where eventually the event would be hosted.

COOLLLLLLLLLLL.

GIOVANNINA GO AND DO IT. 

Next sunday….try again and fail again

Ok, two Sunday ago i went back to my community market. John happily posed for me as well as the flower man, keath. i shoot 2 films. 

now, it is official that i will be the sunday photographer. I met danny , a real character. He started to introduse me to everybody and asking them to help me to document the market. Fantastic.

I told denny my idea to ask John ruskin hire car to let me have an exhibition in one of the empty shops they owned in Westmoreland street. he was enthusiastic and he gave me the right contact number. cool. 

Sooo, good day, ehh.

very happy till….Wensday…. collected my neg. and…..NOOOOO ….NOTHING AT ALL. NO A SINGLE PICTURE.

THAT IS REALLY BAD. above all ’cause the camera plays a focus part on the project. it helps me to break the ice with every single person.they love it.  I mean, a digital could not do the same. do u know what i mean?

The market or the Colours

During this tutorial with Adam and Patrick, i proudly presented my westmoreland market project and i explained why i turned my interest towards such a subject.

Guess what? Adam looked at me and said ” what about the colours? We really thought that is an interesting project to carry on”

Imagine my reaction to this. I explained that , in the last tutorial we had it was quiet clear that Adam expressed his view on it as a bit of lost case. that, with other reasons, brought me to look for something else.

Well, never mind. At the end of the day, i love my colour idea. So, i accepted the advise to do a serious research for next week in order to do a group presentation about:

1. Colour palette and colour strategy in architecture in general
2. interviewing architects from new regeneration project
3. trying to find any material about the first regeneration

No problems, I said,” anyway I really want to carry on the project on the market because i need to improve  my photographic approach’.

Sunday morning at 7.30-8.30

I was looking forward to starting my side project so much. At the last minute, i got a day job at Grand design fair for £150 in my poket. I decided to go to the market as a early bird and then going to work.

I managed to take few rolls.Here some of the picts

                        (TO BE CONTINUED)

 

 

 

 

The Westmoreland project

Here is the story of my WESTMORELAND STREET project.

That Sunday, i managed to take some testing pictures of the market and talk to people. Everything was perfect. “What I need now, i thought, is  an hystoric research about the market and how much is going to be effected by the regeneration (according to some market people there are plans of getting rid of the market)”.

Most of the people working there have been doing it for as long as 16 years as John and his wife Maria (see picts), others for shorter period and some for generation to generation as Dave the groucher. In the past this market was much bigger and popolar around the area. now, it is the ghost of it self as i can imagine.

Soooo, after a bit of chatting i took my camera out and….everybody got excited by my MamiyaC2.

I soon realised that my camera would have been the gateaway to interect with people here. I KNEW THAT…sooo, i spent more time showing how to use it and getting advice how to use it than literarly using it. that’s life.

I expressed my idea to regularly come back every Sunday in the next month to do my project on the market people. I got a positive response.

 

              John

               Maria

This brought me to come back the day after (monday bank holiday) to explore the place and see how I could have evolved my project. anthony came with me and became my cavia.

WHY DID I THINK THIS COULD HAVE BEEN THE RIGHT PROJECT.

One of the reason behind it is my willing to get better in taking pictures of people.

During my easter project feedback, John Easterby pointed out one of the things that my project was lacking of was a human touch, being able to be closer to the subject, exploring the feeling and capturing them in my picts. HOW? observing, relaxing and having fun with the camera. Then, John asked me why i wanted to be a photojournalist. right!!! why, my dear Giovanna? Do you want to know why?

I was always and i am still interested in people, their emotion, their belief, their way of living their lives with their choices. I always respect these components of the human existance. and further more, i am affacinated by the way we, people, occupate a phisycal space ( i hope it makes sense). I want my pict to record what people do on streets. I have done in the past with my demostrations and my carnival projects. 

Based on that, i think that the westmoreland st project is apropriate to go back to my passion.

On monday the street was empty. I took more picture with my maimya and i started thinking what i wanted to develop the project. I thought that i could have set up an outside studio in few weeks time, ( i wanted to know people first and then getting in action), ask stall owners to give me a bit of time and come and having their portrait done. i think that creating a studio could have been one more fun , two a more learning process for me and three challenging my capability.

 

 

 

I did a bit of exercise with anthony. I tried to think where the light would have been in the morning, how to find a place which would not been obstructed by cars and so on. At this stage, i am thinking of a white backdrop and fill in lights.

 

 

That night, i went and talked to a portrait photographer, Nikki in order to get some valid tips.

First of all ,if i want to use a backdrop it should be black fabric which absorbs the light better and more even result than using a white backdrop. this is a practical solution to an outside studio with the natural light only. exactly. Nikki, suggested that using natural light would have been more practicle and less healthy and safety issue.

I explained nikki few ideas i had such as having the people posing with something chosen from their stall. She added that i could ask them to hold the object on their left. In this way , i could have achieve an series of pictures with a common component. 

at the question ” what do you rekon if i frame the picture in a way that you can see the paviment? is it too desturbing?” The answer was quiet predictable: it is up to me, but…’ if you really wanted to look like a studio you would be better off to take them in a real one’ Good point!!!!!!

Fantastic. I am getting there.

On Tuesday, I went to the Southwark Archive Library (http://www.southwark.gov.uk/DiscoverSouthwark/LocalHistoryLibrary/) to get a bit of historical knowledge about the Westmoreland Road Market. Really affacinating.

FROM NOW ON, PLEASE VISIT THE CATEGORY WESTMORELAND MARKET TO NOW THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS PROJECT. THIS IS DUE TO THE OUTCOME OF THE NEXT TUTORIAL.