Response to tutors notes on Assignment 3

My tutor has given me fair and a frank assessment of my work on the assignment and the following notes are in response to the critique.

 I had considering cropping the image looking down to the floor, but I felt that cropping the image meant that it lost some of the building showing the join between the two buildings .However the crop is effective in showing the floor and is tighter on the interaction of the people and the light coming in through the door.

 I think I did miss part of the exercise, as I did not always give a full and frank analysis of why the locations had given me some form of emotional response. I think part of that is down to my personality and part of it is down to my dyslexia which makes a vast disconnect from my emotions at times. This means that at times I am fully concentrating on capturing the image and I am not considering the emotional response that I feel at the time of capturing the image. I find it easier to reflect back to my emotional state when reviewing the images.
I have started voice recording notes during the shooting process to assist in the recording of my emotions rather than relying on recall.

 I have encountered Donovan Wylie before during a 2 day course at Edinburgh University on the Magnum photographic Collective. I quite like his work on Northern Ireland especially the urban photography where he highlights the Army monitoring posts overlooking the normal street scene. I was lucky to recently encounter the work of Sylvain Margaine whose work is similar to the recent webpages from abandoned Scotland.

 I would have used a tripod in the turbine hall, but even using a tripod would have resulted in shaky image as the whole building shakes and vibrates due to the amount noise and vibration from the turbines themselves. It is a bit like being inside a jet engine during a hurricane and an earthquake.

Exercise 20 - Busy Traffic

 What: The main brief of this exercise was to photograph from a viewpoint to show a busy location

Where: Elephant Tearoom, Indoors and Old College Warrior Exhibition, Outdors

When: Mid afternoon and late evening.

How: I chose two locations as I wanted to get the experience of trying to assess the different flows of people within their surroundings.

Elephant TeaRoom

I chose Elephant tearoom as it is a constantly busy location; the tearoom itself was one of the locations that the author of the Harry Potter books sat and wrote and now the tearoom has become a Mecca for visitors and Harry Potter enthusiasts. It is almost always busy and getting a table can sometime take a while.
It is now a crowded location as they have chosen to add extra tables to allow for the increase in the number of customers and being a tourist location is a noisy jammed location.

I chose to reduce the image to a monochrome as it fitted with the room itself which is trying to maintain an air of “old school” Edinburgh without trying to become a solely tourist location.

DSC_0007-Busy B and W 2

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f9.5, speed 1/60 second, ISO 3200, Shade white balance, Spot metering, Camera sitting on the table, 18-70mm lens,

I tried to capture the noise of the tearoom as people from all over the world discuss the location and examine maps and books to decide where they will go next after eating.

Warrior Lantern Exhibition

I had read online that some of the terracotta warrior lanterns would be transported to Edinburgh and displayed in Edinburgh Universities Old College Quad for this years Chinese New Year. I was excited to see these as these lanterns had originally been designed and exhibited at the Beijing Olympics.

On arrival I was astounded by the number of visitors; I had expected a few dozen people to turn up since it was raining instead there were several hundred people there all who had turned up to see, touch and be photographed with the lanterns.

I quickly noticed that people either stood at the entrance and photographed the grouped horse and family, or they walked between the regimented figures first down the rows and then back across the rows. Children ran from figure to figure at random while some photographers stood to the sides and only photographed the outer figures. There was quite a Brownian motion as groups tried not to appear in one another’s photos.

I watched for a while from an upper location as the lights first started to dim and the first sets of visitors walked around the quad

SUNP0005

Bozart Ampel, Aperture Mode Fixed, Exposure Mode Auto focal length 9.3mm (35mm equivalent 9.3mm), aperture f2.8, speed 1/30 second, ISO 100, Vibrant white balance, Matrix metering, Tripod Mounted camera, 9.3mm fixed lens,

I really wanted to capture the size of the exhibition and show the vibrant colours of the lantern warriors but also experiment with showing the visitors as an accent to the final image. I chose to use a Bozart Ampel camera which has a fixed 9.3mm tilt shift lens. This allowed me to capture the colours and also accent the people at the same time.

After the sun had set, the rain became heavier but this did nothing to discourage the visitors, as they filed up and down the rows photographing faces and lanterns.

I moved position in closer, but still from a vantage point above the ground level of the quad.

DSC_0030(2)

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 75mm (35mm equivalent 112mm), aperture f4.8, speed 1/20 second, ISO 100, Shade white balance, Spot metering, Tripod Mounted Camera, 70-300mm lens,

I wanted to shoot from a distance away and using low ISO and slow shutter speed to obtain a slight motion blur without over exposing the lantern warriors.

Again here I tried to capture the stop and go movement of people as they moved around the exhibition, some stopping to photograph while companions moved on to look at the next piece.

I then moved down to ground level to get a few shots of the people at the edges of the exhibition as they worked away capturing their own images.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f2.4, speed 1/125 second, ISO 800, Shade white balance, Matrix metering mode, Tripod Mounted Camera, 50mm lens,

At this point the light was really beginning to disappear and I swapped to a 50mm prime lens to allow the most amount of light that I could get from the chosen aperture and shutter speed as I did not want to blur the images too much. I gain wanted to show the groupings and the positions of people as they examined the lanterns.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f2.4, speed 1/125 second, ISO 800, Flash white balance, Matrix metering mode, Tripod Mounted Camera, 50mm lens,

A

As the rain eased I took a final image of a new set of visitors as they started into the body of the exhibition, some of them were as cold and wet as I was and I just wanted to capture the interest that they still showed.

I believe that these images convey how busy both the tearoom and the exhibition were; both locations were filled with people and while these people did not rush about much they were present both in noise and in physical presence. The differences between the people who moved from piece to piece and those who chose to stop and examine the pieces shows that both sets of individuals were both personally busy with their own thoughts and perceptions and that they were physically present at a place and time making the surrounding space busy.

Exercise 19 - People as an Accent

What: The main brief of this exercise was to photograph a person or persons who were surrounded by the environment making them an accent to the image

Where: Greyfriers Kirk Graveyard, Outdoors

When: Afternoon on a mild overcast day.

How: I walked around the graveyard watching people until I found a suitable location and waited until I saw someone walking in the distance.

I chose the graveyard for its personal connection to me as my father took me there often as a child and he told me the story of "Greyfriers Bobbie" the dog who mourned its owner and stayed at the grave within the graveyard for years until it itself passed away and is buried in the graveyard.. The graveyard is one of Edinburgh more well known historic locations and was used by photographic pioneers David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson as a background for their own portraits of family and friends. It can be clearly seen in the image “Martyrs Tomb”


I used my own personal knowledge of the graveyard to head over to the back of the graveyard which is hardly ever visited and is a much quieter and sadder place than right beside the Kirk gate which is full of noise and bustle.


I set up a camera and waited as I knew that at some point someone would eventually walk along the path at the bottom of the graveyard and would pass completely through the frame. I chose to frame the path and the bottom graveyard wall for background and ensured that the top of the frame contained the rooftops of the city.

I took a number of shots as people passed through unaware that I was present, I chose this particular shot as the person only had a spot of colour on them, their dark clothes almost matching into the stone of the old city graveyard.

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), aperture f9.5, speed 1/350 second, ISO 3200, Auto white balance, Spot metering, Tripod Mounted camera, 18-70mm lens,

I really like the final affect as the person is almost not noticeable in the image until the eye comes across the red colour, at that point the person is easily spotted and the eye is drawn to them. I liked the fact that the small person is overshadowed by all the buildings making them small and insignificant in the universe of the city and even within the confines of the graveyard.

In this exercise I really got what I wanted which was to only have a small figure accenting the larger space around them, so much so that it almost is swallowing them up.

Assignment 3 - Buildings in Use

What: The main brief of this exercise was to choose five buildings and produce between two and four images that describe effectively and attractively the way in which the spaces are used.

Where: Various locations.

When: Differing times of the day

How: Some research had to be undertaken so that I had an understanding of how and why the building was designed the way it is and have an opinion on its effectiveness as a usable space.

The first thing that I did was select a number of buildings that I would be able to access and do some research on them, including where possible to have a look around the location to examine the space.

I spent some time watching the videos for architectural photography so that I was aware of compositions that I could avoid. The videos are available online

http://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-tutorials/Architectural-Photography-Interiors/122453-2.html

http://www.lynda.com/Photography-Cameras-Gear-tutorials/Architectural-Photography-Exteriors/122455-2.html

I also spent some time at the website http://photo.net/learn/architectural/exterior reading up again on information on compositions that I should avoid.

I was unable to access a few of my chosen locations as they were closed or unavailable. These included the Scottish flag centre which is a converted dovecot and the collegiate chapel. I therefore had to reassess my options and then find and research alternative locations

Atrium

The first building that I chose and photographed was the main administration building for a power supply company.

This space was an interesting area as it started out as the outside of the older building and when a new administration building was put up, the area was converted into an atrium and staircase joining the two buildings together and adding access. At one point it was the main reception for the building which has now been removed and it has become and general access area.

On the day I photographed it was being used for a charity Christmas sale to the staff.

 

Atrium_DSC_0014

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 16mm (35mm equivalent 24mm), aperture f22, speed 3.6 seconds, ISO 100, Fluorescent white balance, Spot metering, Tripod mounted camera, 11-16 mm lens,

I wanted to capture the slight claustrophobic feeling from behind the stairs where there is small amount of unused space; the stairway comes right into the space making it a dark spot in the building.

Atrium_DSC_0009

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 15mm (35mm equivalent 22mm), aperture f22, speed 2 seconds, ISO 100, Auto white balance, Spot metering, Tripod Mounted camera, 11-16mm lens,

Here I show the atrium from the angle of entrance to the building and you can see that it joins the two buildings together. When I shot this image, it was still very dark in the morning.

Atrium_DSC_0017

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 11mm (35mm equivalent 16mm), aperture f9.5, speed 1/20 second, ISO 640, Auto white balance, Spot metering, Hand held camera, 11-16mm lens,

I wanted to capture the lower area as it was being used for that day; I had noticed the shadows and light from the revolving door and wanted to capture the interplay of the light as it passed through the door.

As a space the atrium is obviously still evolving and it appeared to be in almost constant use especially in the morning. It succeeds as a stairway access and as a gathering point. I did find that it suffered from being either too dark or too bright as it is mainly glass, but overall it is a good use of space and the organisation is capitalising on the space by using it for multiple purposes.

Turbine Hall

I managed to gain access to a Turbine hall of a local power station. The area is a heavily walled building to protect the surrounding area from the noise and vibrations of the turbines when they are running. The turbines are steam driven and generate electricity as they spin; it is said that the edge of the blades spin faster than the speed of sound. The equipment around the space is to help the turbines function.

TurbHall_DSC_0052

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 11mm (35mm equivalent 16mm), aperture f9.5, speed 1/10 second, ISO 3200, Fluorescent white balance, Spot metering, Hand held camera, 11-16mm lens,

On entering the hall I was surprised by how large a space it was and how the space has been used to maximise the effectiveness and availability of the equipment. Every space was filled with walkways and pipes.

TurbHall_DSC_0059

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 16mm (35mm equivalent 24mm), aperture f4, speed 1/90 second, ISO 3200, Flash white balance, Spot metering, Hand held camera, 11-16mm lens,

Again I used high ISO as there was limited daylight and most of the available light was fluorescent or tungsten lamps. I chose flash white balance to try and compensate for the differences in light. I again chose the wide angle lens to emphasise the huge space of the turbine hall.

As a space, the turbine hall was designed for use and the way that everything has been designed around the turbines to maximise the space is very effective creating an impressive location and space.

University – Old Medical Building

This building was originally built as part of the university to provide access for medical students to the hospital next door. However the hospital is no longer there and the building has been partially converted into offices for other departments. This has created new spaces and has changed others as floors have been built into areas which were larger rooms or spaces.

Uni_DSC_0002

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 11mm (35mm equivalent 16mm), aperture f22, speed 18 seconds, ISO 100, Fluorescent white balance, Matrix metering, Tripod Mounted camera, 11-16mm lens,

This is a prime example of the newly created space, it can be clearly seen that the new space has been created around the structural supports of the building. The supports themselves are being used to display historical busts and statues of interest. It is a very effective use of the space, rather than creating walls around the supports they have kept the space open making it look like a larger and airier space than it really is.

Uni_DSC_0004

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 16mm (35mm equivalent 24mm), aperture f22, speed 14 seconds, ISO 100, Fluorescent white balance, Matrix metering, Tripod Mounted camera, 11-16mm lens,

Here the space is confusing, what appears to be a staircase and passageway is also a storage and display for books. I could not understand why it was fitted for this purpose and it did not feel right to have an area which is a passage way being used as display “library”.

Uni_DSC_0009

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 16mm (35mm equivalent 24mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/15 second, ISO 640, Daylight white balance, Matrix metering, Hand Held camera, 11-16mm lens,

I was impressed to find that the original staircase was still in use and that it had not been changed. I was surprised to find that at the bottom of the stairwell a statue being displayed as I would not normally associate the bottom of a set of stairs as a display area, however it was a pleasant surprise and a good use of the space as it keeps the departmental concept together.

Chain Coffee Shop

This chain coffee shop was originally a bank which closed and moved premises; the building was taken over and converted into a coffee shop. From the outside the building had not changed much, it still had its heavy glass windows and large wooden door. The inside had change little, the coffee shop had arranged the serving area around the pillars of the bank which created a blocked space when customers interacted with the staff. The floor space was filled with a collection of stools, tables, chairs and sofas creating a comfortable space to sit and drink.

  

CoffeeShop_DSC_0006

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f6.7, speed 1/20 second, ISO 3200, Shade white balance, Matrix metering, Beanbag supported camera, 18-70mm lens,

I did see more than one customer try and squeeze themselves into the till space to have their order taken by the staff and I did not believe that it was an effective use of space.

CoffeeShop_DSC_0010

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 29mm (35mm equivalent 43mm), aperture f6.7, speed 1/350 second, ISO 3200, Shade white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

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The main source of light for the space was small lamps supplemented by the daylight coming in through the windows. I did find that the display running from below the windows right up to the door did not leave a lot of space and mainly channelled customers to the serving counter.

  

CoffeeShop_DSC_0013

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 27mm (35mm equivalent 40mm), aperture f6.7, speed 1/45 second, ISO 3200, Auto white balance, Matrix metering, Beanbag supported camera, 18-70mm lens,

 

CoffeeShop_DSC_0016

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 70mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), aperture f4.5, speed 1/20 second, ISO 3200, Daylight white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

In all, the coffee shop was a nice space and location, it was comfortable to sit and drink coffee, I did find the location of the serving counter a bit counter intuitive as removed a lot of central space from the room making the arrangement a tad squashed and not a great effective use of the overall space. I believe that it is more of a serve and go location rather than a stop and sit location.

  

Museum Hall

This early Victorian Museum has undergone 3 years of refurbishment and transformation. The change has meant that the entrance is no longer directly from the street into the hall but now you enter the building from below the hall. The large entrance hall now a main area for display and exhibition, it is also used as the main gathering space and main transit area between the small exhibition halls and rooms.

Museum_DSC_0027

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f22, speed 1/7 second, ISO 100, Daylight white balance, Spot metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

Museum_DSC_0072

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 31mm (35mm equivalent 46mm), aperture f4, speed 1/90 second, ISO 3200,Auto white balance, Spot metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

The galleries at the side of the hall have also changed purpose; previously the galleries were exhibition areas with lots of display cabinets.

One of the galleries to the side of the main hall has been turned into a study area, although it is just off the main hall it is a quiet and comfortable space which allows you to study items and information on the museum.

Museum_DSC_0062

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 31mm (35mm equivalent 46mm), aperture f13, speed 1/6 second, ISO 1000, Shade white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

On the first floor gallery there is now a small cafe which overlooks the main hall. Previously the cafe was in the main hall itself and moving it out of the central hall space has freed up the hall floor space and created its own effective space while not being isolated from the main area.

Museum_DSC_0058

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 38mm (35mm equivalent 57mm), aperture f13, speed 1/4 second, ISO 1000, Shade white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

As a space which has changed quite a bit over my own lifetime I am happy to see that the hall has been returned to something similar to its original purpose and design, it is a very effective use of the space as previously the hall and galleries were cluttered and overfilled. Now they are pleasant spaces.

Learning points.

One of the main factors I have learned it my over reliance on a wide angle lens to capture space, I should experiment more with telephoto and normal lenses to achieve differing viewpoints.

I also failed in some areas of my research, for example I had heard the a train station had opened after refurbishment, rather than looking for images and information I turned up expecting the Victorian station to have a newer cleaner look, what I found was that the Victorian part of the station had been closed and boarded off and a new structure had been build beside it. The new structure was a glass and steel box which looked particularly unpleasant and unappealing to photograph.

This has been a challenging assignment not only due to my mobility problems but at times making arrangements for access was time consuming and on occasions meant false starts and wasted journeys. I also struggled at times to obtain linear access to building spaces which mean that I missed out on some good spaces as I was unable to access them.

Project Space and Light. Exercise 18 How Space Changes with Light.

What: The brief of this exercise was to visit one or two locations where I could return a number of times in different lighting and photograph on each occasion.

Where: Work

When: First thing in the morning as soon as the sun had risen and at the end of the day after the sun had set.

How: I had made note of these locations as viable locations as I was easily able to revisit these locations a number of times during the day and easily photograph the conditions.

The only slight problem I had with these locations are that I was unable to setup a tripod due to the space restrictions and the ability to transport a lot of equipment across the site to these places.

In the first location I really wanted to capture the difference in lighting conditions as although there was only a little difference in shadow there was a vast difference in the colouration of the light within the space.

During the day a lot of light comes in through the room which is then supplemented with the large lights around the roof of the workshop. When the sun sets the shapes in the roof supports are clearer and better defined but the shadows are coloured by the artificial lights giving them a yellow tint.

The floor also takes on the yellow tint making it more orange than in natural light.

DSC_0012(1)

Nikon D50, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/30 second, ISO 1600, Auto white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

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Nikon D50, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/15 second, ISO 1600, Auto white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

I was surprised to find that I only had to half my shutter speed at the end of the day to capture the final image of the workshop. Even though I was in a slight different position, I can easily compare the light conditions and the shadows, the space looses height as it has lost the brightness from the skylights and I feel that the walls are slightly closer as they are not reflecting the light back into the workshop area.

I decided to revisit the link bridge to capture the differences in light even on a dull day. As the bridge runs east/west it captures a lot of light during the day and a lot of the shadows are completely lost in the brightness. Nearest the camera there is a small spot of shadow created by the building behind the bridge which blocks the sun coming in from the left hand side of the camera.

In the evening the bridge loses a lot of light as the darkness below and to the sides of the bridge creates a dark tunnel around the space and it spaces the space into a tunnel rather than a bridge. The inside of the bridge is light up by the small lights in the roof, as the main purpose of the bridge is to allow movement from A to B it is not covered in lots of light as a lot of light is not really needed, enough light is required to allow people to see where they are going and that is it.

There are small shadows created behind the supports of the bridge as they are thrown into relief by the roof lights.

DSC_0006

Nikon D50, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/1000 second, ISO 1600, Auto white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

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Nikon D50, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f5.6, speed 1/45 second, ISO 1600, Auto white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

I was surprised to find out how much light was lost as the shutter speed dropped from 1000^th of a second down to a 45^th of a second. I had expected the lights in the roof to produce much more light that what they actually did.

When I was at the bridge in the morning I took a modified camera which allows me to capture a colour Infra Red photograph, as an experiment to see if I could capture a completely different point of view on the lighting conditions of the space.

DSC_0001

Modified Nikon D40, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), aperture f4, speed 1/400 second, ISO 800, Manual white balance, Matrix metering, Hand held camera, 55-200mm lens,

A

In the image I was able to capture a lot of repeating shadows which did not show up on the colour images. It also cast the other end of the link bridge into complete darkness making it a much sinister image, partially due to the image compression as I used the smallest focal length on a telephoto lens.

I am pleased to see that I was able to meet the brief and show that these areas changed with the lighting conditions.

Exercise 17 - The Users Viewpoint

What: The main brief of this exercise was choose two locations or spaces which are designed for a particular activity and to capture an image that attempts to capture the users point of view, taking into account height, orientation of the image and the lens focal length. 
Where: At the museum and at work. 
When: Two differing points in the day; at the museum it was mid morning and at work it was in the early evening. 
How: After making a couple of notes and examining a few locations I decided upon the two locations as they are vast spaces who are solely dedicated to movement of people from one location to another and they are almost ignored by the users on a daily basis. 

Museum Stairs Attending the museum I had to move in a non linear fashion into the buildings due to my limited mobility, therefore I get a unique point of view of the establishment as I am mainly routed through less used locations.

I wanted to capture these stairs specifically as they have been designed at an angle which you cannot see when you are using the stairs directly, it is only when you are about to descend the stairs that you notice the odd angle that the stairs have been built into.

DSC_0011

Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 29mm (35mm equivalent 43mm), aperture f9.5, speed 0.7 second, ISO 100, Fluorescent  white balance, Matrix  metering, Hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,

I chose this location and angle as it is at this point of time as I approach the stairs that the oblique angle of the stairs first defines itself to my eyes. I did not use a wide angle lens as this pulled in too much of the background and when orientated into portrait the wide angle lens still distorted the final image. I wanted the aperture to be wide enough to show that there was something at the bottom of the stairs but at the same time I did not want to blow out the whites of the tiles nor did I want to lose the grain of the wooden steps.

Link Bridge

I wanted to capture this space as it is a special space solely built to allow movement between buildings while still being a secure break between buildings to prevent fire moving between the buildings. Its design as a security feature as well as a transit space is ignored by most users.

I wanted to capture the amount of space dedicated to the “room” and I wanted to capture it in the dark as the sides are made of tough glass and during the day the amount of light coming into it can be blinding. At night however the space becomes a bright route between two dark spaces.

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Nikon D80, Exposure mode manual, focal length 11mm (35mm equivalent 16mm), aperture f9.5, speed 1/10 second, ISO 640, Fluorescent  white balance, Spot  metering, Hand Held camera, 11-16mm lens,

I really wanted to use the wide angle lens to capture not only the width of the bridge but the length. The bridge space spans off into the distance and the exit doors can be faintly made out in the glare of the lights as they repeat off into the distance. I also wanted to capture the Fibonacci like repetition of the light reflections on the floor.

 I am very happy with the final choice treatments of the spaces, I had a few attempts at spaces which in my mind made good choices and examples but when I visited the areas I could not capture the final image treatment that I wanted. I also had a few problems with low light in a few areas as I could not always get to the locations when the natural light was best.

Project Space and Function. Exercise 16 - Exploring Function

What: The main brief of this exercise was to examine a space and think about that it is intended to be used for, has the design of the space as it stands, been a successful design; does it fit the function of the space. Transfer this thought process into an image. 
Where: At Home, Indoors 
When: Just after sunrise. 
How: After making a lot of notes about the idea of the space of the bedroom, I think translated the thoughts into a single image. 

Locate a space: After thinking about different locations and spaces I decided to use the one space that I practically function from on a daily basis. The Bedroom 

Who uses the space: I do. 

Intention of the space: The dictionary definition of the bedroom is a room furnished for and used for sleeping and for the storage of clothes. How many aspects are there to the activity: Sleep hygiene tells us that the bedroom and the bed should only be used for sleeping and that you should not read, watch TV, or eat in bed/bedroom and that the bed and the bedroom have to be associated as the a relaxing location.

However many of us do not adhere tightly to these rules and that the bedroom has become a multi function area where rest and activity overlaps. People will watch TV, read, use computers until they become tired and at that moment the bedroom and the bed returns to the intended function which is a room where people sleep.

In reality in this point in time, the bedroom here in this image has had the function changed;

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Nikon D80, Aperture Mode Manual, focal length 14mm (35mm equivalent 21mm), aperture f13, speed 1/4 second, ISO 3200, Fluorescent  white balance, Matrix  metering, Tripod Mounted camera, 11-16mm lens,

It is a study spot, an office from where I work, a reading room, a cat space, a place to watch TV, read books, and eat and to listen to music. As well as the traditional function of a place to rest; especially when I am personally struggling to maintain a clear thought process due to chronic fatigue and pain. It can be clearly seen in the image that the area is cluttered with books, papers, magazines, laptops and cats and is clearly showing signs of occupation and a change of function from the definitive description and intended idea of what the space should be.

I decided upon a low light shot as I wanted to capture the room as intended, using the wide angle lens allowed to me to capture the space in a non architectural style, I wanted to converge the verticals and show that there was some form of human occupation of the space. I also wanted to capture the true day to day function of the space, I did not want to hide the fact that the space has had to become multifunction due to my condition.