The Flyover

Image from Google Map, 2009

Fig.1
Scene test 17/10/2009 1:00am

Canon 400D digital
Shutter Speed 8 seconds
Aperture f/8
ISO 100
Focal Length 18.mm


SCENE REVISITED - Saturday 24Th October 2009 00:00 Weather: strong wind

This time with different models and different style clothing, A new subject to the bottom right and a bunch of flowers to the left of the shot.


Fig.2


I just had a quick go in Photo shop with this image as it is not a final.
Focusing was a problem for me and there is slight movement in the subjects. I also prefer the attire in the previous shot with style it had before, but still add the additional person below.

* Re shoot planned for 30Th October, shoot earlier for the right lighting and also so I can focus before the light goes. 3 subjects, two on the flyover in an almost hushed manor, and the third below waiting to cross the street, unaware of what is going on around him.

Thoughts: Greyer glimpse of the city
what I feel when I look at the subjects in what appears to be a sort of discrete discussion is wonder, why this place to hold their conversation, with their cold, dark surroundings and the subjects well covered reminds me how dark, gritty and dangerous a city can be.
After the subjects, the next thing that draws my attention is the warmth of the flats behind them, all those people in the city I imagine would be asleep, safe and warm in their homes, or relaxing in front of the T.V after the routine long day at work, unaware of the life that surrounds them. Do these people also contemplate the life of the city.
That then leads me to wonder about what else is going on within the city, all these people, a few I know, people ive past in the street but do not recall, others i have never met and may never meet. All these different moments & experiences happening to all these different life's at once, and under the darkened cover of the city I live in, my city.


* RESHOOT 30th October 2009 16:30
Traffice below due to time, no other people in the scene apart from the two characters.

Nights falling over the city, for some that means heading home after a long hard day, for others it's just begining.

Screen shot.1 final image
Sky top left clone stamp

Screen shot 2. final image
Lasso for working on concrete

So far

Scene Two - St.George's park

Image from Google Map

Keep composition, need correct exposure and scene.

Possible scenes - struggle / 2 models

isolation / one

single figure with flower. Feelings of longing and aloneness.

Young lady walking alone catching the attention of a mysterious figure of a man. Feelings of unease and apprehension.

Again this scene as with the others must be shot earlier, with this scene being so dark focusing was impossible for me.

Jeff Wall

Wall, View from an apartment,2005

Photographer Jeff Wall staged situations based on every day scenes for his series 'Figures and Places'.

Scene One - St.Georges Hall

Image from Google Map



St.George's Hall
St.George's, PI, Liverpool L1, United Kingdom

Fig.1


Location Shot 18/10/2009 00:00
Shot raw file
f/8 & four seconds, ISO 100, tungsten light
- try 4, 8 & 12 seconds

Scene - Tall man, bottom of the steps directly below the door, newspaper open fully.
Correct composition and work on in photo shop.


Fig.2
Re shot composition -
Different composition, prefer original shot, fig.1,the columns give a more dramatic mood to this scene, making the appearance of the single figure seem insignificant in comparison the building that dominates him, but the calm appearance gives nothing away, unknown who this figure is and what is his purpose.
Fig.3
First shoot with model at this location, strong winds meant I could not do the scenes with the figure holding a paper, also I feel the figure would look better in black and have his legs together.














"Downtown Train" Tom Waits
Still from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHyvjdn4rFk

Tom Waits American singer-songwriter, composer and actor has a distinctive voice which sound as it has been conditioned with cigarettes and bourbon, his songs focus on mood rather than narrative. Characters within Waits songs are rooted in American mythology, coming from tough guys, and film noir. (Rachlis, 1976).

* - Kit Rachlis, Rolling Stone, 12/30/76. http://www.superseventies.com/spwaitstom.html

His album Nighthawks at the Diner was released in 1975, the title to the album was inspired by Edward Hoppers 1942 painting entitled Nighthawks.


* Re shoot planned for Wednesday 28Th October 2009

Related:



Image from; google images. The Avenger series

Typical gentleman look, smart with a calm manor.


Scumbag Blues by them crooked vultures
Still from YouTube: them crooked vultures, 1st September 2009

Dave Grohl, Joshua Homme and John Paul Jones have got together and formed them crooked vultures. This still is from a taster video from their YouTube link.

Again with the smart gentleman appearance only this time with vultures heads.

With both the avengers image and the one above, the well dressed gentleman carries with him a respectability in the eyes of society, nevertheless appearances can be deceiving, people are easily fooled and having wealth does not make you purer.

*Wednesday 28Th October 2009

Location: St.George's Hall 16:30 - 18:00

The wind is starting to pick up in Liverpool which is making certain idea's tricky to accomplish, as with this scene of the Gentleman with the paper.

I want all black attire with this scene, respectable gentleman, wanting to keep the identity a mystery the subject will be as if reading a paper and keeping up with society.

The building behind will seem as if it is welcoming our gentleman inside but there would for some people I believe a moment of apprehension, due to the overwhelming size difference and what awaited them. Yet our gentleman does not give this feeling I would expect, suddenly the feeling of apprehension has been replaced with curiosity towards our individual, his calm actions to me tells me he may not be as insignificant as the city is trying to make him believe.

Screen shot.1

screen shot.2
The Hall, contact sheet.

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson, Brief Encounter

Second exposure - Depicts scenes of anxiety and dislocation.

Gregory Crewdson understood at a very early age the psychological powers of pictures after his father and psycho-analysis took a young Crewdson to see a Dianne Arbus exhibition.

Crewdson searches for the familiar and the strange, in his 'Twilight' series Crewdson creates what appears to be standard streets scenes, a mixture of reality and fiction, photographed within a documentary style.

For me Brief Encounter uses its lighting to create warmth within an otherwise wintry and gloomy setting. The traffic lights glow amber while the shops gives subtle burst of orange, almost blending two moods into one, creating that strange moment of a familiar place becoming unfamiliar.


Gregory Crewdson has been compared to David Lynch, an American filmmaker who is known for his distinctive and unconventional approach to filmmaking. The first piece of Lynch's work I came across is the 1990's american television show 'Twin Peaks'. Covering genres of drama, mystery, and fantasy amongst others, Twin Peaks was a psychological thriller, a quite little town where nobody was who they appeared to be. Twin Peaks is one of experiences that has stayed with me, it came around at a time in my life where I was looking for an escape from reality.


Google images

Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #14

Cindy Sherman’s 1980s series ‘Film Stills’ deals with female stereotypes, they are portraits not of how Sherman sees herself, but how she sees men seeing women. Making a total of 69 black and white Untitled Film Stills, She created in her mind, whom the characters were beforehand. These works are not directly derived from moving images but are single exposure photographs that borrow cinematic techniques, including lighting, scenery, and framing, Sherman herself is the model for each one. (Although Sherman poses for all her own work, they are not self portraits.)You will notice that Sherman never looks directly into the camera, for any of these images.
Sherman did not create scenes from specific films, but the body of work reflects film genres similar to film noir, French new wave and European films from the 1950-1960 eras. Influences from Directors such as Hitchcock, and actress’s such as Bridget Bardot are also noticeable.