Time Passing – part two

For part two of the Time Passing project, I was instructed to develop my previous 40 images and expand on the uses of view points and angles. Time was also a main feature in this extension. I was told to question the fabrication of time, what happened five minutes before? What happened five minutes after? With this I focused my attention on the content of the picture. The ballerina in the photograph caught my eye, she sat elegantly on the horse and was the main focus of the show. I can relate with this character as I used to dance for many years. Thinking about performance I questioned what were to happened if she was to fall of the horse or miss place her step. How would she be perceived by her audience? Would she be able to recover from her mistake without anyone noticing? Would she be judged?

Placing her in different dance positions, I began to tell a story. I chose to work with in a time frame of seconds rather than minutes since she is dancing. I worked with ink and a large paintbrush to illustrate flowing line and movement.

To incorporate my ink drawings into my previous work, I scanned and photoshopped the dancer into the photos. Working with the the effects from the lighting and the shadows, I blended her into the theatre. When looking at the end results it made the dancer look at though she was dancing in a part of the theatre where you couldn’t see her, but you knew she was there because of her shadow. I again presented this series of work in a concertina. It helps the images the flow and tell a story.

Time passing

For this brief I was given a photograph taken from a book called ‘…..’. This photo was of an abstract shot from an awkward level in a round house theatre. Quite old and run down, we can tell the photo was taken many years ago. The building itself held much character and history. My task for the brief was to explore the many different view points within that space. For example, I had to imagine what I would see if I was sitting on the horse featured in the photo, or if I was standing in the very centre of the stage. My photograph was perfect for this project, it is a large space, filled with loads of people and full of life.

With this photograph I was instructed to illustrate 40 responses. These could be of any size, use any materials but had to be explorative about view points and angles.

When starting work on this brief I struggled. Working 3D most of the time I sometimes find it hard to revert back to drawing and painting. So as a result of this I spoke to Anna and Chris, they both advised that I pursue working 3D, but also push my other use of materials and discover other mediums. This led me to using the cardboard in our studio. Instead of focusing on the people and content of the photo I looked at the context, the space itself. Using the cardboard I quickly built a rough mini version of the theatre. It replicated the growing circles and spiralling structure of the theatre in the photo. I was very pleased with the result.

I was in two minds about painting the theatre, the 40 responses were only meant to be quick and I didn’t feel the need to consider colour to much, I was more focused on shape and form. But listening to the opinions of colleges and tutors I painted it! I used a pallet of colouri from the theme of the theatre, it gave the cardboard a bit more life.

Once the theatre was complete, I thought about working with other materials. Documenting 3D work through photography gave me the idea of expanding my use of camera equipment and effects on photographs. Following this I spoke to a tech man call Mal. He is based in photography and helped bounce ideas as to developing my work. He introduced me to a small camera no bigger than the palm of your hand. Predominately used for parachuting and skydiving this camera is very light, takes pictures quickly and is completely unpredictable as to what you are going to capture. Being very small it means it can be placed in tight or small spaces. Perfect for my mini theatre!…

Before photographing the theatre, I used a glue gun to make small, simple silhouetted figures of people. These i coloured in black and we’re all unison. They represented the endless audience that sat in the theatre in the original photograph. Colour was also another aspect when thinking about mood and atmosphere. When lighting my theatre, I placed pieces of coloured acetate in front of the bright lights. The effect of this caused shadows and mystical effects. The camera was small enough for me to place inside the theatre. But not all of my photos that I took were in focus or great. Still I placed them within my 40.

I presented my finished 40 images in a concertina. This allowed my work to flow and each image could be related to the next.