Tag:urban
Street photography is a genre that uniquely freezes moments of raw, unscripted human interaction and urban landscapes. It has a rich history and an enduring appeal. The allure lies in its ability to capture the essence of everyday life in public spaces. Photographers are drawn to street photography for various reasons, including the desire to document reality, express creativity, engage in social observation, and explore the dynamic relationship between people and their environments. In this post, we’ll delve into these motivations, highlighting street photography’s significance and multifaceted nature.
Documentation of Reality
One of the primary reasons people engage in street photography is the desire to document reality. Street photographers often see themselves as visual historians, capturing the essence of a particular time and place. Through their lenses, they document societal changes, cultural shifts, and the nuances of everyday life, thereby creating a valuable historical record that provides future generations a glimpse into the past.
Street photography’s ability to capture unposed, candid moments makes it a powerful tool for documenting reality. Unlike staged or studio photography, street photography reflects genuine human experiences and interactions. This authenticity resonates with both photographers and viewers, creating a sense of connection to the captured moments.
Creative Expression
Street photography also serves as a medium for creative expression. Photographers are drawn to the genre because it allows them to explore their artistic vision in a dynamic and unpredictable environment. The streets offer opportunities, from bustling markets and serene parks to architectural marvels and fleeting moments of human interaction. This diversity gives photographers a rich canvas for experimenting with composition, lighting, and perspective.
The spontaneous nature of street photography challenges photographers to think on their feet and adapt to ever-changing conditions. This spontaneity fosters creativity, pushing photographers to find unique angles and capture moments others might overlook. Street photography encourages photographers to see beauty in the mundane and tell compelling stories through images.
Social Observation
Street photography is inherently linked to social observation. Photographers are often motivated by a desire to understand and document the human condition. By capturing candid moments in public spaces, they gain insights into the behaviours, emotions, and interactions of people from diverse backgrounds. This observational aspect of street photography can be both enlightening and thought-provoking.
Through their work, street photographers can illuminate social issues, highlight cultural diversity, and challenge societal norms. Their images can serve as a powerful commentary on the world around them, spark conversations, and raise awareness about important topics. Street photography’s ability to capture the essence of humanity makes it a valuable tool for social observation and storytelling.
Exploration of Human-Environment Interaction
Another reason people are drawn to street photography is the opportunity to explore the dynamic relationship between people and their environments. Urban spaces constantly evolve, shaped by individual interactions and the built environment. Street photographers are fascinated by this interplay and seek to capture how people navigate, interact with, and transform their surroundings.
Street photography allows photographers to highlight the contrasts and connections between people and their environments. They can capture the juxtaposition of old and new, the interaction between nature and urbanisation and how individuals adapt to and shape their surroundings. This exploration of human-environment interaction adds depth and context to their images, making them more compelling and meaningful.
Personal Fulfillment and Connection
For many street photographers, the practice is not just a hobby but a source of personal fulfilment and connection. Wandering through the streets, observing life, and capturing moments can be a deeply meditative and rewarding experience. Street photography encourages photographers to be present in the moment, observe their surroundings keenly, and appreciate everyday life’s beauty.
Street photography provides personal fulfilment and fosters a sense of connection. Photographers share their work with a broader audience and create a community of like-minded individuals. Whether through social media platforms, photography exhibitions, or street photography groups, these connections enhance the experience and motivate people to pursue street photography.
Black and White or Colour?
Choosing between black-and-white or colour for street photography depends on several factors, such as personal preference, the mood you want to convey, and the specific characteristics of the scene.
Black and White:
- Timelessness: Black and white photography has a classic, timeless quality that can make your images feel more enduring.
- Focus on Composition: Without colour, the emphasis shifts to shapes, lines, textures, and contrast, enhancing the composition.
- Mood and Emotion: Black and white can evoke a strong emotional response. It can highlight a scene’s mood, making it more dramatic or poignant.
- Simplicity: It can simplify a busy scene, stripping away distractions and drawing attention to the subject.
Colour:
- Realism: Color captures the world as we see it, providing a more realistic representation of the scene.
- Mood and Atmosphere: Colors can convey different moods and atmospheres, from the warmth of a sunset to the vibrancy of a bustling market.
- Details and Layers: Color can add depth and layers to an image. It can highlight details that might be lost in black and white.
- Storytelling: Color can be a crucial element in storytelling, where certain hues may carry cultural, social, or personal significance.
Factors to Consider:
- Scene Characteristics: Some scenes naturally lend themselves to one style over the other. High-contrast scenes with strong light and shadows might work better in black and white, while scenes with rich, vibrant colours might be best captured in colour.
- Personal Style: Your artistic vision and style play a significant role. Some photographers prefer the aesthetic of black and white, while others are drawn to the dynamism of colour.
- Subject Matter: The subject can also influence the choice. For example, street portraits might benefit from the emotional impact of black and white. Meanwhile, urban landscapes might come alive with the colours of the city.
Ultimately, the choice between black and white or colour for street photography is a creative decision that can significantly affect the impact of your images. Experiment with both to see which resonates more with your vision and the story you want to tell.
Challenge and Skill Development
Street photography presents unique challenges that attract photographers seeking to hone their skills. The genre requires a combination of technical proficiency, quick thinking, and an ability to anticipate and react to fleeting moments. Photographers must master their equipment, understand light and composition, and develop a keen sense of timing.
The unpredictable nature of street photography pushes photographers out of their comfort zones and encourages continuous learning and improvement. Each outing presents new challenges and opportunities for growth, whether it’s capturing a decisive moment, dealing with changing light conditions or navigating crowded streets. This constant challenge keeps photographers engaged and motivated to refine their craft.
People engage in street photography for many reasons, from documenting reality and expressing creativity to engaging in social observation and exploring human-environment interactions. The genre’s unique appeal lies in its ability to capture authentic, unscripted moments reflecting everyday life’s essence. Street photography offers a rich and diverse canvas for photographers to explore their artistic vision, connect with others, and gain insights into the human condition.
The motivations behind street photography are as varied as the images it produces. For some, it is a way to document the world around them and create a historical record. For others, it is a form of creative expression and a means of exploring the relationship between people and their environments. Regardless of the motivation, street photography remains a powerful and enduring genre that continues to captivate and inspire photographers and viewers alike.
What is Urban Landscape Photography?
Urban landscape photography captures images of cities and towns where the focus is on the man-made aspect of the urban environment. While landscape photography captures the essence of nature from forests, woodlands, waterfalls and deserts, urban landscapes capture our man-made impact on the landscape, from parks and gardens to residential, public and industrial buildings. It’s a fast-growing photographic genre capturing towns and cities’ dynamic and ever-changing environments.
History of Urban Landscapes
French inventor Nicéphore Niépce took what is widely regarded as the first urban landscape photograph in 1826 or 1827. His image showed parts of buildings and the surrounding countryside of his La Gras estate as seen from a high window. It is the oldest surviving camera photograph in existence. Just over a decade later, in 1839, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre took an image of an empty Paris street. The absence of people in the scene is caused by the daguerreotype’s 10 to 15 minute exposure time. Anyone moving through the scene is eliminated, and only those standing remain.
Distinct genre
Urban landscape (also called cityscape photography) is often confused with Street photography. However, the genres are quite distinct. Street photography captures candid moments of people interacting in and around the city. Urban portraits are also a different genre, one where the photographer captures posed or staged images of people against a city backdrop. Urban landscapes photograph the man-made structures. Rather than the people moving through it, the environment is the scene’s focus.
1. Black and White or colour?
Colour is everywhere in the city, from the cars, traffic lights and street signs to shades of brick and glass or the attire of pedestrians. If the colour aids your story, then go with it – if, however, it distracts and draws the eye to an errant pedestrian in a red jacket when you want the viewer to focus on the structure behind, try going black and white. The absence of colour prioritises shapes and patterns.
2. Perspectives and Point of view
Look for different perspectives from down at footpath level to up a couple of floors in an observation deck or multi-level carpark. A different point of view will tell a completely different story. Also, consider portrait mode to isolate or emphasise viewpoints
3. Lighting
The time of day and the weather has enormous impacts on your image. Sometimes, the golden hour works on a building or scene. At other times it’s at its best on a sunny (or cloudy) day. Consider what you are photographing and factor in the light to suit your vision. I chose a dismal, wet day to photograph the Avenue of Honour in the image above. Considering all the heartache and lives lost during WWI, I didn’t want a bright, cheerful, sunny day. The gloomy wet roads and scenes aligned more with what I wanted to portray.
4. Leading Lines
While leading lines are used in all genres, they come into their own for urban landscapes – roads and fences; all draw the viewer’s eye up or into the image. The spurts of water in the fountain lead the viewer to the building behind in the photo above. The ring of stones also leads the eye around and to the back
5. Depth of Field
Both urban and nature landscapes benefit from an F stop 11 and above. F16 will give capture more of the scene in sharper focus. On a sunny day, it’s the F16 rule. However, a dull or cloudy day at F16 would require an ISO of between 400 to 800.
6. Images with Impact
What you leave out of an image is as important as what’s in it. While elements of the image may be appealing to you as you stand in front of them – they don’t always work in the finished image. Too many points of interest make a confusing image, and the viewer is unsure of just what the image is about. What made you stop and want to take the shot? That’s the predominant feature – compose your image so that this feature is prominent. This is your focal point – it’s the part of your image that you want the viewer to see first. In the photos above, while I like the lightning bolts, they distracted from the bikes which was the reason I stopped to take the shot. So I recomposed and took another shot.
7. Framing your scene
Framing the image will draw attention to one part of your scene while blocking out distractions. Archways are great for this, as are open doors and windows. You will need to bracket your shots and blend to avoid the window being blown out by shooting into the light with windows.
Symmetry
When two halves of your image – horizontally or vertically – mirror the other half, you have a beautifully symmetrical image. It gives a clean, evenly proportioned and balanced look to the image. To take a symmetrical photo, you must be standing in the centre. When composing your shot, align everything up and exclude what isn’t symmetrical.
Urban landscapes preserve the ever-changing faces of our cities. Cities are constantly evolving, with new buildings going up and others coming down. So if you revisit the scene a few years on, it will always be a different scene from what you took years before.
After August’s first highly successful and enjoyable light painting evening at Bradmill. Another was scheduled for October. In Yarraville, the old Bradmill Factory has been sold to a Chinese developer for $160m. It’s expected to be pulled down and redeveloped into a mini-city, but it’s a photographers mecca until then. And the Bradmill Factory and Lightpainting go hand in hand.
Bradmill
The place is massive.. and I do mean massive—all 24 hectares of it. Opening in 1927 and producing fabrics in heavy-duty cotton and canvas products it was abandoned in 2007 when manufacturing moved overseas. The main buildings are huge, open floor areas, pocked with small and alarmingly deep holes. Every wall is covered with graffiti and every window is broken. Broken glass, empty bottles, burnt mattresses, wrecked and burnt-out cars lie discarded. Not a single intact external or internal door exists. Access is beyond easy. Park the vehicle and walk in.
Exploring the furnace
The light painting was starting at dark, but I wanted to get another go at the site in daylight and my first stop was the old furnace. We crawled in through the small opening and looked straight up the chimney. Adorning the walls inside was a white walker scene. everyone’s a GOT fan 🙂
Leaving the furnace we headed to the little house..apparently, coal was unloaded here, and gone up the conveyor into the main building the fire the boilers. After deciding the conveyor was sturdy enough and seeing another two photographers and two models head up there as well, we entered the little house and walked up the conveyor. It’s not too bad a hike up there… I’m not young, and I made it though the heart was pumping by the time I got to the top 😉
The Boiler Room
At the top, we found a mesh walkway with a tantalising glimpse of stairs the floors below. This top room had machinery and rollers but we could see better machinery downstairs so we headed back down the conveyor again and found an opening on ground level. Once inside again we headed up the stairs one level and hit the mother lode on the first floor…..
Lightpainting
As it was getting close to meet-up time for the light painting, we left the machinery room and headed back over to the main buildings. Lightpainting at Bradmill is fantastic, and Bill and Deanne Holmer are the Light painting maestros. They are like the love children of Mc Gyver, where they take a bottle opener, two nails and a rubber band and create something unique.
All of their light-emitting equipment is original, designed and made by them. They put on an excellent LED light show for about 30 of us, tripods lined up in front, the camera’s on bulb, with Bill calling the ‘shutter open’ and ‘shutter closed. After the LEDs, they followed up with the steel wool spinning. The factory by now was black as pitch, and when the steel wool spins, it throws out amazing sparks, dancing across the floor and roof. And standing in the middle is our own ‘God of Fire’
The Maltings at Mittagong had been on my ‘decaying, decrepit places I must visit before they are razed to the ground’ list for some time. At the urging of my travelling companion, who seemed to think there were 30 hours of daylight each day, we added it to the travelling plan of our south coast trip. Leaving Kiama and travelling to Sydney, we took a detour to Mittagong.
History
The Mittagong Maltings Works was established initially by the Maltings Company of NSW (Ltd) and operated from August 1899. Tooth and Company Limited purchased the Mittagong Works in 1905 and produced the malt used in Tooth & Co breweries in Sydney. The early 1940s was an active period, with malt’s output being approximately 200,000 bushels annually. This output was severely restricted following a large fire in August 1942, which completely gutted No.2 Malthouse and damaged No.1. The No.1 Malthouse was returned to service early in 1943. The No.2 Malthouse was completely rebuilt during the early 1950s and recommenced active operation in 1953. The process continued until another fire gutted the No.3 Malthouse in 1969. Tooths & Co continued to operate at the site until 1980 when the works were closed and the site sold to a group of local business people [Archives Collection, Australian National University]
Location
Located in Mittagong and bordered on one side by Ferguson Cres and Southey Street, it sits among housing slowly encroaching its borders. We parked in Southey St and entered through a wide-open chain-link gate. We explored the main building, first entering under a missing door to the right of the Tooheys horse insignia. The building is beautiful despite years of neglect and vandalism. Graffiti in the main building is minimal, however. This floor contained gorgeous old arched entryways between rooms, tall roof supports and an actual exposed ceiling 😉
We could not get to the second floor. Even though it appeared solid concrete, I had left my wings at home and brought common sense instead, so we didn’t climb up there. There was a staircase, but all the steps were gone. So leaving the main building, we headed down a little path to see where it led.
The Second building
This led us to the second Maltings building, lovely brickwork with arched windows again, interesting rubble… this was looking good.
Again ‘they’ had left the door open for us, so we went straight in. It was in pretty good shape for a building that’s been abandoned for 30 years. Kudo’s to the 1899 builders; they built things to last! We found a wooden staircase that looked safe enough, and we headed upstairs to the graffiti we could see through the cracks on the floor above.
Puddles! I love puddles and the reflections they make in these old buildings. But, unfortunately, this room must be close to a swimming pool in wet weather from mould and moss on the walls.
Heading back down, we went to the machinery shed. It still has remnants of old equipment, chains, rubble, giant cogs and tiny windows that look into a semi-subterranean level partly filled with water.
Through the arched windows above, you can see down into the lower level with its arched ceiling
Access to the Maltings
On the day we visited, the buildings were easy to get into, parking is right out front though it’s possible to drive your car right through the gate and up to the building. Security is nonexistent. None of the nearby residents was concerned with us wandering around with cameras. Both buildings are good, but the second was better, purely because there was more we could explore, unlike building one, in this one we could get to the upper floors.
Buddy System
I would definitely suggest taking a friend with you, though. It’s not somewhere I would go alone. Too many holes in the floor to fall through, debris to fall over and break a leg, etc.. It’s a great location, easy to spend a few hours there, but it is a large block with all the dangers that go with derelict buildings. The staircase in the second building is pretty sturdy; the one in the machine shop wobbled a bit when I tried it, and it doesn’t go all the way to the top floor. The staircase in the main building is gone. Someone has removed all the wooden steps.
The Shipwrecks and Wetlands of Homebush Bay are stunning. They are also a credit to the reclamation and beautification of old industrial locations, with paths, cycle tracks, wetlands, and shipwrecks.
Location
Previously a heavy industrial area, the wrecks are situated on the south bank of the Parramatta River. This was also the location of Sydney Olympic Park for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Because the river is heavily polluted with dioxin, heavy metals and other chemicals, fishing is banned in the river. The shipwrecks were the remains of ships and barges from a ship-breaking yard in 1966. Behind are four ships’ hulls and several smaller barges protected under the Shipwrecks Act, 1976. This act applies to all shipwrecks over seventy-five years old. Relics over fifty years old and located in lakes and rivers are protected under the NSW Heritage Act, 1977.
We took a day trip down here to photograph the shipwrecks. However, after a week of sunrise starts, we were too slow getting out of bed and arrived mid-morning. Unfortunately, the sunrise had gone, and the sun was high in the sky. The shots I wanted weren’t possible due to the light, so we had to make do.
SS Ayrfield
The SS Ayrfield was a steam collier of 1140 tonnes and 79.1m in length. It was built in the UK in 1911 and registered in Sydney in 1912. Purchased by the Commonwealth Govt, it was used to transport supplies to American troops stationed in the Pacific region during WWII. She’s now far more beautiful with lush shrubs and trees growing on her decks and sits directly outside an apartment block. The best spots to photograph her are from the apartment block’s front or on the little footbridge. And at early light.
SS Heroic
A stunning display of rusting beauty, The Heroic is a steel-hulled steam tugboat of 258 tonnes and 38.1m in length. It lies just near the mangroves. The Heroic was built at South Shields, the UK, in 1909 for Thomas Fenwick [tugboat operators] of Sydney. It was commandeered by the British Admiralty, renamed Epic, and engaged in rescue work off the Scilly Isles during WWI. By 1919, it was back in Sydney as a working tug. During WWII, it towed Allara back to Sydney after that ship had been torpedoed off Sydney.
SS Mortlake Bank
The Mortlake Bank has been broken up, and only the stern section and part of the bow remain floating approximately 50m northeast of SS Ayrfield. The Mortlake Bank was a steel-hulled steam collier weighing 1371 tonnes and 71.65m long. It was built in the Wallsend-on-Tyne in the UK in 1924 and was purchased by a Melbourne company. The Mortlake operated between Hexham and Mortlake, transporting coal to the Mortlake Gasworks of the Australian Gas Light Company. On 31 May 1942, during WWII, SS Mortlake Bank entered Sydney Harbour. She passed through the anti-submarine boom net when the Japanese midget submarine (M-24) made entry under the ship’s keel.
Waterbird Refuge
If you follow the 1.3 km walking track past the shipwrecks, the other side of the path is home to the salt marshes of the Waterbird Refuge. We spotted several different bird species on our shipwreck spotting walk.
Melbourne Open House is an annual event held at the end of July. Its goal is “connecting people with good design and architecture in the city”. Over 100 buildings of significance that are generally closed to the general public are open during the two days it runs. Either through tours or self-guided.
It’s always massively popular, with tickets for some locations (all of it is free) going within minutes of bookings opening. I missed out on the tours with ticketed entry. But I was taking part in the ones where you joined a long, snaking queue or took a self-guided tour.
Victoria Police Mounted Branch
Constructed in 1912 and one of the most extensive stables built and remaining in Melbourne, it houses 17 horses. They will move to new, purpose-built, modern stables at Attwood in the next few months. The Victorian College of Arts recently purchased the building.
After a refurbishment that keeps the heritage aspect intact, it will open as an art gallery space. The queue here took an hour to get to the door, and we were in and out in about 20 mins. The police horses are used in crowd control and search and rescue. The horse is nudging the ball (how they teach them to push people back) is massive. He’s the tallest one they have and stands at 17 hands high.
State Library of Victoria
Opening in 1856, with the famous dome completed in 1913, the State Library takes up an entire city block. It is Australia’s oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the world. They claim to be Australia’s most patronised library, with 1.7 million visitors through the doors each year and another 3 million online. The state library is about to undergo an $83 million renovation, with $53 million being spent on Queens Hall alone. The renovation of Queens Hall will restore it to a reading room, reopen the skylights, and feature a new rooftop garden terrace.
It’s a truly magnificent building, with the Latrobe Reading Room under the great dome at its heart. Its massive rooms and high vaulted ceilings are exhibitions of paintings and sculptures, and books. The forecourt features statues, gently sloping lawns, and two large chess boards. Queens Hall is located in the oldest part of the building and, except for special events, has been closed since 2000. It’s a vast hall 145 feet long and was the original reading room until the domed hall opened in 1913.
Substation J
We arrived at the substation shortly after it opened on Sunday, and the queue was small. Substation J is an operating substation with live electrical equipment. So, we had to dress up with hairnets, lab coats, and hard hats (not that I understand how a lab coat would save me from electrocution. The substation was considered ‘state-of-the-art’ when it opened in 1953. However, Substation J has been a hidden time capsule since it closed in 1980. It remains a functioning power station. However, it is now fully automated, and the old control room is shut off and off-limits to all except a few. As the old control room was offline, there was no danger of us plunging the city into darkness ;). So we were encouraged to play with the buttons and handles while there.
Tasma Terrace
Considered one of the finest examples of a 19th-century, three-storey terrace house, Tasma Terrace began life as a guest house in 18. In the 1970s, there were plans to demolish the building and build high-rise towers. However, the National Trust of Victoria purchased it after a successful public campaign.
