For the second part of my project I wanted to look at the idea of abandonment, this may seem a little bit of a strange subject matter within a broader study of a rural village but let me explain as I go through this collection and you'll hopefully see what and where I'm coming from.
The first couple of images below are really looking at how the current hard economic times are having an effect on the village, first you have what is becoming a growing trend here and in other rural communities in that the old farmers cottages that had been lived in for years are slowly emptying and falling into disrepair as the farms go out of business and people are forced away to find work. When they do eventually if ever come up for sale they do sell pretty quick but 9 out of 10 times its to developer who pull them down and build something three times the size that know one who's lived here all there life's can ever hope to afford. In away the village is losing a bit of its history a bit at a time, this particular house my great grand parents lived in for most of there working life but now as I write this its gone.
The one thing I found that needed fixing in this shot was the fact that I hadn't managed to capture the tonal differences in the brick work so to sort this I used the Burn tool in Photoshop set to a fairly low opacity of about 25% and work over the areas until I was happy that this range capture more to its true nature.
Tech. Details
F-stops- f/7.1
Expo- 160secs
ISO- 400
Expo. Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 18mm
The second photo below continues the abandoned theme nicely this time showing one of two closed down stables located in the area. What I like about this image is the very prominent sign that can be taken in one of two ways, first either it's very threatening and give the shot a ominous mood as to what would happen if you set foot in the place or secondly as a little surreal in the fact its only an abandoned yard why would you imply the likely hood of death if you enter?
Tech. Details
F-stops- f/11
Expo- 250sec
ISO- 400
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 46mm
The next two photo's are a little less about how economic issues are effecting the place (although the image below does have some relevance) and more a snap shot of some of the more unusual sights I found. First what I liked about this view of a group of abandoned vehicles was the way they'd been there that long that the paint had started to fade and the undergrowth and surrounding foliage had began to grow around seemingly swallow the wheels especially in the case of the Land Rovers. To get the faded paint work to appear right it was down to the dodge tool being worked across the body work to bring out the weathered appearance while I then used the burn tool to darken the mould on the roof of the Land Rover to give it the look you see below.
Tech. Details
F-stops- f/10
Expo- 200sec
ISO- 800
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 28mm
One thing that always fascinated me as a child was the many World War 2 gun positions that you could find along the banks of the River Trent near the village, even 20 years ago they'd been fairly well look after but now most have fallen down, been pulled down or as with the case here become that over grown that if you didn't know they were there you wouldn't notice them. In away its a shame because again there part of the history of the area that's being lost dew to the fact the farmers just aren't there any more to look after the land and the buildings located on them. This photo still needs a little work clearly in the top half because I used a Grad. Filter to darken the sky but unfortunately this also darken the top half of the trees. To fix this I'll use the dodge tool it's just up to this point I haven't been happy with the results so I've include the original just so you can see what I'm taking about.
Tech. Details
F-stops- f/10
Expo- 250sec
ISO- 800
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 18mm
To me this final shot is the most powerful in this section because it illustrates the problems rural communities face in a kind of haunting way. Even 5 years ago you'd like find all the pastoral land surrounding the village full of livestock but now dew to the effects of reduced income for many different reasons you see more and more of the land empty but for the feeders left behind. As with a lot of the shots in this section it very personal issues that make them work for me I just hope that they convey some of the same feelings to everyone else that looks at them too.
Tech. Details
F-stops- f/14
Expo- 400sec
ISO- 640
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 41mm
I'd like to think this section is more complete then the previous one but I'm not sure that there's ways it can be still improved so I'll look forward to hearing what my tutor has to say when she's had a good look in the near future.
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