Shoot Twelve- Graffiti Work In Progress- Work Diary

This is the final shoot I gained in Leake street which displays two subjects in the creation of graffiti. I think this is a really interesting shoot because this shows how I have used documentary photography as I asked two subjects whether I was able to take their images but other than that I done nothing to their behaviour. The subjects and I were talking and they said how they hadn't been there long but graffiti work which they were planning can take hours and also that they get so many different people taking photos of them so they said how it was a very common thing. I thought it was important to talk to these subjects so it wouldn't be a tense in their actions and it wouldn't be weird, there was a relaxed atmosphere after I spoke to them.

My favourite image from this shoot...

Due to the symbolic meaning behind this image, I think this is the strongest image which I took. As spoken about on my straight images, I think the playing card on the lamppost can be very symbolic on the youth representation. For example, on the forehead on the cat there is upside down cross which implies the devil. Furthermore, the use of it being a made up Ace Of Spades, it is symbolic because it suggests death. The use of narrow depth of field is also really interesting because it implies to the audience that they are implying this card symbolises youth.

My least favourite image from this shoot...

In terms of capturing the subjects doing to the graffiti, I find this to be my weakest image because they are lost with the other passers by, as I am far away, the audience aren't focusing on these subjects. Therefore I believe this is my weakest image in this shoot because the whole idea was to show those doing the graffiti and I think this image works more with the graffiti mess shoot rather than this one.

Overall...
As a whole whilst looking at the stereotypes of youth, I think this shoot has been really successful because I have been able to capture the activity of graffiti which is complied with the youth stereotype. However, I didn't actually capture many images of this subjects I think to have improved this shoot, it would have been better to have both more subjects and more images at different angles, it is because I went here on New Years which meant not many people were out as it was quite early and meant I wasn't able to capture different people.

Shoot Twelve- Graffiti Work In Progress- Straight Images

When entering the tunnel, there were two people graffiting next to one another and I thought it was really interesting. For this image in particular I think it shows the thought which does actually go behind graffiti. I discovered from this person that when going over someone else graffiti, they use a bold colour, like green in order to see what they are doing and then they go back over it in the colours which they actually want. I found this really interesting because I find it shows to my audience that when people graffiti they don't just do it straight away it takes time and planning- when doing it in locations such as this one. Another aspect which I found interesting was the ladder shown here on the left corner, when I first was walking past this subject didn't actually have a ladder but when walking down a bit I saw him pull one out of a bag, it was condensed really small I thought it was really intriguing.

This is the other person who was doing graffiti whilst I went there and I think this much like the image above shows the dedication, he has originally used green and will then go back over it in a darker/ the colour he wants to create what he was intending to. Although I was at Leake St. when they were close to starting, not finishing so I weren't able to see what they were actually doing. I also think the framing of this image is quite successful because the portrait effect has meant I can get my subject in the far left third with the rest of the frame revealing graffiti.

I think this image is really symbolic to the audience when looking at youth. Firstly, I have been able to show my subject within the frame yet due to my focus on the lamppost, it has formed a narrow depth of field effect so the audience main eye draw of this image is the sticker of a made up playing card. It is actually the card it self which I think is really symbolic in looking at youth subculture. A common stereotype of the teen years by the older generation is that they can act completely different, it is the stage in an individuals life where they "go off the rail" and act like they are from a different planet, I find this perception links with the symbol shown of the cats forehead- the upside down cross implying the devil. Another aspect of this playing care which I think is really intriguing is the idea of it being similar to the Ace of spades, which symbolically known in folklore as the death card. 

This image shows the split between the tow subjects which I find really interesting. If I would have taken this image head on, I think the effect would have worked better although it still works here a little bit. You can see there is a line straight down the middle of the wall, one subject is working on the white side whilst the other working and the black side. I think this spilt is symbolic because even though it isn't completely clear within this photo, these two subjects were different ages, the one in the left distant was older than the subject on the right, the left being around 20ish and the right being 17-18. I think this spilt shows even though they are the older youth and are different ages, I think it shows how not everyone "grows-out" of their behaviour.

Shoot Twelve- Graffiti Work In Progress- Contact Sheet

Shoot Twelve- Graffiti Work In Progress- Shoot Analysis

This shoot will also be in Leake Street again because even though I like my previous Leake Street shoot, I believe I ended up going there too late in order to shoot photos of people creating the graffiti; although I did get photos of someone spray painting, I would like to experiment this further- having a whole shoot dedicated for it.
Leake street is an organised graffiti tunnel for people to go in there and show their work, this way it isn't illegal and I can take photos of the people doing the graffiti. I believe this way, I will be able to create a more documentary series of photos which will not be staged.

This shoot will be inspired by the photography work of the style of Richard Sandler and Dan Boulton, even though they don't actually capture spray painters, the style of the photography- including the black and white effect is a really interesting approach which I would like to try and include in my work. Furthermore, my work for this shoot will hopefully be inspired by the work shown in my image bank for this whole shoot. As the tunnel will be dark, I will be hopefully be using a high ISO because this will cause a grainy effect to my photos.

Shoot Eleven- Graffiti 2- Work Diary

This is my second shoot of my second trip back to Leake Street. As shown in my Shoot 10 and Shoot 12, I split up my focus on this trip capturing different aspect. This Shoot 11 was focused on the actual graffiti and the messages it can hold. Much like Shoot 10, this shoot wasn't aimed at capturing subjects as such, just the work they leave behind because I believe that the emotions of youth can be represented just as well through the artwork of graffiti than the body language of a physical subject. Even though this is very similar to a different shoot regarding graffiti, I decided to go back to Leake Street anyway because every time you go, there will always be new graffiti, a new perspective, a new canvas every time you visit. I therefore believe Leake Street in general was a good location for this photography project.

My favourite photo from this shoot:

I find this image really interesting because for the main reason of the bold colour of red being contrasted with white writing. I also find there is satire and irony within this photo. This is because the use of child theme of the child toy logo of LEGO implying a fun atmosphere, however when you read the writing underneath the graffiti, the artist has written "So until we find a cure for cancer... Lets Dance", which could be classed as satire because it is finding humour in something as dark as cancer. But on the other hand it could be suggested this artist is trying to "make the best out of a bad situation". Using the LEGO figurine of Ziggy Stardust/ David Bowie as a tribute drawing the audeinces eye. The strong meaning behind this image is the main reason why I have chosen this photo for my favourite image from this shoot.

My least favourite photo from this shoot:

Due to the framing of this image, I do not think it was as successful as it could have been/ than the other images within this shoot. This is because it is a clear strip of graffiti yet I have captured it at a strange angle which doesn't work very well. A way I could have improved this image would have been to position this part of the graffiti in the middle of the frame and also as straight as possible. The image above and this one links really though despite this because they were both done by the same person, across the whole tunnel the sign of PAD came up a lot suggesting this person had a running theme. In the image shown above, it is near the beginning of the text, yet this one was nearer the end so we are seeing more names.Another aspect to this image which I do not think works as well as the one above is the lighting, where the one above stands out, I do not think this image draws the audience eye as much as it could have. This could have therefore been improved by using my flash on my camera so the characters drawn would have been clearer. Additionally, I took this image quite quickily and therefore didn't take as much thought into the actual framing of the graffiti as I should have. For example, I should have chosen more carefully the part of graffiti which I wished to capture ad therefore add just that section and perhaps moved across the work, this way it would have meant I wouldn't have characters arms at the edges of the beginning of a new part of graffiti. This is a key reason why I do not like this image as much as the other images within this shoot because it cuts out other aspects.

Overall...

Overall I am really happy with the outcome of this this shoot because even though there isn't as much grittiness displayed within my images here in this shoot, I still believe it complies really well with the stereotypical youth representation. Furthermore, as much as I was happy with the Shoot Four Graffiti shoot, I believe this one worked much better because I planned to take photos of the graffiti more, even though shoot four does work really well with the gritty side and it is more documentary, I think that Shoot 4 was a really good inspiration for this shoot because due to the success of that shoot it gave me the idea of exploring this location further.

Shoot Eleven- Graffiti 2- Straight Images

For this image, I used the flash on my camera in order to capture both the people walking past and the tunnel filled with graffiti. I find this image really interesting because the depth of field and leading lines in this photo draw the audiences eyes straight down the middle of this tunnel revealing all the different graffiti. I find the main aspect of this image is the graffiti of the lady on the top of the tunnel which I find really striking as it contrasts from the rest of the graffiti as this is black and white whilst everything else is in colour. Without the flash this image was too dark and I didn't find that it had the same effect/ appeal to it. Another part of this image which I think works is the representation of youth that is formed;  the audience are able to see a very messy floor from both graffiti and rubbish that has been left behind from both passers by and graffiti artists, suggesting that youths as a whole are careless. 

Even though this image can be very controversial I find it really interesting in conveying irony. The idea of politics is very "adult-talk" yet this artist has combined the adult life of politics with the child entertainment of toy LEGO figures. This is symbolic of sociologist Postman in the suggestion that childhood is disappearing at a dazzling speed with the line between adult life and child life merging together and being hard to tell the difference. I therefore find this image really relevant to my work into youth because youths don't have the right to vote- from the age of 18 is when you can vote, yet it still effects that generation as they will grow up with the consequences of that election. Therefore showing how even though youths don't exactly have the right to vote for the president, they still gain a perspective.

This is the image which shows the work of the graffiti artist who created a lot of the work within Leake St, the reason I have chosen to use this image is to firstly show the name of the artist because I find their work really interesting but I also like the ironic concept is lots of his work. For example this LEGO figure is using his body language of sticking up his middle finger as a rebellion, therefore showing a link between his work across the tunnel, the idea or merging adult behaviour with the young minded influence of toys.

This is an image which I find really intriguing not only for the graffiti but also the caption the artist has created underneath it. "So until we find a cure for cancer... Lets Dance". This is a really powerful statement because sadly many people each year are lost due to cancer and people are trying their hardest in order to find a cure, yet this artist is trying to put a more positive twist on it. Much like the other images there is the brat contrast between the childlike toys of LEGO with the talk of something as powerful as cancer.

This is part of a tribute art across a wide part of the tunnel in dedication of the celebrities who died in 2016. In comparison to lots of the other graffiti work, the artist has been able highlight this part of the tunnel by the colouring. Lots of the graffiti is dark yet this has the bright colour of yellow drawing the attention of the audience.

Shoot Eleven- Graffiti 2- Contact Sheet

Shoot Eleven- Graffiti 2- Shoot Analysis

Much like Shoot Ten, I hope to reshoot my Leake street graffiti shoot. However, in my last shoot, I focused more on the subjects I was with- taking photos of them rather than the actual graffiti on the tunnel. Therefore, when I go to Leake street this time, I hope to take more photos of the graffiti itself; this is because I believe the graffiti can massively produce a stereotyped personality of youths, even without them being in the frame. Graffiti is a way of expression for youths to create art with meaning.

When I come to editing this shoot, I hope to keep all my photos in colour because I want all the photos to provide bold colours to stand out. I could have chosen to use black and white editing however I believe that would loose the meaning of being bold and individual.

The main inspiration for this shoot is Dan Boulton. Even though Boulton's work is in black and white, it appears quite "hectic" and busy which is the same effect in which I hope to recreate these photos without the subjects.

The techniques I am intending to experiment with within this shoot will include wide angles and close ups but also depending on how dark/light the tunnel is, I will experiment with my flash on my camera. Normally, I do not like using the artificial light as it makes it look fake, however I will try testing it out and experiment to see whether the graffiti looks better with or without it.

Shoot Ten- Graffiti Mess- Work Diary

For this shoot, I decided to go back to the location of Leake street in order to experiment with a shoot capturing purely the mess that is left behind youths who graffiti in this location. As I went on New Years day to this location, I was expecting the mess to be clear there- it is right by the London Eye where the new years fire works are set off. Overall, I am very happy with the outcome of this shoot because even though I haven't captured subjects for this shoot, there is still the presence of youth with the mess that is left behind, you as the audience are still exposed to the messy stereotype of youth, alongside graffiting/ vandalising (depending on where you stand in your opinion) they also don't clean up after themselves.

My favourite image from this shoot:

The reason I have decided to use this as one of my favourites from this shoot is because I believe it holds really strong and interesting connotations that I can let my audience read into. For example, there are empty spray cans scattered around on the floor, but at the same time next to them, there is beer cans. If you were walking past this location/ look at this image really quickly, you may be unable to tell the difference between the cans, which I find really interesting as the cans look so similar. This photo was taken nearer the end of my shoot as my mum (who I had gone there with) was beginning to want to go home, yet I saw this and I really wanted to capture it. This is because, I didn't set this up at all, I didn't touch the cans or anything, this was the way they were left by the owner/ artist. The reason I therefore find this interesting is because they would have been drinking alcohol at the same time as spray painting. What I found interesting about Leake street as a whole is that there is a great sense on community with those who work in the tunnel and I believe this image shows it. As I wasn't there when this person was spray painting, who's to say it was the artist drinking, it could have been a friend who was standing there observing and at the same time drinking.

My least favourite image:

Even though I believe this is an interesting image in displaying the mess left behind after graffiti, I find this one of my weaker images in this shoot due to the lighting. This is because this was in a particular dark part of the tunnel with no lighting and I didn't use my camera flash, this meant that I wasn't able to capture the bold colours which I have in some of my stronger images in this shoot. Although some may suggest the darkness helps show the grittiness of my work/ stereotype in this project, as I have used many other brighter images, I do not think this one complies in the series. Although, I still wouldn't say this was one of my worst image from this project because I do believe my audience would still be able to gain a youth in sight, it is just the weaker one in this particular shoot.

Overall:

Looking at this shoot as a whole, I am rather happy with the out come and am therefore really happy that I had decided to return to leake street. This is because on my original Leake Street shoot, I didn't really focus on anything in particular, yet this time, I spent more time and effort on my time there capturing different aspects and in this shoot the graffiti mess. I think this is a really good example of how documentary photography doesn't always have to include subjects and it has taught me that by using my surroundings just the way they are, without manipulating them, I am still able to capture really interesting images gaining a very similar atmosphere of the stereotype youth perspective which I think is really successful in this shoot.

Shoot Ten- Graffiti Mess- Straight Images

This is the part of the tunnel where a tribute wall for the celebrities who died in 2016, which I personally believe is a really good idea, yet I focused this image on the mess scattered around which has been left behind through the creation of this art. To start, there are the images which were drawn, planned before this person done this, I find this a really intriguing insight because many people (old generations) believe graffiti doesn't have any thought go into it, yet this clear goes against that view. Another aspect I find really interesting in this image is that it appears there are flowers left wrapped up, which is what I originally had thought, yet when I want to look at them, it turned out to be paper with lots of paint is, however there was a couple of them which implies that the creator of this wanted the aspect of being flowers.  

I find this image really intriguing as an insight into the youth stereotype even without the subjects being present in this frame. This is because the use of shapes in the cans are every eye drawing, both beer cans and spray cans are the same size and colour, being very similar. I also find this image shows the community of collective identity in the youth culture. On my trips to Leake Street, I found that the artists who go there know each other and spend lots of time helping one another and watching each other which I think shows a really great community. Therefore I find that this image can create a story for the audience to read into- the spray cans were for the artist and those helping him were drinking, creating that fun atmosphere. I also find this helps me show through documentary photography my aim of the stereotypical youth because I personally didn't touch anything including in this photo which makes it a true insight. Another part of this image which is interesting is the background mess behind the key focus, showing that even though these spray cans have been left standing sort of neatly, the surrounding is very messy with more beer cans and spray cans across the ground. I also found that throughout this whole shoot, the mess was helped highlighted through the mess of paint on the floor, this may have been through the quick spray of the new spray can.

The is another image similar to the one above which I find intriguing through the combined mess of spray cans and alcoholic cans. I took two very similar images this one and a lighter one, yet I found the darker one worked much better because the darker light combined with the mess conform together in order to create the gritty atmosphere in which I believe works really well in the youth culture. Another aspect of this image which appears to be really successful is the use of narrow depth of field, I have made my camera through manual focus purely focus on the mess in the foreground, yet even though it is out of focus the background of graffiti is still seen by the audience which I  think is really successful in combining the stereotypes of youth together.

Even though this image doesn't purely focus on the mess on the floor, I find that the use of the punctum of a drainpipe shows the mess of the graffiti as it stands out of the pink graffiti, there's also the mess at the bottom of the pipe along there which I find really interesting. 

Shoot Ten- Graffiti Mess- Contact Sheet

Shoot Ten- Graffiti Mess- Shoot Analysis

Due to the success of my previous shoots on graffiti, I wanted to reshoot them to experiment different ways. This meant, for this shoot I will be making a trip back up to London- Leake Street. Even though this shoot will be similar to the previous shoot in Leake Street, I aim to take more photos of the graffiti mess left behind the artists- this way I will be able to show to my audience the appearance of youths without them being in the photo. Youths are stereotypically seen as mess people. If you were to ask some in the older generation how they would imagine a teenagers bedroom, the word messy would definitely come to mind.
Even though I didn't focus on the mess last shoot, I still managed to gain images of broken bottles and mess which gives the impression youths were there. This create a negative stereotyped view for my audience, suggesting they don't care for their surroundings.
Furthermore, I believe the idea of shooting the rubbish left behind will show my audience a lack of respect- they don't clear up behind them, leaving aside what ever and not throwing it away.
For this shoot, I hope to take photos of rubbish such as beer cans and spray cans because I believe these two factors would make it very clear the age group who were there/ I am trying to create.
This shoot will also differ from my other shoot at Leake Street because I will be going there late morning- midday so it should be much lighter as my last shoot was taken around 6-7 o'clock at night. This will hopefully make my colours in this shoot much more vibrant; therefore this will not be a black and white shoot; and hopefully have more people there- leaving behind more rubbish.