A Chance To Notice

12/11/14

A Chance To Notice

I will be observing my surroundings again for this project similar to the observation project i did however i will be looking at movement and deciding on how i will capture the movement of things i notice other than by videoing them. The area in which i will be working can be any where (last time i was just observing in the small confined area of the courtyard) however this leaves more room for too many distractions while i observe rather than slowing down in one confined area and becoming almost foreseeing with my observations and recordings. As i will be in paris and moving around for most of this project my observations are likely to be much more rushes and less in a sense 'zoomed into the area however it will be interesting to see the comparisons between my work from this project and the observation project.

I will be focusing on movements in this project and recording movement from my observation. I will try and stay away from recording videos of movements as this is an obvious way of recording movement and in a way stunts the challenge slightly. I will think about various drawing techniques as well as photographic techniques to capture motion and the stages of movement.



Giacomo Balla "Dynamism Of A Dog On A Leash" (1912):

This image shows movement captured with simply painting the image. The  blurring qualities where the stages of movement in the legs are shown suggests quick movements and the lines along the background of the painting suggest a moving ground showing that the two subjects in the painting are  moving along the ground. Between the blurring effects where the moving elements are (such as the legs of both subjects, the lead, the dogs ears and tail) you can also see slightly the actual part of the subject drawn again, for example the dogs tail shows multiple drawings of the tail. This shows the stages of movement and the past positions the tail has been in when moving. 

Henri Cartier Bresson "Gare Saint Lazare"(1932):

This is a photograph image and is completely still and frozen in time however still manages to display movement excellently. The photographer has captured the image at just the right time, showing the pose of the man with both feet off the ground and in a running position (his legs open) also his tail coat is moving which shows the movement of the man and the speed in which he's traveling. The ripples in the water show movement and the movement of the man is emphasised by the ballerina in the background on the poster. The man in the image is also slightly blurred and out of focus and just his shapes is displayed, suggesting the speed of his movement again. The fact that he is but centimetres from touching the puddles shows anticipation of movement and creates tension as he is so close to finishing the movement and touching the floor to carry on walking yet he is frozen in this 'almost' pose. 

My resources unfortunately were fairly limited for this project due to being on the paris trip and i could not take a large variety of materials however this is the work i did produce:

This is an image i took when i was in paris of a Carrousel spinning round. It was at night time that i observed this subject and so the lights on the carrousel were on making the movement of the carousel more prominent, as you can see the light moving through the dark space around it creating a clear contrast between the two. I tried many ways to capture this image showing movement however i only had my phone camera and some pencils to do so. I decided that i would take a series of photograph of the carrosell and when i got back home i would over lap them on photoshop making each new photograph i placed on top of the previous one, more opaque. By doing this, as you can see in the image it creates a blurred effect showing where the carrousel had been previously and showing the stages of motion. 

I then decided that seeing as i was working based on this idea of more like the memory of movement (as i re created the movement when i got back home rather than capturing the movement in the pressent) that i would represent the emotional aspect i felt at the time in the image as well. The first image shows the memory of the movement well however the colours are quite washed out and faded, with little difference between the tones of the colours. I remember the carousel being bright and bold against the dark night and i have tried to represent this in a way by editing the colours in the image. Also the people that can be seen slightly in the image above are almost unrecognisable in this edited version, this also represents the idea of faded memories and how a memory of a thing can be changed and adapted due to forgetting the original event slightly. The motion blurs in the images also symbolise this in a way as in a "blurred memory".

This is a close up image of the carousel that i used the same technique of overlaying images to show movement. These works of the carousel i have done are similar to Giacomo Balla's painting of the moving woman and dog as his painting is based on the memory of movement as he shows where the subjects are previously been to display his movement in the painting. 

I used this technique of overlaying to show the motion blur and previous stages of movement in my image. This image shows what looks like a car splashing a puddle as it drives past, the movement of the water is obvious in this image an is emphasised by the still qualities of the leaves on the pavement. What is actually happening in this image is the grid itself was over flowing and water was pouring out of it and spraying in the air. I simply waited for a car to drive past before i took my shot to give the illusion that it was the car spraying the puddle, as this emphasises the movement of the car and suggests movement of the car (as opposed to simply capturing a moving car on its own, it would look still) again the motion blur i added emphasises it movement further, but the spraying water is the biggest contribution to this. This idea i have shown in my work of capturing something at just the right moment to show suggestive movement is similar Henri Cartier Bresson's image of the man about to run into a puddle. He Captured his image at just the right moment and the movement of the mans legs and coat tail show the suggestive movement just as the spraying water in my image shows the suggestive movement of the car. 

 After i had come home from paris i took some slow shutter speed photographs of moving cars out side of my house. This photograph shows the trail of lights made by a traveling car as the vehicle was moving too quickly for the slow shutter speed to capture however it can capture light and the movement of light. This image creates quite a dreamlike abstract effect due to the fact that the car cannot be seen and only the artistic sweeps of light are visible in the image. They stand out in the everyday scenery.

This image shows the capture of the movement of a car more clearly as the van itself can actually be seen in the image. This is because the van slowed right down almost to a halt at one point in the image. The trail of light and blur trailing from the van then shows its movement and where it traveled too. This image shows a real life technique that looks similar to Giacomo Balla's work. 

 This is one of the sketches i drew when i was in paris (my equipment was limited) using pencil. I observed a leaf on the floor swaying in the wind and decided to try and represent its movements and stages of position by drawing it in its different positions as it moved back and forth. Again this is a similar idea to that of Giacomo Balla and the luring effect made by drawing the stages of posits created a similar look and is based on a similar idea to his painting.

This was another quick sketch i drew while in paris of a bike when moving. Again i used the same idea as with my previous drawing showing the blur of the movement and stages of position, however my equipment was not great and the pencil i was using didn't showery well a progression of the movement for example if i had used a material with i could rub away such as charcoal i could have displays the most faded stage as being the starting point of the movement.

When i got home i tried this drawing again but with dark chalk. I was able to rub away the first marks i made in order to create a progressive effect and to display the stages of the movement and show how it moved from left to right (as the marks on the left are more faded).