Brutalist architecture began in the 1950s and derived from the French term ‘Béton brut’, or raw concrete. The futuristic architecture was created by Le Corbusier and others like him. The expression became associated with a movement emerging in postwar British architectural offices. The architecture itself is characterized by the large size of the buildings and the use of raw unfinished concrete. Brutalist buildings also make use of geometric forms in a way to attempt to communicate the buildings function and what the rooms behind the slabs of concrete are used for.
Simon Phipps
The photography by Simon Phipps provides a unique perspective and portrays Brutalist architecture in a sensitive, realistic and distinctive manner. Phipps has spent the last 15 years photographing and documenting Brutalist and buildings in the UK, creating a survey of photographic images that demonstrate the breadth of this contentious architectural style.
My Response
Negative Space
Line and Perspective
Bracketing
Bracketing is when you take the same picture multiple times with different apertures. This is a useful technique as it helps see what works and what doesn't. We took pictures of St James Church and The Everyman as they are iconic buildings of Muswell Hill history and have contrasting structures.
Nicholas Kennedy Sitton
“These photos are a result of how intriguing the concept of distortion translates to architecture. It creates a sense of falling into itself, like capturing a moment of demolition. I can destroy titanous steel structures with the click of a mouse and create new twisted versions of reality. I was also inspired by San Francisco. I had just moved here and being a new city was disorienting and exciting and I wanted to capture how my whole world had changed."
Structure in Nature
Lee Myoung-ho
Photographer Lee Myoung-ho is most famous for his work putting canvases behind trees in natural landscapes and taking photographs. His series of photographs pose some unusual questions about representation, reality, art, environment and seeing.He picked trees as the object of his photos because a tree in nature does not bear social significance. The object becomes a ‘separated object’, an ‘ambiguous subject’ and a ‘meta-subject’.
Did you take the photos?
Sanna Kanisto
Sanna Kanisto is a Finnish Photographer who is known for taking photographs of still life and wild animals. In 1997 she took on the role of a researcher and kept going to the rainforest working with scientists in scientific stations in Costa Rica for 2-3 months. She tried to combine art and science, the white background and equipment refers to scientific documentation while the colours pop out and you can see every detail. She sets up a studio box to give the pictures a theatrical feel. She also likes when animals try to challenge the camera shutter speed and structure, like her work, 'Hummingbird'.
My Response:
www and ebi
Strands
Structure of the Body
The Skeleton is something that always fascinated me since I was a kid. Especially Skulls. One photographer who was known for taking photos of skulls was Irving Penn. He took them for part of his study of skulls from the collection at the National Museum in Prague, Czech Republic.
My Pictures
The skull I took photos of is a real sheep skull that I have used in stage shows as a prop. What also makes it more special and haunting is that I actually saw that sheep get butchered for meat.
I like the detail showing on the close up of the skull. I feel like it would be better if I used a less shiny surface.
Typeology: Routine and Everyday
One photographer I took inspiration from was Robert Holden. His work, 'Burning House Project', was about documenting your most personal belongings that you would take with you if your house burnt down.
My Pictures
I compiled most of my belongings to do with music, mainly being in the Heavy Metal underground culture.
I'm especially happy with the composition of the photos, especially the record layouts. I feel like the lighting could have been better for some of the other photos and better camera quality as my phone camera is quite faulty.
Deconstruction and Decay
One piece that gave me ideas was Nadav Kander's Radioactive ruins of secret Soviet towns.
My Pictures
I'm especially happy with the tunnel shots and the building in the construction site. I feel like I could have took more advantage of the sunset with more of the locations.
Development 1 : Manipulating photos
I printed the pictures of the skulls on acetate and used the dark room to put the photos on photographic paper. I tested each picture and printed them normally, and then after that I started to experiment with the developer using a brush creating an old eerie surreal effect.
I really like the eerie feel of these photos. I could have expanded it a bit more with some more different techniques.
Development 2: Taking pictures of different skulls/skeletons
I got to photograph different skulls and skeletons of animals, horses, cows, sheeps, snakes, etc. I also experimented on different angles and perspectives for some interesting shots. I used both film and digital.
I'm quite happy with how the digital photos look and the detail it shows, though I feel like some the shots weren't as clear.
I also took photos on film and put the results on contact sheets. I really like how it turned out and it gives an old vintage haunting feel, though some shots were a bit blurry or too dark.
I used an enlarger to make bigger individual prints for my favourite shots. Due to the problem with the lighting and the developer I managed to give it even more of an eerie decayed look which really works.
I'm quite happy with the end result though there are a few marks on a couple prints that weren't supposed to be there.