Wednesday 4 July 2018

Urban Landscapes - May 2018

Photographing the urban landscape makes a refreshing change from the Southwell Trail and the local woods and forests. The principles however are very similar. There is a wide angle view, an intimate landscape view, and then a close-up, detailed, possibly abstract view. I see it as a sliding scale of context where the wide angle provides maximum context and the abstract view has little or no context. 

When I started landscape photography I took mainly classic wide angle views. I enjoyed big vistas and often I found myself working out how to include more into my shots. These days, I tend to move in the opposite direction making decisions about what to leave out of the frame. Consequently, I now look for more intimate landscape compositions or details that represent the locations I am visiting. 

Interestingly though, for most of my urban photography, I apply the opposite approach. In fact, the majority of my city photographs to date are more abstract e.g. reflections in the canals, details of the building or monuments. Even in the arboretum I tend to zoom in for the compositions trying to avoid people, cars and mundane urban details which, in a city, is quite difficult to do. 

On this occasion, however, I tried to be more open with my compositions and embrace the features I normally avoid. Initially, I found it hard to select my shots but gradually I started to see the potential and in the end some of the results surprised me. 

For example, I find this first image really engaging. It has got something about it which is hard to describe. It is basically a picture of a concrete block under a metal frame which seemingly has no purpose. Neatly, some graffiti has been painted over with white and grey paint forming something that could pass for a modern art installation - and like much of modern art it either appeals or it doesn't!



Taking a more wide angle approach I took a couple of shots of an area of the city centre that is still redeveloping. It interests me due to a series of pictures I took of the Cornish Engineering door which I have recently republished on my website

Cornish Engineering on Popham Street was demolished a couple of years ago along with the partial remains of a railway bridge that used to carries trains from the tunnels under the city. Some of these tunnel entrances and exits can still be seen around the city (1) but it is hard to visualise how it may have looked before all the modernisation. I did, however, find this link to photograph of Middle Hill in the 1960 which I think shows the bridge near to Popham Street that was demolished and the path of the railway line that is now a tram route to Nottingham railway station:




The following two images might stray into the street photography genre but I would prefer to categorise them as people in the urban landscape:




Colour can also be a theme of urban landscapes as demonstrated in these images:






Another theme is dilapidation including the derelict building in front of the city incinerator (shown in the fourth image below):






And lastly, some images with a broad theme of lines and angles which progressively get more abstract as context is removed from the frame:








(1) This is a great article on NottinghamshireLive showing the old railway tunnels around the city of Nottingham together with some original photographs.

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