“The City” – Production

For my idea implementation I created a three-day plan:

First day (Saturday) – local searching and marking

Second day (Sunday) – shoot

Third day (Monday) - shoot

I’ve chosen London heart – the city region with interesting architecture and busy roads. There is interplay between old and modern structures. First day went well, but I spend nearly a day just for searching. I marked best places to my notes.

In Sunday I was in city center already 7 am, because about 7.30am there is enough light for picture shoot. I wanted to take pictures without any human or motion on it. But still that early Sunday morning there was some people: runners, tourists or workers. So most difficult task was stand in one place and wait when will be dead silence around.

In third day everything was not bad. People were in a rush to their works. Morning was completely different from previous one. Sunday was cloudy and grey morning but in Monday there was sunshine.  It was hard to take same pictures from same angle, although I painted my snapped pictures details in my notes.  There are some contact sheets from the shoot days: 

“The City” – Idea developing

For this project, idea came to me very quick. Maybe some influence did and Charles Marville who was taking pictures before and after building demolition. London is very busy and alive city. You can see same streets full of people and sometimes even empty. It depends what time you are there.

My plan and idea is to show same place in twenty-four hours difference. Let's say, one photo to take early Sunday morning and another one in same place Monday morning. I will try to choose streets and places, which are busy and interesting in architecture. To present it I think I will do in diptych type.

Lot photographers I’ve checked and wanted to find somebody who were doing a similar idea. And in long researches I found British photographer: Michael Marten. He was photographing simple things: United Kingdom seaside’s landscapes. But he was doing two pictures in six or 18 hours difference. Dramatic changes come out when compare two pictures – natural tide landscape. These pictures inspire to think about human and nature connection.

There are some nice pictures of Michael Marten:

Harbour, Berwickshire. 22 August 2005. Low water 11am, high water 6pm

, Michael Marten

Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall. 25 and 31 August 2007.

High water 4.30pm, low water 2pm

, Michael Marten

Perranporth, Cornwall. 29 and 30 August 2007.

Low water 12 noon, high water 8pm

, Michael Marten

Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk. 10 September 2006.

High water 8.40am, low water 3pm

, Michael Marten