A Book Of Field Studies: Stephen Gill

Another artist who has produced work that could be regarded as a typological collection is Stephen Gill, particularly his book "A Book Of Field Studies". I have looked at his work to see how he builds up collections over time, and how he presents them.

This series on the back of billboards is very interesting to me. Gill looks into subjects that we see every day, and presents them together, to give the viewer a chance to see the subtle differences and similarities between them.

This concept of the collection is something that I am beginning to want to feature prominently in my work, and will work on that from now on.

Eric Tabuchi - Collections & Typologies

I have been looking at, and drawing inspiration from, the work of Eric Tabuchi for a few months. To me, he appears to be the contemporary Ed Ruscha, photographing sets of abandoned gas stations and other such things along the road side. Working primarily in Europe, Tabuchi's work still has an element of the 'Great American Iconography' but is distinctly European in feel too, which is more relevant to me.

Tabuchi's vast collections of images are a marvel, and I feel that this concept is something that I would very much like to bring into my work. The large chequered road signs I have come across are one example, and I am beginning to build up collections of many different things also. 

Third Trip and move to B&W

I took another drive down the Fosse Way with a different passenger, to build up my collection of the chequered signs and try and get more usable images for the project.

However, when I was shooting, I began to feel that my images would work better in black and white. Most of the artist who I have been researching utilise the high contract black and white to bring their images a sense of drama, which I find very inspiring. Also, I have always worked in colour throughout my University career, and felt that I had begun to rely on it to produce good images. I came to the conclusion that if I concentrated on black and white, I would really improve my composition skills and have to look harder to find subjects to photograph. As an artist, working in black and white would challenge me further, which is what I felt should be happening in my third year!

As a result, I produced fewer images from this shoot, but I feel that they look a lot better in black and white. The portraits still need work - they still seem too snapshot like to me, which is something that I will have to work on over the coming months. However, the signs stand out a lot more, and become more visually striking when shown in black and white.

From now on, I will be shooting in black and white, as I feel that the project would benefit from it, and it would challenge me as an artist.

Trip: Susan Lipper

Lipper is not a well known photographer, but her book 'Trip' is worth looking at because it approaches the concept of including the photographer, and her passengers into the images, rather than being a voyeuristic look at travel. This collection narrates a strange road trip across the US with no beginning and no end. The photographs are haunting, puzzling and there is an odd feeling of dislocatation throughout.

The photographs of her meals and hotel rooms give the series an atmosphere of intimacy and although the images aren't particularly striking photographically, they represent a more personal journey rather than a voyeuristic look into road travel. This concept is something that I am interested in weaving into my body of work, and Lipper is an interesting artist to look at. From now on I am going to approach bringing more elements of the personal aspect of the journeys I go on, as well as the other themes I have been working on.

Second Trip

I decided to travel down the Fosse Way again to collect more images of chequered signs, this time with a different passenger, following the same sort of idea of before - photographing landscapes/things that catch my eye, as well as places we stop.

I am building up a fairly good collection of the signs now, but I feel that the images I am taking of my passengers are not quite engaging enough. I am concerned that the project will end up looking like "students taking photos of students" so this is something I need to work on avoiding.

I quite like the images of the cafe workers, but I think they are a little too 'happy smiley' and just look like snapshots, which is not really adequate when producing a documentary piece of work. I think I am on the right track, but need to develop my style a little more and keep shooting!