For my 2011 3rd year project I have decided to do a photography based investigation into my experiences travelling around the UK by car. The main inspiration for the project came from my second year body of work which photographically explored roadside eateries on the A and B roads of Britain, which I really enjoyed doing as a project, and the characters I met and was able to photograph inspired me to look further into the topic of travel.
I spend a lot of time on the road, as my other projects involve visiting subjects all over the country, and I live over 200 miles away from where I am studying in Leicester. I drive past a lot of interesting things, and always intend to stop one day and photograph them, so this is the opportunity I have had to document everything I experience and see as I am driving around the country.
Photographing the personal elements of each journey will bring the project a feeling of intimacy, which is something I have never really explored before. To get more images of myself, I plan to include photographs taken by others. This will maximise the opportunities I will get to form a body of images that best document the trips I go on.
To conclude, I propose to build up a collection of photographs, documenting my experiences travelling by road around the UK, exploring my own personal ventures and everything I find interesting.
I have chosen to conduct this type of project as it gives me the freedom to explore a variety of different photographic themes and techniques. As I encounter a number of different subjects and places that are relevant to my project, I will be challenged to employ the different skills I have learnt during my time at University.
The subject area I have chosen to focus on is so broad, I plan to use the following techniques and themes to properly represent my time on the road:
- Typology/Tryptychs/Groups
I plan to use these techniques to photograph and present subjects which have a running theme between them. As the name suggests, “a typology is an analytical study or classification system based on types. The premise behind typology is that a set of similar objects can be identified by their external appearance, and that things manifesting that outer appearance will have other characteristics in common with other things that resemble it. That is, things may be grouped together by how they look, and their behavior may adhere to certain established precedents.” The use of this term, photographically speaking, is most commonly implemented by grouping together images due to the similarities in content, and suggests a methodological and scientific procedure to creating work. I feel that employing this technique will bring my work an interesting element, and will challenge my observational skills.
- Portraiture
I will use portraiture on my work to give a flavor of the type of people and characters I encounter on my journeys. I plan to include images of my passengers that accompany me on the journeys, but also the strangers I meet. I have learnt from conducting my previous project that there is a wealth of colourful people that work alongside the road, serving passing travelers, and I plan to document them alongside the physical things I see.
- Landscape
This is another element of the project I plan to explore in depth. Often the roads I travel through areas of great beauty, and as this is something I am extremely interested in photographing I plan to incorporate documenting the landscape I travel through as part of the project. Although landscape images are sometimes limiting in their content, bold, striking images of the areas I am travelling through will really bring an interesting addition to the project.
I would like to use all of these different elements of photography to create a varied body of work which really represents my time on the road, but also incorporates the previously mentioned personal element. I feel that this project will challenge me, and using all of the methods I have outlined, I have the opportunity to produce a good piece of documentary photography.
Aims and Objectives
- To create a body of work that is representative of my experience of road travel
- To create images that are visually interesting
- To create a body of work that has cohesion and running theme
- To explore a number of photographic genres and techniques
- To ensure my work captures a personal element of my journeys
- To choose subjects that bring the work character
- To make an intimate body of work that is still interesting as a standalone project.
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