Shots from Boomtown Fair Festival

Giesermann André and Daniel Schulz : The Morning After

This project by Hamburg students Andre and Schulz was really interesting to me firstly due to the obvious subject matter as my extended project piece is based around club culture, but then I saw how it also analysed the spaces themselves as opposed to what goes on inside them. The images show an eerie silence and stillness in the spaces, a contrast to what would, at a different time of day, be full of movement and sound.

Film Double Exposure

'Streets of...7cities in 7 minutes' Installation Opening

The installation by Alda Terracciano is essentially seven videos, each of a different city around the world, lasting 7 minutes. The installation was shown in the Greenwich Peninsula area, in a previous dumping area turned picturesque garden. Each video was shown in a seperate shed around the garden, containing smells and tastes typical of the city shown. This gave the videos an interactive feel almost like the viewer is travelling to these places themselves. The cities were chosen to "uncover the ancestral memory of three historical, intersecting journeys (the Indo-European migrations, the Silk Road, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade)" as they continue to affect peoples lives around the world. I liked the videos as they seemed to focus on the normal people of the cities rather than the general stereotypes or preconceptions, this gave it an anthropological element as it allowed you to get a real feel for the city. Click here for a video preview.

Film Photos Around Greenwich Peninsula

I first visited the new "regenerated" Greenwich Peninsula area with my camera when going to see the 'Streets of...' exhibition opening. I found the area odd as it was nothing like the London I know, however was intended to be a tourist town during the Olympics. It was more a ghosttown of flatpack buildings than a busy, modern city centre. However, there were some great landscapes and I would like to visit again to take more photos.

Tate Britain: Another London

The Another London exhibition showed a range of images taken by various international photographers between 1930 and 1980 of life in the Capital. The exhibition contained images from famous photographers like Henri Cartier Bresson, Bruce Davidson and Bill Brandt. It was presented in chronological order, showing the social change and continuation in the city - changing styles, incoming migrant groups and the consistant aspects of the city that will always be.

I particularly liked this image by Mike Eghan in 1965. I had seen the image before in a book called Black Britain. The fact that the man is the only one in a usually busy scene, his pose and position up the stairs suggests a feeling of power. This is different to the ususal images of migrants from the windrush who are usually in big crowds, appearing overwhelmed or confused.

I really liked the series of images by Al Vandenberg showing the youth culture of the 1970s. The images have a semi-uniform composition with the subjects against a wall and in the centre, but the poses appear to be chosen by the subjects. This shows aspects of thier own identity and personality, as well as showing the personality of young London at the time. 

Overall, the exhibition was very inspirational and made me think about street photography as an option for my exam question.