Elegance of Decay: The Final Six

These are the final six images I have chosen for this project. I went with the ones I felt were the strongest from each place, and the ones I felt represented the theme well. I wasn’t completely keen on this project to start with, I think it was because I’ve done similar work in the past and I’ve found it a little tedious, but with this one I enjoyed it more because I had more creative control when it came to choosing where I could photograph and how I could edit afterwards. I think if I were to do something like this again, I would like to try using a different type of camera such as a medium format camera. I learnt how to use one in Chester and I loved the outcome of the work I had so it would be nice to revisit that again in future.

Elegance of Decay: Edits

I took more photos at Basingwerk but I knew I wanted to use both places for my finals. This is a selection of the ones I thought would be the best to edit. I experimented with selective colour on the ones from Basingwerk as I wanted to highlight the main feature which of course is the ruins of the buildings. I think it worked better on some pictures than it did on others, for example I’m unsure whether it looks good on the ones where I have desaturated the grass, I think it makes it look really washed out and I just don’t think it fits with the theme of the project. I will be choosing three from Basingwerk and three from Bron-Y-Foel for my final six.

Elegance of Decay: Basingwerk Abbey

I was originally going to just stick with Bron-Y-Foel, but then I visited this place when shooting for my portraiture assignment, and it is just beautiful. I knew that this could be a great location to also use for this project too. I fell in love with this place instantly when I arrived and I thought it could be a good idea to photograph somewhere with a great history. What drew me to this place most was the area which I have shot above. There is still resemblance to rooms from the original building and it will be great to look into what would have been there before. This is Basingwerk Abbey situated in Holywell. I will post a brief history of the place in my Portraiture section.

 

Elegance of Decay: Bron Y Foel

My boyfriend kindly showed me where his late aunt and uncle used to live as they still have ownership of the house. Next to the main house, theres an old building which was once lived in, but hasn’t been occupied for over fifteen years. I was really grateful to them for letting me access this and use it for my work. The house looks like its not completely ruined, but theres cobwebs everywhere, damp on the walls and my favourite aspect is that there is still the remains of a kitchen and a bathroom there. I think this will be a great place to use for this particular project.

 

 

Elegance of Decay: Zach Fein

I struggled to find another photographer to look at after the first two. Eventually I came across Zach Fein, an American photographer who specialises in architecture. His decay photos look similar to each other, but he’s managed to capture all of the detail in each of the rooms he’s visited. I think that could be one of the most important aspects when it comes to decay photography. I want to be able to try and capture as much detail as I can when I go out and photograph, capturing colours too. I also would like to try doing some monochrome shots just to add some darkness to my photos. When I think of decay, I associate it with something deteriorating and potentially dying so I think a monochrome effect could be useful here.

Zach Fein is an architect and photographer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended the University of Cincinnati, College of DAAP, School of Architecture and Interior Design for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. This page serves as an online portfolio of works, and is divided into three main sections: architecture projects undertaken at school and in practice, photographs taken for professional or portfolio works, and a research blog that contains years of research and a final thesis concerning abandoned, forgotten, and decaying architecture; the links below lead to each respective section of the website: Architecture, Photography, and the Blog.

 

Information found at http://zfein.com/index.html

Photos found at http://zfein.com/photography.html

Elegance of Decay: Timm Suess

Another photographer I came across was Timm Suess, who specialises in decay photography. I love his indoor work, it was great to see his variety of decay work whilst looking through his portfolio. I want to take inspirations from his indoor shots, most of them were landscape and the way they are edited varies also. I think it depends on the location itself, I can see that he’s kept most of the colour from the original images, there doesn’t appear to be a great deal of editing involved which I like.

Hi, I’m Timm Suess. I was born and grew up in Basel, Switzerland, and shot my first photo at the age of five (on my first kindergarten day). I’ve been a passionate photographer since the mid 1990s. After 2002, I started to specialize in urban decay photography. I’m best known for my Chernobyl Journal.

My photo tours have taken me to abandoned factories, clinics, hotels and ghost towns in Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Malta, the continental US, Hawaii and the Ukraine. My work has been shown in exhibitions, public slide shows, magazines, film trailers, books, CDs covers as well as commissioned work and stock photography. I also occasionally record video and soundscapes on my tours.

Most of my work revolves around and the slow battle between human structures and nature’s decay processes. I’m fascinated by the effects of time, which is why I like time-lapse movies and created the open source interavalometer Intervaluino. My pictures show internal spaces, external structures, crumbling walls, industrial details and abstract compositions. They are memento mori of forgotten places, through which I try to demonstrate that the absence of human life changes a location fundamentally. All of my photographs are available light shots, with occasional experimentation in HDR. Almost all of them are Creative Commons-licensed.

 

Photos found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lord_yo/

Quoted text found at: http://timmsuess.com/about/me/

Elegance of Decay: Cormac Scanlan

Before going and photographing for this project, I wanted to gather some inspiration from existing decay photographers, just to give me an idea of what I could actually photograph. Someone whose work caught my eye was Cormac Scanlan, who lives and works in the UK. He also works as a designer and a cinematographer.

I am Cormac Scanlan, a UK based designer, photographer and cinematographer with a love for all things creative, and a passion for honing my art. As a web and I print designer, I aim to use elegant and minimal designs wherever possible, to allow great content speak for itself. 

I believe in putting the experience of the user first and in balancing artistic creativity in with scientific methodology, to achieve the best possible results. 

In my professional design career I have designed and managed a number of large scale sites and systems and worked with a variety of of print mediums. My photography and video work has been featured in a range of national international exhibitions. 

Foremost, I take pleasure in being a geek about what I do…

I wanted to take inspiration from his building decay photos, just to give me some knowledge in how to photograph indoor and outdoor places and give me some ideas in how I could edit them once I have been shooting.

Images and quoted text found at http://www.cormacscanlan.com

ARD506 Elegance of Decay/Broken Grandeur Assignment

The Design Directions brief includes a range of assignments. They intend to provide you with conceptual work, in which you develop the idea of your image and capture it with a camera, and reactive work, where you respond to the images presented to you in real time. In some cases, you must communicate your ideas BEFORE you produce the images. In others you most communicate your intentions.

Elegance of Decay/Broken Grandeur

Interpret this photographically by producing a mini portfolio of six images. Interior or exterior. There is beauty in age, especially under the right lighting conditions. This might be derelict spaces, objects showing signs of age, or natural deterioration of something.