This time, I set out with the intent to find and photograph ‘unseen’ areas of the city. I am interested in the difference between the pockets of quiet and the commotion of the main streets. I chose the theme of ‘zones’ in order to further explore this dual nature of the city.
I felt inspired by some of the lighting elements I found around the city and I thought the difference in lighting was especially pronounced- the commercial areas were beautifully lit to attract customers, but there were also areas that were lit for utility, like doorways. I would like to return to some of the areas to photograph them after dark.
‘Contrast’ is another emerging theme- thinking about the contrast between the two ‘zones’. Due to the narrow width of the back streets casting shadows, I found there is often a high level of contrast compared to the high streets. I manipulated some of the photographs I took with this in mind, trying to find a balance of tones. I adjusted the levels to emphasise the contrast without losing too much detail in the mid-tone range.
I feel that the contrast has desaturated the colours somewhat and this makes the images appear a bit more grimy than I intended and I think some of them would work better in black and white. I prefer the ones that include saturated colours, so this is something to think about next time.
