Modernism Assignment: "An Ordinary Day: A Student's Perspective"

"An Ordinary Day: A Student's Perspective" is a selection of 12 photographs. This series provide a glance into the images and activities involved in an average day for a college student. The 12 photographs I selected best represent the frequent activities that make up my own ordinary day as a summer student at the University of Stirling.

Modernism marks a major shift in what became the photography we know today. The term modernism is used to describe trends in photography that occurred in the first two decades of the 1900's. These trends involved the formation of framing techniques and principles such as the use of different heights and angles (high, low, or obscure), as well as exaggerated light and shadows in the images ("Inventing Modernism"). The work from the Modernist period is quite different from the Camera Obscura and Pictorialist photography that we also learned about in class. I found it interesting to learn about the Modernism topic, as this is the most common and relatable out of the three topics to the photography most captured to this very day.  My work is influenced by Albert Renger-Patzsch, particularly his photograph Glasses (1927). Renger-Patzsch (1897-1966) was a German photographer commonly associated with Modernism and New Objectivity movements. Glasses is a photograph part of Renger-Patzsch's collection The World is Beautiful. The collection was keen on revealing patterns of order and beauty in the both natural and man-made world ("Albert Renger-Patzsch"). His work follows along with Modernist framing techniques: Glasses inspired my work due to its' obscure angle and exaggerated light and shadows, as well as the alignment of the objects. Renger-Patzsch's photographs from The World is Beautiful collection capture both man-made and natural settings from angles of interest that produce unique shadows adding depth to the photographs. His collection of photographs inspired me to photograph objects and settings from my ordinary days at the University of Stirling, and form them together to produce a series can permit visually mismatched work to function as a series.

Glasses (1927)

https://dg19s6hp6ufoh.cloudfront.net/pictures/612521275/large/albert_patsch.jpeg?1423331777

The images I selected for my composition encompassed the use of tilted, high, and low angles of images, similar to Renger-Patzsch. As the viewer looks through ""An Ordinary Day: A Student's Perspective", they are able to receive a glimpse at what a college student's days look like through 12 images. The English idiom "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words" is relevant to my series. As opposed to writing an essay, it is more interesting and more captivating to the viewer to see what exactly the ordinary day looks like through a series of  12 images.  Figures 1 and 2 depict the start of the day, with an early morning tea. Figures 3 and 4 are the way in which college students can travel around besides on foot, hence my caption for Figure 4 being titled "Getting there." Figures 5 and 6 are of two staircases that I come across everyday on my way to class, and on my way around campus. These two staircases are essential in being able to travel around campus, and are a large part of my ordinary day. Figures 7 and 8 are of a classroom setting. Classes, of course, are a central part of University. Figures 9 and 10 are of the bookshelves in the library at the University of Stirling. After class, I will head to the library to check out books for class and for fun (Figure 10), or to complete homework assignments. Figures 11 and 12 are of the laundry room on campus. Although laundry is not exciting, I have been to that room countless times, making it an integral part of my days. 

At first, the viewer may not see how the selection of photos I have taken work together to form a series. Therefore, I have created words and titles written next to the images to allow the series to come together. Due to the shared elements of each photograph being that these objects and/or activities are essential in my day at the University, I have titled my series "An Ordinary Day: A Student's Perspective." It is interesting to think about how my series is compared to a similar series but from a working adult's perspective, or a 7-year old boy's perspective. In one instance, there may be photographs more centered on a working and family environment, and in the other perhaps the series of the child's ordinary day would be centered around playgrounds, sports, and minimal work. 

My hopes with this series is to provide my viewers with a personal story of my everyday life. I have spent the past three weeks studying at the University of Stirling, and while each day is a new day, there is still a routine aspect. I have my morning tea, then travel to class using the stairwell in the Andrew Miller Building and Juniper Court, attend Marketing and Photography courses in Cottrell, complete assignments in the library, and due to frequent hikes and trips around Scotland, end up in the laundry room to wash the mud out of my clothes and shoes. I chose to create the series ""An Ordinary Day: A Student's Perspective" to provide for a more personal blog entry, and because I wanted to see how exactly one can have images that appear visually mismatched work to function as a series. Although capturing drastic shadows that Renger-Patzsch used in Glasses was a lot more difficult than expected (due to Scotland's weather being rain most of the time), I took on Renger-Patzsch's Modernistic techniques of shooting images from high, low, and tilted angles, as well as creating a focus on my subject and having backgrounds more blurred out. Photographing multiple objects but creating a series out of them provided me with a challenging, but fun and interesting assignment to apply Modernism principles to my photo collection.

Word Count: 971

Photo Collection: 

Figure 1: Morning Tea
Tilted angle with minimal shadow highlighting the steam from the mug.

Figure 2: A cup for two
This image highlights both the teapot, as well as the shadows beneath the mug. Due to the lack of sunlight in Scotland, a dramatic shadow was difficult to capture, so instead the subtle shadow of the mug is reflected on the table.

Figure 3: The wheels to class go round and round
An image that highlights the wheel and the building in the background. Taken from a lower angle.

Figure 4: Getting there
Image taken from low tilted angle, with the focus on the bicycle. Unfortunately, no shadow was able to be produced due to the lack of sunlight once again.

Figure 5: The ascent to class
This photograph implements the use of the tilted/bottom view. The dark coloured steps provides a contrast between the light in the hallway and from the walls.

Figure 6: The descent
This staircase is used by myself at least four times in a day. This staircase provides the passageway from my dormitory to the remainder of campus. Taken from an above angle that focuses on the lower part of the stairwell, and seems to blur out the top of the railing.

Figure 7: Looking Up
Taken from a view below the desks. Highlights are on the two main chairs, with the following chairs in the back being noticeable, but not the focal point. Taken in a classroom.

Figure 8: Looking Down
A "birds eye view" of the classroom. This technique explored by Alexander Rodchenko allows the viewer to have a better view of the overall space. Clean lines in this photograph.

Figure 9: The Stacks
This photograph was taken from a higher angle, and though the top of the books closer to the camera appears regular, there is a slight shadow on the top of the books closer towards the back of the photograph. Also, if you look closely, you will see another bookshelf beyond these books.

Figure 10: Take a look, in a book: Reading for fun or for school?
This photograph has an overall shadow to it, as the photograph appeared darker than the other images in this collection. This image was taken from above, and has a clear focus on the top of the photograph and a blurred out focus on the bottom of the books.

Figure 11: Open and Closed Doors
Taken in the laundry room on campus, not the best activity but still a necessity. This image was taken from below and the doors to the washing machines and dryers being either fully open, fully closed, or partially open make for an interesting view and dynamic. 

Figure 12: A Slight Mess
This image was interesting to me because it is not clean cut like Figure 8. Instead, there are clothes and detergent in the back right side of this photo, and spilled powder in front of the washing machine. It was interesting to place a contrast between how an image can appear "messy" vs. how an image can appear "clean". This image emphasizes the bottom tilt angle, where the first washer on the left along with the powder spill is the subject of my photograph.

References:

"Albert Renger-Patzsch." Tate. N.p., 19 May 1970. Web. 27 June 2017. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/albert-renger-patzsch.

"Inventing Modernism." Inventing Modernism: Photographs from the American Museum of Photography. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 June 2017. <http://www.photographymuseum.com/modernism1.html>.