People and Place
Project 3: Buildings and spaces
Exercise 16: Exploring function
The image below is from the interior of the departure hall for cable cars in Funchal. Mainly tourists would use this station. The entrance is on the ground floor, and the first thing you see as you enter is the ticket booth. The interior area is spacious to accommodate many people, and the big windows make it a welcoming experience. The gangway pictured below, leads the visitors up to the second floor, where the cable cars depart. It's a slow but steady ascent which makes it very clear which way to go. The interior filled with natural light and the interesting decoration hanging from the ceiling creates a positive and exciting atmosphere for the visitors.
In my image below I have captured the gangway leading up to the main purpose of the building - the cable cars. I think the decoration in the middle and people on either side make it a balance image, and the diagonal line creates some interest which makes you wonder where they are going. Looking at this image afterwards, I wish now I had captured the whole circle in the ceiling, as it would make it more complete.
In my image below I have captured the gangway leading up to the main purpose of the building - the cable cars. I think the decoration in the middle and people on either side make it a balance image, and the diagonal line creates some interest which makes you wonder where they are going. Looking at this image afterwards, I wish now I had captured the whole circle in the ceiling, as it would make it more complete.
Exercise 17: The user's point of view
I had a few different ideas for this exercise such as an indoor climbing wall and a creche, but I didn't have access to these.
A pool from the users point of view. I tried to hold the camera as close to the water surface as possible without actually dipping it. I suppose best effect would have been having an under water camera, for that just above the surface view.
This is how a person would see the stairs looking down at them. It was a reallyl weird feeling looking down at the steps through the camera, as it made it difficult to gauge how close the first step I was. This images doesn't have many visual clues, and if you don't know you might see the steps as going up. It kind of reminds me of Escher's drawings. I converted this image to black and white to emphasise the graphics.
I have feeling that this isn't exactly what the exercise is asking for, since it doesn't concentrate on the space, but more on the action of eating breakfast. This image could however be titled "Eating breakfast on the balcony" and is very much from the users point of view.
Exercise 18: How space changes with light
Guest room
Office
Assignment 3: Buildings in use
General
Assignment 3 asks for images of buildings that describe effectively and attractively the way in which these spaces are used. I have chosen various buildings to show a mix of large and small, new and old. They are all public spaces.
This assignment is not foremost about the structure of a place, but rather how people use the space. I have mixed the images so that some contain people and some don’t. Looking at the complete set of images I’m questioning if I should have included more people, as I have concentrated very much on “building”. My aim however is to show how people would use the spaces.
What I learnt during the assignment
I have learnt to think about the importance of light situations in indoor photography. A flash can create a very harsh light, even though a diffuser is used. It often looks better to use longer shutter speeds in indoor situations. A tripod is essential in those circumstances. I hadn’t thought about this in advance for some of the locations I chose, so I have discarded some of the locations I photographed.
I have realised that, in spaces with four walls, symmetry often looks best. A composition on the slant looks less appealing to me. My brain feels calmer when the view is symmetric and organised, but maybe it’s different for other people?
A wide angle lens makes the most of the space. I have used 18mm focal length in a lot of the images for this assignment. It’s rarely desirable to make a space look smaller than it is.
Details about the individual images are in my assignment sent to my tutor.
Assignment 3 asks for images of buildings that describe effectively and attractively the way in which these spaces are used. I have chosen various buildings to show a mix of large and small, new and old. They are all public spaces.
This assignment is not foremost about the structure of a place, but rather how people use the space. I have mixed the images so that some contain people and some don’t. Looking at the complete set of images I’m questioning if I should have included more people, as I have concentrated very much on “building”. My aim however is to show how people would use the spaces.
What I learnt during the assignment
I have learnt to think about the importance of light situations in indoor photography. A flash can create a very harsh light, even though a diffuser is used. It often looks better to use longer shutter speeds in indoor situations. A tripod is essential in those circumstances. I hadn’t thought about this in advance for some of the locations I chose, so I have discarded some of the locations I photographed.
I have realised that, in spaces with four walls, symmetry often looks best. A composition on the slant looks less appealing to me. My brain feels calmer when the view is symmetric and organised, but maybe it’s different for other people?
A wide angle lens makes the most of the space. I have used 18mm focal length in a lot of the images for this assignment. It’s rarely desirable to make a space look smaller than it is.
Details about the individual images are in my assignment sent to my tutor.
Feedback
In his feedback, my tutor explained more about how professional photographers would have dealt with lighting situations in interior photography. It would have been very interesting to see how a photographer would work practically to experience this myself.
In some of the images a higher ISO was recommended to be able to use a smaller aperture. In other images a fill flash would be recommended.
There weren’t many other suggestions for improvement. Overall he seems positive to the images for this assignment and the progress of my blog.
In his feedback, my tutor explained more about how professional photographers would have dealt with lighting situations in interior photography. It would have been very interesting to see how a photographer would work practically to experience this myself.
In some of the images a higher ISO was recommended to be able to use a smaller aperture. In other images a fill flash would be recommended.
There weren’t many other suggestions for improvement. Overall he seems positive to the images for this assignment and the progress of my blog.