Final Write-up

A places feeling can be changed by the amount of light cast upon it.  A place during the day could be completely innocent and safe, where you wouldn’t think twice walking through it.  Whereas the same place at night when there is very minimal light can have the completely opposite feeling.  For my series I wanted to capture spaces that would be perfectly normal during the day and surrounded by lots of people, at night where there’s minimal light.  A question that you find yourself asking in dark places is, “Who could be lurking in the shadows?”  A hooded figure during the day is completely innocent whereas a hooded figure at night makes you feel uneasy.  Therefore I added a figure into my series that gets closer to the camera in each photo, to represent that uneasy, scary feeling that you’re being followed when walking through dark places in the night.

When beginning this project, I got influence from photographs by Patrick Zachmann, Paolo Pellegrin, Thomas Dworzak and W. Eugene Smith.  In their photographs they captured places at night with very minimal lighting that would be perfectly innocent places during the day.   But the fact that there was very minimal light gives that uneasy feeling.  

After my first shoot I thought it might add a nice contrast if I photographed the same place during the day and compared the two.  After trying this for my second shoot I found that you didn’t need the comparison to see that these places are normal places during the day and that when placing the two photos next to each other it created a really harsh line between the two.  Therefore for my third shoot I only did a night shoot and added in a hooded figure.  I came across a blog by Victoria Bennett Beyer who gave me influence for this idea.  She captures a hooded figure in the woods which gives you that uneasy feeling but it turns out just to be a perfectly innocent person when you see her front on. 

Final series

This photo is the establishing shot.  The full moon is associated with a scary night, establishing the concept of my series straight away: that an innocent place during the day can make you feel uneasy and unsafe when seen at night with less light.

A children's park during the day would be full of kids playing and is a completely normal, safe place.  But at night it's deserted.  An empty swing set gives off a kind of aura, like when you see a swing, swinging but no one on it.  In this shot I've introduced the hooded figure in the distance.  It represents the feeling that someone is in the distance watching/following you even when there probably isn't anyone there.

A lot of scary movies feature lakes and I think this rickety old bridge over the lake gives an abandoned and trapped feeling.  As if you're alone and the only way to go is across the bridge, but the hooded figure is on the bridge making you feel trapped.

Even though this photo is lit up by the train, you can see that the train is speeding past.  Which means in a few seconds you will be in complete darkness with this figure getting closer.  The way forward is across the bridge and you won't reach more light until you get to the other side (you can see a small street lamp in the distance).  The graffiti on the ground and the run down state of the fence make it feel like it's a place where there wouldn't be any cameras and there might be scary people.

This photo is getting even darker and shows the person looking into a completely dark tunnel.  The only thing lit up is the graffiti which like the previous photo gives you that uneasy feeling.  The hooded figure is getting even closer to the camera as if the longer you're out at night the closer you feel like you're being followed.

This house during the day looks like a completely innocent everyday house.  But with the street lamp casting the shadow of a creepy looking tree across the house, it gives you that haunted house feeling.  There is also no lights on in any of the windows, giving the impression that it is abandoned.  In this final photo I wanted the hooded figure to be facing the camera to represent that dread you feel of someone confronting you at night.

Contact sheets shoot 3

Exercise 2: HDR image

Correctly exposed image

Exercise 1: light drawing

Proposal

After doing my first day shoot I soon found it was extremely hard to take the photo in the exact same place as the night shoot.  When I began comparing the night and day, I definitely think they need to be in the exact same place to look effective.  I also think that putting them side by side like I have creates a really harsh line between the two which draws your eye and takes away from the photos.

My concept is to show places that might seem like normal everyday places during the day, but when seen at night, they come across as scary and give off an aura that you don't want to be there.  I think that the night shots give off this aura even without the comparison.  People can probably tell that those places would be normal places during the day too.  Therefore I don't think I  need to have the day photos to compare them to.

One reason places at night give off a scary aura is because you don't know who's hiding in the shadows.  Therefore for my next shoot I might try and add a hooded figure in the background to make them scarier.  I also think it might work well as a series if I had the hooded figure moving closer to the camera in each photo.  And maybe in the final photo the figure could be up really close and facing the camera.  I got influence for this idea from a blog I found photographing hooded figures in the woods.

http://victoriabennettbeyer.blogspot.com/2010/10/hooded-figure.html

Comparing night and day

During the day you can tell that this space is scenic.  You can see the hill in the background and look out over the river.  But as soon as there is minimal light and the full moon is out it gives that scary aura.

Walking across this bridge in the day seems like a pretty boring, unexciting route.  Yet seeing it purely lit by one streetlamp and progressively going into the darkness makes you feel uneasy.

During the day this house looks like a normal everyday house but at night with the shadow cast over it it gives you that feeling that it's haunted.

During the day this is also a very scenic place to be, looking out over the river.  But at night with the only light being across the water, way out in the distance, you wouldn't feel safe.