what kinda work is it?

after reading through the handbook i saw that i would need to distinquish out of 3 kinds of styles of work and work out which description best fits my work. 

While my work has some conceptual aspects to it, the project i do feel im following more of a documentry approach. 

my work is 'to produce a body of work that informs on and describes something (and comunitcated it to an audience) in the form of a naturalistic, visually led narrative (all be it from a persoanl perspective), though the use of real-life material.'
which is a documentary approach to the work. While when ever thinking of documentry i think of street style candid photography in a sence my work is heavily documentry with the reserch into the locations behind it.

More socialnetworking reserch

After the popularity of my first lot of surveys Ive now created a second based around the idea of locations and there history. Ill be pimping out the link to see how many people i can get to do it. All the questions are based around the idea of feeling at locations, locations retaining memorys and haunted locations. Hopefully ill be able to get a great response like before. 

the link is locations suvey this maybe a great way for me to find more locations to shoot around leicester or my home locations.

holga 35mm pinhole with b/w film.

These are the first test shots taken with my pinhole holga 35mm. The film used was the iso 400 HPT film.

Here are the scanned in negs, here the negs have appeared very grainy, which on the negative they do not appear to be, so i feel it may be the way in which i scanned the negs, i used the flatbeds rather then the normal b/w neg scanner that i normally do. I also noticed that even with the grainyness (caused by the scanner) the images have a really interesting blur to the images. this i really as it adds atmsophere to the images. while it was an experiment in black and white, the images i want to create for my final peice i would like to be colour. 

Some of the images didnt come out completely. the images around the newarke houses had a very harsh light and obviously some of the images are over blown in alot of the images which i will have to keep in mind with using this camera.

On the images below, as u can see the top image shows the noise i said caused by the scanners. The images below that are edited in photoshop to blur out the noise and it highlights the use of the blur in the images.

more then anything i need to experiment taking images in different light and to get the technique down to an art really. the images are not as contrasted as i normally like but i do like my black/white images to be very contrasted which can also be adjusted in photoshop using the digital scanning method and in the manual printing method.

Pinhole holga experiment and Pentax Super ME

So yesterday my Pinhole 35mm holga arrived, today i took it, as well as my pentax super ME out. I used BW film in the holga as i  think for now i want to focus on using b.w as its cheaper and maybe progress to colour once im more confident with using the pinhole. It was weird not having a zoom, nor having a focus ring for the pinhole. I shot a 24 exposures at the Newarke house musesum as well as the guild hall, which are both on my list of places to photograph. The exposures i wrote down in my notebook as a reference and im going tomorrow to develope and scan in the film to see how this works. I experimented with a range of times from under a second up to 7 seconds to see how they turn out and im excited to see if they work. My Super-me camera that stopped production in the 1980's gives a great old fashioned look to the images. I used a colour film in it as its the only thing i had in, (i had one bw and one colour in) but new how to use it so chose this for the images. i then got them printed on the way home. (ill scan and add the photos tomorrow when i have access to the neg scanner) These photos came out interesting, the focusing gives it a very strange effect and while the prints maybe a little to dark (had them processed in boots) the  negs seem alright and im going to scan them digitially and see what i can do with them.  I do love the effect you get on film but until i get used to working on it again (it has been a while) im going to continue on BW film, as i can process it myself and its cheaper to buy. Which is best just for experimentation.

Cavendish house photoshoot 1

When i got to abbey park and saw Cavendish house i felt very calm and relaxed and it seemed easy to take photos. the natural lighting was pretty good, it was that sort of 'ice cold yet a cold sun' look and this was before the snow so the images are all very autuminal. The colours i like as the reds and browns reflect the idea that there was a fire there, and the lighting on some of the images is very interesting, with the light coming from the trees and casting random patterns. Some of the images are sihouetted, and i like this, and some of these would look just as good in black and white, but these images are far more atmopsheric then the images ive taken so far.  The idea that the house and ruins are in the middle of a popular is very interesting and shows a mixture of the past and present. And the change between past and present is what i wanted to look at in locations as well as capturing the atmosphere of the place. its very post card perfect and i like this cos it contradicts with the idea that during the civil war the house that stood grand on the grounds was burnt so badly to the ground, only 2 and abit walls remain all that was left. 
What i also like about alot of these images stick to the photographic rule of thirds. for example the bottom three of the examples below do and i really like the framing of these images. it would be interesting to photograph these images in my pinhole or film camera, so another visit will be in order to reshoot some of these images 

Cavendish house, abbey park

Cavendish House ceased to be a residence of any kind after 1645 as a result of the events surrounding the Battle of Naseby.

 

In 1645 the Civil War was going badly for Charles I. He only had effective control over Wales, the West Country and parts of south Midlands. By late spring, Parliamentary forces under Sir Thomas Fairfax were besieging Oxford, the Royalist capital. In an attempt to draw Fairfax from the seige of Oxford, the King’s army marched on Leicester.

 

Charles’ army arrived at Leicester on 30th May, and after only a two day siege took and sacked the town. Fairfax broke the siege and headed north to meet the King’s army. Having thus saved Oxford, the Royalist commanders did not know what to do. The Royalist army headed slowly south to meet Fairfax, only to find itself facing a far larger army with the advantage of the ground. On 14th June the King’s army was decisively defeated at Naseby. The remains of the Royalist army fled back to Leicester pursued by the Parliamentary army, and Fairfax re-took the town on 18th June.

 

How this sequence of events led to the destruction of Cavendish House is unclear. All we know for certain is that on arrival in Leicester, Charles lodged at Cavendish House, as a guest of the dowager countess, and that he stayed there until his army marched south on 4th June. By the time Fairfax had secured the town, however, Cavendish House had been severely damaged by fire. We do not know who set fire to the house or circumstances under which it happened. The only other certainty is that the Cavendish family decided that they had no need of a residence just outside Leicester, so the mansion was neither re-built nor demolished.

 

 

The abbey pumping station photoshoot 1

I did a photoshoot of the abbey pumping station on friday. The only problem i actually had is that its locked until febuary, however i managed to take some photos through the gates. The location is rather atmospheric, however the space center is just behind it so framing i had to be careful not to get that in (its a very futuristic looking building!) another thing is that going about midday the sun was behind the building which means that some of the images are very dark or sihouttted, i dont mind this but u loose alot of the detailing on the building. i will revisit on one of the days that i can get into the ground to explore abit more and experiment more. I deffo think that i dont want to continue to shoot on digital as its far to clean and crisp and i think that film will give a better atmosphere. 

I feel with these images i would be able to improve if i could get closer or without barriers in the way. I do like the first image as you can see the detailing of the house in all its glory and i think thats my fave image. the  second image is an example of what i took through the gates at the front. These are the images that came out rather dark as the building was backlit, so maybe revisiting at different time of day will create better lighting. Again these aint as atmospheric as i would of liked but overall theyre not to bad. Its interesting how the lighting has changed from the first image (rahter cold)  to the bottom image where the lighting is rather warm.

The abbey pumping station

The next place on my list of places to visit was the Abbey Pumping station. As it was in a pretty easy walk as well as knowing someone who can show me how to get there for future reference. The building was mentioned on the councils website as having a history still 'living alive' there in a sence that its reputidly haunted by a former employee who fell to his death there in 1890 off of the top balcony falling 50 feet.  Now a museum, it was previously a pumping station used to pump sewage to treatment works at Beaumont Leys, and was opened in 1891. The grand Victorian building, designed by Stockdale Harrison (city architect in 1890) and beautifully decorated beam engines were a cause of great civic pride. It continued pumping Leicester's sewage until 1964, and then underwent renovation. It opened as a museum in 1972. 

  The ghost that is said to haunt the location is that of the only known fatal casualty whilst building the Abbey Pumping Station. The death happened just after 5 p.m. on Tuesday 26th August 1890 when Robert Richardson a 43 year old labourer who was working as an engineering labourer for the main contractors, Gimson Ironfounders of Vulcan Road Leiceter. At the time 2 hours overtime was being worked each day in order for the building and engines to be completed on time, when he missed his footing on scaffolding in the roof and fell some 45 feet (14 Metres) sustaining internal injuries. At the time he was marking some ironwork with red lead. A doctor was called and Robert was rushed to the Leicester Royal Infirmary where he died from his injuries two days later with his wife at his bedside. Sadly, injuries that by today's improved medical standards and hygiene could have been treated.

The inquest was published in the Leicester mercury on 30th August 1890. maybe i could see if i could find a copy or print of it anywhere? 

Gina Glover- Pathways to memory

In her search for meaning and the lost enchantment of childhood, Gina Glover embarks on a photographic quest and invites us to enter her special garden. Her garden becomes the safe playground for the interpretation of symbols and impressions which have haunted her all her life. With alot of references to childhood, memory and fairytales, Gina Glovers work really interests me. Often causing you to look deeper into the photograph to interperate the meaning these are more then straightforward landscapes. Her compositions are often very clever, and objects are stregically placed to be suggestive of whats happening. The contrasts in the use of shadows are also impressive and make a statement about the images. To achieve this she must of waited for just the right kind  of weather and time for the shadows to fall just how she wanted.  There is alot of symbolism and hints at different things with just the use of shadows and time of day. The idea that she encorperates memory into this makes it very much relevant to my work, as i myself are looking at places that seem to have a history and holding the memory's. Glovers work seem to have this great atmosphere about them, and she often uses pinhole (like kate mellor) and classic cameras, even camera obsurers. This is something myself i want to try and experiment with. Often her subject will contain sections of architecutre rather then a whole lot, sections of buildings, walls, or even just statues, and often uses the trees and bushes to suggest walls or being walled in like her photo of the maze.

Lou Spence - Maddle farm

Maddle farm is a collection of images from the countryside based around the idea of identity  and the shifting of identity from the stance of the british agricultural landscape,  from the landscape photographer Lou Spence. These images were featured in the shifting horizons book i mentioned before. Most of these images were taken on dull grey days, the sky blends naturally into the landscapes of mud, and earthy colours of green and dullen gold. The images are all squared off and this helps as most of the imagery used in the photos is based heavy around the shapes and structure of the shapes in the countryside. From the patterned crop circles to the wave in the mud filled tracks of a tractor of the past, there are alot of curves featured in the structure of the images and is presented in a way to contrast with the images being squared off. Often playing with the rule of thirds and splitting these images into fore/middle/background help to make these images surprisingly aesthetic for images of feilds and mud on a dull and overcast day. Each image seems to have a hint of a focal point rather then just rolling images of hills, from muddy tracks, to signposts or even just a small huddle of trees. Im rather supprised at how these images just seem to be so beautiful even though the subject matter isnt, and by using well known and easy photographical techniques it adds to the images.

Kate Mellor- SHIFTING HORIZONS

after looking at the work of kate mellor i was lead to a book from the Libuary called Shifting Horizons- womans landscae photography now. Ive found this book very useful as its given me a great list of women who've photographed landscapes in very different ways and use different techniques to create atmosphere. From this book its lead me to look at different ways of photographing landscapes, but also some of the ladies in the book use text and images, which was something i wanted to look to. Standing alone the images may portray an atmosphere or a tension of a place, but i want to reflect what the history of the place is in some way to link the location and the historical research ive done. This maybe through text, but also by placing objects maybe in the place as a reflection of whats happened there? its something i can explore again in my work. How much or how little would be needed to suggest what happened? 

Guildhall Photo Shoot 1 black and white

Here i converted the images that were shot digitally on my SLR, to black and white using CS4. the images i feel do have more of an atmosphere in black and white, and while i had to lower the brightness and adjust the contrast slightly to add more of a shading rather then some areas blowing themselves out with light colours conversion to b/w. at the moment im unsure as to if my final images will be in colour or black and white but i feel these images do indeed work better in black and white. I dont like it because it makes the images feel old, but the fact it does effect the atmosphere of the images. As i said before i will revisit this site at different times to see different effects with the lighting at the atmosphere of the places. However as im still waiting for my pinhole to return im going to continue to shoot digitally, maybe experimenting abit with film until my pinhole camera arrives. 

Guildhall Photo Shoot 1

The first photos ive taken were just sort of a wrecky more then a photoshoot. Due to the location being in town and in very close quarters to the surrounding buildings, it didnt give me alot of room to play with when it comes to manovering and getting different angles and experimenting with different views of the location. Also the lighting started off good, with a reflection of the sun off of the adjoining building creating a pattern onto the side of the building, However the blocked in surroundings meant that the lighting wasnt the best. i didnt really feel that inspired at the time. 

My Fave images selected by yellow(above enlarged too), these i feel have the best colours as well as the better framing. I dont think i managed to capture the feelings of the place, rather more then documenting it and this isnt what i wanted. A combination of the lighting and the weather ment that these werent as atsmopheric as i wanted. i guess what i need to look at is what and how im going to achieve this atmosphere that i want. Im going to revist the site at different times to see if i can improve the images that ive got, and explore the location abit more. i also will try and convert these images to b/w to see if that has any effect of the astmosphere of the images

Haunted Britain- the guild hall

The only place in Leicester city that is in the book that i brought is the Guildhall.  The book goes into more history of the hall and what its been used as. From its early beguinnings, over 600years ago to the to its restoration and change into the museum in the 1920's

The GuildHall

wanting to get into this project i wanted to get into it as quick as i could due to my slow start to the project. So i wanted to get some back story and start shooting, one of the easiest places for me to get to and i knew the location of was the guildhall. 

The Guildhall has had many uses and lives. The Great Hall itself was built in about 1390 as a meeting place for the Guild of Corpus Christi (a small but powerful group of businessman and gentry).
By the end of the 14th century the corporation of Leicester had begun to meet in the Guildhall. When the Guild was dissolved in 1548 the Corporation bought the buildings.
In 1632 the Town Library was moved into the East Wing of the Guildhall from St Martin' s Church. It is the third oldest public library in the country.
The Great Hall was often used as a courtroom and was also used regularly for theatrical performances, banquets and civic events. It is thought that Shakespeare performed here.
With the growth of the town a new Town Hall was built on Horse Fair and opened in 1876. For the next fifty years the Guildhall was used for several purposes including the headquarters of the local police and a school. Following a major renovation programme it was opened to the public as a museum in 1926.

Haunted Britain Book

I brought this book when i spotted it in town, its a collection of books set into specific areas of the country (NORTH, EAST, SOUTH, WEST, MIDDLANDS, ECT) and each area are a selections of some of the most haunted areas or places, also between the information on the haunted places it also has information on local legends and myths as well as history. i thought it would be very useful for this project. Expesh cos it will allow me to learn more about the middlands which im not really as familier as i am with the history and legends of back home in kent.

Locations reserch- the council

 Leicester council haunted places

My idea of looking of places that have a bad history or even a history of haunting, made me begin to serch with a basic search local historical places. On the councils website ive found a few interesting locations i can go to photograph and some of the history of the places.

I wanted to kick start this project at last so locations near by are the best place to start. 

The locations on the website are:

Belgrave Hall and gardens

Belgrave Hall is often reported as one of the most haunted places in leicester. Its history is swamped in accounts of ghosts and most famously ghosts caught on camera there.

The 'Victorian Lady' has often been heard walking around the upstairs of Belgrave Hall and on occasions, fleeting glimpses of her have been witnessed by staff on duty. On occasions, the aroma of cooking has been smelt within the Hall when nothing has been cooked. The smells are usually of fresh bread, stewed fruit and gingerbread. In 1998, staff w by the main door when one of the group suddenly went extremely pale. He said that while they were talking, out of the corner of his eye he saw a women in a "terracotta coloured Victorian style dress" walking down the stairs and turn into one of the adjoining rooms. When he looked at her full on, she disappeared.  Another member of staff witnessed the same figure on the first floor landing. Footsteps are often heard on the first floor landing, doors close of there own accord and room alarms are mysteriously activated when no one is there. In December 1998, luminous figures, one believed to be wearing a long flowing dress complete with bustle, were captured on film outside the hall. The figures appeared to be surrounded by a halo of light. The image was recorded on the halls security camera at about 5.00 a.m. and was first spotted by a museum assistant who was reviewing the overnight video. Other members of staff who studied the tape confirmed that the images appear to be that of two figures in Victorian style clothing. The story was made even more bizarre when it was discovered that the camera, which records an image every second, froze for five seconds while the image appeared. It also appears that the images come through the courtyard wall. Experts confirmed that the figures 'were not human' due to the luminous effect they made on the film - it is believed that the figures were producing heat and energy similar to that given off by a fluorescent light. A suggested cause for the camera to stop filming was sudden surge of electricity in the atmosphere. A mysterious ball of mist or fog was also seen swirling over the garden throughout the experience. The curator of the museum admitted that the video had him and his staff baffled. "The images appear from nowhere. "They make no entrance nor exit - they just appear and disappear". It is thought that the ghost is that of Charlotte Ellis, who lived at the Hall with her seven sisters after John Ellis brought the property in 1845.Many explanations have been given regarding the two figures including a leaf, a moth, people dressed in luminous clothing and…a ghost. As there isn’t a definite answer, staff at the museum let visitors reach their own conclusions.

Abbey Pumping station

Abbey Pumping Station is reputedly haunted by the ghost of an engineer who worked at the site in the early nineteenth century. He plunged to his death in 1890, falling over 50 ft from the top balcony of the pump house down into the depths of the engine room. Friends of the engineer commemorated the funeral with a cross and an inscription on the basement wall which bared his initials.Unexplained occurrences have happened at 'the pumper' over many years, mostly taking place around the engine house. strange noises have been heard on many occasions, usually late at night when the museum is about to be locked up, items have been moved around. Previous members of staff at the pumping station have, on many occasions, been too spooked to lock up.

 

The GuildHall

 

The Guildhall is reputedly Leicester's most haunted building – five ghosts have been reported in total. The most frequent visitor is the White Lady, a name given to the phenomenon though she is very rarely seen. The ghost makes her presence known by moving the heavy Tudor furniture around the library and by opening doors once they have been locked and bolted.On numerous occasions, staff and police have been called out in the evening to attend to burglar alarms which have been triggered by an unseen presence. The White Lady also has a soft spot for the large Bible which is situated on the main table within the library. Staff will often close the Bible in the evening only to find that in the morning it is back open in exactly the same place as the night before. No one has any knowledge to the identity of the ghost.the sound of heavy footsteps has often been heard crossing the main entrance to the constable’s cottage. This ghost is believed to be that of one of the officers who would have been based in the building during the Victorian era. Footsteps have also been heard in the roof space which, again, is believed to be associated with the Victorian police force. The officers slept in the roof space - the pegs for their uniforms can still be seen today. a medium visited the site and said that she could 'see' a cavalier type character in the Great Hall and a phantom dog in the courtyard, though no record of this phenomena has been recorded.

 

The Newarke Houses

 

The figure of a man dressed in an Elizabethan style costume has been seen at Newarke Houses. The figure appeared out of the wooden panelling in the Gimson Room and disappeared through an adjacent wall. A mysterious shadow, with a distinct human form, has also been seen in the area.On more than one occasion, staff have moved to one side to let a figure through only to realise that no one was there. A figure in a long, dark cloak has also been seen at the top of the main staircase walking towards the window. Once, when repairs were being made in the building, a postcard holder rotated on its own, throwing all of the cards out on the floor. Although the figure is mainly seen in the area of the Chantry House, its identity remains a mystery.

 

 

 

 

So far.... movement in ideas

So in my last few bits of reserch ive been looking into why ive looked at fears, and also looking into some film suggestions about building fear and tension in cinema. So far ive pulled up a few ideas to do with places, and this really interests me! the idea that a place holds a memory or the history of a place is tragic and therefore people are scared of it. In  a sense looking at haunted locations, not at the idea of a physical ghostly apperition but of the idea of a haunted place, a place thats atmosphere is different because of its history. I love the idea of going to areas that are ment to have a bad past to it and photographing them as they are now, but trying to create tension and fear into a photograph of a place, without the ghostly figures ect. just the place. of course i will need to be subjective. visit these places of interest to this idea and get a feel for the place, maybe visit at different days, different weather, different times to get different feelings. I dont want a boring photograph. And looking into otherways other people have created atmosphere in there images or even how films build tension and fear into a location. I like the idea of trying to sort out a trip to london to get images of those places where the bombings took place, as well as other big locations that are reeped in historical tragity. I know from doing ghost walks in the past in my home towns that there is much history everywhere, often in locations looked past. This is what i enjoy to do, taking photos based upon some form of meaning that i can reserch and submurge myself into. and i think i can achieve some real amazing works.

The Stanley Hotel

After watching the shining, the classic Kubric film, it reminded me back to another favourite thing of mine, Ghost hunters. 

Ghost Hunters is an americal reality t.v show following the members of TAPS (the atlantic paranormal society.) This show and all 9series has sperned my love of the paranormal and my eegerness to explore it. Each episode the group investigate one or two locations (depending on the size of the job) and using scientific equipment try and disprove locations that are said to be haunted. They take the approach of wanting to debunk these locations using things such as Inferred cameras, wireless audio, k-2 meters, digital sound recorders, EMF detetors, Thermal imaging ect. More times then not the places are debunked showing what could cause these things people assume to be paranormal, but when they go over the evidence and cant disprove or have an explination of what is going on, they will use the evidence to backup the claimes of hauntings.It makes for additive t.v.

One episode of Ghosthunters  (episode 222 aired May 26th 2006) and again on there halloween special (november 8th 2006) the team investigated the Stanley Hotel.

The Stanley Hotel is a 138-room Georgian hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Located within sight of the Rocky Mountain National Park, the Stanley offers panoramic views of the Rockies. It was built by Freelan O. Stanley of Stanley Steamer fame and opened on July 4, 1909, catering to the rich and famous, including the Titanic survivor Margaret Brown and  Theodore Roosevelt, The Stanley Hotel also hosted Stephen King, inspiring him to write The Shining. Contrary to information sometimes published, King was living in Boulder at the time and did not actually write the novel at the hotel. Parts of the mini-series version of The Shining were filmed there, although it was not used for Stanley Kubrick's version.

Many people claimed that the hotel was haunted and it is explained in the show that even Stephen King himself witnessed some of these hauntings, and that is what lead him to write the famous novel.  During the show we learn of the history of the hotel and the goings on. From the sounds of a party going on in the empty ballroom to objects moving and apperitions of men and children.  

  the show starts and the manager showed the TAPS members the various places where these alleged ghost activity has occurred.the team discovered some rational reasons for the various phenomena (debunking), such as wind and pipes. However, they could not decipher incidents in the ballroom.  the team also claimed to experience other paranormal occurrences, such as seeing people in hallways then hiding, and hearing children running and playing on the floor above them. The biggest occurrence was that during changing of the film in the camera, a table jumped two feet in the air from the room in which King stayed. Ghost Hunter Jason stayed the night in the room with the "ghost thief", Jason stated that the bed moved, the cupboard doors unlocked and opened and his thick glass by the bed cracked open on the inside.

Can it be said that this hotel and its ghostly occurences lead to Kings novel, well evidence seems to point to that, but only King will ever know for sure!

This idea that the building and its history and the events that tookplace here are what lead and inspired King to write such a tence and fear provoking novel which in turn leadto such a great intense film is an inspiration. The idea that a building or a location can hold so much fear and memory is interesting. 

can a person fear a place?

can a places history change peoples views on an area?

is it possible to pick up vibes from a location of tragedy without knowing?

this idea really interests me, the idea of looking at places that may not look it, but hold this history of tragedy and fear. Its like the idea that an object can keep a memory and a feeling, so maybe a place can too? Many places we walk past everyday can have a history of death or violence or just general bad stuff! 

The Shining

One of the films i was refered to during my tutorial was the classic Kubrick film the shining. As a huge fan of  Stanley Kubricks work of course it was one to look at. Kubrick to me has an amazing use of tension and can create fear from just one look of a character. 

The plot remains true to the original by Stephen King. It follows the retreat of the Torrence family to the Outlook hotel, Where the son Danny starts to recieve terrorfying visions of the past and the future via his gift known as the Shining. It also follows as the father Jack falls into madness and insanity from cabin fever and the haunting of the ghosts of previous staff and residents. As a former caretaker (that which hacked to death his own wife and two daughters) persuades Jack to 'correct' his family like he did, jack falls into a murderous rage and ends up murdering (REDRUM! redrum!) a chef who was called back to the hotel by his sons powers, and attempts to kill his wife and son. 

What i love about this film is that its hard not to be scared or uneased by this film even no its not overly gorey or graphic. There is no monsters, no nightmarish creatures. The ghosts we see look like ordinary people not there to scare and makes the audience wonder if they are ghosts or just a dillusion from jacks mind. He manages to make things overly creepy by the use of close ups of peoples faces, and the great skills of the actors shine through (expesh that of jack nickleson who is very convincing as he is going insane) its the silent pauses, the feeling of ... somethings going to happen next! even the 'nightmare' visions that danny gets arnt really over played for a horror film. the scene where he sees the twin girls who were murdered is brilliently shot and edited, where it flips from them standing there to flashes of them laying murdered on the floor. and even tho the editing is fast-ish paced, its not as subliminal as some of the more modern day horror films. 
The soundtrack to this is both amazing and annoying, the soundscape tends to get into this irritatingly annoying highpitched tone as we see Dannys visions, or something not quite normal is about to happen and it just helps to make the audience feel uneasy. 

Some of the scenes are just beautiful in such a weird way, like the final chase through the maze, the lighting mixed with the snow just creates this stunning quality to it.

The premise is what strikes me more is this idea that a place holds its memorys of all the bad things thats happened in the past. To quote: 

Danny Torrance: Mr. Hallorann, are you scared of this place?
Dick Hallorann: No. Scared - there's nothin' here. It's just that, you know, some places are like people. Some "shine" and some don't. I guess you could say the Overlook Hotel here has somethin' almost like "shining."
Danny Torrance: Is there something bad here?
Dick Hallorann: Well, you know, Doc, when something happens, you can leave a trace of itself behind. Say like, if someone burns toast. Well, maybe things that happen leave other kinds of traces behind. Not things that anyone can notice, but things that people who "shine" can see. Just like they can see things that haven't happened yet. Well, sometimes they can see things that happened a long time ago. I think a lot of things happened right here in this particular hotel over the years. And not all of 'em was good.  




This reminds me of what i was saying in a previous post about a place holding a memory associated to it. and i feel i could look more into this! 


Here is one of the documentrys thats attached to the film on bluray that i watched featuring many directors and other roles of the film making industry discussing the work of Kubrick

Social Networking

Part of my tutorial was discussing ways in which i could get lots of information fast. The idea was to try and feel the book (an a4 sketchbook) with lots of information about fears fast. Its rather a good idea and involves social interaction. To start off with ive found a website that allows you to create free questionaires and im going to post it to my blog, my twitter, my facebook and some of the groups im on in facebook, the uni groups ect. See if i can get a reponce that i need, my alternative is to ask people to do tasks, like draw or photograph different things and put them together in the book almost like a scrap book of ideas. I've already started to try this out but its very much to do with if people will do it for me! i guess its more experimentation tho!
So far ive used the website 'survey monkey' which allows u to create free online surveys of up to 10questions and analyse the results online.
For my first trial ive created a 9question survey asking peoples opinions on fears, and how they are effected by them. the website makes creating them easy and once u have your questions its easy to do. Here are a few examples of the stages i've gone through. So far the questions ive used are as followed: 
sex and age to get an idea of my demographic of people answering the questions
what kind of fear do they class themselves as having
a description of there fears
how it effects them.
trying to get people to answer is the problem. Ive posted the link:
fear survey
on my twitter account
my facebook account
asking people to pass it on
as well as emailing it out to people
adding it to my blogs

I will update with my results if i am to get any, or how many!  

**update**
Within about 40-50mins ive managed to get over 50 people to do this survey, by pimping out the link via twitter and facebook and emails. this seems an effective way into reserching and may try this again once ive narrowed down my work subject. 

ive also desided that with alot of the comments box style questions im going to print the results and put them into my 'social networking' reserch book as a starting point!

leading on from my notes

Ive been thinking upon what my lecturer said to my in our last tutorial about what is it about fears that i like! i managed to have abit of an idea from my random notings from my note book about what and why i like it, and what has made me fearful.

The main two times in my life i have been fearful of something has been september 11th and the world trade centers and the 7/7 bombings. in my reasearch before about the psycology of fears i read that its more common for people to be fearful of terrorism then ever before. In my notebook ive explained why these days where very close and hard hitting to me.
Since that day i have been to the site of the world trade centers, ground zero, as well as returning to london to the areas there that were bombed. both places really hit home and i felt an overwhelming fear and uneasyness as well as very emoitional.  I do have some of the photos i took in NY at ground zero which always hold alot of memorys with me and take me back to my visit and also to what i felt on that day. Ive also got a framed photo that i brought in america of the skyline of newyork without the twintowers, taken on the rememberance day with the two beams of light fired into the air once they once stood. Its a place that will forever be in my memory as a tragic and terrible place. Maybe i could also go back and photograph those areas in london that were hit and where i get that emotional response to the place?

Below are some of the images i took while visiting the site of ground zero. the smaller images are those that i dont really like the composition of but still i have an emotional responce just because of the devistation of the scenes. My fave photos are the larger images, The photo of the sign reading church street and the memorial that was added onto the sign after the day resides as my favourite, the composition, the meaning, even if it is a rather bright and simplistic image i feel it gets the meaning across. The other two were from the signs about the rejuvination of the site and all that they are going to do there, and the memorys people shared there. there was also a list of all the men and women who died in the world trade centers. I rather like the alst image just because the flag is behind the glass while the image of the man is a reflection of the american man who was standing behind me.  It is a very patriotic image even though its not clear from where it was taken.

Apocalypse

Apocalypse beauty and horror in contemporary art.  This is a book which is a collection and exhibition from 2000 created by the royal academy of arts focusing on beauty and horror in art. Its based around the themes of the coming of the 21st century. The Book contains the main focuses of the exhibition including painters, photographers, and instillation artists as well as containing essays about said artists. Here im going to look at the ones i feel relivent to my fears ideas, or ones that catch my eyes.