Research - Theme two - Andy Marshall

MY second piece of research will be based on my second theme which is built environment. For this theme I will be taking pictures of historic buildings. The reason I chose to undertake this type of photography is because of the inspiration from some of Andy Marshalls work. I will be choosing some of Andy's work and explaining the reasons why his work has inspired me. I will also be using some shots from my photoshoot that I went on the other day and comparing them with his work. All these photographs can be found from this link: http://andymarshall.co/?p=557

Andy Marshall is an Architectural photographer who has been taking photographs of the built environment for over 25 years. Over these years he has photographed many different styles of buildings ranging from buildings that have stood for hundreds of years to buildings of today. The main area of his work that really inspires me are the photographs of buildings that are very historic, mainly his photographs of churches and there interiors. The reason behind this is that his photographs aren't anything over the top but they compose a very historic visual message.

 This is the first piece of work of Andy's work that was an eye catcher. It is a photograph of the Cotswold church. Now when I look at this photograph the visual message I read is that the church is the centre of attention, it is the king of the surrounding area in the photograph. What he has also concentrated on in this shot is the colour. He manages to create a very colour concentrated photograph with the different blues in the sky and the greens in the grass. Also, with the sun behind him the natural light creates a beautiful haze effect surrounding the church. This also brightens the church up quite a lot aswell making it the main focal point. The rule of thirds composition has been used within this photograph, with the church and landscape being the bottom third and the sky being the top two thirds.

This photograph is also a piece of Andy's work which I am a big fan of. Again, it is a photograph of a church in Cotswold. This however takes a completely different look of this type of architectural photography. This time the photograph was taken in the evening time at sunset so this takes a lot more work to get the shot perfect with the minimum light that is available. This photograph has a lot of detail included in it from the sun shining onto the church to the church itself, but what I like the most about this shot is that he has managed to keep the church as the main focal point in the shop although there is so much included in it. This photograph takes a more gloom aproach with a nice concentration on colour from the clouds being grey and white slowly decending to different darker colours from the church and surrounding wall to pretty much black on the ground from the shadow of the church. The only problem with this shot is that there seems to be a mark on the lense from the reflection of the sun when it shone onto the camera. So this is a photograph is unique in its own way due to it taken at this time of day making it express a dark and gloomy visual message.

The above two photographs are my favourites, below, is a selection of some of Andy Marshalls work which also caught my eye. These photographs mainly concentrate on the interiors of the buildings.

These two photographs focus on frame within frames composition with both of them being taken whist standing before an archway and looking through it right the the window at the end of the hall. Both have similar colours and contrast showing the history of the church which is appropriate when trying to convey this visual message.

This photograph is also a frame within frames  concentrated photograph with an element of patterns on the ceiling of the church. With the room bright alongside the frame within frames composition this photograph is showing how beautiful and historic this church is.

This photograph shows some of the historic artifacts that are located at one of the Cotswold churches. He mainly focuses on symmetry and patterns in this shot as there are two sets of the same artifact next to each other. Also the pillars across the ceiling of the church also creates a patterns composition. These two artifacts are concentrated on the most in this photograph making them the golden section.

These two photographs were taken from the Chester cathedral. They both have a substantial amount of light and both include a lines to guide the eye composition. I would say that patterns are quite heavily concentrated in these photographs with the chairs leading down the cathedrals hall from the photo on the left and the concrete slabs and general design of the cathedral (pillars and ceiling) from the photo on the right. The photograph on the left also has a lot of depth use as the shot is being taken from the front of the cathedral right to the back.

This photograph was taken of the cathedrals ceiling. It is mainly centered and uses natural light. It concentrates mainly on patterns and symmetry from left to right with a separate pattern joining them in the centre. It might be quite hard to see but the design of the buildings structure also creates patterns from top to bottom.

The last photograph I have chosen from Andy Marshall's collection also uses patterns to create a beautiful piece of work. Again, this photograph was taken using all the natural light there was available at the time so this is why it appears to be quite dark. This isn't a bad thing though. With the light shining directly onto the window it creates a bold pattern from the frames between glass. Obviously the main focal point of the photograph are the stunning pieces of artwork on the glass windows which are patterns within themselves. A heavy use of colour is also concentrated in this photograph due to the fact that the glass has alot of different colours on it. These include many different colours ranging from different reds to different yellows and blues.

The above video is a little something I found on youtube. It displays Andy Marshall's work from the Victorian Gothic church. He mainly concentrates on the history of the interior of the church. I found it quite fascinating as there are many different types of photograph using colour, patterns, symmetry and different depths of field.