Final Ten Photographs (Architecture)

Below are my final ten photographs which I have chosen for my architecture theme. Below these is an explanation to the reason why I have chosen these photographs.

Firstly, I have chosen one of my favourites from my collection. This photograph shows a cathedral in Birmingham. I have stood quite close to the cathedral so that it's historic detail is shown and that it covers the photograph from left to right. As you can see this is done with precision making it the main focal point. When a viewer looks at this photograph they are drawn to looking at the historic detail from the cathedral and nothing else, this is because there are no interruptions in the photograph to distractn the viewers eye.

For this photograph I mainly concentrated on positioning and lighting. What makes this photograph unique is that it is taken at nightime and the only light source which was available to me was the surrounding church lights. What I wanted to achieve here is the whole church from left to right showing what it looked like when there is no natural light shining onto it. As you can see from the lights shining onto the church it creates a few different types of yellow/gold colours and the shadwows from surrounding objects can be seen quite boldy on the church. Patterns were also used here from the detail of the church and the churches windows which spread across the churc from left to right. This photograph required me to use my tripod as I had to use a very slow shutter speed due to the surrounding light being very dark.

These two photographs were also taken at night time so there was hardly any natural light available. As you can see from these two photographs that there are some colours which have been blended together to create some truely magnificent colours which are not only on the church but also surrounding the church. As you can see what ever natural light that was available has mixed with the light surronding the church to create different blues/purples on the first photograph. The top photograph conecntrates more on the detail of the church thus displaying the patterns from the churches detail whilst being placed in the centre of the photograph.

On this photgoraph I have attempted  John Golden's work. By this I have taken a photograph of St Peters church in Burton Upon Trent, but what I have done here is taken it from a different angle. Angles and shapes were what really showed in John Golden's church photography so I have done the same here. As you can see by doing this it shows the dominance of the church because of it towering over on the photograph whilst it also shows the great historic detail of the church.

Here is another night time photograph I have chosen from my collection. What I have done here is chosen an area that didn't have alot of light surrounding it to create this sort of eeire looking photograph but still to display the church in all of its beauty. As you can see from the light which is next to the church it shines onto the church making that area quite bright but then gets darker as you move deeper into the church. This is great as the strongness of colour gets shallower as you move more to the left of the photograph.

These two photographs are also of the St Peters Church in Burton Upon Trent. One is of the church at a distance and one is of the churches tower zoomed in to capture its detail. With the top photograph I managed to create a lines that guide eye composition with the path way which is created from the trees either side leading upto the church which stands dominantly at the end of the photograph. Where as the top photograph I have concentrated more on patterns and detail of the church to show its great historic beauty. As you can see patterns emerge from alot of areas of the church in the bottom photograph. This is purely down to the design of the church. As you can also see on the bottom photograph I placed the main focal point in the centre of the photograph so that there is equal distance to the edge of the photograph on both sides. I did this so that it made the church the main focal point with minor interruptions to distract the viewers eye. With a white background this also makes the church with all of it's detail stand out quite alot when the viewer is drawn to the church.

Here is another photograph where I have positioned myself so that the chruch has covered pretty much all of the photograph from left to right. This is great as where ever the viewer looks on the photograph they will be constantly been drawn to the churches detail which is included throughout mos of the photograph.

For my last photograph I have chosen one that was to a similar style of John Golden's work. John Golden's church photography mainly concentrates on where he is positioned when he is taking the photograph alongside the angle of his shot. As you can see here I have stood right next to the church so that when I look up to take the photograph it is taken at a great angle. As you can see by doing this the whole of the churches tower is in the shot making it tower over you whilst showing it's historic design in detail at the same time. I also concenterated on patterns here from the churches design due to me being so close to the main focal point.

Conclusion

I have chosen to take these photographs because I am deeply interested in churches. This is mainly due to the fact that they have a lot of history involved in them and most of them have fantastic exterior designs which involve fantastic shapes and patterns. Whilst researching the photographers for this theme I caught many different styles of photographing churches which involve many different compositions. Some of them used rule of thirds, some of them involved angles and shapes and some of them are taken at night. So I was highly inspired by these styles of photograph so I have gone out and attempted these styles to see if I can use there work to perfect my photographs.