UNIT 4 - AO3 (1/3) - Defining the final piece.
- Charles Power
- May 18, 2016
- 3 min read
For these last few months I've been exploring the world of documentary photography in industrial landscapes whilst primarily shooting and developing with analog film as my platform to further immerse myself in the methods and practises that documentary photographers often used before the dawn of digital photography.
However, in terms of finding a subject of interest to base my final piece for this unit and course, I could honestly think of no better place than the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway in the North of Wales. This heritage Railway has a rich and vibrant history surrounding it, many of the Narrow-gauge locomotives are over 100 years old as well as the volunteers and workers carrying out the techniques that the workers used all the way back in 1856.
I've also volunteered on the railway in this last year as a Loco cleaner, during my trips I've been on the footplate twice, helped restore a Chinese locomotive from the C2 project & have repaired insulation on a steam piston. However, even though I've spent much of my time working there, I never really go to take many photographs of the work that goes on the railway. As I've been exploring documentary themes towards the industrial landscapes of our country, it would be a fitting end for this unit to travel back out to the railway and document the daily workings to produce a photographic essay on this historical landmark.
When it came to planning and organising this trip, I chose to shoot primarily on black and white 35mm film, with my Digital A7R as a backup for shooting in colour - though I did bring one roll just incase I ran out of film, which I did end up doing towards the end of the trip. I believe the use of shooting on film for this project is crucial as this entire unit has been about immersing myself in past techniques of Documentary Photographers as well as the fact that shooting film for a location such as this just makes complete sense. Whilst I'm there I want to try and make my 35mm photographs feel as if they were taken by a photographer during the period. A fantastic Example that I found recently on the Railway's Wikipedia page is of the FR locomotive, No.2 Prince - Seen in the image below at Porthmadog Harbour Station in 1898.
In terms to of actually obtaining permission from the railway I sent several emails, initially they replied stated that everything should be completely fine - though later I would have to inquire on the possibility of gaining a Footplate Pass, I found it important to be able to get on the footplate as it would enable myself to a unique vantage point that is rarely captured by photographers. From past experiences of working on the footplate, the Ffestiniog Railway has some stunning views as it starts from the seaside town of Porthmadog and ascends through the Welsh highlands. After a couple more emails I'd spoken to the Locomotive manager of the Railway, Phil Brown who then gave me permission to go on the footplate for the first train of the day. The gallery below features the email conversations I had between myself and Railway Staff.
After that it was just a matter of booking train tickets and setting off, in total I spent an overall of 5 days taking photographs at various locations along the railway, I shot all of the 35mm film that I had brought with me and had taken a total of 600 digital photographs during my time on the railway. My shooting style focused on the workers of the railway, so I would experiment with low depth of field shooting on an aperture of around f/1.4 -- f/2.8 to make them and the bokeh stand out. In terms of my composition I focused on leading lines and symmetry, I often shot with the subject/leading lines in one of the corners and let the leading line flow around to the other side of the frame.
For this blog-piece I've decided withhold my analog photographs as I rather they remain a surprise for the UNIT 4 final piece, nevertheless, here are some of my digital photographs from my trip:
In summary I am completely flabbergasted with the amount of the images I have taken on the trip, when I developed and scanned my negatives and processed my digital files I was completely taken away with the work I had produced over my trip in wales. Now I just need to find a way of organising these images towards producing a display piece.
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