Photography students from South Bank Colleges took their cameras beyond the classroom for a location shoot at the Frieze Sculpture trail in Regent’s Park, using the artwork around them as inspiration for their latest creative project.
The Level 3 Extended Diploma in Photography students are currently exploring abstraction as part of their Units 4 and 5 assignment. The visit gave them the opportunity to experiment with how sculpture, shape, texture and form can be interpreted through photography.
From figurative to abstract
One of the challenges set for the students is to create a series of images that gradually move from the figurative towards the abstract.
Rather than simply photographing the sculptures as they appear, students are being encouraged to look at them differently. By focusing on details, shapes, patterns, textures and unusual viewpoints, they can begin to transform recognisable subjects into something more abstract.
The students are also identifying imagery that could provide a starting point for their ‘Slice and Dice’ outcomes, where photographs can be broken apart and reworked to create new visual compositions.
The Frieze Sculpture trail provides an ideal setting for this exploration, with a wide variety of contemporary sculptures offering different forms, materials and perspectives to photograph.
Taking photography beyond the camera
The project will also introduce students to traditional photographic processes, giving them the opportunity to experiment with making their own prints.
Once they have selected their images, students will produce large format negatives that can be contact printed using Cyanotype and Van Dyke emulsions.
What makes the process particularly hands on is that the students have prepared the photographic papers themselves, coating and curing the emulsions before using them to create their final prints.
This gives students the opportunity to experience photography as more than simply capturing an image digitally. They are exploring how an image can be transformed through different processes, materials and techniques.
Experimenting with new ways of seeing
The project brings together photography, sculpture and experimental image making, encouraging students to look closely at their surroundings and consider how an ordinary subject can become something completely different through the photographic process.
From the initial location shoot at Frieze Sculpture to the final handmade prints, students are developing their creative decision making while experimenting with both contemporary and traditional approaches to photography.
It is an opportunity to take their ideas from the gallery environment into the studio and see just how far they can push an image.
