MAS110 Sem 2 2012 - Lab 12

Photo Essay: Urban Decay

By Georgia Spencer and Hayley Vesperman

We chose to depict the concept of 'Urban Decay' in our video. The main themes this video portrays are isolation and abandonment. Each picture evokes a sense of loneliness and decay within the audience. 

During the process of capturing each image, we considered camera angles, texture and contrasting colours that would assist in enriching these themes. For example, close-ups of rust and graffiti evokes a sense of degeneration and neglect. 

When capturing images we also chose to focus on certain prominent features in order to create a sense of isolation and singularity. 

We each took 24 photos over the space of two weeks in several separate locations using a Canon 50D digital SLR. Locations included the suburbs of: Terrigal, NSW; North Avoca, NSW; Riverstone, NSW; Kenthurst, NSW; Schofields, NSW. We chose these locations in the exercise of differentiating each photo from one another so that we were able to choose from a wide variety of images for our final photo set of 24. 

We utilised the iPhoto software to edit the images, focussing on increasing saturation, definition and enhancing the shadows of each image to give the image set a cohesive personality. 

iMovie was used to collaborate the 24 images in a way that allowed a consistent flow through the use of the 'Ken Burns' effect. A panning effect was added to the clips in order to focus on a prominent aspect of the image that reflects the themes of the video. We also utilized the 'Cross Dissolve' effect to add to this cohesion. 

We used the website: www.jamendo.com to download a piece of music to complement the images in the video. We used the song 'Games' by the artist: The Windy City. This song is available through Creative Commons and has a Attribution-Share Alike (BY-SA) license. We chose this song as the repetitive lyrics 'by myself' create a lonely atmosphere, alluding to our main themes. This song can be found at: http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/767990/games .

We used the article Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics as the basis for our themes and the way in which our photos were taken. 

This video can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO_yoS8rero

REFERENCES:

Murray, Susan. (2008) Journal of Visual Culture, Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics; SAGE, pp.132-148.

Article in MAS110 Reader: What is Creative Commons in Pooling Ideas. (2009) Published by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation. pp.151-168. 

Online Media: 'Games' by The Windy City, downloaded from http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/767990/games. Site accessed: 11/10/2012.