Travel postcard

The three photographs above are the beginning photographs for one of my postcards, this postcard represents travelling and how important it is to get away (see the world). I like the montage style on the photograph which makes it feel very like a postcard and look like a brief glance into the future, rather then knowing everything.  
         I want to carry on this style with my other photographs. They may also have some writing over the top such as quotes or simple lines of advice such as 'Never stop smiling'

Practice techniques

 

Here are a few photography techniques which I had practiced with (unrelated photographs to the project itself). 

The top technique is zoom exposure when you zoom while talking a photograph, I want to use this technique to represent time flying by as I feel it shows the world rushing around you. The photograph above I used in a project in my BA to show the stresses of adult life. The concept is similar but I will retake to work with this project and to not so much show someone stressed but to show how life passes you by quickly.

The second photograph is one I practised with to make a photograph look old. I wanted to have the effect that the photograph had been around for a long time and wasn't in perfect conditions anymore but held an old memory on it. I don't know if I will still use this in my project it depends on how I would represent it.

The third photograph  I practised with is using colour popping, a simple technique which can be very effective. I wanted to try this technique out, because I feel it could be used in my project for certain photographs, to show how some things don't change and these would be in black and white.

Presentation of images

Having just looked at how Frank Warren displayed his work has given me some thought into how my work could be presented. Although the submission will be of the images on a cd. This won't show how they should be seen.
I have a few ideas of how they could be presented and how I will show this on a cd.
My first idea was that all the images could be put together in a photo book, this could suggest that they were all sent in one go, and I would photograph each double page spread being opened on the lap of the suggested receiver of them with the hands as though they are flicking through the book itself.

Another idea would be to have a letter box, with the post cards all attached together by string being slowly pulled through the letter box by the receiver, slowly revealing each bit of advice. This would work nicely in an exhibition with a mock up of a letter box as it would make for an interactive exhibition for the public, although there would need to be care with pulling them in and out.

Frank Warren

After talking to John, I took a look at Frank Warren, an artist whom got people to send him postcards with there secrets on. The project itself doesn't directly link to mine, but is very inspiring. I have asked our group to do postcards for my with advice they think they would receive from the former selfs or give to there younger self, as of yet I have only received two, but I intend to ask everyone I come across over the christmas holiday, as I want more ideas to go into my project to make the images more creative and look personal.

In his project people send postcards, often with an image and writing over the top. They are truthful and people can let go to the things which they have kept secret, which makes them very emotional because you know it was real and came from the heart. A truth in which some people would never admit to the world in person. Without knowing these people you get a feeling for whole they are. They are very powerful images and even though many just done by every day people most are strangely empowering. They make you want to write your own secrets and send them in.

Here are a few examples:

I decided to look at ways in which Frank Warren show the postcards for inspiration towards how I could present my own postcards if they were going to be exhibited. The two images below show two different ways in which I have found he shown the postcards:

Even though this project is on a much larger scale then mine, so therefore there is many more postcards, I like the two ways in which he has chosen to put them together, it makes them more interesting to look at, and get people involved more while looking round the exhibition. Especially the second example where they are hung from string, you would have to go up to each one individually and even hold them to being able to read and see them properly.

Some of my own work

 

These two photographs are my first ideas for my postcards from the future. I decided that it would be good to have an opening postcard explaining what the selection is for. I wanted to use a short sentence 'A  bit of advice from the future', on the back of an envelope as though it would be the last thing you see before you see what is inside.

I used my daughters Great grandmother as my hand model, not only do the hands show there from someone older, but I have always love hands they so much about a person, and the older you get the more expression and detail they have.

Unknown prophecies

Prophecies which most people have never heard of:

Alois Irlmaier:
Irlmaier was a simple German man who, in the 1950s, made predictions of a third world war.

Hildegard von Bingen:
 A polymath nun from the 12th century, she was famous for her contributions to classic music and literate, but not as well known for her prophecies, which she had many. She referees to things such as the destruction of the USA, that peace will return to Earth when the French thorne is restored.

Baba Vanga:
A blind Bulgarian whowas very popular for her mystical powers. Some of her predictions included by:

• 4599 man would achieve immortality and that less than 100 years later we would begin assimilating with the aliens we meet on the hundreds of planets we will have populated.

• 4509 man will become sufficiently developed that he will begin to communicate with God directly.

• 2221, while searching for extraterrestrial life man will come into contact with something truly terrible (though she didn’t state what).

• 2023, a change in the Earth’s orbit.
• 2010 the beginning of World War III, which has not happened but her followers believe the machines are in motion.

Ursula Southeil Prophesies:
One of the best known for her prophets, some of which are:
1. A carriage without horse will go, Disaster fill the world with woe. In London, Primrose Hill shall be In center hold a bishops sea.
2. Around the world men’s thoughts will fly, Quick as the twinkling of an eye. And water shall great wonders do, How strange, and yet it shall come true.
3. In water, iron then shall float As easy as a wooden boat. Gold shall be seen in stream and stone, In land that is yet unknown.
4. And England shall admit a Jew, Do you think this strange? But it is true! The Jew that once was led in scorn, Shall of a Christian then be born. [Britain creating the Israeli state?]
5. For in those wondrous far off days, The women shall adopt a craze To dress like men, and trousers wear And to cut off all their locks of hair. They’ll ride astride with brazen brow, As witches do on broomsticks now.
http://listverse.com/2011/03/11/top-10-prophecies-you-dont-know/

How the world has changed over the last 10 years

I decided too look at how the world has changed over the last ten years, as I have not decided which way to take my project yet.
I found an article on the star.com with a few points of things that have changed or come about this decade:

• Blogs have become the new thing, over 100 millions blogs are about.
• Camera: Most people use digital cameras, including the older generation.
• Mobile phones: 85% of the us population have them, and some have even replaced landlines completely.

• DATING: Dating was transformed like everything else by Internet sites, rendering other ways of meeting people obsolete. And it wasn't just the territory of the relatively young: Seniors found love online, too.
• Facebook
• Going green
• GPS
• Ipod
• Texting
• Youtube
• Wikipedia
• Wii

There are also alot of classic 'If you were a child in the 1990's you remember' lists:

• You remember when it was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

• You remember reading "Goosebumps"
•  You can sing the rap to 'The fresh prince of bel air'
• You took plastic lunch boxes to school
• You had a black and white gameboy
• You still get the urge to say Not after every sentence

• You knew that Kimberly, the pink ranger, and Tommy, the green Ranger were meant to be together.
• When the super Nintendo became popular
• CD Walkmans
• You had a tamagotchi which you took everywhere
• Pokemon cards got banned from school

• You watched the original Care Bears, My Little Pony, and Ninja Turtles
• You remember when new beanie babies werealways sold out
• Yot got creeped out by 'Are you afraid of the dark'
• 'Talk to the hand'...
• You only had 5 channels on your tv
• You owned VHS not DVD

• Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'.
• Happy meals had Barbies or hot wheels cars 

These are things that not only have changed over time, so that children these days would not know of these things, but always are the things we miss about our own childhoods and make us smile to remember, but we never would have thought at the time we would miss them at all.

2057

I decided that although I looked into future images, they were all artist impressions, and most of which seemed to be for allot further into the future then I would need for this project idea. With this in mind I decided to look up how the world would be 50 years from now, and found a docu-drama series ( a vision of the future which relates to technology which is currently being developed) which was made in 2007.
Breakdown of information I found useful from:
2057: The City in 50 years:

• In the streets, everything is gathering gigabytes of information, including billboards, cloths, the street itself and buildings.
• People are living for longer, but having less children. Regions all over the world may become deserted because the birth rate is falling beneath the death rate.
• The change in population numbers could solve job and housing problems.
• 3d images which are not confided to a computer or TV screen will be the new way of viewing things. 
• Auto-matic self driving cards, with millions of chips in the road stopping any problems which may occur.
• City center- screens all over the building which spiral into the sky, taken over by nature itself.
• Billions of chips linking all major buildings, and it becomes a nerve center as though the city is a brain.
• Advance homes which can allow people in when your not there through linking micro chips to phones. Set the house to your exact requirements. Fridges which re-stock and check self by dates.
• Asimo learning robots which could even babysit children.

This program gave me a better idea of what the world would be like when I am older, so if I decide to take my project in this direction, I have a better idea of how to create my own visual concepts.
 
During own Graduation an honorary degree was given out to David Mitchell an novel writer originally from Malvern. During his speech he talked about what he would say if he spoke to his past self. Sadly because of the busy day I can not remember everything he said. But I do remember some of the main advice he said he would give himself would be about relationships and that some of the best knowledge he had seen was written on things such as magnets, simple short yet useful. This has also inspired some ideas for my project, thinking about what I would say to myself, or what I think I might say to me now from the future.

The future

Another way of looking at my project, is to look into the future. Instead of the past before the one who receives a postcard of there future selves memories. It could be of the present self being the one who receives postcards from there future self. I decided the best way to explore this idea would be to look into artist impressions of there idea of a futuristic landscape.

There are two different ways in which people have visualise futuristic landscapes, the first which is the most classic, yet becoming somewhat outdated is as below:

http://everypictures.blogspot.com/2009/10/futuristic-landscape-photos.html

 

 The reason I say that this design style is outdated isn;t because people having stop making concept like this, but because the new eco design ideas into homes is becoming a lot more popular and is our present future. I do like the style of this photograph and feel it is more like a hundred years on our future, although the rate at which the world changes we never know. The future is the unknown and is fascinating, it is a path which is lead out to happen, but I feel is not set in stone.

 

An illustration line drawing concept:

http://jay60.cghub.com/images/

  As I am not very experienced with digital style illustration, and I am more into traditional illustration. I wanted to look into other ways in which the future is shown in art and line drawing was also often found. This is something I could use and work with in my own project. It also relates to the idea of how the future isn't set in stone. The postcard could suggest this is how the future is to, but depending on your decisions in life you could basically rub it out and change it.

I talked about how there are two different versions of the future, the one which seems to be taking hold is as shown below:

http://everypictures.blogspot.com/2009/10/futuristic-landscape-photos.html  

The idea of this future is very green and environmentally friendly. Designs for buildings which would fit in this world have already but done and placed to be built and even built in some areas. The idea is to make a world which will last and we will all become more substainable with in it. 

   There are different ways to show this concept including another illustration line drawing design, and a concept idea of a single building:

http://fs-testserver-v2.com/editt-tower-by-trhamzah-and-yeang/?isalt=0

The design for this building is in the not too distant future as plan for it have already gone ahead in Singapore. The vegetation on the building allows for natural ventilation. It will be 55% self sufficient, it goes to show just how the world is becoming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This drawing simply had the text 'Organic building design' next to it with no other explanation. But again I like the style of drawing which would work with the same idea as the other line drawing, in my project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking into this futuristic idea has given me some ideas of one way to go about my project which I would like to start working on concept this week. To have a background of an illustrated world and in the foreground a billboard with a photograph of the modern world, showing how the world itself could change.

Past and present

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonepowell/3283244808/in/set-72157613841045343

I decided that I wanted to look into other people ideas of past and present, seeing similar images before to the one above I already had an idea of what I was looking for. Jason Powell whose flickr account I found these photographs from wrote his own reason for taking these photograph:

'Images are made by finding old photographs of places, printing them out, and then holding the print up in the modern day location that the original photograph was taken. So far, most of the historical images have been available for free at the Library of Congress.
Project was inspired both by my love of history and Michael Hughes' Souvenirs.'

The reason I like this photograph, and others like it; is because it shows how a place once was compared in the same photograph to the present day. You get a feeling for how the world changes around you but also see how it is the same, with building left static through time. Although I like the concept, of showing the difference in time withing one image, I do not like the way the hand is shown held up in the image, this seems to be a common theme within images recently such as some I am going to show later on. I do understand why the photographers have chosen to use the hand, because it is as though they are holding up one image and seeing the rest made up of what is in front of them. The image is leaking out into reality. 

I decided to take a look at 'Michael Hughes' as he inspired the work of Jason Powell example of his work below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_hughes/14310582/in/set-346406


The image above is very clever, and out of the series one of the more subtle and clever position images. The idea of his project was souvenirs which he would place in front of the objects themselves. The one above is of a lolly in the shape of the leaning tower of Pisa. This idea although doesn't relate to my project directly, some involve postcards as the souvenirs such as the one below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_hughes/496246900/in/set-346406

  

I like the photograph above because what is in the postcard has completely changed to the way the landscape is now, but the postcard itself holds an imprint of what once was.

Another style of this type of photography is illustrations mixed with photography by Ben Heine an artist I first saw while I was in the USA this summer, and his images have kept in my mind since:

 

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/benheine/5631996970/in/photostream/


The above image is similar to the others I have looked at because of the way a hand is used in the photograph holding an image over a real background. I found a short verse written on Flickr of why the artist has done this type of photography:

'Pencil Vs Camera" is nothing but the result of a long graphic exploration and a logic consequence of my artistic evolution. It's a new concept. My primary intention was to create a "battle field" between 2 disciplines: drawing and photography, mixing imagination and reality. The only boundary is my own perception of the world. It's a very exciting project because I can share "pieces of dreams" with the world through illusion and surrealism.'

I like the concept of using illustration and photography at the same time, as two of my main skills are photography and illustration; I would like to experiment with similar ideas involving both medias. I think this style of work would fit in well with the theme of postcards. I have started to work on my own illustration ideas which could fit into photography, so once i have scanned them I will upload them onto the blog.

 

Further visual research

My main skills are in photography and illustration so this is how I feel the practical element of my project will be presented. At this point in time I am not sure if I will use both mediums yet, but want to get a clear visual research basis, so that I can explore different ideas before deciding on my final. To start my visual research I thought it was best to look in techniques and styles which made me think of memories. Faded and black and white photographs came to mind, which gave me the idea of looking into colour popping.

Below is an example of colouring popping:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/tommysphotos/art/1753513-colour-pop-the-poppies



The general idea of colour popping is to introduce colour into a black and white photograph, by selecting an area which stands out. This to me pulls out a moment in time which can be focused on within the image. By thinking of the concept of old photographs being faded it gave me the idea of which I could do reverse colour popping, for example in the image have the background in colour and the person in black and white, which would show that you leave an imprint of yourself in time.


Walking through life, leaving imprints behind you, here is an example of this idea:

http://hersilent-thoughts.blogspot.com/2010/11/st-10-footprints-in-sand.html





Carrying on with the idea of imprints left behind you in your life, left me thinking about the some what cliche example of footprints in the sand. All through your life you go to the beach and repeat the same ritual of taking off your shoes and walking through the sand barefoot. The feeling on your feet brings you to a place in your mind where you remember all the moments in which you have done this previously. The prints left behind stay until washed away by the sea. The image of this itself shows a physical imprint, I feel I could take this idea into my own project but change it in my own personal way.

Looking back in your past, example idea:

http://cigarettesmokewillfollow.blogspot.com/2010/11/nirrimi.html

  

 My project of postcards from the future, gave me the idea of your future self looking back into the past. The image above doesn't directly link to this idea, but the concept of looking into a mirror and seeing something different then your own reflection. If i was to involve this idea in my own project, then the present self could be of an old lady looking into a mirror and seeing how she once was in the prime of her life.

 

Initial visual Research

 

http://musosguide.com/manic-street-preachers-postcards-from-a-young-man/11672

I started off my visual research by looking into the album 'Postcards from a young man' By Manic street preachers. The title of the album itself drew me towards it, as it links into my own ideas of postcards and memories. I found this review (on the link above) written about the album itself. It is said the this album shows the personal history of the band, bringing the abandoned Richie's words to life, and how the band no longer wanted to hid from their own history.  The album cover to me suggests that photographs hold those memories which otherwise could have been forgotten, they are a visual aids to our own mind.

When I first came up with the idea of postcards and memories, my first thought turned to the classic 'Wish you were here' and 'Greetings from.....' style postcards. Examples below:

http://editdesk.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/wish-you-were-here-8/

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/therapist-within/2011/07/2697-mindfulness-self-therapy/

The two images above are both good examples of postcards with the classic, popular and some what cliche sayings which you see all over the world, and many send to loved ones from there travels. Using similar sayings which relate more to my project such as 'Greetings from you future', 'Wish I was there again' and even the classic 'Wish you were here'. Would make people realise that the images were simply representing a memory they would show they were also postcards from the future, making my theme stronger and more present to the viewer of the project itself.