Primary Research

Without having an idea of what genre I want to explore for my final major project, I decided to work with abstract architecture for this primary research. As visual artists we don't only research by looking at other work. We also research by taking our own photographs. Doing the activity for this task was interesting where we noted down the genre we will work with and then taking photographs for it without trying to change it. I went for this genre because it was challenging to me as I was combining abstract and architecture together and I wanted to explore what could possibly be my project.

After noting abstract architecture which is quite specific and different, I actually stuck to my guts for this task and did some quick research just to get an idea of how I want to achieve similar images. The image above is an example of what I had in mind and I loved the repetition with the scattered patterns with the shadows. Doing this bit of research helped me prepare what I will shoot so I decided to stay local and grab some architectural images. These are my contact prints:

The shoot went well and I manage to get some abstract architectural images of the buildings nearby. I have went for mostly modern architecture because it was the primary research task so I wanted to focus on one area and most of the images I've seen during my small research background was all modern and then edited to black and white. This is also a technique that I will carry out to make my work look professional. During the group critique, I selected my best image and got some amazing feedback.

Best Image

This is my best image from the shoot. It was inspired by my research and I just love the outcome. Whilst shooting this image, I was focusing on the lighting and because it was sunny outside, I tried to avoid capturing any reflections on the glass so I believe that I did succeeded in that. The texture of the building looks very smooth and the tones and contrast are very strong and punchy. The contrast does really draw you in the image and the tones goes from dark to light. The building was actually blue and I think changing this to black and white really does justice to the image. I also love how the patterns and lines are really abstract and scattered just like I wanted to achieve after doing the background research.

Here is another additional image that I thought came out good. It was a close up of the building and it reminds me of window blinds. This image was inspired by my actual research task under the genre abstract, and I thought the lines in the images draw your attention. It is abstract and also the lines in the image are repetitive so it also fit with what I wanted to shoot.