The user’s viewpoint

4/8/14

This exercise required choosing two or three buildings or spaces designed for a particular activity that is undertaken from a specific, distinctive position. I have tried to capture the users point of view. This required considering lens focal length, height and orientation.

Building 1

Assume that user is a visitor to Wollaton Hall

My first building was the dining room at Wollaton Hall, Nottingham, which housed an exhibition on a table a costume in a glass cage and a batman dressing up outfit. There were toys for children to play with and interactive displays. I felt the room was too cluttered and the children who wanted to pull out the batman cape had no space in which to do so. This was the main focus of the room.

1/40 f4 ISO500 32mm

I tried to show how visitors saw the display. There was evidence of people sitting down as the chairs were not pushed back under the table. I thought no-one was using this room and it appeared to be just a corridor. 

1/40 f4 ISO500 24mm

I liked this image of the Dad with the football under his arm. It illustrated to me that people came to use the Deer park as their foremost activity and the hall was of secondary importance. "Dad" is really not very interested in the room.

1/40 f4 ISO800 24mm

On my way out of the room, some overseas visitors came in. The lady became very animated and the whole room turned to look at what she was looking at. Using a wide angled lens and keeping the camera at the waist  height of the visitors enabled me to capture their body language and facial expressions. On reflection, I could have used different views to show the use of the room. Natural light comes in through the windows to help light the room and shadows are created adding interest. I still needed a high ISO to avoid using flash.

Learning points

This exercise was more difficult than I first thought. It would be better if I:

• looked at what the visitors were looking at 
• Included a mix of close up and wide angles shots. 
• photographed the room from different angles and heights - e.g adult looking down on model, child's view

Building two

I looked at this room from the point of view of being a patient in an anaesthetic room. I decided not to use a model for this and just concentrate on the view the patient would see if they were laid on the trolley.

Patients come round to the anaesthetic room on a trolley and tend to turn their head to face the anaesthetic machine which looks unfamiliar to them. I used a wide angled lens to capture as much of their view as possible. I looked through the lens at using 50mm and decided to make the angle wider because the patient takes in more of the environment as their eyes wander as find something to look at.

1/6  f8 ISO100 24mm flash

This image shows the trolley sides in a raised position. It is necessary to use them to prevent the patient from falling off as the trolleys are exceedingly narrow. If the patient lies flat, their view is distorted by the sides.

                            1/50 f4 ISO400 24mm

I liked the diagonal line formed down the room - a barrier between the staff and patient.

This view included some of the patient’s pillow. Assuming that my invisible patient has turned their head to face the anaesthetist, the view across the room at 24mm was still quite narrow. In a real situation, the worktops would be covered, giving the patient more to look at.

At 24mm, the worktops look a distance away adding a feeling of space which is not there.

                            1/40 f4 ISO400 24mm

If the patient is given a general anaesthetic, they will look at the ceiling. I looked through the lens at 50mm and it only showed a small proportion of the ceiling. A focal length of 24mm from the height of the patient's pillow gave a view covering more of the ceiling. (An expected view)

1/30 f4 ISO100 24mm

This image assumes the patient is looking towards the other wall. 

1/30 f4 ISO100 24mm

This view assumes the patient is staring straight at the exit.

Images which didn't quite work:

I have finished reading Short (2011) and clarified my opinion on why I don't think think these images work.

This image is taken from the where the anaesthetist might stand. I focused on the oxygen tubing using a shallow depth of field. I felt that the emphasis was taken away from the patient because as the trolley became smaller in the frame so did the patient. My opinion is that the patient has become less important than the equipment.

The anaesthetic circuit which delivers the gas to the patient is something which the patient will be aware of as they are drifting off to sleep. In hindsight it would have worked better showing the mask and some circuit with an out of focus room. This may have conveyed the feeling that the patient was losing consciousness rather than being a picture of an object and added some symbolism to the image.

Building 3

I looked at the sheds in my garden and tried to put together a narrative from the point of view of the user (me) fetching something from the shed.

1/60 f8 ISO200 40mm

The two sheds. This sets the context of the sheds. The image is taken from my shoulder height when walking towards them.

1/15 F14 ISO400 82mm

A closeup of a padlock on one of the sheds. I attempted to show that the sheds are not used very often and over time cobwebs form. The viewpoint of this is looking down on the lock to open it. The attached washing line adds some interest. I included some of the floor as it gave a greater depth of field which added to the image. 

1/25 f8 ISO400 95mm

One shed has a broken window. I deliberated over how much of the window needed to be included in order for the inside contents to become visible. This image shows the context of the window and has a greater depth of field. However, the corner  piece of wood holding the roof on is distracting.

1/25 f8 ISO400 140mm

Close-up view through the broken window. This shows the contents through the window in more detail. 

1/4 f8 ISO400 95mm

Inside the shed. This was taken without flash, using the natural light coming through the broken window and slightly ajar door. The shed is too cluttered to allow access for many more images.

Bibliography

Short,M  (2011) Context and narrative, AVA publishing, Switzerland 

Exploring function

4/8/2014

This next set of exercises is designed to look at how people use indoor space. People can be included within the shot or there can be evidence of human activity. Viewpoint and composition will be important. I was looking forward to this set of exercises, although on reflection, I thought this set of exercises would be challenging. “Narrative” sprang to mind, and I thought these images should help to tell / complement a story rather than be a collection of rooms and buildings.

Having read through this set of exercises, I realised I needed to start planning some buildings / spaces to look at which would help when it came to my assignment.  Ideas would hopefully form a shortlist to work from and keeping my eyes open when out and about would be useful. A mix of old and new buildings was a must.

Southwell Minster
Cresswell Crags Visitor Centre, Derbyshire
Wollaton Hall, Nottingham
Windmill – height Heage, Green’s Mill, Nottingham, North Leverton, Notts
Watermill – Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
Industrial Heritage – Papplewick Pumping Station, Notts, Lea Holloway Pumping Station, Derbyshire, Industrial Heritage Museums – e.g. framework museum, Notts,
Nottingham Contemporary Art Museum
Derby Quad museum
Nottingham Railway Station
Sherwood Forest Arts and Crafts centre
Thornton Lodge, Thornton Reservoir, Leicsetershire
David Mellor Cutlery Factory, Hathersage, Derbyshire
Cricket pavillion
WI Meeting – East Bridgford, Notts
WI House, Newark, Notts,
work
Garage
Next door neighbours summer house
Aircraft Hanger – Newark Aviation Heritage centre
Village church
First World War Trench reconstruction, Sherwood Pines, Notts

This first exercise looks at the function of an indoor space,  how successful the space is and whether it is being used to its full advantage.

I visited Wollaton Hall in Nottingham; an Elizabethan house built in 1588 and extensively remodelled  with the last major change taken place in the 19th century for The 6th Lord Middleton. It opened to the public in 1926 and is now home to Nottingham’s natural history collection.  From what I remembered of it, it was a two story (accessible) building with a large entrance hall and some rooms off it – most of which hold taxidermy exhibits and a story of the Middleton family who used to reside here. I always found it dark and sinister and was not surprised that the house front was chosen for “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012).

Thinking about the entrance hall, what did I want the space to do? I thought it should be welcoming, introduce people to the building, it could be used as an exhibition hall and should display relevant paintings or armoury. There should be a “wow” factor in that the tourist would know that they were visiting something special. The visitors will be of all ages – tourists, university students, children and local residents. How should it appeal to everyone? The website suggests that there are trail sheets that children can do which change periodically. Events happen which need advertising and tourists need directing or questions answering. Provision needs to be made for people to sit and look at the artifacts or architecture.

I stood and watched the people who passed through the entrance hall to see how they used the space. As they entered through the door, they were greeted with a small exhibition. This was about a dinosaur theme park. Most people glanced at it and walked off. I felt that for the size of the room, the exhibition stand was too small.  the writing was difficult to read and it looked looked CAD drawings with not much explanation. There did not appear to be much about the owners of the house (but this was displayed in other rooms).The lady making badges at the white trestle table was sat on her own and children were not encouraged to make a badge. The paintings were in keeping with a natural history collection, although they were not being looked at. There were a couple of benches where people were sitting, and at one point a lady carried out a nappy change on one. The “meet and greet” chap was on hand to answer questions and guide people through the room.

I stood and waited, watching people and took a few images on how the room was being used. This shot to me demonstrated the size and height of the room, the isolation of the badge maker,  the gait of the meet and greet person and some visitors striding purposefully across the room. I went back about an hour later and the room was still being used in the same way.

I felt that the space was not being used to its full advantage. More use could be made of the space and children encouraged to participate in activities. The exhibition could be more eye catching and larger so that people looked at it. "Batman" was relegated to the gift shop and one dressing up costume in another room. 


Bibliography
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/article/22204/About-Us#history accessed 1/8/14
http://www.thedarkknightrises.com/dvd/home.php accessed 4/8/14
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345836/locations accessed 4/8/14