Liam Frankland
His continuous project of lost and found photography, expand and grows over time as he discovers more objects and items either dropped, misplaced or discarded. Whilst shooting in 50mm F/1.8 he focused on many different subjects but mainly observational photography. Whilst taking photos for his he discovered a theme starting to emerge quite rapidly, lost and found photography.
There has always been a fascination with lost or disregarded items for many photographers. These abandoned items seem to follow similar trends such as one shoe and one glove. Frankland often finds children's items such as babies dummies. On his observational trips he also discovers weird misplaced abandoned items such as false teeth or a miniature television. He discovered the lost items were often placed by others in a more convenient way or space, in hope of others becoming aware of its presence or being found by the owner. This challenges his photography skills of shooting the objects in an interesting and engaging way. He will walk around the object 360 degrees and takes photographs from different angles to find that perfect composition. He chooses to shoot all objects with a 50mm lens and at an aperture of F/1.8 regardless of place, light and it’s surroundings. The use of a wide aperture allows him to isolate each object and focus the viewer on the importance of the subject. He does this as he believed the composition of each photograph is one of the most important elements of this project as its a way of presenting the object in a unique way. I really enjoy the concept of his project lost and found and find his images really aesthetically pleasing. His choice in depth of field blurs the unimportant areas forcing the viewers attention to the main subject being the abandoned item. There is often a large amount of colour, making it beautiful, peaceful and happy, unlike other photographers who photograph these objects with dull colours making it look lonely and sad. |
Samantha VanDeman
Samantha VanDeman focuses on derelict objects and possessions that show fragments of the past and vacancy. What I like about the work is that she manages to find beauty in the discarded and left behind, and often she accomplishes that with the use of light and color. Instead of focusing on things sadly discarded, her work celebrates the environment.
For the past five years, I have been exploring and photographing abandoned buildings throughout the country. I’m interested in the stories the vacant buildings have to tell. Through the use of color and light, I attempt to capture the beauty the once existed in these magnificent environments. By photographing these abandoned places, I hope to provide a visual record of what might be lost forever. In all my work, I have an intuitive connection to each abandonment. If I hear a voice or sense a presence I photograph inside..
She has three projects that I particularly like: Died Alone 2012 and No Vacancy 2011-2016. With her series, Died Alone, Samantha looks at spaces where people finished their life in solitude and she examines the place and personal artefacts left behind leaving proof of their existence. These photos show disturbance from intruders who most probably took valuable items shown in images of bare rooms with singular objects. However unlike most abandoned photography a lot of items still remain.
The Died Alone series is very personal to me, because I took care of my Grandmother before she passed. After her passing, I had to go through all her belongings. In a way, I feel like I save a lot of the stuff in the abandoned homes by taking a picture of it.
No Vancancy focuses on hotels and motels abandoned for decades. She captures and documents history through capturing pictures of a variety of time periods, architectural style and object, like an archeologist. These images often focus on the operate hotel bedrooms showing identical matching plain furniture.
I first chose to base my photos on An insignificant journey, however I was unable to find many things that where eye catching, but on my journey I discovered an abandoned sports changing room building which had been previously burnt down. I then took several photos around the building and in a way this was an insignificant journey, but being as the building was vacant and was in the process of being destroyed I decided it fit better with the theme of Liminal Spaces.
I placed the images in order of relevance, combining images next to each other which shared a common focus or looked similar for example all the images including graffiti where placed in order next to each other. The first image was take from outside of the building through a whole in the metal sheet that surrounded the entire building.
DUMMY COPYoriginally I was going to place both images of the doors in the middle of the 2 fold opening, mimicking the centre folds of the book to open like a door however it disrupted my continues aesthetic theme to I replaced the images.
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FINAL PHOTOBOOKThe book was made from 3 separate bits of paper the same size and all folded 3 times to create a door like book. a changed the order of a few images and took out 3 from the dummy copy as they didn't fit the colour theme and style of the other photos.
I bineded the book with rough red stitching. |