Assignment 3: Buildings in Use

OCA – People and Place

 

Assignment 3: People and Place – Buildings in Use

 

The objective of this assignment was to choose five or six buildings and for each

produce between two and four images that describe effectively and attractively

the way in which these spaces are used.

After much thought and planning over a few months, I decided on a day’s visit to
London from my home in Peterborough. I did consider trying to focus initially on
local buildings within Peterborough or East Anglia generally. One of the ideas was
the Cathedrals within Eastern England and another was indoor markets in East Anglia.
In the end I selected eight locations for the day in London. I pre booked train and
underground tickets for the day and caught the 6.10am train to London, returning later
that evening.

From the overall eight locations I would choose the locations I thought had produced

the best result in the final image and fitting the brief from above.

 

For each of these locations I would choose three images to submit.

The eight locations were,

Kings Cross Station

St Pancreas Station

Borough Market

Hays Galleria

Tate Modern

National Theatre

National Portrait Gallery

Covent Garden Market

 

 

The biggest issue I had was gaining access to some of the buildings on my initial list,

so I decided on the list above and just did the best I could on the day regarding the

internal images. All of the buildings listed are open to the general public and are

areas that London tourists visit on a regular basis.

 

I did not foresee any HSE issues, as I would be taking all the photographs hand held

and as stated, all the buildings are open to the general public.

 

I had read an article earlier on this year regarding pinhole photography. I understand

you can buy dedicated cameras or even amend a DSLR with a homemade altered lens

cap to produce these images, but on this occasion I decided to produce the images

with a pinhole effect in mind and to complete this task during post processing.

 

The images will be in black and white and a mixture of landscape and portrait in style.

A Nikon D800 with a Nikon 24mm-70mm f2.8 lens. I did not use any flash, so the

ISO levels needed to be raised within some of the locations.

 

 

Location 1 – Kings Cross Station

 

London Kings Cross station was opened in 1852 and is the southern terminus of the

main East Coast railway line in the UK. It is a very busy railway station and has a

mixture of daily commuters, London tourists and people linking their journeys to

as far away as continental Europe via St Pancreas next door. In 2012 the station

was used by over 27million passengers.

 

The original main railway building was designed by Lewis Cubitt and was built

on the site of a former hospital. It was named after the area surround the station,

Kings Cross. In 2005 a £500 million restoration was announced and this was

completed this year.

 

I planned to arrive early in London and in particular at Kings Cross station, as

I wanted one of the images to be looking down the platforms, without too many

people filling the image.

 

 

Photograph 1 – Kings Cross Station

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the new façade for Kings Cross station and is used by the majority

of the people entering and leaving the station. There are numerous open entrances

to cater for the rush hour commuters and a feeling of space in an open square

format outside this entrance. As a space to use, it is very effective and the

planners have succeeded in using the space provided for sole purpose of

an area to use whether walking through or resting.

This photograph was taken around 8am on a winter’s morning; the sky was still

dark so I had to use an ISO of 1600 to produce the effect I wanted and show

the commuters and visitors to London walking through the square.

 

 

Photograph 2 – Kings Cross Station

 

The steel structure in this photograph was engineered by Arup and is described

as being ‘like a reverse waterfall swooping up from the ground and over your head’.

I wanted to show as much information as possible, in an artistic manner within in

the image. Be it, people waiting for trains, looking at the shops or working within

the station itself.

 

Photograph 3 – Kings Cross Station

 

 

This photograph shows platforms 6 and 7 and the roof above is said to be the

longest single span station structure in Europe. I waited until I was happy with

the composition of the people walking across the scene and again I did not want

the whole image full of people. The ISO setting for this image was 1000, again

due to low light levels.

The new design and construction of buildings at Kings Cross station has produced

an attractive and user friendly place to either begin or end a rail journey.

 

 

 

 

 

Location 2 – The Tate Modern

 

The Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in the Bankside area of London,

next to the River Thames. The Tate Modern is the most visited modern art gallery

in the world, with over 4.5 million visits annually. The building is a former power

station, which was originally designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and was built

between 1947 and 1963 in two stages. The power station closed in 1981 and the

work to complete the site to its current state started in 1995.

There is one large hall within the building called ‘The Turbine Hall’ and then

a number of smaller galleries situated throughout the building on numerous floors.

 

There are currently works taking place to extend the building, this meant I could not

take any images of ‘The Turbine Hall’.

 

 

Photograph 1 – The Tate Modern

 

 

I arrived at The Tate Modern around 11am, as I knew from when I was planning the

day that this was the opening time. I wanted to show the externals of the building with

people waiting to enter. The open space at the front of The Tate Modern is situated

between the main building and the River Thames. This is used for people to wait as

in this particular image, sit for lunch, chat with friends or in the spring and summer

months when exhibitions take place external in this space.

 

This is my favourite image of the day, the birds in the foreground waiting around,

the people in the mid ground, waiting around and the fact the doors are closed,

umbrellas are down and an overall feeling of calm. The pinhole effect focuses the

eye on the centre ground.

 

 

Photograph 2 – The Tate Modern

 

 

 

I managed to just have time to arrives at the entrance doors as they were being

opened, taking the image as the people on the day make their way inside to view

whichever gallery they had planned to see. No orderly queues as the space outside

is so large people seem to just congregate in their own small groups.

 

Photograph 3 – The Tate Modern

 

 

I knew that you are not permitted to take photographs in the galleries and that

the main ‘Turbine Hall’ was closed to visitors. This meant that I had to take an

internal image around the corridors of movement within the building. Again I

wanted an image that did not have a large group of people, but on this occasion

a few people in the background, which asked the question on where they were

heading. The lighting although internally was not too bad, meaning an ISO of

800 was suitable.

 

 

 

Location 3 – National Theatre

 

The National Theatre is a publicly funded theatre on the south bank of the River

Thames in London. This current building was designed by Sir Denys Lasdun

and Peter Softley and was opened in 1977. It has three main stages and covers

and varied program of contemporary, international classics and Shakespearean

plays throughout the year.

The National Theatre was a modern looking building when it was built, with

sharp lines and lots of external concrete, creating an urban landscape feel to the

building even today.

 

 

Photograph 1 – National Theatre

 

 

 

This image was taken outside the entrance to the National Theatre on the South

Bank walk way which runs along the River Thames. The statue I had seen before

on a previous trip to London and I wanted to show it as the people within the image.

The banner confirms the location and the sharp lines of the urban architecture are

present within the image.

 

 

Photograph 2 – National Theatre

 

 

 

The inside of the National Theatre has again an urban feel about it and I wanted

to produce an image which conveyed this to the viewer. The person sitting at the

bottom of the single pillar caught my eye when I was composing the image.

Again I had to increase the ISO setting to 1600 due to the low light levels.

 

 

Photograph 3 – National Theatre

 

 

 

This image was taken showing a group of school children leaving the National

Theatre, in the urban environment that the building has produced on the

South Bank. Wide open concrete spaces surrounded by angular concrete in

horizontal and vertical.  The trees have been planted to soften the landscape

slightly. The building works well in black and white, with the contrasts and

textures showing in the image.

 

 

 

 

Location 4 – National Portrait Gallery

 

The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in London housing portraits of

historically important and famous British people. The gallery opened in 1856

and moved to its current site in 1896, just off Trafalgar Square. Within the

gallery are collections of photographs, caricatures, paintings, drawings

and sculptures. One interesting fact is that the three people largely responsible

for the founding of the National Portrait Gallery are commemorated with

busts over the main entrance, Philip Henry Stanhope, Thomas Babington

Macaulay and Thomas Carlyle.

I have visited the National Portrait Gallery on a regular basis to view general

exhibitions and more so to view specific photography exhibitions. When I

visited on this occasion I also viewed the 2013 Taylor Wessing exhibition,

which I see each year.

The visitor numbers since 1980 have increased from 448,000 (1980) to

2,096,858 (2012), showing the success of The National Portrait Gallery

in welcoming visitors and planning exhibitions.

 

 

Photograph 1 – National Portrait Gallery

 

 

 

I decided to compose this image from one side, as the front on image I had taken

was not acceptable, the composition did not look correct with the 24mm-70mm

lens I had with me for the day. As with some of the previous images, I waited until

I was happy with the positioning of the people within the image. I did on this

occasion make sure I was safe from oncoming traffic before taking the image.

These are the main doors for The National Portrait Gallery, leading in to a small

opening and narrow stairs to the reception and ticket desk.

 

 

Photograph 2 – National Portrait Gallery

 

 

 

This image shows the narrow areas for visitors within the building, whether

travelling to reach a certain exhibition ort purchasing tickets. I am surprised

every time I view these escalators how small they are for the number of

visitors the gallery can take. The ISO was set to 1250, as the lighting was fairly

poor. The ISO levels were my main concern on the day, as I could not use

flash in many of the locations.

 

 

Photograph 3 – National Portrait Gallery

 

 

 

Within the National Portrait Gallery are a number of smaller exhibition rooms.

This presented a challenge to photograph and I took this image from the rear of

one of the smaller rooms. I love the calm, quiet and thoughtful feelings you have

when entering one of these rooms, even a camera shutter sounds like a big

bang. The room is designed to flow, from the entrance to the exhibition until you

exit. Minimal white walls and lots of space work well.

 

 

Location 5 – Covent Garden Market

 

Covent Garden Market is one of the most famous shopping areas in the world,

not just the UK. The original market in the centre square was a fruit and vegetable

market, but this has now become a tourist shopping area. Within the square you

will see many street performers, the London Transport Museum, the Theatre

Royal and many independent shops. The main building within the centre of the

square, is the Covent Garden Market building, which re opened in 1980 and

houses cafes, small shops, pubs and the Apple Craft Market. The images I have

concentrated on are within this centre building area within Covent Garden.

An interesting fact when researching the market was that the current lease is held

by CapCo and GE Real Estates and the buildings are let to the Covent Garden Area

Trust. They pay a peppercorn rent of one red apple and a posy of flowers for each

head lease.

 

 

Photograph 1 – Covent Garden Market

 

 

 

I wanted an outside photograph to have some linear composition, although

the main purpose of the image was to show how the public are moving around

the market square and in particular the entrance to the  market, which you can

see in the centre of this image.

The day was very overcast, but I managed to lower the ISO to 200 for this image

and avoid a moment when too many people were around. The location for me

when taking the image was the main street performer area and I chose

the moment between performances on the day.

 

 

 

Photograph 2 – Covent Garden Market

 

 

 

This image shows some of the internal market stalls in use at the Apple Craft Market.

The stall holder was looking rather bored and cold, although there were a few

people around; many were watching one of the numerous street performers.

The lighting and decorations add to the image, highlighting the stalls in use.

 

 

Photograph 3 – Covent Garden Market

 

 

 

For this image I had to wait a while for the street performer to begin his performance.

I was going to wait for a larger crowd, but the person reading their book in the

foreground seemed oblivious to what was going on around them. I increased the ISO

level to 800 and chose the angle I was happy with regarding the composition. The

pinhole effect I had in mind at the time of taking this image would work with the

lighting and internal square having centre stage.

 

 

Conclusion

 

I feel that choosing the trip to London for the day was the best result for me, as I

found that this assignment was fairly difficult to plan. Gaining access to five different

buildings in a regional town or City would be much more complicated. I carried out

the required research before my visit and planned my days travelling, whether by rail,

tube

or on foot. All the buildings chosen have been designed to fit their purpose, whether to

display works, good movement through the building or to fit shops, stalls within them.

I believe as the brief states ‘try to encompass variety in your choice of building’ I

tried to fulfil this not only with the overall use, but the architectural qualities of each

building as well. I may not have covered every important feature of each building,

but I wanted to concentrate on the ‘Buildings in Use’.