AS Photography

Owen Calvert

This photograph denotes a large concrete building from a low angle to connote the buildings structure and scale of mass of the building. The use of this angle shot is in keeping with the brutalism style as the building is presented as the main attraction through the sky being covered by the buildings statue. the building to sky ratio in this photo being in favour to the building. The straight concrete architecture could connote the building is old and could have been there for a while, this could suggest that the building could have been made after the second world war to accommodate the poor people after war as the country adjusts to life after the war. The concreate texture of the building also connotes that jobs were created to builders to build this building also connoting that this building can also be considered cheap as in those times cheap buildings were needed to accommodate people. The shear height and amount of this building in this picture could connote the number of these type of buildings were around in the 1950s making these buildings powerful. I can also denote a raw concrete texture, this could also link back to the date when this was made and the type of people it would accommodate and the type of people who made it.

Thom Haig

Thom's photo denotes a large building made of raw concrete which is in its self is part of the brutalism style as this style of material used for this building. This photo also denotes a building with a large horizontal rectangle extension, this can be seen as a overhang. This photo seems to be a low angled shot to make the object seem bigger thus connoting it being powerful. The buildings raw texture could connote what the object was used for or where it would have been for example it could have been object the everyday person walked past to go to work long ago in a different time period for example the 1960s where industrial jobs were high. This object could connote the industrial period with its grey look and high stone texture. This could link with the meaning of work and maybe the harsh reality of life as the colour seems dark and is linked with that time period. The use of the angle will make the under part of the overhang dark. That colour linking with the moment in time.

Recreation

I decided take a photo of the university arts tower in Sheffield. I chose this setting as the art tower was a unique type of brutalism as the tower was mainly made of glass. Glass was not the main material of brutalism as glass can be seen as not a raw material, as most brutalist photos contain a large stone and brick ratio. However the platform in which the glass exterior is placed on. Another reason why I chose the Sheffield Arts Tower was because of its location, the tower was between multiple brutalist buildings. I believe this is good for my photo as the meaning from those buildings can overlay on the arts tower. The tower giving a more modern meaning, the meaning being a transition in time from the older looking buildings to the modern building as connoted by the glass, the glass connoting a change in materials used recently.

I chose the photo above as compared to the other ones the background shows more of the background as well as the main attraction of the photo, that being the tower. I chose this photo as it will give more meaning to the photo because the buildings I stated earlier are more visible. I also believe with my photo not just being the tower, it will give a more environmental brutalist tone to it because it is not just the building but environment as well. This all being done by the HDR mode I used on my camera with a slight ISO modification to make the photo brighter and vibrant to enhance the building as well as the environment.

Other brutalist photos I have researched had the black and white adjustment. I believe they did this to create a flashback in time meaning as brutalism can be linked to the work of builders as the use raw materials like brick. That being a main feature of brutalism. I decided to use this adjustment too be innkeeping with the brutalism theme whilst having the unique quality with the glass texture which is not seen in most brutalist photos. I after used the shadow and highlight adjustment to make the building stand out as that is the main attraction of the photo. This helps with the meaning of the modern building surrounded by older more brutalist buildings. I also made sure the filter had high mid tones to make the photo more visible from each part of the building.

Complete Recreation

My completed recreation, in my opinion successfully translates the meaning of a brutalist nature as it singles out the modern building with the brighter filter being applied on it. This making the other slightly older looking buildings look outdated by them being darker through the mid tones. This helping the meaning of time be portrayed, as building get more modern yet having brutalist qualities.