Navigation & Contents of Blog

Contents of Blog – Energy and the Environment

Artist’s Statement Posted
Artist’s Statement Kerik Kouklis 28 May
Ingredients for Artist’s Statement 4 June
Own project statement & rationale 10 June

Exhibition Layout – suggested for 10 images 10 June

Proposals for shoots 6 May
Industrial advice 10 June
Quotations – to accompany final selection 4 June

Shoots
Coalclough Wind Farm, Burnley – shot February 2008 16 May
Nuclear Power – shot 12th April 2008 16 May
Powerlines & Pylons - shot 12th April 2008 16 May
Hydropower – shot 3rd May 2008 16 May
Refineries – shot 4th May 2008 23 May
National Coal Mining Museum – shot 8th May 2008 23 May
Coal fired power stations – shot 8th May 2008 23 May
Biofuels – oilseed rape – shot 8th May 2008 23 May

Shopping list for exhibition
Frames 4 June
Mountboard 28 May
Mountboard – black core 4 June

Visits- Museums, Galleries etc. Posted
Rhyadol Hydropower Station, Wales 3rd May 2008 16 May
Centre for Alternative Technology, Wales 4th May 2008 23 May
National Coal Mining Museum, Wakefield 8th May 2008 23 May
Amber online & Side Gallery, Newcastle 28 May
Bronte Parsonage, Haworth-Fay Godwin 28 May

Work of other photographers
Bourke-White, Margaret 6 May
Davies, John 7 June
Godwin, Fay 6 May
Kenna, Michael 23 May
MacDonald, Ian 6 May
Renger-Patsch, Albert 7 June
Sheeler, Charles 7 June
Van Dyke, Willard 7 June
Weston, Edward 6 May

Choice of inkjet papers

Having seen some of Joe Cornish's images printed up on an Epson printer with Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper at the 'Focus' exhibition at the NEC, I took the bit between my teeth and purchased Epson Stylus Pro 3800. As I liked the results with Epson paper I decided to use that for the exhibition.

I did email Michael Kenna to ask what paper he used but he still hand prints all his work on silver paper in the darkroom. The following is the correspondence:

Dear Pat

Thank you for your kind e mail

I don't do any digital! Sorry I cannot help you there. All my work is hand printed in the darkroom on silver paper

There are lots of interviews posted on my website for additional info

All the very best for your work and final exhibition

Michael
________________________________
From: pat@carrhousef.fsnet.co.uk
To: kennaphoto@hotmail.com
Subject: student query
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 20:32:50 +0100

I have only just become acquainted with your work and I love it.

As a student approaching my final exhibition for a degree in photography and having shot quite a bit on a Hasselblad I wondered if you could tell me what resolution you scan your images and what is your preferred inkjet paper for your prints.

I am particularly interested in the environment and find the Hasselblad particularly good for infinitesimal detail.

I look forward hopefully to your reply.

Thank you

Pat Butler

Exhibition suggested layout

I am hoping that there will be enough room on the wall allocated to accommodate my suggested layout. If there is not enough room I will make a 3 x 3 block and remove one of the Nuclear images

Project Statement & Rationale

Energy & the Environment



As a mature student I have seen many changes to our environment. Some, I must admit, are beneficial, such as the cleanliness of our rivers and the reduction in pesticides but unfortunately, on the whole and especially where energy is concerned we appear to be on a downhill spiral. We are the only species on the planet that expends energy, all other creatures and plants create a natural balance but our use of energy is escalating at an alarming rate. From the very first day we created fire we have abused the Earth and treated it as our own personal possession at the expense of nature. It appears to be universally accepted that we may have less than ten years in which to defuse an environmental time-bomb.
This has resulted in me treating this project with a great deal of passion and fervour which I hope shows in my work. I have aimed at making impactful photographs regardless of my views of the energy source and I would like to think that this is evident in my final selection. I believe public awareness to the energy problem in the form of images is stronger than text and it is for this reason that I have chosen this subject. It is through the quotes accompanying each image that I give the viewer an insight into my opinions. These quotes are broad and varied and add a further element for thought.
Of all the photographers work that I have examined relating to this project I must place Fay Godwin at the top of my list, not only for her excellent imagery and interpretations but also for her strong ethics on the subject of the environment and her love of the British countryside.
This project looks at a broad spectrum of energy used in Britain. There are other forms of energy such as solar, geothermal, wave and tidal, but taking into account my carbon footprint, I feel I have travelled far enough to obtain a good selection of energy sources. As a result the images and captions are left for the viewer to draw their own conclusions as to what is beneficial to the Environment and what is detrimental. People now have the choice of where their energy comes from by selecting their energy provider accordingly. I have no intention of trying to preach what is good and what is bad but I would be delighted if my images gave people reason to think about the subject.
Pat Butler
2008

John Davies

John Davies is synonymous with the British urban landscape and this industrial and rural image is one of his classics

Charles Sheeler

Again these are missing from the beginning of the blog but have been quite influential in my selection of images.

Willard Van Dyke

Another image that should have been at the beginning of the blog. I have not found any other work by Van Dyke that is relevant to my project but I find this image to be every bit as strong as Edward Weston. He was apprenticed with Edward Weston and it is easy to see the influences.

Albert Renger-Patsch

Richard suggested I look at Renger-Patsch- he makes some powerful industrial images. (These should have been posted at the beginning of my blog but were overlooked when transferring from my journal)

Final selection

I chose this image because it looks as if the wind turbines are facing the rising sun in worship of the ultimate source of energy.




The white fins of the turbine against the dark blue of the sky create a strong contrast and it is also able to show the movement of the turbine by the blur at the tips of the fins.

The outline of the roofs was so reminiscent of Edward Weston's 'Plasterworks' and Willard Van Dyke's 'Monolith' that it had to be included in my final selection




Drax Power Station in the background with a field of oilseed rape in the foreground provided two energy sources in one image. The brightness of the oilseed rape creating a good foil against the dark blue sky. Even in black & white the brilliance is evident.

These may not be the very high voltage powerlines and cables but it does illustrate energy being conveyed across the open countryside. I particularly liked the symmetry of the two electric pylons breaking the skyline and the diminishing landscape in the background.




There are all the elements in this image to indicate an oil refinery and the dark lowering clouds add another element to remind people of an unenvironmental energy source.

This image was created by bracketing three different exposures and creating an HDR image. For such strong structures combined with the steam I think it has worked well especially with the stong contrasting sun conditions.




This had to be given the HDR technique. The sky was really interesting but would have been burnt out with a normal exposure and the foreground was very dark and subdued but by combining the three exposures it has created a well balanced image.





This photograph of Sellafield is taken from an angle I had not seen before. The contrast between the dry stone walls and the high tech. and industrial background compete quite well. The clouds in the sky appear almost like steam rising from the nuclear plant.

This nuclear power plant at Heysham creates extremely clean but at the same time dangerous energy. I think this photograph conveys this. Shot in the evening sun with seagulls flying high above it appears washed by the sun but at the same time overpowering as it towers above the barrier.

Quotes for attaching to images

Quotes – wind

“Wind Power Could Generate More Than Enough Sustainable Electricity to Meet Global Energy Needs”
Sustainable Energy Coalition

“The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind”
Bob Dylan

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”
William Arthur Ward quotes

"What fates impose, that men must needs abide; It boots not to resist both wind and tide"
William Shakespeare

Quotes – water
"Everyone understands that water is essential to life. But many are only just now beginning to grasp how essential it is to everything in life – food, energy, transportation, nature, leisure, identity, culture, social norms, and virtually all the products used on a daily basis."

World Business Council for Sustainable Development

"Thousands have lived without love, not one without water."
W.H. Auden

Sometimes it pauses, to lay up a store
of liquid wealth in lake and reservoir,
Then leaps a dam and hastens on again,
Turning a wheel to light the homes of men.
Taken from "The River Speaks" by Gene Lindberg 1933

Quotes - nuclear

“Environmentalists have long been fond of saying that the sun is the only safe nuclear reactor, situated as it is some ninety-three million miles away.”
Stephanie Mills – singer

“A nuclear power plant is infinitely safer than eating, because 300 people choke to death on food every year.”
Dixie Lee Ray

Quotes – Oil

"Esso, Shell and BP are sending our climate up in smoke,........... Esso and its parent company ExxonMobil, in particular, are sabotaging climate protection."
Karsten Smid, climate expert with Greenpeace

“The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.”
Ralph Nader, American activist & lawyer

Quotes - Powerlines

In 2005, the Department of Health funded Draper Report found that children who lived within 200 metres of high voltage lines had a 70% higher risk of developing leukaemia than those who lived more than 600 metres away.

Quotes - Coal

“This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organising genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish at the same time.”
- Aneurin Bevan

Quotes - Power stations
"Drax is already the single biggest source of CO2 pollution in the UK, pumping out 22.7 million tonnes each year."
Greenpeace

“We now have a good wholesale business in the UK with big industrial customers and power stations. We are aiming to secure 20% of the market by 2015.”
Alexander Medvedev - Deputy Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Russian energy company Gazprom

Quotes - Oilseed Rape – biomass fuel

“...We believe that this study has clearly demonstrated that oilseed rape induces symptoms in a significant proportion of otherwise healthy individuals.”

Scottish Medical Journal. 1995

Black core Mountboard

The sheets of Daler Antique White mounboard with a black core have arrived from www.lionpic.co.uk within 2 days of ordering. They cost only £3 per sheet plus VAT and are A0 size (twice the size of Hobbicraft)

Frames

I have decided I need 10 or 11 @ 50 x 70 cm frames but have not yet decided whether to go for black or natural wood.
Ikea 'Ribba' - natural £15.49
- black £15.49
Fastframe
Nielsen 'Starfish' beech £20.39 + VAT (Good quality but I think too expensive for that amount)
black £17.39 + VAT

Ingredients for artist's statement

I found this on the internet which I think is helpful in creating a statement.

WRITING YOUR ARTIST'S STATEMENT
<http://www.mollygordon.com/resources/marketingresources/artstatemt/>

Write a three paragraph artist's statement. Keep your sentences authentic and direct. Use the present tense ("I am," not "I was," "I do," not "I did.") Be brave: say nice things about yourself. If you find that you falter, write three paragraphs about an artist whose work you admire. Then write about yourself as though you were an admiring colleague. As a rule, your artist's statement should be written in the first person. Refer to yourself with the pronouns "I, me, my." If this blocks you, write in the third person, then go back and change the pronouns as needed when you get to Step Four. Use the suggestions below to structure your statement. Write three to five sentences per paragraph.

First paragraph. Begin with a simple statement of why you do the work you do. Support that statement, telling the reader more about your goals and aspirations.

Second paragraph. Tell the reader how you make decisions in the course of your work. How and why do you select materials, techniques, themes? Keep it simple and tell the truth.

Third paragraph. Tell the reader a little more about your current work. How it grew out of prior work or life experiences. What are you exploring, attempting, challenging by doing this work.

Artist's statement

I have been looking on the web for various artist's statements and the attached by Kerik Kouklis was quite a well documented but rather long-winded example.
Kerik Kouklis Photography - Bio

Flickr: Painting with Light2007's Photostream

Flickr: Painting with Light2007's Photostream

Selected images

I have now printed out 13 images (not a good number!)that I am reasonably happy with, some more than others. Eleven of these are in landscape format but two are square medium format.

Fay Godwin

Landmarks Book

Fay Godwin

Bob told me there was an exhibition of Fay Godwin's at the Parsonage, Haworth so visited that this morning. The exhibition was 'Elmet' which was the follow on from her earlier 'The Remains of Elmet' that was first published in 1979 and combined her photography with Ted Hughes' poetry. All the photography was shot within a fifteen mile radius of Haworth. Elmet, according to Fay Godwin, was the last Celtic kingdom in England and covered the area of the upper reaches of the River Calder.

The Parsonage Museum was strictly 'no photography' and when I was there the ratio of Japanese to British must have been about 20-1

Mountboard

24th May

Searching for mountboard with a black core for the exhibition and found it in a catalogue I picked up at Focus from a company called Lion Picture Framing Supplies Ltd. to be found on the internet @ www.lionpic.co.uk. where they have a huge range.

Amber Online

Amber Online

Side Gallery, Newcastle

9th May

Jane & I were planning a visit to London but our plans went haywire. Instead of wasting a day we decided to travel up to the Side Gallery in Newcastle.
They have many photographers in their archives (see Amber online) but as the premises are very small all the work is on the internet apart from any current exhibitions they may be holding. The exhibition they were holding was THE ROMA JOURNEYS by Joakim Eskildsen shot in Eastern Europe - beautiful photography but not relevant to what either of us wanted.

Michael Kenna Photography - Ratcliffe Power Station, 1984-2003

Michael Kenna Photography - Ratcliffe Power Station, 1984-2003

Michael Kenna

13th May
Richard introduced me to the work of Michael Kenna whose images are on medium format. By using very slow film speed plus filters he is able to achieve some fantastic shots showing the movement of clouds etc. He tends to have a minimalist approach which I find very successful.

Colour v Black & White

13th May

I had the idea of portraying the dirty energy in black & white and the others in colour but some energy such as nuclear or electric powerlines were neither one way or the other so decided that most of the images looked better in black & white and would make the whole set more uniform.
It was decided that it was not up to me to preach what was right or wrong but for people to draw their own conclusions. I hope by means of captions to give people the chance to think.
By showing some of the group my best images I was able to refine my choice to 12 or 13. I was still awaiting the medium format images but at that moment all my images were in landscape format and would make a better display.

Wind Farm

There is definitely plenty of motion in these medium format images

13th May

Woke up at 4.30 am to a beautiful morning and decided it was too good an opportunity to miss. Decided to have one more shoot at the wind farm above Burnley. I wanted to portray it as a clean energy and this was a much better day than my previous shoot earlier in the year. The light looked fresh and washed and I hoped the early morning sun would cast some great shadows.

By the time I got there quite a bit of cloud had blown over and it was bitterly cold. Used both the Hasselblad and the Canon 5D. Shot a full film of Velvia 100 and hoped that it was slow enough to capture the movement of the fins.

Oilseed Rape - Biofuels

8th May

As I had heard that there was a combination of powerlines and oilseed rape near Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire we parked on a country road and I set up the tripod for the final time that day and took the attached photo. The vibrancy of the oilseed rape brightens up the dullest day but on this day the sun was shining and the sky was clear making the field almost too bright to look at.

Coal Powerstations and Cooling Towers

8th May

East Yorkshire has an abundance of coal powerstations with Eggborough, Ferrybridge and Drax to name but a few. Drax is by far the largest coal powerstation in the UK and is listed as the 23rd most dirty powerstation in the world, emitting over 23 million tons of CO2 per year. The findings are revealed in a huge survey of the CO2 emissions from 50,000 power plants worldwide by the Centre for Global Development (CGD) an independent think-tank based in the US.

Leaving Wakefield we headed east along the M62 first coming across Ferrybridge. This gave me an opportunity to take a photo of the powerstation as we drove along the motorway but there was no good vantage point to set up the tripod so we continued eastwards.

Eggborough is set quite a way from the motorway and is surrounded by houses so we bypassed this and continued on to Drax.

Drax is named after a small village and is surrounded by agriculture. The fields backing up to Drax were a brilliant yellow of oilseed rape (Drax is now burning a percentage of oilseed rape in an attempt to reduce its CO2 emissions) this provided an excellent foil against which to photograph the power station.

It is unfortunate that the powerlines cut across the images of the cooling towers with the road in the foreground. It is for this reason that I have not used them.

Driving nearer to the powerstation I set up the tripod and made three bracketed shots of the cooling towers with a view to doing a HDR image. There was a great deal of contrast and I thought it would be ideal for this type of image. The top image of the cooling towers is the end result after converting the three images to HDR.

National Mining Museum of England, Wakefield

National Mining Museum, Wakefield
National Minging Museum, Wakefield
National Mining Museum, Wakefield
National Mining Museum, Wakefield

Chris Killip - Rocker & Rosie Going Home 1984
Coal Authority
Crown copyright
John Davies Easington Colliery 1983

8th May

Still using the Hasselblad and the digital cameras I went to the National Mining Museum at Wakefield. It is an excellent museum with many school groups attending. There is the option to go below ground to the coal face but I didn't think there would be many photo opportunities down there and having a full schedule for the day passed on that option. My main aim was to capture the pithead and surrounding machinery.

There was also an extremely good photography gallery with the photography of John Davies & Chris Killip as well as many anonymous photgraphers

Took various photos with both cameras but I am having problems reducing the medium format images I scanned.

Electric Pylon

4th May

From the motorway I noticed a huge electric pylon by the side of the Manchester Ship Canal. We made our way down to the canal and I was able to capture the canal, pylon and motorway in one image before the heavens opened and we made a hasty retreat home after a pretty successful weekend.

Oil Refinery

4th May

Trying to make the most of this weekend we returned home via Ellesmere Port to photograph Stanlow Oil Refinery belonging to Shell and one of the biggest refineries in Britain.

The weather was looking like an imminent storm when we arrived at Stanlow and the heavy clouds made a great backdrop to the site.

C.A.T.

4th May

Travelled north via Aberyswith to Maccynleth where C.A.T. (Centre for Alternative Technology) is based. A very interesting day but not a lot of opportunities for photographs relative to what I required. I did take photos of the internal workings of a wind turbine-interesting but not mind-blowing photography. We spent two hours on a composting course, fascinating but there again I digress!!

Hydropower

3rd May 2008

Having done quite a bit of searching on the internet I have decided that a journey to Mid Wales is necessary to visit Rhyadol Hydropower Station. Here there are dams, powerstations and pipelines as well as a small windfarm.

The other alternative would be Llanberis Power Station in North Wales but as this is nearly all within the mountain itself I thought there would be little to photograph. Only Scotland and Wales have the terrain to provide hydropower from dams and the nearest one in Scotland is Pitlochry which is quite a hike!

The forecast for the weekend was awful but as all our plans had been laid we had no alternative but to go. We left home at 4.30 am to make the most of the weather- we thought, arriving at the top reservoir, Nant-y-Moch at 9 am. The weather was beginning to close in with strong winds. I set up the tripod and mounted the camera at the same time gripping the tripod to prevent it being blown over. I took out my light meter and immediately the wind caught the protective sleeve and blew it away into the reservoir. This was my first attempt with the Hasselblad and I could visualize that in the reservoir as well!!-How would I explain that to Richard??

Having taken a few shots in quite poor light we made our way down the valley to the powerstation where just the two of us had a conducted tour of the station. Photography was supposedly banned but on explainig what I was doing and why, contact was made with the manager who had no objections.

Leaving the powerstation the weather was much better and we returned to the upper dam where I took more photographs in beautiful conditions.