My World

My first photographs... 'Bad Picture'

I decided to take a photograph of my curtains because that's the first thing I see every morning when I wake up, they're like my alarm clock to be honest, they are so thin they let all the light in, and I am a light sleeper; so I m up every morning, pretty early. I made my image out of focus to express the way I see when I've only just opened my eyes...

I have more photographs to come, but I need to scan them in, as they'll be polaroids. I am also planning on using pinholes during the time of epressing my world though photography.

My Photography

I have chosen some photographs that I think are my favourite photographs, that I have captured myself and have explained; what my intentions were and who may have inspired me during the time.

Isolation 2007 (Photographed by Catherine Holland)

This photograph above is of a bike that had been set on fire underneath a tunnel, that I walked through on my way to college and back everyday. One day during my second year at college I kept walking past this bike and then on the third day thought I would take a quick snap on my compact digital camera to capture the aftermath of someone's vandalism.
After uploading this photograph onto my computer, it made me think of the word isolation and it made me think about how the world would never be perfect.


The photograph below is a scan of my original pinhole collage that I made up of pin hole prints that I captured with my home-made pinhole, using the darkroom. The pinhole prints were photographs of areas around my college, that is being demolished sometime in the future and I wanted to present it in college of a few pinhole photographs. This was inspired by Rob Gardiner with the idea of documenting areas, using pinhole photography as a chosen media.

Photo collage 2008 (Created by Catherine Holland)

My World

Recently I have been given a brief from University to present my world using photography. Thinking about this sounds like a very wide and open project that may sound pretty easy, but it is really quite the opposite.
Having opened my sketchbook to think of ideas for my photographs and what to photograph, I notice how much more difficuit this project may become in the future.

I know that I want to show my world in an exciting way rather than in a simple way to keep me interested and passionate about the idea of presenting my world to others. I think I may show a section of my world rather than everything because that maybe quite impossible with presenting a day in one photograph...

However I am very excited to see how mine and other class mates' blogs presenting our worlds will present themselves, with our chosen media.

Other Photographer's Photos

Given the task of finding five photographs or more that have influenced me the most since the time I had discovered photography was difficult. There are so many photographers/artists that have inspired me. I looked though old sketchbooks and books, to see who had influenced me during briefs that were given to me, during my study of photography in college or on my own projects.

The five photographs I have chosen are below and I have explained why they are so inspiring to me.

Comments are welcome on what your opinions maybe on my choices.

Inspiring Photographers

Photographed by Rob Gardiner
'Slow City' (2005)



Rob Gardiner is amazing at taking pinhole photographs in my opinion. Gardiner's pinholes' look really obscure and are taken with a 4x5 pinhole camera, which are printed very well as you can see from the example above? Gardiner takes photographs around London, the photograph above is of Ironmonger Lane. The reason for taking these pinholes on this street was because Gardiner had a fascination by the construction works and wanted to view it's transformation after the 14 week “Street Improvement Project” that was said to have took place there. The photograph I have chosen is of Ironmonger Lane before the construction work.

Just for interest I have added the pinhole Gardiner had taken after the construction below:
Slow City (2006)



As a photographer myself, I have a passion for taking pinhole photographs and I think Gardiner is very inspiring to me. I love making my own tiny pinhole cameras and using it to take small obscure photographs and then printing them in the darkroom. Seeing the tiny prints come to life in the dark room is an amazing feeling, that keeps my passion alive for photography, especailly pinhole photography, which is like a guessing game most of the time. However the patience is worth it with the final outcomes.

Photographs from: http://www.nyclondon.com/blog/

Inspiring Photographers

Photographed by Sophie Calle
The Hotel (1983)


Sophie Calle is a very voyeuristic artists and I am inspired by her sneaky and nosey ideas, which can be really interesting. Calle's work usually consists of her looking into other people's lives without them even noticing or knowing and as revealed alot of personal things to her audience. Sophie Calle as also pointed the camera to herself in her work too.

The photograph above is from a series entitled 'The Hotel' which is a collection of photographs that showed a guest's room at the Venetian Hotel where Calle worked for three weeks temporary as a chambermaid. During this time Calle looked after twelve rooms, noting down her guest's habits, presenting them using photography (guests were not identifiable).

Sophie Calle's work is said to raise questions about what interests us?

I think Sophie Calle is very inspiring for my current project entitled, 'My World' with the way she has presented other people's personal space, that was not truly their own, but borrowed. Maybe I could present my world within one space, like my bedroom for example rather than a number of places, to show patterns with how I keep my personal space and how I live in that certain area... However this is just one idea that I may develop, which will be very personal.

Inspiring Photographers

Photographed by Brassai
'Paris By night' (1933)


I have admired Brassai's work for a long time, he has captured some beautiful photographs of Paris at night and this is one of my favourite photograph, out of his collection. Brassai's photograph above is a very gloomy and mysterious image looking through the foggy night in Paris, which has created an atmospheric photograph. I admire these types of photographs because they add a sense of mystery and uncertainty.

Brassai explored Paris using photography to capture Paris's people, places and it's moments.
Brassai is an inspiration for my new brief entitled 'My World' where I will be using photography to express my world or a section of it.

Inspiring Photographers

Photographed by Richard Billingham
'who's looking at the family' (1994)


Richard Billingham's series entitled 'who's looking at the family' shows raw and very realistic photographs presenting his family life at home. These photographs were meant to be
material for his paintings at first, until he used them for his exhibitions. The photograph above is an example of one of the photographs from his family members in 'who's looking at the family' series.

'who's looking at the family' series is a very personal and real life collection that is a very inspiring series, that presents an idea of his world, growing up with his family at home. Billingham took so many photographs that his family didn't even realise that he was taking them any more, so they were quite oblivious to him.

Billingham took his photographs with a cheap film and got them printed at a cheap printing place.

Richard Billingham's work is very influential because he used a very simple way of working that presented truth and the way he lived and where he grew up (Very realistic and personal). I'm wondering about if other students who are doing the same brief (entitled 'My World') as me at the moment will create similar images to Richard Billingham's work? I can see this being a very interesting project with the way our ideas and ways of presenting our world's will be presented.

Inspiring Photographers

Photographed by Jerry N Uelsmann
Untitled, 1982.

This is one of my favourite photographs by Uelsmann because it is quite a fantasy type of image, that is strange and unique. This image is a fantasy like image because you would never be able to see this in everyday life, which creates a very dream-like photograph.

I admire the way Uelsmann works in the dark room with the way he creates his type of photographs. He uses a number of enlargers in the darkroom to create these types of photographs that are made up of a number of negatives, not to create narratives, but illustrative surrealist imagery of the impossible . I find Uelsmann photographs very fascinating.

This photograph reminds me of the lyrics: "We could plant a house,
We could build a tree" by Nirvana (Breed). I was going to try and recreate this idea with photographs, but then thought of Uelsmann, who had already done this idea without realising it.