For Task, I have changed my idea to photographing Coventry Cathedral. Due to the Blitz in 1940, left behind were ruins. Responsible for this were the those involved in the war. I believe that this is showing human presence in the sense that it is showing the remains of something that humans were responsible for.
I was unaware that ‘Ruins Photography’ was in fact a style itself. I found this quite interesting to learn about as visiting old places such as Coventry Cathedral with a drastic history behind is something I am very keen on.
Ruins Photography
Ruins Photography not only captures what is left of a building but also decay and abandonment within an environment. I think this is fascinating as it adds a sense of mystery to the images. Subjects which work well for ruin photography are usually large cities where there has been lots of life. This can also be used in landscapes too. Anything which has been abandoned or run down such as houses, offices, hospitals, bridges, roads and factories.
People have mixed opinions about Ruins Photography. Whilst some people enjoy it to compare to previous times, others prefer it for the more aesthetic side.
I came across photographers, Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre. Both born in France and shared an interest in this style of photography, but before they had met. Once they had met, they began keeping track of ruins and urban decay and began working together to record these through photography. Once they realised their passion for this, they took their work further to places such as, Belgium, England and Germany.
In 2010, they had their work published in a book titled, ‘The Ruins of Detroit’. These images show the decaying historic city as it is today.
Using a 5×4 camera, this allows Marchand and Meffre’s work to be of such high quality and include intricate detail.
The images below are from the ‘The Ruins of Detroit’ series. I found the following images to be linked to my work as they have human presence left behind.
18th Floor Dentist Cabinet, David Broderick Tower
This image I think is absolutely fantastic. The tones of all the colours really piece the image together well. There are no distractions or anything in the image that doesn’t fit in. You can tell my looking at this that it has been abandoned as there is no evidence of the room looking as if it has been cleared up. There is a sort of eery sense to the image due to the fact that it is a Dentis’s office. It is well known that many people are scared of the Dentists, so I can image for those people, visiting this place would come as a bit of a shock. It makes you wonder why it is like this and why the place hasn’t been refurbished to something else.
Donovan Building
This image I believe show a sense of human presence as it shows how a chair has been left there and in the foreground of the image there are bits of paper. To me it looks as if someone has left them there, rather than them being blown into the corridor, or accidentally dropped. The light shining through onto the chair from the room on the right really made the chair the first thing I noticed. This gives a sense of life to the image. There is a also a chair in the distance which I didn’t notice at first. The room at the back looks completely different the corridor in the foreground. It looks as if it could be a waiting room for a Doctors surgery. Due to the bright colours, it causes a contrast between the foreground and background.
Bagley-Clifford Office of the National Bank of Detroit
This image to me definitely stood out as showing a human presence. Just like all the images I have included here, there are no people in these photos. However, you can see where people have been. You can see where people have pulled the draws out and left them there. There are also some draws still in the cabinet. It makes you wonder why they are on the floor and why they have been left there. Images like this will always have unanswered questions I believe.
St Christopher House, ex-Public Library
Another photo by Charmand and Maffre. This photo has so much evidence of human presence. From the paper on the floor, to the box of books which has fallen over. I can imagine this picture would look fantastic as a large print as on a small screen, I am struggling to notice some of the detail. There is so much in this image that tells us it has been abandoned as there is no evidence of anyone who has tried to clear this up or make anything new from it.
‘Ruins are the visible symbols and landmarks of our societies
and their changes, small pieces of history in suspension.
The state of ruin is essentially a temporary situation that happens at
some point, the volatile result of change of era and the fall of empires.
This fragility, the time elapsed but even so running fast, lead us to watch them one very last time :
being dismayed, or admire, making us wondering about the permanence of things.
Photography appeared to us as a modest way
to keep a little bit of this ephemeral state.’
Some other pieces of work which work well under the theme of Human Presence being left behind are the following. I came across these series of photographs just over a year ago, and every since then I have been fascinated by this style of photography. With such eeryness and mystery behind them, there is so much detail and really makes you question things.
The first series I am going to include in my research is the work by Michael Day. He visited the town of Pripyat which occurred a Nuclear disaster in 1986. The images below show Michael Day’s visit to the town a couple of years ago where he captures the presence which ash been left behind. Just like the images I want to capture of Coventry Cathedral, both disasters have left ruins behind.
Similar to the above photos, the following series shows the human presence left behind at a theme park in New Orleans. Destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Six Flags theme park is now abandoned. Like above, I believe these images really fit in with the brief of places being devoid of human presence.
A theme park is usually a very busy place, so seeing it devoid of human presence shows a big contrast between the two.
Emilie Taylor Photography 