Nick Hedges

For the poor element to my project the photographer Nick Hedges has been quite influential. His series of photographs showing the poor in the UK in 1968-1972 for the charity Shelter show the hardship through the rough living conditions and the families specifically children. I find these photos very emotional which is why I like them so much and elements such as their surroundings and what the children are wearing inspirational. I have been starting to design from these, initially I have been focusing on one of my favourite images showing a young girl standing in a street with screwed up rubbish and newspaper on the floor around her. Elements I have taken are the look of the rubbish and her cardigan and how it's too small. From this I have done some stand work looking at the rubbish, created a print from an observation as well as quick designs trying to focus on layering and silhouettes.

I think elements of this have worked well, I have tried to think more about layering which I previously have struggled with. I do now need to start to think about colours, a lot of the photography I have used is black and white but I think I need to think about colours that are better representation of my themes and I can use photographs I have taken to do this. With my prints these will work well with blocks of colours so this is also something I can now develop. 

What I am struggling with at the moments is the rich element to this project, I am finding the poor really fascinating so I think I need to spend some time now just focusing on the rich and what I want to do for this. I have had some ideas of how the rich glamorise their lives which can cover up the truth in their lives and also using a bit of the aesthetic look of the rich of the extravagant surroundings and also a metallic element such as gold or copper which will contrast with the poor look. I think talking to my tutor about my project will be useful because I think my thoughts are quite confused so this could help me just clear my mind and make me more focused on particular ideas.

 

(Images, authors own, 13/4/15)