When I looked at the recommended practitioners I particularly liked the images by Karen Knorr and Jodi Taylor.

Karen Knorr collection “Belgravia” started with an image of a street which I felt put the rest of the images in context. The black and white images looked clean and sophisticated,  words that come to mind when I think of the area of Belgravia in London. Although I have no idea if that is true in real terms! The collection gives an impression of the people and interiors from minimal and youthful, to elaborate and historical. This set of images is a great example of how to get across the feel of a location by both the style and content.

Jodi Taylors images are very different in style and content. Her style is reminiscent of the photos we used to have printed when I was young. She used 35mm film which fits perfectly with the subject matter of her visiting her old childhood haunts. Once again style seems to be important in the overall feel of the images.

After thinking through some of my initial ideas, I decided to try and create photos that allow the viewer to get a feel for the area around the house without including images of the house itself.
Whilst this might be a mistake in a holiday/home style magazine, my aim was not to encourage the viewer to visit but rather to show what the area means to me, and what comes to mind when I think about it.

When I started looking for images of this kind for inspiration, I found most of them were indeed focused around a house.
One photographer caught my eye, however, and although there were a great many interiors in his collection there were also a lot of landscape and exterior shots. I liked the abstract nature of some of the images and the closeup, layered aspect of some of the subjects.

Michael Paul is a New Zealander based in London and is “one of the most respected photographers in the field of food, interiors and still life”.

http://michaelpaulphotography.co.uk

The selection of his photos shown above give an impression of the location. But the tractor, in particular, gives a feel of industry in amongst the peacefulness of the streets and the flowers. This is typical of the area I intend to use for this assignment.

I decided to start by writing down words and phrases that came to mind when I thought of area which I hope will give me some focus.
I also wanted to try and find an image to put at the beginning of the set to give the rest of the images some context, in a similar way to Karen Knorr’s first image.

My words and phrases were:
1.  Trees (Forests both wild and cultivated).
2.  Fields (filled with crops and newly ploughed).
3.  Farm equipment (old and new).
4.  Secure and sometime unwelcoming gates leading to isolated unseen houses.
5.  Tracks and small roads leading into unknown territory.
6.  Flora and fauna of all kinds (including a wide variety of insects).
7.  Religion, churches, chapels often on small isolated roads and religious celebrations.
8.  The sky (amazing sunsets, dark, wild storms and eerie mists).
9.  Vineyards – straight rows of twigs in winter, beautiful grape laden hedges in summer.
10. Food

The area is very rural and I want the style of the photos to reflect that.

Once I started taking pictures I realised that is was going to be very easy to go off track and forget the brief! I decided that I needed to re-read it every time I set off to take photos or write. This has really helped, and in a couple of days I have gone from having a set of images that I wasn’t particularity happy with,  to a set of images that I hope fit the brief, and my own take on it.