reportage

For the practical section of CoP we are looking into REPORTAGE illustration in order to explore political/social/cultural/historical themes.
I was at a loss as to where to start as you can literally start anywhere, so I began by doing some quick locational drawings in the Leeds Uni cafe

But I didn't feel I gained anything from them, I didn't pick up on anything I was particularly interested in and I wasn't that pleased with the drawings I produced.

So I went back to the presentation we were given and looked at the reportage photographers referenced.
I really liked the work of Eugene Atget:

But also his reasoning to why he took these photographs; he wanted to document all the architecture and street scenes in Paris before they became modernised. I find his desire to preserve what he loves about the city really intriguing. The style of his photos are quite dreamy with the soft light, slight mist drifting into the background, and the lack of noise and busy people. They show a much quieter side of Paris which gives his photos a nostalgic feel, making them very personal to how he wants to remember Paris.

His work made me think of a few directions I could possibly go into:

- preservation; idea of preserving historical landmarks, areas - anything, through drawing. Really being able to capture the feeling of the location through the drawing.

- modernisation; we have moved so quickly into the era of technology, lots of new sky scrapers, modern buildings being put up everywhere, the historical buildings are quickly decreasing - could look at the the juxtaposition between old and new, I really like seeing the stark contrast between an old church and a towering building of glass stuck right next to each other, would be interesting to explore.

- loss of nature; the rapid development of cities could lead em to look at the decrease in nature in cities - preserving what little there is.