Peter rootPeter Root is a jersey born photographer specialising in architectural photography, Root was educated in Guernsey and received a degree in fine art from the university of Falmouth. Root gained recognition after a showcase featuring his work in the Saatchi Gallery in London. Along with his photography, Root has also worked in architectural presentation and model making, the techniques associated with these are evidently shown in his photography and other architectural work.
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Examples of his work
Analysis of his work
Root shows his architectural model making abilities with these wood carvings, focusing on the 3 towards the back. Like many of his other photographs, Root uses a shallow depth of field leaving a narrow area between the focus point and the foreground of the photograph. Although the fore and background are not entirely in focus, Root makes sure they are still partially visible and noticeable in the photograph. I don’t like this photograph compared to his other work because the wood carvings don’t have as much architectural reference as his other pieces where the link to buildings and structures are more clear.
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Roots passion for architectural presentation is shown clearly in this photograph, the formation of these “buildings” Root has created with staples shadows his own experiences with big cities. The medium depth of field allows for a narrow field in the middle of the crowd of “buildings” where the focus point is, enabling Root to show the complexity of the photograph with all the different layers, even the ones that are out of focus. Personally, I like the composition of this photograph and I admire the creativity it took to make these “buildings” out of staples.
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Michael wolfMichael Wolf was a German born photographer who's work focused on everyday life in large cities with most of it focused on the architecture of those cities. Wolf won awards for his photography of Paris and Hong Kong, He won first prize in the Contemporary Issues category of the 2004 World Press Photo competition for his photographs of workers in several types of factories for an article in Stern.
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Examples of His Work
Analysis of his work
Wolfs main objective with his work is to show the struggle of living conditions in big cities, focusing more on the underdeveloped areas, this is clearly shown in this image as it shows a large block of buildings, presumably in Hong Kong or somewhere in Asia which, because of population, are known to be poorer countries for living spaces. The image highlights the population, the rule of thirds in this image show how crowded it is, with the more eye catching parts of the architectural details on the hotspots (lights, main embodiment of the structure)
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Wolfs main objective with his work is to show the struggle of living conditions in big cities, focusing more on the underdeveloped areas which i think is shown in this piece especially as the structural design of this is simple which mirrors Wolfs composition of the photograph, the large depth of field puts the whole photograph in focus full filling his task as it puts it into perspective. The contrast between the plain grey building and the colourful balconies draws attention to the structural details, especially with the enlightenment of colours and the alternation of them.
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Examples of his work
Analysis of His work
The composition of this picture is simplistic showing a large depth of field to include the focus of the full picture. Although this photographs layout is plain, it follows the rule of thirds putting the points of interest closer to the hotspots, making up for the lack of focus point. Despite not having a clear focus point the composition draws attention to the archway in the middle as its the first place someone is inclined to look which then in turn draws attention to the other structure behind the archway. I like this photograph however i think it would have had more effect with colour as the contrast between the pillars and tiles would have been better.
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Photoshoot 1- St Michaels Church
Plan
St Michaels Church is an 11th century monument that has withstood threw many wars, the architectural detail is vast and shows the change in architecture through the centuries with the restorations the church has seen in the past 900 years, I plan to go there and capture each section of change to show the development of architecture.
Inspiration
Lorenzo Linthout was my inspiration for this shoot, his simple composition of his work inspired the third picture in the gallery below, I didn’t feel the need to mono my photograph like Linthout did as i feel it would have wrecked the effect the contrasting colours give.
My Best
I think this picture is my best because it shows the most eye catching aspects of the church, from the reflection of the stained glass windows to the pillars and arches of the structure. The contrast from the reflection of the stained glass windows draws attention to the pillars and in turn to the arches and the detail in the structure. The picture also shows the pure wooden seats, in which you can find my Dad praying in the background reminding you of the religious aspects the photograph holds. Catholic churches are known for their architectural beauty especially that of the stained glass, one smaller window can be seen in the background as i used a large depth of field to make sure the impact the building is properly conveyed.
My Worst
Although the Photo itself isn’t terrible, it lacks the focus of the architecture itself, I like the photograph however i don’t think it fits with the architecture as the angle of it shows more of the wooden monument in the church and the pillar between but doesn’t show off much structural detail, stained glass can be found in the background but i think the close up brings it away from the architecture as it draws attention to the closer objects like the pillar and the wood.
Photoshoot 2- Holyrood House
Plan
Holyrood house is the chosen residence of Queen Elizabeth, taking pictures inside the palace is not allowed however the historical and structural beauty makes it difficult to resist, I took a shoots worth of pictures of the luxurious house the Queen resides in.
Inspiration
Michael wolf was my inspiration for this shoot, although I didn’t draw directly from his photography i did take from his idea, Wolf photographs structures to show the usually poor conditions the people in those structures live in, i decided to do the opposite and show what wolf doesn’t, the architectural beauty the 1% enjoys, and what better to show then the Queens own residence.
My best
Personally, I favour this photograph above all my others for the main reason being the historical factors behind the picture, the “MR” shown on the gorgeously coloured wooden pane is in memory of Mary queen of scots, the bright colours of the scottish emblem along with the contrasting dark oak panes draws attention to the beauty and detail of this particular spot on the roof of the palace. Once again i used a large depth of field to show all of the details in the picture clearly, choosing a focus point proved too difficult for me so i decided to leave everything in clear view.
My Worst
This photo is my worst because of the exposure of the photograph. I was having trouble with how bright it was inside the palace and adjusting my camera to work well with the lighting, because of this the image is overexposed making the grass look a really harsh green.