208 Theme 1 Built Environment - Richard Southall Professional Photographer

Assignment 208 Principles of Location Photography Theme 1 Built Environment


Research and influences - Richard Southall Professional Photographer

Richard Southall is a UK Midlands based photographer and lecturer in photography who has published a number of books. His work is very varied and covers many themes but here I will be concentrating on his architectural images.

This first image is from Richard's book Smethwick. It is a very strong composition with the eye being led from the broken clock in the bottom left third of the frame to a single vanishing point of perspective placed on the centre line of the image but in the right third to balance the clock. The square format has helped with the tight composition. The tonal range of the image is very good with good scale and texture.

Another strong monochrome image with a very good tonal range and a single perspective vanishing point this time placed in a central position on the upper third of the frame. There is a very good balance between the sky and the bridge or walkway over the water. The building at the end of the walkway is almost a silhouette against the sky but this helps to give a powerful image.

Another powerful monochrome image with a perfect tonal range from white to black through a large range of grey shades. The small amount of light in the sky has been balanced well against the floodlight on the building. It is a simple but strong composition which could have been cropped to show just the building but may then have lost some of its impact.

The following two images show well observed architectural details and a good total range of the warm stone colour against the black ironwork in the first image. There are good textures and lines which lead the eye in the first image and do not follow the conventional horizontal or vertical building lines in the second image.

An unconventional image using the converging verticals to emphasise the height of the steeple. The spire has been placed across the diagonal of the image to make it more dramatic which has been assisted by the strong contract in colour and tone between the sky and the building. The strong lines draw the eye to the top left of the frame.

A more conventional image with the building well framed by the arch which also gives a dramatic contrast in tone and colour between the warm brightly lit building and the cool dark arch. The viewer is drawn through the arch towards the spire on the left of the image. The exposure is very good to keep some detail on the left of the frame under the arch and not overexpose the building and sky.

A very conventional but beautiful image of a church which is well composed with perfect exposure and tonal range between the building, sky, trees and foreground. The eye is led towards the church by the trees on the right and left with the tower of the church placed off centre to help the composition and perspective.

A similar but less conventional image of a building this time emerging from behind daffodils. Good exposure and depth of field to hold the foreground and the building. This image is well conceived as this would not have been the obvious perspective to use for this building.

An unusual viewpoint has been chosen for this photograph looking up at the building with a small wall included in the foreground. This wall could have distracted the viewer from the main perspective point of the building in the background but because of the trees on each side and the well exposed building the eye is drawn up the hill. This is also helped by the building being placed on the upper third of the image and the wall placed on the lower third. The colours and tones are very good with the sky not overexposed compared to the foreground. A small aperture has been chosen to keep all of the image in focus.

Another well observed image showing detail on a bronze statue and on the carved stonework of the building. The exposure needed to be spot on to keep the fine detail on the bronze and on the light and shadow of the building, also without overexposing the sky. A small aperture has been chosen to give a large depth of field to keep the statue and building in focus.

This image is all about colour, tone and a perfect balance of exposure between the cold blue sky and warm lights inside the building. It is well composed with the building not square on to the camera to help lead the eye across the image from right to left.

The lessons to be learned from the above images are that exposure is vital to show good detail in all parts of the photograph, an aperture should be chosen to keep all important parts of the image in focus. A focal point is needed to draw the eye into the image but an unconventional positioning of items within the frame can help the perspective and make the image more dramatic. Images should be viewed in monochrome to see if this helps to produce an image with increased impact.