this just isn't going anywhere.I haven't done anything with the lighting but I have been using a flocking gun.I just get the feeling that if I'm going to make work less emotive then something is going to have to change

start

starting something but the lighting needs to be much more like daylight

Aye therein lies the rub.

This image exemplifies some of the issues I am encountering. This is the side abutment of a bridge under a motorway. The embankment rises above, its construction throws up these odd spaces which are not useful but a necessary byproduct. They've been fenced off to stop access to the carraigeway above. The space is undecided and an ideal example for me to create some response in minature.
The trouble is the approach. The construct presents various challenges to simulate; vegetation, the fence, though these can be overcome.It remains a matter of how to see it. As a forensic teutonic excercise? A neo gothic Lynchian idyll with low lighting,mist and limited artificial illumination? Or what? what is the English suburban slightly menacing approach and how does it translate in to producing an image which has an aesthetic which is appealing.
All my art school training wants to make it something luverly.

CRUDE

I've been trying to video a model I've made for sometime now. I find video difficult to comprehend in a practical sense. I've tried filming this imagined interior, but each time the quality is poor in places and distracting. I wonder if its the low light levels and the need for maximum depth of field that defy the video camera. The one I'm using isn't best suited for what i want it to perform.
I really want to use a digital SLR with a video facility, but in the meantime until I can afford it, I've tried some very crude stop frame with a digital SLR. I quite like the jerkiness of it and with some fiddling with filters it could be quite interesting.

dilemma

I've been trying to make work about anonymous places or places that are unexciting and dull. Its part of my PHD proposal on undecided spaces. This is an early try. The problem is simulating natural things like foliage, leaves, grass etc. Its difficult to make it look convincing, also I want to start using the "daylight" rather than the appearance of night time.
Of course restricting the lighting can hide the imperfections. I used bits of a scarf I found in a charity shop and some old twigs to do this , I sprayed the whole lot white and grey. I desaturated the image and added a warm filter in photoshop to make it appear like sodium street lighting. Its not working yet.
Its a real problem, to make convincing images of very dull places.

new work

This is new work. I've been trying to make a short film and have constructed a number of small sets to run a video camera through.They are all long and thin designed to give the impression of space as the camera runs through them on a track.Unfortunately none of the filming has worked so far.Its to do with shooting in very low light. The camera can't focus precisely enough to make the kind of imagery I want.
I've decided to make still images as well although because all the sets are narrow, the view is restricted. I used various light sources to give some colour and interest in the image. This one works but its not what I'm really after

hugh sanders: After Piranesi

hugh sanders: After Piranesi: "I'm constructing environments and making photographs using the language of painting. I've used Piranesi's imaginary views."

After Piranesi

I'm constructing environments and making photographs using the language of painting. I've used Piranesi's imaginary views.