Beyond the Lens
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Website
  • Prints
  • Bookshop
  • Social Media

Big & Blue

26/1/2014

0 Comments

 
PictureHahn/Cock, Trafalgar Square, London
Art can be many things. Sometimes it can make a political or social point, as with the Hahn/Cock sculpture in Trafalgar Square in central London. The sculpture is by German artist Katharina Fritsch. The giant blue cock is pointing out the predominantly male statues in Trafalgar Square. However, I think it’s not just Trafalgar Square that has this issue.

What art has the potential to do is to become a social commentary on the world around us. While my photography may not be as making such a blatant point Fritsch’s cock, in its own, sometimes subtle way, it’s a commentary of the world I see around me.

Whether it’s architecture, landscape or street photography, it’s a snapshot of what I see and is very much rooted in where I am, who and what I see and when. I have found that I have started merging the architecture and street photography a little as I have started including people in some of the photography. For many years, I shied away from taking photos of people as I had grown tired of being told off for taking a photo of someone.

However, I am starting to find ways to include people. People can often give context, but including people also mean that the architectural shots are less austere or harsh. It doesn’t mean I have started including people in all of my photos – it depends on the photo. It just means I don’t shy away from it.

The social and political statements I am making in my photos are perhaps more subtle as they reveal everyday life. The feedback I really found useful and insightful from the exhibition I was in last November was when non-photographers who visited the exhibition were able to find their own stories and narratives in my photography and were relating to my images in their own way. Speaking with them allowed me to see my photographs in a different light and gave the new insight.

I am perhaps starting to see my photography as a narrative – the narrative of the world I see around me. 


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Heather Martin is a London based photographer who specialises in architectural, event and B&W film photography.

    For more info, please to the About page.

    **Heather Martin owns the copyright to all the photographs and text within this blog, unless otherwise stated.

    Archives

    August 2016
    May 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010

    Categories

    All
    Annie Leibovitz
    Anton Hammerl
    Architecture
    Art
    Art Deco
    Autumn
    Barcelona
    Bath
    Battersea
    Beckenham
    Birmingham
    Book
    Borough Market
    Brick Lane
    British Museum
    Brixton
    B&W
    Byland Abbey
    Canada
    Canary Wharf
    Castle Howard
    Cathedral
    Celebrity
    Cemetary
    Channel 4
    Charing Cross
    Christmas
    Church
    City
    Clapham
    Colour
    Copyright
    Covent Garden
    Crystal Palace
    Daniel Libeskind
    Death
    Diana
    Digital
    Dover
    Dover Castle
    Dulwich Wood
    Edinburgh
    Edinburgh Castle
    Eltham Palace
    England
    Euston Station
    Exhibition
    Film
    Fisheye
    Folkestone
    Foster And Partners
    Fujifilm
    Games
    Gaudi
    Gothic
    Graffiti
    Greenwich
    Hampshire
    Hastings
    Hertfordshire
    Home
    Hoxton
    Ilford Film
    Iphone
    Isle Of Dogs
    Joseph Paxton
    Journey
    Katharina Fritsch
    Kent
    Kodak
    Law
    Light
    Lip
    Liverpool
    Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
    Lomography
    London
    London 2012
    London Bridge
    London Eye
    London Underground
    Lothian
    Mallorca
    Marketing
    Modern
    More London
    Motif
    Museum
    Museum Of Civilization
    Museum Of London
    Nathan Coley
    National Sports Centre
    Nature
    Niagara Falls
    Olympics
    Online
    Open House London
    Oscar Wilde
    Ottawa
    Paparazzi
    Photojournalism
    Photo Manipulation
    Police
    Power
    Privacy
    Project
    Public Places
    Quakers
    Quebec
    Railway Stations
    Ramblers
    Reflection
    Renzo Piano
    Riots
    River Thames
    Royal Arsenal
    Royal Liver Building
    Royal Ontario Museum
    Rural
    Salisbury Cathedral
    Scotland
    Seo
    Shadow
    Shepherds Bush
    Side Streets
    Sir Giles Gilbert Scott
    Snow
    Somerset
    South Bank
    South Downs
    Spain
    Spirituality
    Sports
    Spring
    Stairs
    St James
    Stonehenge
    St Pancras Station
    Street Art
    Street Photography
    Summer
    Sunflower
    Surrey
    Sussex
    Sydenham Hill Wood
    Technology
    Terrorism
    Texture
    Thames
    The Crystal Palace
    The Shard
    Tim Hetherington
    Toronto
    Tower Bridge
    Train
    Transport
    Uk
    Urban
    Valentine
    Velvia
    Viaduct
    Walter Aubrey Thomas
    Wapping
    War
    Water
    Waterloo
    Weather
    Westfield Shopping Centre
    Westminster
    William Pye
    Wiltshire
    Winter
    Winter Solstice
    Woodbrooke
    Woolwich
    York
    York Minster
    Yorkshire

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.