Photography 1: People and Place Assignment 4 (Rev)

Assignment 4: A Sense of Place (Revised)

Original version can be found at 15/01/2013

As a result of comments from received from my tutor I have revised the blog entry for assignment 4.  The revised version is given below:

For this assignment I imagined that I was on an assignment for an intelligent, thoughtful travel publication that demanded a considered, in-depth treatment.

I chose a city near to my home, St Albans in Hertfordshire.  My reason for choosing the city of St Albans was my familiarity with it, having worked there for many years.  I felt that as I know the city well, I would have a good appreciation of what its spaces and buildings mean for the people who live in and among them.  In the photographs that I took during the assignment I aimed to create a selection of a dozen images that would show the character of the place.  From these twelve images I chose to recommend 6 images that would be suitable to fill six pages.

In addition, I wanted to show the parts of the city that mean the most to me.  Although it is hard to give the viewer an in-depth appreciation of a large city in six images, I tried to include a sense of how I enjoyed having the opportunity to show off my hometown.

I have concentrated on showing the architecture of the city rather than the people living in it because I feel that it is a city's buildings that capture its character.  They also provide a narrative of the historical development of the place.

St Albans is a fairly large city, situated on a hilltop approximately 30 miles from the centre of London.  Although home to many new residents, some from overseas who travel to work in London, St Albans has a long history dating back to the days of the Roman occupation of Britain and possibly before.  Its large street market, held on Wednesdays and Saturdays was given its royal charter in medieval times and is a direct link to the city’s history.  The types of stalls in the market reflect the demands of the current population.  Artisan produce, such as speciality bread and locally produced fine cheese as well as international products are now more popular than the traditional food stalls that would have made up the market in previous times.

The city centre’s layout has been dictated by the original positions of the wooden medieval warehouses.  These warehouses had small gaps or alleyways between them linking the main thoroughfares.  These “gaps” have been retained as the buildings were built and rebuilt over the original wooden structures.  I have tried to show this feature of the city photographically.

Although St Albans is in every respect a modern city, it still has many reminders of its long history.  The cathedral was originally the parish church for an important Abbey that once dominated the city.  The roman road, Watling Street runs through the city on its journey north from London.  Thus it was an important staging post and administrative centre.  The city, although largely urban, has many trees and green spaces that give a “country feel” to some parts.

Each period in history has left its mark on St Albans and I have attempted to show this in my choice of photographs.

The choice of six photographs was very difficult for such a varied and interesting city like St Albans.  I feel that I have succeeded in giving a flavour of the place through the chosen images.  I have chosen the 6 images that work best together as a set and also provide variety in both subject matter and scale.

Had I approached the assignment by simply taking photographs with no end-result in mind I would have concentrated on the central area of the city.  However I have tried to give a flavour of the history that is held within the side streets and surrounding areas of the city.

(Image 1 - 3067) A Tudor coaching inn now used as a restaurant with Thai cuisine rather than traditional English fare.

I have substituted image 3067 for image 3058 as the building shown has a more dynamic 3-dimensional aspect.  It also demonstrates how the usage of some of the old buildings in the city has changed along with the tastes of the inhabitants.  The image shows an old coaching inn now operating as a restaurant serving Thai food instead of standard English fare.

(Image 2 - 3060) Many grand houses, built by merchants line the roads into the city.

(Image 3 - 3113) Artisan bread is sold in the market.

I have changed my choice of image from 3072 to 3113.  This is because image 3113 shows the type of produce being sold in the market now for the current inhabitants of the city.  The image also includes part of the old cobbled street of the market place.

(Image 4 - 3127) The river Ver, one of the reasons why the Roman occupiers chose this location for their city, Verulamium.  The brick tower is part of the old water mill.  The building's use has changed to a restaurant serving waffles.

The image of the cathedral, (3086) has been replaced by image 3127 of the river Ver and an old water mill.  I feel that this image, which includes the waterway on which the city was founded in Roman times and the water mill shows the past industrial history of St Albans.  The building's use has changed from a mill grinding corn from local fields to a restaurant serving waffles.  Once again this change of use demonstrates the changing demands of the local population.

(Image 5 - 3093) This low-level window lintel has been ground out by generations of school children using coins as they waited for the bus near the old county school.

I have altered the saturation and contrast of this image slightly to further bring out the grinding by the school children on the bricks of the lintel.

(Image 6 - 3120) The layout of the city centre has been dictated by the original positions of the wooden medieval warehouses.  These warehouses had small gaps or alleyways between them linking the main thoroughfares.  These "gaps" have been retained as the buildings were built and rebuilt over the original wooden structures.

Additional images produced are shown below:

(3062) Ryder Seed Hall, originally used for sorting seeds, now a restaurant serving French cuisine.

(3066) Clock tower in the city centre.

(3086) St Albans Cathedral.  Once the parish church for the Abbey that dominated the city before the reformation.

I have edited this image to exclude the wall on the left side of the frame as it was distracting.  I have also straightened the verticals and lightened the shadows slightly.  These edits have improved the balance of the image and corrected the unintended converging verticals.

(3131) Jogger in the St Michaels area of the city.

(3058) A Tudor inn situated on a main route into the city centre.

In this image I have corrected the unintended sloping horizontals and verticals of the building to make it closer to the building that I observed.

(3072) The twice weekly market, although consisting of stalls selling the produce demanded by a modern, more sophisticated population dates back to medieval times and provides a direct link to the city's history.