I began this shoot with Bill speaking to me about the different sort of services they provide at Love Coventry. It isn't just a place for people to drop their unwanted furniture for it to be sold on or given to people who have nothing. But it is a place for anyone in the community of Coventry to grow and advance. They do this by providing work experience, but if you have a certain trade they will get you doing that in the warehouse, such as appliance repairs or carpentry. Bill said that one girl reclaims older furniture and brings it back to life for it to be sold on for profit. The business plan for her is that anything she brings in herself and sells, she will be able to keep 80% of the profit and the othwe 20% goes to Love Coventry and anything she does up and sells which was already in Love Coventry they split the profit 50/50. This means she has an incentive to work hard to reap the rewards, and also sets her up an easy business plan of making as much profit as possible.
Another story he told me about was an Iranian man who was a refugee and found Love Coventry through a Church who suggested he went to get help with furnishing his house from there. After Love Coventry helped him, he wanted to start work there, which they agreed too. They found out that he could repair old watches, so they bought im a box of old broken watches for him to repair and sell on. In the first month he had already made nearly 2 thousand profit.
These stories show how Love Coventry like some of the other churches and charities try to help change peoples lives in the long term instead of just short term, and give them the life skills and experience which sets them up in the future. And as well as providing furniture to those who can't afford to furnish their own home, Bill and his team will do their best to put people in touch with those that can house people if they don't have on of their own.
Keeping in mind the development that my photographic technique had undergone since starting this second half of my project, I began to photograph the warehouse and tried to use Objectified as inspiration.
This image is one of my strongest from the shoot which I believe shows Shulman and DeHarts influences in my practice. This is through capturing the image in a way which shows off the architectural aspects of the building, while bringing it to life through the use of natural lighting and vibrance in the different colours. I don't think this connects closely with Objectified though.
This image on the other hand I think connects strongly with Objectified because as you can see the main focus of this image is the Bauhaus styled chest in the centre of the frame. What I like about this image, is the fact that it looks very minimalist, but there is actually a lot of objects and visuals going on in the background. The object in this image is the main focus and it connects with how its going to be used again which implements its sustainable factors.
This is another image that I think is really strong from this shoot. It shows an old Ikea bed which has been used and then taken down to be re-used in the future. The image shows an object which isn't being used for what it was designed for and is waiting for the life to be put back into it from something buying or it being given to someone. I think the white and the blue also contrast well with the surrounding objects which make them stand out even further.
This image again shows two old washing machines, as the main focus of the image, which aren't being used for the only purpose so they are sat in the warehouse looking very out of place next to the other furniture. It makes the viewer think about where they will end up after they have been re-used and moved on.
This section was in the back and used by the girl who takes old furniture and re-claims it, bring the pieces back to life, to be sold on in the future. I love how the light creates shadows on the sheets, which thus make the viewer think about the unveiling of this bright new product from and old and tired one.
Again the lighting in the warehouse which seconds as a showroom, was very easy to work with and highlighted the different objects in the room well. Which meant that even though I was capturing landscape images which included a lot of visual information, through the use of natural light highlighting I could present the viewer with one object which I was singling out as the main object in the photograph. The different colours and materials is what makes these images very visually pleasing to look at.
I think this is another Shulman inspired photograph, where they image of a very boring scene is brought to life with the inclusion of the hanging lights and shadows cast on the walls. I think in this image, the main object focus is actually the lights which is an invention that we would struggle to live without. I love how the bottom half of this image is very messy but the top half is minimal and calm.
This was their mock studio set-up which they used when photographing their objects before putting them on Ebay with a description. I think using the old curtains and laminate flooring is very clever and makes the viewer think about making the best out of what they've got, which connects to the entire ideology of my project.
This is one of my favourite images from the shoot, because the scene looks very surreal. Part of it looks like your instead a normal family house and then the background reminds you that your still in a warehouse. Its the little addition like the flowers to the image which bring it to life, and give it human aspects.
Only Bill was there for this shoot, which meant I could only capture a portrait of him. Because I had spoken to him for so long, I believe it was very easy to make him feel comfortable in front of the camera which shows in his facial expression for the portrait. This is another one of my strong images from this shoot, and I think the backgrounds gives great context to the viewer of where Bill is and what sort of volunteering he takes part in.
Even though I like this portrait as well, and I think the sheet and duvet pile in the background looks more impressive, I prefer the portrait above because I think think the overall composition of the image is more minimal which makes it easier on the eye. I also think the image above lets the viewer look at the objects in greater detail because you can see them more.
This is another good image from this shoot, which shows a sofa that looks like it has been sat in many times and is of an old style. Because I put the sofa in the centre of the image, you can tell that I'm forcing the viewer to think about the past that this sofa has gone through and then make them think about the help and support it could offer in the future.
This image is quite unusual because there isn't an object in the shoot which I am trying to capture more than any other. But I think the mirror reflection makes for an interesting composition, one that brings life and excitement to them images which reflects what the charity provides to other people.
This image forces the viewer to look upon the lamp, but I think that it is forced too much on the viewer, and is why the image doesn't feel very comfortable to look at. I think if the lamp was further away and highlighted using natural light, it would have made more of an impact on me.
Like before I think the light creates nice highlights and shadows on the sheets and half finished furniture which draws the subjects gaze into the photograph because they want to know whats under the sheet and makes them look to the future to think about what they will look like when there finished.
This image doesn't single out an object as much as some of my others have, but I think that the floating ceiling lights brings enough movement and life to the piece anyway which catches the viewers eye and makes them overlook the messy foreground and focus on the simple and suspended background.
I think the chairs create a nice repetition effect, and the exercise bike was something that the designer would have never thought his product would end up here. The bed pieces don't look as impacting here, because the viewer doesn't really get to see what it is from the back instead of the front.
I think this image changes my technique again, and follows on from some of the old close up photographs I used to take. I prefer the other pictures that I have taken of the large pile of sheets and duvets, because in this image you don't get any sense of scale or where this large pile is placed within the warehouse which ends up giving the viewer more information which is interesting to process.
From the outside Love Coventry is a very plain and boring looking building, but on the inside it is full of life and different activities going on at all times. And I think the sign, 'Somebody can't do everything but everybody can do something' sums up this half of my project really well. Because with more support and donations, it would be easier to help even more people than they are managing at the moment.
I think this last shoot worked well to show the viewer, what kind of objects Love Coventry had in their warehouse which people could either buy, or some of it ended up being donated to families who have nothing. I think that by watching Objectified, made me change my technique in a way to focus on single objects in busy surroundings which I think through the use of lighting and compositions I have managed to do.
I also think that in this last shoot I have shown another side to the support story which shows the viewer how more people are helping those who have nothing. Through looking at different artists including Luisa Whitton, Dennis DeHart and Julius Shulman I have changed the focus of my photographic eye, meaning that I now shoot these scenes in a very individual way.
I think this shoot being my last shoot to my series ends it in a really go place which makes sense, because I started my project by looking at how the homeless people were trying to make lives for themselves in tents in Central Manchester, and now I have ended it by looking at those who support and offer furniture as well as advice to those who need it the most in Coventry.