Professional Frameworks 1: December 2012

In The City

Overview & Rationale

The city of Manchester is one of the busiest and bigger cities of the United Kingdom. The world known writer Joseph Brodsky stated that in a city everything is king size and that it has at the same time beauty and ugliness. I agree with that statement however for me a city is about the people. The people bring the city into life and therefore the ugliness or the beauty is based on the people’s acts. But what are the reasons for a person going to the city? In my point of view, the main reasons are for jobs, shopping or the using of the services of those jobs and of course the entertainment. Even if this seems like an ideal place for living or just spending a day there, there are many issues created by that gathering.

First of all, cities are known for their traffic.

Moreover, there is the environmental pollution by the rubbish and the means of transport.

Finally and most important, is the crime which is created by many ways and for different reasons. People are stealing, destroying and getting into fights.

As mentioned above, there are many reasons for a person to go to the city but as I can see for my experience, each activity has its own time. When it is day, the city is full of life as people are spending their day for shopping, relaxing to a café, enjoying a nice sunny day or just having a walk and staring at shop windows and at the shows in the streets. On the other hand, at nights, the city is different. There is no more traffic or too many people in the streets, the shops are close but the clubs and bars are open. Most people are dressed up different and some of them are drunk and that is because of the bars and the clubs.

Aims & Objectives

Markus Hartel is a street photographer where the style of his photography is black-and-white, high-contrast look, and closeness or intimacy of a subject. He stated that “My pictures are not necessarily pretty, but they do show beautiful moments of the urban jungle” Moreover, “My work is about a grand scheme, city life, and that’s it. Raw. No secret formula.”

Markus Hartel

For me Markus Hartel is an inspiration as from his photographs I can see the real city. His photographs are showing the everyday life of the city without any pretty themes or fake scenes and therefore the beauty in his photography is all about the reality of a city.

Markus Hartel

Based on his work I will also try to show how I see the real city and the people who are giving the city character and life.

For my Assignment I will try to show how I see the city at the time of the day as well as the time of the night. As I stated, for me the city is all about the people where their activities are giving to the city different character. In a city I always see people shopping or having a cup of coffee or just walking ,I always see traffic and at the nights, I always see empty streets and people dressed up for going out. Even if I see it every time thought, I know that this is the actual city, all the buildings and places are there and are considered cities because of what people are choosing to do, their acts.

Accordingly, I will prepare photographs showing the activities of the people which are only identified in the city. Moreover I will show how the city is transforming from a day to night and finally I will show both the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ side of a city. This difference of good and bad are considered to be the bad habits that people have in the city such as the pollution.