Laundrette
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This section reflects on photography done by the artists, Pei Ketron, and Wolfgang Tillmans.
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Photos of The Laundrette
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Reflection of the laundrette photography project.
Pei Ketron
I think that Pei Ketron is trying to convey that the past is the past, nothing can be changed that has already happened. I see this as the fog being the past, the green grass and the less foggy areas as the present and what is behind the photographer as the future as it cannot be seen. I see the human-like figure at the end of the path, deep into the fog as a symbolic representation of yourself in the past and the fog has surrounded and engulfed them, freezing them in time.
With my final images, I wanted to try and keep all of them very linear and along the same path with the key focus being what is in the centre of the image. This image heavily influenced my chosen creative path due to the lines used and the figure deep in the fog. By using the trees and the path as the main lines of the image, it gives the audience somewhat of a direction to look. I wanted this in my shots as the main focus was with the sign on the building, the person in the laundrette, or the door at the end of the hallway.
(Ketron, P, 2020)
Wolfgang Tillmans
O. M. is a self-portrait of Wolfgang Tillman’s after the death of his partner, Jochen Klein. The place is very important to the purpose and story of this photo, Wolfgang sitting in a small empty room, surrounded by rubbish, paintings, and moving boxes. Wolfgang sitting just off the centre of the room while looking off into the distance in despair, as if he is looking straight through the camera, while also having his back turned on the world behind him almost like the world has betrayed him. This photo was taken while cleaning out Jochen Klein after his death.
This image was a big influence on my work, from the way the image is framed to how the colours are comprised. I took inspiration, especially in my last image, from the kind of openness of the shot, but also felt very closed off at the same time. Another thing I took inspiration from is how the image is framed, By being able to keep the image linear it allows the audience to focus on the main point of the image, this being Wolfgang.
(o.M., Wolfgang Tillmans 1997)
Reflection
The place that I decided to photograph is the Carlton Nth Laundrette located at 312 Rathdowne St, Carlton North VIC 3054. I chose the laundrette for this series because I believe that it is a very unique place and has a very real purpose in everyone’s day-to-day life. A laundry mat is a place that only serves one purpose, doing laundry, It is not a place where people meet up, it’s not even a place that has some community, it is just a laundry mat, dark and gloomy. My goal within my series was to try and capture this.
I have arranged my images in my series to give the perspective of a customer using the facilities of the laundrette, I have chosen to do this as I believe that it is the best way to have the intent of this series completely understood. By framing the image from across the street it gives the perspective of walking across the road to enter the laundrette, then to entering standing out the front of the laundrette where you can see a customer waiting, to walking inside, then to take a seat where the customer just was, and then to move down towards the washing machines and dryers.
During the shooting of these images, my main focus was to try and keep a very linear framing with all of the images in the series and somewhat try and give the perspective of being a person using the laundrette. I also wanted to try and get as many of the paintings on the wall within the image to try and give some colour to a rather dark place.
First of all, my main priority was to get permission to shoot at this location which was granted, and the needed documentation signed, as can be seen at the top of the document. My main plan for these images was to go at the correct time of the day, I decided night would be a great time of day to capture the laundrette, this was because I thought that the light from the laundrette gave off a nice contrast against the signs from the outside. I also chose night so there weren’t as many people using the laundrette, but as can be seen in the first two images I asked my partner to sit down in the seats, so the images showed that the laundrette was in use.