Thoughts coming together

I have gathered a number of images that describe communication devices in the village where I live, they are explicitly connecting the village and it's inhabitants to the world beyond it's boundaries. The short (still growing) list is as below.

Definitely not finished yet - need to refine to firstly ensure the assignment brief is met - may need to do some more exercises - and, ensure the underlying narrative is clearly developed. The first image linking to the last, the need for the village to communicate to survive, the insularity of the village over time being eroded.

Tracks, paths and bridleways.

The oldest means of communication (after speech of course) being travel. The tracks, paths and bridleways that, whilst now used infrequently, are still part of the fabric of the community that established links with neighbouring villages and trading . As the residents have changed and the rate of evolution seeming to rapidly increase in the last few decades, the links to the outlying villages and communities have dwindled in use. These old routes seem to offer a corollary to that change, where the tracks and public footpaths are now longer used as arterial connections they are used by the villagers to walk, to enjoy, to forage amongst the wild fruits that were sown either purposely by the former villagers or, accidentally, by those same villagers as they went about their business of communicating via trade with others.

The track on the left leads to a barn on the smallest farm in the area. The farmer (Brian) has had to supplement his income by not only taking work as a builder but, has also allowed the use by mobile 'phone companies to site their base stations and masts on his land, more later. The photograph on the right above has a curved path that leads bottom right in an arc to almost bottom left, following a footpath between Westcote Barton and Middle Barton.The image below left is the track to Purgatory, which is now a derelict settlement and the track is almost impassable through most of the winter. The triangular structure leads the eye into the image, though whilst the graphical image resolves easily, I sense a foreboding and that may be because I have heard all the local rumour about the reason for this remote settlement. That it was perhaps to do with the plague and isolationsim, certainly the nearest church yard has a covenant that forbids the digging of a certain part of the grave yard for a few hundred years yet. The photograph opposite Purgatory is Mill Lane in the centre of the village, connecting South Street to North Street. Mill lane was, of course, where one of the mills in the Bartons was sited (there were several) and, as such, was a major thoroughfare in the community. The sweeping curves takes the traveller around the "run-off" from the mill, which is still there, and, subsequently, to the ford across the river Dorn the flow of which was used to power the mill.

Signs: working, subliminal and, well, simply incorrect.

The sign-post on the image below left shows a bridleway to Duns Tew; this takes the traveller via Brian's farm (Holliers Farm) and the mobile 'phone base stations. The track is used reasonably often, that is assuming Brian hasn't placed his rather large Charolais bull in the field. The image contains a number of verticals, an implied triangle or two and the photograph is dominated by two points, the fence post and the sign post. The kissing gate below right was originally sited to link the public footpaths that crossed the divide denoted by the fence; but interestingly the rope is now tied such that the gate cannot be opened and the public is therefore ushered to a walk this side of the fence. I focussed the camera on the rope, though the knot is hidden, to highlight this idiosyncrasy, But, nevertheless, the image is constructed on two crossing verticals and the single construct dominates the photograph.

This signpost does (currently) lean this far over; it has clearly been shifted by some force or other, maybe a 4X4 reversing up the lane in which it is situated (the footpath actually leads away from the lane across the fields). There are several elements of design in the picture, but I thought it an interesting allegory for how villagers tend to give information to "new-comers". If you are a villager you don't need a sign to tell you where the foot paths are - so why have a sign? And if you aren't a villager you will need to work some stuff out for yourself! Make an investment! Those of us who have moved to a village will recognise that early (half a generation or so) alienation that comes from being a "new-comer". We have been in the village, once described by a estate agent as "the village of the damned" because once you arrive you never ever leave, for nearly 30 years. Curiously, we intend only to leave when courting our mortal coil.

The two views of the same sign post give another sense to the previous image. The signs are there for anyone else - the insiders can read the obverse side of the sign and still have a better idea where they are. I also like the way the sign bends around the corner, I have absolutely no idea how or why the signs are distorted - but there they are. Apropos the brief, well these are weak on that score I think and may be culled. Clearly there are a lot of verticals and horizontals , but they may not enough.

Bus stop

Keeping to a chronological scheme, public transport in the village is becoming another vestigial service; barely hanging on to provide a continuum that has barely lasted a century. This bus stop, one of two in the village with a roof, standing next to a "lock-up" has certain characteristics required in the assignment brief. It was/is also a meeting point, so local rumour has it, for trade in what are euphemistically termed "social" drugs. The trader arrives, in what has to be private transport, with the delivery, to meet the local market needs, just as the horse drawn carriage would have done a couple of centuries ago, with other goods I suspect.

Post box and notice for all.

The photograph opposite delivers extra in colour. It was taken to provide two distinct points - the red of the post box which matched with the red of the sign on the telegraph pole. In deriving the image in a similar treatment to the rest of the series it loses it's impact. The post box which has for a century or more been the formal means to communicate to the outside world; again a dwindling communication means, the sign however warns the the world that "This is a Country Watch Area". Who is watching whom? 

New (relatively) roads

Interconnectedness, the village has its hardware connection via the road system. I say hardware as the internet is the other way of connecting. But the infrastructure has developed considerably even in the time I have been in the village, the existence of the village is now predicated on "outsiders" coming to live in the cottages that were occupied by villagers who have either left or simply expired. The young villagers now are leaving, either to seek a broader canvass or lower cost dwellings. The road sweeps around a curve as it exits the village.

The next image of the same road a little closer to the village shows a divergence to another village, again there are sweeping curves, but I see the sign - for road narrowing" as a sort of plea to try and hold onto the people from the village, or to at least not to go at too fast a pace.                                            The photograph below is a contrary image to the above photographs in that is an entrance shot, it guides the viewer into the village. I focussed the lens on the post to the right and kept the depth of focus as short as possible singling out the post as the dominant point in the image.

Telegraph pole (interesting they are still referred to as telegraph and not telephone) with and without signs.

What I saw in the first image is the multiple use of the telegraph pole as a communicator, there are police notices, public notices, technical information notices and around the village there are all sorts of notices on these poles turning these passive erections into communicants to and for the community. However the first image, whilst it does have an array of geometric elements isn't a very strong graphical image so may be culled. However I do like the message the pole brings to communication and may seek out a better example for the assignment.

The other "pole" shots have a veritable profusion of angular, triangular, diagonal elements providing a geometrician's utopian view of the village I reside in. I notice that some need further work as they tend to suggest a less than vertical world!

There are two images amongst the "Poles"here that might stand for "single points, but the photograph below would fit the two point requirement I think. I like it because the one pole echoes the other, and there is a direct link between the two. Additionally there are plenty of examples of design that are built in via composition.

Leading to the latest communication device the mobile 'phone

The fence that separates the viewer from the mobile 'phone base station has a very regular rhythmic patten that itself provides some cover for the ventilation slits in the box, also a very set patten and the the main panels equally dividing the image into two distinct labels. Pattens and rhythms. But the metaphor of the fence keeping us away from the means of communication is very strong in this area around the twin base stations owned by Orange and T3.

The sinusiodal barbed wire offers an sensuous curve as it seeks to protect the base station from intrusive outside intervention. Whilst the mast, composed across the diagonal occupies a very dominant single point in the frame, the wisp of cloud suggesting the smoke of an overheated amplifier?

These last two photographs both offer patten, rhythm, angular elemental construction and continue with the theme of isolating the means of communication from the people who increasingly come to depend on it for that very thing. Without it, this Mercurial monument situated in Brian's field amongst the medieval tracks and Charolais excrement the village would be less stable, less integrated into the wider and narrower community and potentially more prone to further diminution and dilution.

Some new ideas

I have started to look at a small corner of the village, it is about 200 yards from where I live, so no great difficulty trekking to the site! The place is at cross roads in time and the local farmer, to make ends meet, has allowed two mobile phone operators (I thought there were three) to mount their base stations there. It also happens to be on a old footpath to the next village and the new installations are annexed to a large barn that holds hay and feed for the Charolais cattle that are reared for their beef.
So the interest is focussed around the idea of communication, from the pathways that were set down in the middle ages or even beyond to the adjoining village, in this case Duns Tew. Whilst I am not totally sure about how this exercise is going to pan out I have starting to try and combine the exercise requirements, which are about elemental compositional structure and juxtaposing this with images in and around the site. We'll see what develops!


The "lead-in" shot(s). The sign post to Duns Tew and the path way to the next fence and the barn and mobile phone base stations - the beacon rising from the back of the barn. The sign post shot, whilst it has some geometric value, doesn't do enough to bring the viewer in, it needs space whereas the pathway shot has the track that leads to the site of specific interest.

I have decided that if I decide to tone then there will be a single tone across the assignment and if I make that decision then it is likely to the tone of these four immediately below.

An alternate view, with what might become the preferred treatment. The square crop is tighter and more dynamic, the upper shot seems looser - less directive. The verticals and horizontals, triangle seem stronger also on the alternate view. The shot on the right is not dissimilar that the first version but toned to provide consistency

The barbed wire stays - left - is a very geometric utilitarian structure with a number of design elements integrated in its form. The tall spindle have a triangular shape implied in their collective ends. There is a strong rhythm to the spindles and the tie ends as well as triangles associated with the main mounting pillar. The telegraph pole could well be described as a single point which dominates the image, it has an echo with the next pole, linked with telegraph wire into a  number of triangular shapes.

 The bales (in the barn) are of course horizontals/ verticals. The rotated double barbed wire exhibits curve and points and whilst it has geometrc value brings little contextual currency to this project, which is a shame as I deliberately captured this with as little background as possible to isolate it. So, there's a lesson, keep in mind the context for the shot.

The beacon below is a strong diagonal in the ay I composed it - it could just as easily be a vertical, but it would have been less dynamic and the whiff of a cloud that trails the peak of the tower adds a little drama. I think the sensual curvature of the barbed wire is a natural juxtaposition of the role it provides

I'm wondering about the shot with the curving barbed wire. Whilst I don't belong to a camera club, I have a feeling that a predictable response would be to "keep the horizon on the level" and the foreground horizon of the fence dominates and throws the image into some confusion. I'll need to think about this.

 The signpost, pushed to one side by some force or other provides a number of strong design constructs. However within a series it could tie in with the reverse of the signpost - in that it mis-directs, it mis-informs. The fencing, opposite, surrounds the "Orange" mobile 'phone base station. There are lots of verticals, lots of horizontals, a triangle and a clear composition that deflects the gaze to the right hand side of the image, away from the "Orange" mobile 'phone base station that provide essential and non-essential comunication within and without the village.

I have included in this draft a number of close-up shots to isolate some of the feelings that I gathered from the site. There are some clear elemental shapes that have come out; the diagonal beacon, the curve of the barbed wire, the combination of curve and diagonal on the close up of the barbed wire.

The shots, above and below, are of one of the fenced-in base stations (T-Mobile, I think) and I have mixed feelings about both. The mono treatment reduces the impact of the warning triangle (which I tried to include in individual apertures in the fence), however the fencing is bolder in the mono version. If anyone reads this I would appreciate their view!

These shots (above and below), from an EoD perspective are about rhythm, pattern and geometric shape but they are also about containment. The fencing to keep people away from the base station that itself enables people to get together and the couplings which tether the barbed wire around the compound. I think the shot with the single barb would be the one to keep.

Communications and communicating:

All roads lead to Rome.

I have added some photographs that have geometric shapes incorporated in roads and tracks in and around the village. I was looking for lines of construction, lines that connected this village, its people, its community with the world. So, lines of construction that were in fact lines of communication - the sweep of the road as it leaves Westcote Barton, the junction to Sandford as the two roads join exiting to the left of the image and flowing down and out. The track to Purgatory is a delightful walk in the sun and has a lot of potential for photographic study; here is a triptych made some time ago:

This maybe too small, but it gives an impression of isolation, maybe desolation for the people who lived there many years ago. However I digress. The Purgatory track photograph has a neat triangular element, together with strong "lead-in" lines that draw the viewer into the shot, whilst the heavy foliage keeps the attention moving towards the point of resolution.

The exception that I notice about these four photographs, and, when I look at others that I haven't brought to this entry, is about exit. The shots that I have taken are predominantly about leaving the village - the village is very often behind the view of the camera. The exception being the public footpath, which is a circular shot i.e. the line of travel follows the fence and revolves around the tree-line and starts to had back to the point at which it starts from, almost resolving at the point it starts from - going nowhere. I had been considering how the demographics of the village will alter as more and more of the younger generation move out to be replaced with older, wealthier people. Maybe I had exodus sub-conscienslouly reverberating in my mind as I turned the camera away from the village to watch them leave?

The road leaving (in this composition) the village to Enstone.













At the turn-off to Sandford St Martin and away to Enstone.

 A public foot-path from Westcote Barton towards Middle Barton, following the field edge and curving round from the right to the left

The track to Purgatory, right - a small settlement -now uninhabited from Steeple Barton. It gained the name of Purgatory as it was about 2 miles from the settlement to the nearest habitation and this track gets very muddy with only a small amount of rain.

The reverse of a signpost at the Sandford St Martin end of Westcote Barton. Signposts are designed to provide basic communication, the reverse shot provides no information and prevents the flow of information. Perhaps this is a reaction to the effect of people leaving the village - the road to nowhere?

The barbed wire, with a gentle sinusoidal wave seeks to protect the mobile 'phone base station, itself a communication device for the people that it is providing protection from.

Again, more fence shots. Post impressions, looking at the selection, is that I have a strong feeling of exclusion; of the architecture in this tiny area being designed to keep people away, which I suppose is as it should be. Maybe the design is supposed to be precautionary, perhaps that what was in the design brief? Rhythm and pattern on the left and horizontals on the right.





Well my first impressions aren't that good! The mix doesn't seem right and the indiscriminate processing doesn't help to pull this together as a cohesive set. I have appeared to have included too many barbed wire shots, but the bard wire is a modern invention (at least in the context of the twin periods I am attempting to link) and I see it as important. The vertical barb wire is almost a written sign, a hieroglyph, that is telling people to beware - stay away, do not come near. Right next to this site, literally adjoining this barbed area off is a gate, it can be seen in the long shot of the barn (intro shot), which has an array of signs  which are quite threatening to people who might want to exercise their right of way towards Duns Tew.

I'm fairly sure that Brian (for that is the farmer's name) would shoot a dog that troubled his very valuable Charolais cattle - except that his herd never use this field. However this pathway is on a very old route that is open to all and sundry - not sure it looks that way and when Brian gets belligerent he lets his bull loose in the field. What I really quite enjoyed about Brian's signs is that he appears to have developed his own font, clearly the "after" is very important and when I saw this I thought that he had got carried away with his emotion and forgot the "f" and had to squeeze it in afterwards, but no, there is another similar sign leading into this field that has a similar construct. I'll ask him about it the next time we get some eggs from him (I'll also ask how many dogs he's shot!).

I need to look closer for a wider range of design elements - which may come from the images that I've taken over the last couple of days - including single and multiple points and a few others.



Post addition thoughts are that my thoughts are starting to come together - I am thinking that the assignment should be about communication and it's converse. How the symbols we take for granted, roads, tracks, fences, signs etc are part of a web of communication devices and how we can reverse the interconnectedness of everything very easily either by damage or by mis-reading.