Statement of intention and mood boards...

My chosen exam question is 'Track'. My initial ideas are to portray a journey of someone and the tracks they make within that journey, and also a way of keeping track of their journey. For this idea I am inspired by the work of Richard Long who is a 69 year old artist who takes photographs of different landscapes and uses natural forms such as rocks to create the track of someones journey,whether that be in the form of a trail or a marking in the grass. To develop my work further I will use natural landscapes and surroundings to create these trails and tracks of peoples journeys. Another initial idea is to use a railway track and take pictures of people on the tracks in the distance and the woodland/landscape in the background to symbolise the idea of someones journey further. For my exam project I intend to use ideas from Richard Longs work and develop it further as I mentioned above. Also using roads and paths to create the idea of someones journey and using natural objects such as flowers or rocks to portray the track they left behind.

 I am going to incorporate some documentary photography into my title as I like the idea of 'keeping track' of an event ,place or people, and keeping a record of those events in the form of photographs. Mary Ellen Mark is a documentary photographer whose work inspired me to document a record of events, to portray the idea of keeping track of something,whether that be a relationship,or a day out with family or just peoples natural paths on the way to work. She takes a lot of her documentary photographs on streets with derelict backgrounds and portrays the run down atmosphere of the area. For my work I am going to use inspiration from Mary Ellen Marks work and create my own documentary series of images documenting a family event or just family life. 

Another photographer that has inspired me for this question is Sophie Calle. She takes images of hotel rooms and portrays peoples personal and private lives through images of their belongings and possessions in their homes,such as clothes, shoes, and dressing tables. 

For the development of my work I am going to incorporate the theme of a journey of someone's life or day to day things or a day in the life of someone. To photograph this I will take inspiration from both Sophie Calle and Mary Ellen Mark as they both use a kind of documentary photography for there work. I will document different events or objects that make up someone's journey or something that symbolises them in an image. I will then incorporate some of Richard Longs style for work by photographing different track whether that be train tracks, bus tracks, footprints, car tyres or even just a muddy path. I will then layer the documentary images underneath the different images of natural tracks and by doing this I will portray the journey of someone and the way they make tracks and leave tracks behind. For example having an images of a day out and overlapping footprints over the top to show the journey or track they created.



The first mood board represents the more literal and obvious portrayal of track,such as creating your own tracks and photographing natural tracks, which have been naturally made through the environment and surroundings. I have chosen to develop these ideas from looking at Richard Longs work. 

The second mood board represents the more hidden portrayal of the word 'track'. It represents a journey of people or a person and the track they leave behind. It also symbolises the 'keeping track' side of track, a way of documenting and tracking memories,events,days and relationships. I have chosen to develop this side of 'track' from looking at Mary Ellen Marks work and Sophie Calles work who both use a form of documentary photography.