Micro Project: An Urban Dérive – Overground on the London Underground – click ‘read more’ above to view.

Micro Project outline: In pairs set a short creative brief taking inspiration from this weeks topics.
I paired with Howard Pratt his brief was as follows:Micro project with a two hour limit.

Using the psychogeography/derive and the London Underground map, choose a local station and follow on foot the route to the next three stations along the same line. The direction that you travel in is your choice.

Needless to say the route on foot may well be different to the actual route taken by the train.

Your project should record choices made during the journey both photographically and in writing, showing:

• any alternative road routes from which you picked one
• why you chose the original direction of travel along the train line

At each station (including the starting point) record the exit or entrance attempting to sum it up in one overall image that you feel makes that station entrance unique.

I chose to shoot hand held due to the sensitivity of photographing around underground stations & in Transport for London zones, these have restrictions such as no tripods as well as security concerns. This restriction precluded my 1st choice of shooting in daylight, on a tripod, with a slow shutter speed during peak hour to capture the blur of outpouring commuters. My 2nd choice was in the vein of Brassaï’s ‘excursions into the dark streets of Paris’ works. The ‘noise’ resulting from the high ISO needed for hand held exposures taken at night led me to using the final warm monotone finish which worked with the noise or grain & is also often used as a representation of the past .

My brief to Howard was as follows:

Take a ‘Urban Derive’ in a local town of you choice.
Time frame 2 hours.
From a central point, on foot, follow the pattern below.
-Include a route map with your final images.
-Keep track of your creative thought processes.
second right,
second right,
first left
repeat
(or as close to the pattern as is practicable, the point being to take an unplanned path)
-Take an image showing movement at each intersection, i.e. slow shutter or panning. It can be of the intersection or close by.
-On each ‘repeat’ stop for 2 minutes, isolate & make a close-up detail shot.

You will find Howards micro project linked here scroll down to “Week 7 Activity: Micro Project”

Bibliography
Temple: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple,_London).
Brassaï: born Gyula Halász 1899 (https://bonjourparis.com/history/paris-photographers-brassai-the-transylvanian-eye/)

Dérive and Psychogeography: Developed by French Situationalist philosopher Guy Debord in 1958, Debord used this technique to study architecture and the urban environment. Dérive is a technique of rapid passage through varied surroundings. A ‘drifter’ explores the built environment (the concrete jungle) without preconceptions. Derive in an Urban Setting: Situationists found contemporary architecture both physically and ideologically restrictive, combining with outside cultural influence, effectively creating an undertow, and forcing oneself into a certain system of interaction with their environment. From a derive point of view, cities have psychogeographical contours, with constant currents, fixed points and vortexes that strongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zones. Psychogeography: the study of specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not on the emotions and behaviours of individuals. Source: https://www.slideshare.net/Prof_Rawlslyn/understanding-derivepsychogeography

TFL Challenges from their website:
Private photographers
We get many requests from tourists, train enthusiasts, budding photographers and customers ‘passing through’ a station who may want to take photographs for their own personal use. We agree that this is acceptable, at the station’s discretion, as long as additional camera equipment (including flash and tripods) is not used.
However, images clearly promoting the London Underground brand/logos must not be published or broadcast without our permission ahead of time. Also, people filming or taking photographs for their own purposes on TfL’s network are responsible for ensuring they comply with the privacy requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998.
Students
All filming and photography, including by students, needs supervision. The rate for a two hour permit is discounted for students to £400 (plus VAT) for up to two hours of filming. Proof of attendance and the certificate of insurance must be provided.
Equipment must be hand held and no additional lighting can be used.
Filming must be done within Zones 1 and 2 and is restricted to the off-peak time of 10:00-15:30 (Monday to Friday) during the normal working week. If you need more than two hours and/or want to film outside these zones, then our standard rates (specified on the application form) will apply.