Abandoned

As my final piece and the summary to this entire project, I worked with my fellow colleagues to produce an exhibition that would display all of our final work. The theme to this exhibition was 'Abandoned', the word being the summary of what our images had focused on and achieved. We attempted to recreate the atmosphere by using dim lighting and creating a walkthrough doorway, similar to the ways we would sometimes have to enter a space. There was also a CCTV camera that filmed people in the exhibition, to create a sense that they were not meant to be in the space, similar to what it felt like to photograph the spaces.

I am very pleased with the final outcome, being the first group ever to produce an independent exhibition space linked to a group project for the final outcome. It was a brilliant way to display our work, as we each had our own pathways during the project but they all came together to produce one final piece. We got a great reception from people that visited the exhibition and it was a major success. It had been a long and hard struggle, but finally getting there was very rewarding and brilliant way to end the year and my time at St.Peter's.

Vacant

As the final part of my course, I got permission to photograph a modern and contemporary hotel in Bournemouth, 'The Cumberland' on East Cliff. The decor of this hotel matches it's forward looking approach to tourism in Bournemouth, making a stay in Bournemouth luxurious at an affordable price. The main focus of this hotel was the lighting and the colours of each room, which contrast each other to create different atmosphere's in each room.

I found that the emptiness of the rooms made them feel similarly abandoned to the previous hotels we had visited. Although these hotels were furnished and decorated, there was still a sense of emptiness to them, a lack of atmosphere and a lack of this seaside phenomenon that Bournemouth has been renowned for. Taking into account that it was winter, this fact seems reasonable to say that this does not show Bournemouth’s tourism is on the decrease. However, what I realized is that the reason for these hotels closing is because of our long, miserable winters that are getting longer each year. As the planet’s climate gradually changes, tourism in Bournemouth is dying a slow and unpredictable death; which could account for the reasons for many of these hotels closing down.

View of the Bay

Seeing a hotel after it has been closed for years becomes familiar going from hotel to hotel, they all seem to follow the same direction of becoming a refuge for those at the bottom of society struggling with drugs and various life issues. But I was still attracted to see how these hotels in Bournemouth existing today, to see if this issue of the recession is having an impact on hotels still in the industry. Remarkably, there was a familiar feeling in these hotels that were open to those I had visited previously

"Spy, December 2009"

" View, December 2009"

"Walk, December 2009"

"Glow, December 2009"

"Tidy,December 2009"

"Vacant, December 2009"

" Still, December 2009"

" Window, December 2009"

"Marble, December 2009"

" Occupied, December 2009"