Location

Medieval Bishops Palace -

I will be doing my practice shoot in the studio to allow me the ability to use both tungsten light and then flash. Thus giving me a greater understanding as to how they both look in comparison and what I am going for. Although the studio is in a great location, I wanted to generate a strong bond between my final chosen location with the roman history and heritage behind the myth. Due to my knowledge of the city of Lincoln, I know it has a strong roman heritage. Using the ‘visit-Lincoln’ I was able to find the areas of Lincoln that still hold the wall and gates built by the Romans when they founded Lincoln and built a fortress here. I chose three areas:

This building was built in the 12^th century and was not actually part of the roman structures they built. However I feel that the some of the brickwork of the walls surround the building are starting to decay and fall, this creates the ancient and historical feel I want within the background of my photo. The main disadvantage of this location is the fact that there is no actual floor on the surrounding wall, only grass. This won’t work well at all in the photo and although you can cover it with a large carpet for example, the ground is still very unstable and unsafe for my working condition. Being that it is also outside, it would have implications on when I can do my shoots, I also cannot control the ambient light at all.

Roman Lower West Gate –

This is my second location I chose to scout, it is the West Gate that was used to defend the upper city of Lincoln from around the 3^rd or 4^th century right up until the 11^th century. This Roman wall works perfectly with the history and heritage I want from my location, but it also has the same disadvantages the previous location had. The floor, although harder, it is very uneven and worn down and it is also outside, posing the same restrictions of time. An added issue with this location is the busyness of the location; it constantly has people walking through it, as it is located just underneath the Lincoln city hall.

After viewing these two locations and them not being quite right for me, I decided that an indoor location would give me the most creative freedom. Being indoors will allow me to be able to have my shoot at any time that suites me, because I can control where my light is going and how much ambient light I am permitting to enter the frame.

The St Mary’s Guildhall was the last location I chose to scout. The year of construction is unknown, but they do know it was used in the Roman city to hold meetings for large gatherings due to the way the rooms were built. I knew this would suit my photography, as it would give me large spaces to use as a sufficient backdrop for my photographs.  Because this location was inside, thus kept up to standards by the council, I used the email provided by the ‘visit-Lincoln’ website to see if I was able to come and scout the location.

This was the first room that I visited that was on the bottom floor; below the carpet you can see in shot is part of the historical roman road that runs through Lincoln. I loved the brickwork that followed largely round the room; it gave the room a very authentic feel that would be perfect as my backdrop. The bricks are mainly from the original build, however had some recent work done to repair segments. Although I would love the brick backdrop, I felt there was a little too much going on with hanging and windows that would be in shot if I were to use this room; they would be a large distraction.  I also feel this room isn’t quite the ‘grand’ rooms I was expecting after reading that the rooms were used for large gatherings of important people, I wanted to have a room that had large high ceilings that will stop the illumination of the flashes that you would get with a low bearing ceiling.

Due to the age of the building, a lot of it isn’t safe to go into, this meant that this was the second and last room I was able to look at. This was exactly what I was imaging in terms of space and design. Although there was contemporary work on the roof (as shown in the wider shots,) the pillar on the back wall was a perfect example of what I was looking for.

Whilst I visited this location, I made sure I had my Canon 550D rather than my phone (which I had in my other locations.) This meant that I could get a greater vision on what the frame would actually look like. I believe the photo above shows the best use of the room; it incorporates the gorgeous stone wall with the powerful pillar in the centre. Although the floor is a bit more contemporary than I had hoped for, however I feel it will work well with a flash system to bounce a bit more light compared to a carpet or rug that will suck in the light. There is a lot of room either side of the frame too for lenience, also for me to set up the lights without them being in shot. The pillar would be important to use as a central figure, in this photo I haven’t managed to get it central, so this will be key when doing my proper photography shoot here. There is also a small ledge you can see just at the bottom of the pillar, this can be used to hold a couple of props without them being sprawled on the floor.