Ideas and research 5o date.

Initial Idea. My idea comes from everyday routines of life. I've never been the person to follow the heard. I don't enjoy going to bed early and getting up early.. I enjoy living sporadically and not fully knowing what will happen the next day. This often frustrates my meticulous girlfriend who enjoys routine and being part of the daily grind. I want to focus my time on creating a body of work that follows my everyday routine in a new job that I've just got. I will be working in a factory and starting everyday at 7;30.. My first instincts with this project are to create some that documents the repetitive nature of this lifestyle, something that will demonstrate visually the monotonous nature of everyday life that we often all have to live to afford rent and bills. The project will be set in stages, I plan to firstly document and photograph people coming and going from work in Manchester, this purely to get an idea of the hustle and bustle of the morning commute. I then plan to document my own day, from the moment my alarm goes off at 6;00AM to the time I arrive home from work. I'm hoping to gather enough information to create a body of work that will not only be aesthetically pleasing but truthfully document what it's like living the daily grind of working life. research Marx would say that Schwartz was talking about what Marx called alienated labor. The basic idea is that most workers aren’t happy with their work because it does not express or elaborate their being. Workers in modern capitalistic societies are alienated from the process and products of their labor, and ultimately from other people too. They work for money, but derive little satisfaction or meaning from their work. Karl Marx' ideas of work are fascinating. The concept of alienated labour is something that I feel is problematic in the working world.. Especially in my current job. Maybe the work that I'm doing with this project is escaping the ideas of alienated labour and creating something that will fulfil my happiness at work.{image 1} What I want to attempt to grasp is how contemporary everyday life effects us and how the monotony of everyday life effects us. We often switch ourselves off and repeat the tasks we're given. The day can be broken down into segments and by doing this we create a routine that we stick to keep our days feeling quicker so we can get home and enjoy our leisure time. Henri lefebvre writes about this in depth. He develops Karl Marx' ideas to modernise the idea of work and leisure. {image 2} Post 3 I think this project should be studied and looked at as an anthropological body of work. I want observe every aspect of this daily routine but study every aspect. I want to look at people's behaviour as they commute and document each stage of the day. The actual photographic work should have a sort of experimental aspect to it. Maybe multiple images on each page to demonstrate the repetition we go through each day. I'm even contemplating using monochrome because of its bland look.. I think using colour could maybe have the wrong aesthetic. This project is still at a very early stage so I'm sure the work will change and develop over the next couple of months. I've been looking at Andy Warhol methodology recently and began to think that this is something to definitely look into further.. I love the entire process how it's almost like a repetitive process just like the monotony of everyday life. {image 3} At the moment I've not taken any photographs. I don't want to rush into this unprepared, I think I need to seriously research and observe. I might start a daily journal. I can write every detail of my day from when I wake up to when I go to bed I'll also write small observations of what I see and listen to what people chat about. Post 4 I've been searching for the name of a writer I studied at uni. It was driving me mad.. today I finall found him. George's Perec wrote a book, well suppose it's not book more like a journal. He sat in a square in Paris and wrote down things he observed. The book is brilliant and full of fascinating little observations that really make you feel as though you're sat there with him. {image 4} I've definitely found some inspiration with this work and I know that this is something I'm going to be doing whilst taking photographs. Maybe I could use the writings for something but I think they will just be part of my research. I've also been looking at different practioners who inspire me and I'm overwhelmed with the amount of amazing work I see.. for example I've turned to Martin Parr to get some ideas and I've looked at his work in quite a bit of depth. I love the vibrant colours and his satirical way of document contemporary, everyday life. I'm wondering if I should experiment with something similar.. I do have work that I've shot that I think responds to this project idea using parrs style {image 5} This is a sample shot of workers on a market stall in Rochdale. I was drawn in by the vibrancy of the colours and the everyday nature of scene. I don't think that this style will work for my project. I don't think I'm communicating the concept very well which could lead to the project not having the narrative I'm trying to achieve. I'm going to experiment with this image and post a few ideas later today. Maybe I'll find something that works and I can begin taking the work to the next stage. Image experiments. I've recently made a quick visit to factory in Rochdale. I wanted to take a few test shots but I was really inspired.. I took quite a few shots and wanted to have a mess about with them in photoshop. {image 6} I really want to create the narrative of repetition in the work place. This is something that I'm really looking forward to recreating in my images. This first image was created by repeating 1 single image in photoshop. I definitely like the colours.. I tried with Monochrome but it didn't seem to work. Out of all the images I shot I only put 2 of them through photoshop, which leads me to think that this will need a lot more research before I feel fully ready to shoot. I do t know how to move on from this step now. Like with very project I've hit a sort of wall. What I do know is each day consists of different parts. With this project I know I want to document my commute but also other people's too. I also want to photograph my morning routine. Maybe take multiple shots of bed after I reluctantly leave it to get out to my car. This could be a a good next stage. I've realised that enjoying work is quite uncommon and although I do have friends who do enjoy there work it is definitely a minority. But, I've realised that this project is my work, and I enjoy documenting life around me so do I enjoy my work? Maybe this project will open my eyes to new possibilities and I will find a different way of working..