Moday's "Drift" Critique

We were asked last Tuesday to come up with an image or a series of images to show a journey or a feeling when in a new place when you drift through it.

Most people had chosen London purely due to last weeks visit and that it's a little bit different to Bournemouth. I chose images I had taken whilst in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago.

The main image is taken from near Montjuic looking over the city. Although I know the city well having lived there, this was the first time I had looked out over the city in this way and I was confused as to the location of certain iconic symbols; such as The Sagrada Familia, Park Guell etc.

For the main background image I used a poster edges effect from Photoshop to give the image less definition and recognisable line, creating a more confusing city line, to represent how I felt when viewing this busy scene.

I used pictures of certain places purposely situated in the wrong location to give my feeling of being lost in a place I know so well. I used other images from the day and changed the opacity so that the image behind could be seen but also to reflect my poor memory...I knew what they were but wasn't sure when or where I'd seen them that day.

I placed a photo of a Gaudi mosaic effect in the foreground on a blank wall and used the Sun from Joan Miro to represent the heat of the day and also cover a small blemish I had on the lens of the camera! :-)

Neil said he reminded him of a picture from the travel section of "The Guardian", which I took as a massive complement. I've been reading the Observer for years and I can sort of see what he means...maybe the style sunk in subliminally over the years?

It made me think about trying to do something with a newspaper type article for the Poole project. I really struggling for ideas for that one!

BCN

A little apprehensive about returning back to the course tomorrow as I was away last week in Barcelona. Whilst I'm sure I didn't miss much, I hate playing catch up at the best of times, but in this case I think it was worth it...

Barcelona is simply the best city in the world for me (closely followed by Buenos Aires and New York if you're asking).

It has such a strong artistic feel to the city from the fantastic buildings of Antonio Gaudi to the works of Picasso, Dali and Joan Miro. I was lucky enough to live in this city for 3 years and it changed my life. I went from being a naive boy from a small town in Bournemouth to absorbing all that Barcelona had to offer. For the first time in my life I wanted to visit art galleries and look at things closer. Everything is so accessible in this city and even if you're not interested in art or design, you can't help but be amazed.

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia is his most famous creation but I prefer the smaller Casa Batllo and La Pedrera buildings. These are exactly as Gaudi intended them to be whereas the Sagrada Familia has been extended using ideas from other leading architects to continue Gaudi's plan. I love the mosaic affect used heavily throughout the Gaudi's buildings and the city itself, it really helps to form an identity of the city. You know you are in Barcelona when you see this!

I feel it's the design capitol of mainland Europe, so many designers have worked or do work here or have taken inspiration from time spent here. It's an iconic city bursting with creativity and fresh ideas.

Although it was only a quick visit, intended to visit my girlfriends family, we took advantage and did as much as possible in the short time space. This time I went back with our recent introduction to typography still ringing in my ears and tried to look at the type used in the city in different ways and also some examples of graphic design that took my eye.