Monday 2 February 2015

Assignment 5 planning (part 5) - old and new versions of Nuneaton

I think this might be going horribly wrong - John MacLean made the whole merged-image thing seem very simple!!!

I've been looking for ways to 'further' anchor my last assignment - ways of making it converge rather than diverge. I thought I'd found a possible route, but I'm not at all sure its working out...

I'm also very aware that Piper is currently no where to be seen, nor am I sure of how he would be incorporated into this assignment if it continues to follow this route.

Re my last post I've looked at the concept of a "memories of ..." series.

My concept was very simple:
  1. Check out the local photographic archives and select suitable images to reconstruct.
  2. My archive search was focused on buildings that no longer existed (demolished).
  3. The reconstruction process was then to bring the buildings back to life by simply merging them into today.

The first two activities were remarkably easy, in fact the number of possible images was quite overwhelming; that said, Nuneaton is know for its very radical approach to renovation - "Why re-model when you can rebuild?".

The issue was/is "simply merging" - there's nothing simple about it.

  • Unless both buildings are blended together to interlock them, they shift their relative positions - above, below, in front of or behind
  • More than 50% of the image must be 'today' otherwise the theme and narrative is lost
  • The archive image has to be added to today's image and rescaled - it doesn't work the other way
  • The percentage blend ranges from 10 - 100%
  • What to pick out, at what percent, is very much trial and error - too little and they remain two separate images crudely 'bolted' together; too much and it becomes a meaningless mash. 


Attleborough Hall
Wheat Street
Anyway these images have been shared with the OCA critics - let's hope they come up with some helpful pointers....

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