Billingham is a British photographer who in his portfolio 'Black Country' captures his childhood neighbourhood Cradley Heath in an eerie setting. He used the streetlights on the neighbourhood roads to capture areas with an artificial colouring. The streets are empty and the use of lighting somehow creates a sense as if someone is there.
This photo captures a dreary area of pavement, with a vintage small car parked next to an industrial appearing building. The street light appears to source from the top left area of the photo, out of frame, this positioning creates a large shadow on the wall adjacent to the building. The photo at first glance appears to be set at night, a dark timing in the day, but something that doesn't draw much attention is the sky just above, which is actually still a rather bright blue, possibly set at dusk. The sky appears so out of place to the lighting set below it, this would be due to how the effect of the harsh yellow hue contrasts with the blue hue. This presenting a contrast to natural and artificial light. The car is positioned to be the punctum of the photo, however the yellow hue appears to distract that attention and grabs the most attention. The car being old and small suggests a vintage aesthetic or symbolism to Billingham's time, and since these photos capture Billingham's childhood neighbourhood this could easily be the intention. The building behind and next to the car appears warn down and damaged, with there appearing to be burn marks or stains in the top right corner, and cracks present in the building on the left. This further suggests a nostalgic symbolism back to Billingham's childhood. This little area could be a place Billingham would spend time with friends, or simply meet-up point; there is a clear suggestion of significance to this area for Billingham. However, the harsh lighting and unpleasant yellow hue creates a mysterious, eerie atmosphere to the photo, suggesting that this nostalgic area has now be tainted, or broken down for Billingham. The car is parked in an area possibly significant to Billingham, symbolising something getting in the way of him accessing his memories and childhood happiness. The intensity of the light is possible created by Billingham using a longer shutter speed on his camera for the lens to capture more light for longer, this would also explain the slight blur to the photo when it comes to details.
This photo presents an empty road with a broken wall bordering off an area of tall grass and trees. It is clear by the light rays that a lamp post is positioned in the top left corner. Like the last photo, it appears Billingham has used a long shutter speed to capture the lighting in such a harsh presence, this is also clearly shown in the movement presented by the tree on the left and the blurry appearance to the grass. Once again the sky appears to be set at a different time compared to the time the road appears to be set, because the dull blue is still rather bright and the yellow light is making the rest of the area appear as though it is late at night, when no one is out and the world goes to sleep; this further presenting the contrast in natural and artificial light effects. The brick wall is broken on one side, where it appears warn down and as if it has eroded gradually; this once again presenting a nostalgia of what once was but not it is old and damaged. This symbolism could also symbolise memory for Billingham, the erosion of the wall presents Billingham's childhood memories slowly disappearing more and more to him as time goes on.
This photo presents an entrance way into what appears to be a small car park for the residents of this street. There is a light positioned above the photo on the left, there also a light source behind the tree to the right, that seems to be a lamp post also, but could possibly be the sun setting. The time set in this photo appears to be dusk, but the car park appears too dark to be set at such a time, this presenting an unusual contrast to the lighting in the photo. The colouring in this photo is a harsh warm orange hue, most prominent on the brick wall to the right of the photo. Billingham seems to have captured this lighting so harshly by setting his camera shutter speed to a relatively long time to capture light in the photo for longer. This is further suggested by the slight blur of motion shown on the tree branch to the middle right of the photo; suggesting the camera captured the branch's movement. The area appears old and warn down, conveyed by the discoloured fencing and warn down pavement; there also being possible pieces of litter in the far background of the photo. Once again, it appears as though Billingham is trying to present how times have changed, and how his childhood neighbourhood has now aged, losing it's purity and memories as it wears down and is no longer taken care of. Billingham's childhood was difficult since growing up with an alcoholic farther and 'poverty-stricken', it's possible these areas of childhood have always been tattered and warn down, making this nostalgic symbolism more bitter-sweet. Billingham did document his father's alcoholism in another portfolio which lets more insight into his childhood, which helps to better understand the symbolism in these photos.
This photo presents a largely grown tree in an area of green in between a road and path. The hue in this photo is a yellowish green that appears luminous in the centre of the photo. The sky appears to be in motion due to the blur in the photo and the strokes of clouds suggesting a direction of movement. The light source appears to be produced behind the left of the tree as the ground is the brightest there. The amount of blur in the photo and the intensity of the streetlights suggests Billingham has used a long shutter speed to collect a stronger light source. It feels as though this tree holds significance to Billingham, since these are the streets of his childhood, it would seem this is somewhere Billingham would spend a lot of time as a child, possibly playing with friends or family. The size of the tree appears abnormally large, suggesting it hasn't been kept to, and it was possibly a lot smaller when he was a child. This further could symbolise growing up, as Billingham grew up and got bigger, so did the tree.
Overall…
I find Billingham's work to be a tribute of memory and nostalgia, personally these streets remind me of my own streets growing up, so this photos hold a more personal emotion to them. I feel this personal reminder will be the same for many other people, and that's what Billingham wanted, photos that would bring a nostalgia for many people who shared a similar childhood to him. However, this nostalgia is very bitter-sweet for many as living a 'poverty-stricken' life in council estates and having homes with issues can be conflicting memories. From analysing Billingham's work, it is clear that he uses shutter speed effects to create these intensely lit photos, which is evident in the abnormal lighting and visuals of motion and blur in his photos. From this analysis I will be able to better recreate Billingham's work, using his techniques and take into account his personal feeling for these photos to influence mine.
Large, H (2019), "'I hope people will be moved and it makes them think a bit': Black Country film-marker talks Bafta-nominated Ray and Liz", [https://www.expressandstar.com/entertainment/sandwell-entertainment/2019/02/09/i-hope-people-will-be-moved-and-it-makes-them-think-a-bit-black-country-film-marker-talks-bafta-nominated-ray-and-liz-ahead-of-its-release/], (accessed: 11/02/2020)
After Recreation...
After research into Billingham's work, I learnt his camera techniques used to create his photos involved slow shutter speeds and a sensitive ISO; this was evident in the harsh amount of light captured in his photos, and the slight blur with certain areas in the photos. With this information I feel I was able to successfully recreate Billingham's work. I took multiple photos that varied in shutter speed settings, just so I could find the perfect settings for each composition. I found the yellow toned lights were much more effective in creating an eerie atmosphere to a photo, whereas the LED lights made the photos appear to sterile and clear. As you can see with my photo (right) and Billingham's photo (left) I was able to recreate the harsh yellow/orange hue from streetlights to reveal the streets. A similar aspect of our photos also is the fact that Billingham's photos were located at his childhood neighbourhood, a council estate town with rather warn down areas, my photos are the same in this aspect as they are located at an area I grew up in that is also a council estate with rather warn down areas. The one feature I was unable to recreate is the odd contrast between the street and the sky. Billingham's photos had the sky set to a dusk lighting, but the street appeared as though it was at a different time. I was unable to do this since it was rather dark already during this shoot in the sky, I was also unsure how I would so this with my camera.
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