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TRAINSPOTTING Commission_2014_Ross Paxton

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Page 1: TRAINSPOTTING Commission_2014_Ross Paxton
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My Jotter 2013-14

Expression of InterestTRAINSPOTTINGCommission_2014

Ross Paxton

[email protected]

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Beautiful Obsession (working title) Obsession: An idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.-The Oxford Dictionary An obsession with something that others find mundane is a curious phenomenon. There are many examples of obsessive behavior that an outsider would find difficult to comprehend such as religion, love and war. Trainspotting however is a little less extreme but it is also viewed with the same bewil-derment to the newcomer, who asks – ‘how and why would someone stand around in all weather conditions looking at trains and taking their engine numbers? Have they not got anywhere better to go’? But it is in this obsessive nature that we find many interesting comparisons between train-spotters and ourselves. As a photographer I also collect images in a fastidious and obsessive way. Like train-spotting, photography brings order to a world in constant motion. In this sense it is easy to see why childhood memories of these huge Iron steam machines would form into a life long obsession, pos-sessing a child with something much more profound than simply taking down engine numbers. After recently completing my MA in photography, my work has entered a new phase in its develop-ment. I have moved from a silent classical observational style, which is apparent in my first project ‘A Grand Day out’ (see project I) to a more conceptual and imaginative approach that can be seen in a later project ‘Spotting Spotters’. (see project II) More recently however I have been exploring the human relationship with travel using a large-format camera on open-top trams and buses throughout the UK in my project ‘A General History of Timeless landscapes’.(See Project III) For this exciting commission I would approach trainspotting in a way that incorporates the best elements of these three projects to create a strong and visually imaginative work of art to allow the NRM visitors to engage in a truly memorable experience. (see initial concept image) I will create a project under the working title ‘Beautiful Obsession’, with an aim to immerse the NRM audience in an experience that a train-spotter would have enjoyed as a child. This will be in the form of a mass collection of imagery to be displayed in an obsessive manner. The array of images will be formed from a fusion of the NRM archives and the encounters I will discover on my travels. I intend to highlight the positive and creative nature of obsession in a way that shows how in the end we are all the same.

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0010 Images from previous Projects

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I

A Grand Day Out

This project involved photographing an ex-tremely dedicated Trainspotter called Robin. In his spare time he builds detailed scale models of his intrepid train journeys. When he is not model making he is often found in his local

train station recording vast amounts of infor-mation and helping other passengers find their

way home.

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II

Spotting ‘Spotters’ These images reflect the tedious, highly intelligent and fastidious nature of trainspotting. To create these images I employed a complex system of photography called the 'zone system'. I also timed each image to incorporate a train in passing. Through the late '80s in Britain, trainspotting began to mean anybody who was obsessive about something trivial. The clinical composition of these images is designed to reflect this triviality but also show that there is something inherently beautiful about the ordinary.

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III

A General History Of Timeless Landscapes ‘A General History Of Timeless Landscapes’ depicts several ‘circular journeys’. The first loop is a guided tour that ends back at the start for the next tour to begin. As the Travellers gaze forward they are frozen together with the memories of the landscape behind them. In this sense both man and land instantly become ‘monu-ments’ to themselves. This composition is designed to highlight the past, present and future. Thus emphasizing the photographic paradox of producing a fixed im-age of a flowing moment - ‘a visual event which emerges into visual awareness as an intersection between levels of space and temporality shown on the flat surface’. (Cristofovici 2009:94).Each image was taken throughout the space of two years in many different areas of the UK. They are composed through the ground glass of a large format camera which helped create a static composition that continues throughout the project-Since I first learned the rudiments of photography, I have always believed that the camera is a tool for capturing 'reality' or a condition that could be witnessed through the eyes. I believe that photography’s primary function was to inform others of unusual or different things. Also that it could be used to reveal stories that are some how hidden and secret. I came to realize is that these secrets already lie in the medium itself and if we strip photography back into its basic elements it can tell us more about the human spirit than any form of reportage. As the pas-sengers view the world it gazes back at them. The land becomes alive through our awareness of the knowledge that it holds. As W.G Sebald famously wrote- ‘things… know more about us than we know about them: They carrythe experiences they have had with us inside them and are in factthe book of our History opened before us.’

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ROSS PAXTON

I was born in North Yorkshire in 1981 and I first came under the spell of photography over a decade ago in the Yorkshire Dales. Using a combination of 35mm film and a 4x5 inch large format camera I began to develop my own style. Following a period as a photographer for a photography network in London where I pho-tographed corporate events, I decided to become freelance, I also studied for a Masters in Photojournalism & Documentary Pho-tography aat the London College of Communication. During this time I have undertaken various commissions and I have worked on long-term personal projects that involved voyaging through Britain and remote countries overseas. This work has culminat-ed to form my first monograph ‘A General History Of Timeless Landscapes’, which will be a travelling exhibition in 2015.

AWARDS & QUALIFICATIONS Masters, Distinction in Photo-journalism , LCC, 2013.Distinction in PhotographyDiploma, LCC, 2012. BHF Shortlisted 2011. First Class Degree Hons Product design 2003.

EXHIBITIONSLondon College of Communi-cation, MA show, 2013 .Royal College of Art 2013. York Castle Museum, A Dark History, 2013.Elephant and Castle, Pop Gallery, 2011. Camphill Trust 2010.Wetlands Wildlife Trust 2010.

CONTACT [email protected] – 0785 3154 849

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Indicative Budget

Framing, mounting, printing and processing - £7000-8000

Equipment insurance, film costs and assistant hire - £2000

Travel - £500

Artist’s fees - £2000

Contingency funds - £2500

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