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Urban Textures - Artist Research

Lucy Shires

Lucy Shires loved to create from an early age, but she felt that Art was not her

strongest point, as other people in her Art lessons at school intimidated her, because

she thought anything they created was better than hers. Lucy was into Maths and

Science and only enjoyed her lessons of Art as she used them for "fooling around"

and "relaxing", she found herself drifting off into her own imagination and creating

things further than her teacher wished to go. Lucy's interest in Photography sparked

up when her 6 year old Son was sitting at the kitchen table creating art and other

crafts with supplies such as paper and card at Christmas, she saw a picture of that

moment and suddenly wanted to create more.

 

This led to her joining a group of other Photographers of which she met up with regularly, shared ideas and became great friends with. I stumbled upon urban exploration whilst trawling the internet looking for cool places to shoot. I came across a community of people who spend their time documenting abandoned and decaying architecture. These were people who travel the world discovering and photographing history, places that have just been forgotten, that nature is reclaiming. They were business consultants, doctors, postmen, and they were spending their time preserving these locations for the future in their images. I didn’t quite realise the draw of these places until I visited an abandoned hospital.

 

The peeling paint, the smell, exploring the corridors, everything the place was amazed me. I have since visited this place four times in totality and I have had some unforgettable times there. That is where my love of abandoned places began. It is not simply the photography that interests me, I love researching the history also. There are so many beautiful untold stories.

Lucy Shires

STRENGTH

This is one of my favourite photographs by Lucy Shires, because the clear stones/glass on the tiles really contrast from one another, making the image powerful and gives the photograph some light. I also like the blur Lucy has put on this image, as it makes you focus on both sides of the photo, one side being clear and sharp, the other being soft.

LINGER

I also like this photograph, because it makes me wonder about the story behind the wallpaper, what was it like before the creme  wallpaper was plastered over it?, what was the creme wallpaper like before it started to peel and crack off of the walls?, it also reminds me of skin, some of it peeling and the rest cracking away from the walls.

UNDERNEATH THESE FEET

This is another image that caught my eye, because the different textures of dirt, rust and metal make this photograph stand out and gives it a sharepned look.

AUTUMN GLOW

This photograph is very powerful to me, as the autumn colours and refelctive light catch my eye and give this image depth.

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