Photographer linked to personal investigation-Rut Blees Luxemburg

Rut Blees Luxemburg-Research

Rut Blees Luxemburg studied Political Science in Duisburg, Germany, before  she attended the London College of Printing to complete her BA in Photography in 1993. She later graduated with an MA in Photography from the University of Westminster in 1996. Rut moved to England because she finds it as being a very creative place, so it helped to become an artist whilst she lived in London being exposed to British culture. Rut has tried to understand London with photography as she finds that it changes very rapidly, so she tries to show how it is represented within the city, to take her photographs she simply would walk around the city whilst being perceptive trying to capture all things of relevance to her work. Rut  has exhibited widely throughout the UK, including the solo exhibition Phantom, a photographic exploration of Modernity’s imprint on the architecture of Dakar, Senegal, at Tate Liverpool. In 2007, she was asked to create a public art installation for the London Underground at Terminal 4, Heathrow Airport and so she produced her work titled, Piccadilly’s Peccadilloes.  Ruts work as an artist and photographer covers the representation of the city and the phenomenon of the urban, she tends to combine several formats, ranging from large-scale photographic works, through public art installations and operatic mise-en-scène (The arrangement of everything that appears in the framing, so the lighting, décor, props).Ruts technique is go a step further beyond the boundaries in terms of creativity, so she tends to take photographs at night, mostly exploring the urban landscape. She uses long exposures to allows her to use the light emanating from the street only, for instance from office blocks or street lights as seen in her photos. Ruts work closely links to some of my plans for my urban shoots, and with my first urban shoot on Ponders end, where I photographed flat blocks similar to the ones that Rut has photographed. I intend to go back to improve my shoot by applying ruts technique to my photos, e.g. using a longer exposure so I can capture the light from the streets. For one of my shoots I plan to go inot London city itself, which would allow me to capture photos like rut has, of underground station names n the reflections of puddles.

This photo, along with Ruts other photos was taken at night time, so that Rut could have the effect of the yellow street lighting reflecting upon the flats and houses in the area. I choose this particular photo of Ruts because it related to some of the photos that i have taken so i thought her work was good to connect my own work of urban shoots. The area that this photo was taken in is obviously a highly populated area most limey in a city as most of the buildings in this photo are flats. Meaning that this photo was able to capture house and street lights allowing the photo to have an ambient light effect, which to me is really eye-catching and different to other urban landscape photos, as urban landscape is normally captured dying the day. I think that this photo is really interesting because there are some qualities that stand out to me, in particular the barbed wired fence,  as it isn't something that you would normally see surrounding a normal flat for people to live in. And the house beside the flat appears to have surveillance cameras on the wall facing the flat. So this flat is being treated more like a prison  than a place for people to live in. Which then makes me think is the barbed wire fence protecting and stopping people from getting into the flat or is it for the area outside of the flat where Rut is taking the photo. I think because of the barbed wire fence being visible in this photo, it changes the whole meaning and effects that the photo conveys, to me the fence makes me think of danger, curiosity and security.Which ultimately make viewers want to know where this photo was taken and why the unusual fence surrounds the seemingly normal flat. Overall, even though this photo is similar to the rest of Rut's photos of flats, this one is still very different and stands out compared to the rest, as those photos don't convey the same elements of danger like this photo does.

This photo of Ruts stood out to me because of how she used a puddle of water to reflect the building window that is in front of Rut. This photo has links to my work as i have tried to use the element of reflection in some of the shoots that i have already taken, and so when i came across this images i though that i would be able to use it as an influence in my urban shoots. I think that this photo is really interesting as Rut has incorporated framing into the photo by using the lines and cracks within the pavement. i think that the framing of the puddle really adds effect to the photo, as Rut used a particular puddle that is surrounded by used chewing gum that had been discarded of on the street and stepped on. To me, the chewing gum really shows how different this reflection photo is to Ruts other photos of reflections as they are normally taken on streets that seem to be clear and the reflection is a tube station. I think that having the chewing gum included in the photo was important as there is a lot more detail in the photo and it shows how the streets of London are nor particularly in some places because of the way that people treat them. In particular the one thing that stands out the most to me in this photo is unusual colour of the window in the reflection, as it seems to be a orange/red colour, as opposed to the normal yellow colour of lights. However i think that the reddish orange colour of the light in the window makes the reflection stand out more from the colour of the pavement, making the photo more eye-catching for viewers.  So to incorporate this type of reflection photo into my work, i would like to try and use a puddle just like Rut, but try and capture the reflection of a building and not just a window.

Rut Bles Luxembourg  took this photo from a highly elevated point of view most likely from another flat similar top the on that has been photographed in this photo. From the height that this photo was taken from it allowed Rut to capture the top half of the flat and have a background of the city that she is in from above. I think that the way Rut has taken this photo from a high up, it has given a high vantage point alloying the majority of the frame to consist of a building. I think the most interesting thing about this photo is how from an outsiders point of view, every flat in the flat building consists of a different person doing a different activity to the flat next to them. This photo was taken at night and most likely quite lat, as most of the flats have their lights off. However, some of the flats have lights that appear to be of a higher brightness and colour compered to the other flats with low intensity lights, showing that even by the colour and intensity of lights people show their uniqueness however all of the flats seem to have the same curtains in the windows, indicating that all of the flats are only for rent, or maybe the flat is owned by the council. Due to the framing of the photo, on each side of the flat an equal amount of space is shown, however to me both of these sides look almost identical to each other, as the streets bellow the flat seem to just consist of low level flats. I think that this is interesting as it shows that this photo was taken in a highly populated area. mainly consisting of buildings for people to live in. To take an image similar to this would be somewhat difficult for me, as i would have to get access to a flat facing another flat, so even though i would like to take an image with the same framing and the same vantage point, it would be difficult. However i want to take a photo of a similar style, where the flat is the foreground of the photo and the background consists of the rest of the busy city.

This photo was taken from either the top of the flat, or a flat that was on a high floor looking down onto the street below the flat. By taking this photo from this point of view, an almost ill unison effect is conveyed. To me because of the way that each floor is shown to be decreasing in size, it almost appears as if the photo is just going to cagy on through the floor of more elves of the flat. From the height that this photo was taken from it allowed Rut to capture the top half of the flat and have a background of the city that she is in from above. I think that the way Rut has taken this photo from a high up, it has given a high vantage point alloying the majority of the frame to consist of a building. I think the most interesting thing about this photo is how from an outsiders point of view, every flat in the flat building consists of a different person doing a different activity to the flat next to them. This photo was taken at night and most likely quite lat, as most of the flats have their lights off. However, some of the flats have lights that appear to be of a higher brightness and colour compered to the other flats with low intensity lights, showing that even by the colour and intensity of lights people show their uniqueness however all of the flats seem to have the same curtains in the windows, indicating that all of the flats are only for rent, or maybe the flat is owned by the council. Due to the framing of the photo, on each side of the flat an equal amount of space is shown, however to me both of these sides look almost identical to each other, as the streets bellow the flat seem to just consist of low level flats. I think that this is interesting as it shows that this photo was taken in a highly populated area. mainly consisting of buildings for people to live in. I would be able to capture a similar photo to this, as i would be able to use my grandmothers flat and take a photo looking down onto the car park thats below the flat. However i would only be on floor five, so i wouldn't be able to capture the effect of an illusion that i had early. However the photo would still be of similar framing and lighting.

This photo was taken at night time just like the majority of Ruts other photos of flats, so that Rut could have the effect of the yellow street lighting reflecting upon the flats and houses in the area. I choose this particular photo of Ruts because it related to some of the photos that i have taken so i thought her work was good to connect my own work of urban shoots. The area that this photo was taken in is obviously a highly populated area most limey in a city as most of the buildings in this photo are flats. Meaning that this photo was able to capture house and street lights allowing the photo to have an ambient light effect, which to me is really eye-catching and different to other urban landscape photos, as urban landscape is normally captured dying the day. I think that this photo is really interesting because there are some qualities that stand out to me, in particular the barbed wired fence,  as it isn't something that you would normally see surrounding a normal flat for people to live in. And the house beside the flat appears to have surveillance cameras on the wall facing the flat. So this flat is being treated more like a prison  than a place for people to live in. Which then makes me think is the barbed wire fence protecting and stopping people from getting into the flat or is it for the area outside of the flat where Rut is taking the photo. I think because of the barbed wire fence being visible in this photo, it changes the whole meaning and effects that the photo conveys, to me the fence makes me think of danger, curiosity and security.Which ultimately make viewers want to know where this photo was taken and why the unusual fence surrounds the seemingly normal flat. Overall, even though this photo is similar to the rest of Rut's photos of flats, this one is still very different and stands out compared to the rest, as those photos don't convey the same elements of danger like this photo does.