This past Saturday I took time to view the Time Lapse exhibition by Jason Hodges currently on display at the Hereford Museum and Art Gallery. The concept of this exhibit was to recreate how the surrounding city wall of Hereford would have looked before parts of it were demolished to the present day point where comparatively little remains.
The photo exhibit used photo montage techniques to recreate a series of images from around the city centre – using a combination of props, some lent by the library’s collection, other photographic references of similar walls, buildings and surroundings and present day photography of the chosen sites Jason used Photoshop to layer together the various elements of each shot, numbering some 400 individual elements including himself for one photo, into one composite shot showing how the city wall could have looked when fully intact.
It’s an interesting project to view which, at the time I was viewing, did arouse a lot of curiosity from other members of the public as to how the photos were put together, of course anyone who has done or is currently studying design will know that Photoshop was heavily used and be able to spot the techniques fairly quickly, however this doesn’t detract from the curiosity they spark in the viewer. There is a looping DVD that does document how each photo was produced so those not aware of how they were constructed can take in the process themselves and appreciate the amount of time and effort that has gone into these pieces.
One other note is that accompanying the Time Lapse exhibition were some selected works by Brian Hatton. A local artist, Brian was awarded the ‘Gold Star’ by the Royal Drawing Society in 1898 and his works recorded the people and sights he encountered on his travels, notably in Egypt, both as a civilian and soldier. Brian was tragically killed during service in the First World War on 23rd April, 1916 in Egypt. His works are to be shown in a ‘rolling’ gallery at the Hereford Museum and Art Gallery titled “Brian Hatton The Life and Death of a Young Artist 1887 – 1916” and is well worth a look whilst visiting other exhibitions there or on it’s own merits. More information on Brian Hatton and the exhibition featuring him can be found here.
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