For our second GCSE project, all Year 10 students visited Harewood House, a large stately home built in the 1700s with over 100 acres of land. Nowadays, Harewood is open to visits from the public. It also hosts many events such as charity runs, art galleries and concerts.

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Before visiting Harewood, I did some research into how to photograph the house successfully. Some main tips I picked up were:

• Watch for mirrors that will reflect visitors or myself.

• Avoid getting barrier ropes in shot.

• Avoid glass cabinets to reduce reflections and glare.

• Focus on intricate detail such as carvings or patterns found on furniture, walls, ceilings or carpets.

• Make sure windows do not come out highly exposed as rooms can often be very dark.

• In dark rooms increase the camera's ISO setting as far as you can without noise (most cameras can safely go up to ISO 800 without much noise) and don't forget to turn it back when you go outside or into brighter rooms.

• A large aperture is effective if you want to let a lot of light into the picture or throw the background out of focus.

• Stately homes can create beautiful panoramas.

 

Below is a brief plan outlining some topics and artists I would like to explore during my project (this has obviously changed and developed throughout).

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'HAREWOOD' PROJECT PLAN

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ARTIST RESEARCH:

• Eliot Dudik (introducing frames and borders to my photography).

• Richard Misrach (landscape photography for practice and guidance before visiting the house).

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EXPERIMENTATION: Composition

Experimentation shown through different angles/evaluation of these angles.

• Intricate details on furniture/objects/decoration can provide a variety of angles/perspectives to compare.

• Distance from object can affect view.

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RECORDING: Advertisement to Draw Interest/Appeal (from features other than the House)

How can Harewood appeal to a larger audience? How have Harewood adjusted their resources to appeal to a wider audience? Children do not show interest in an old stately home, but may be interested in other features such as playground/gardens/animals. This draws interest of families who will be more likely to come if they know their kids will be entertained as well as enjoying it themselves. Bird shows throughout the day give up reason to stay longer. Staying longer makes them more likely to buy something from shop/café. Variation of methods to gain profit and customers.

• Gardens/Green Areas

• Bird Garden and Other Animals

• Playground

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FINALISING AN OUTCOME: Beauty of the House/Landscapes

• Simplicity of house and surrounding gardens.

• Silhouettes against the sun.

• Closer images of the detail of the exterior of the house.

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HELP SOURCES:

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• Photography of Stately Homes

http://photodoto.com/sunrise-photography/

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​Below is some remaining photographs from my visit to Harewood House that I have not used in my project.

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