Personal Study Plan
Define the objective or focus of the essay: “Shirley Baker presents architecture not merely as a physical structure but as a dynamic backdrop that indulges into the lives of the people who inhabit it” My focus is to investigate how Shirley Baker used architecture to document everyday life for the working-class communities in a period of urban change. During the 1960s and 1970s, in Salford and Manchester, houses were being demolished due to the government slum clearance schemes. Communities were being relocated because of this, Baker used this huge social change to photograph the development and transformation of this with her camera. She did not just focus entirely on the destruction of the buildings but also included the people who were affected by this change. For my project, I will explore her work in relation to architecture photography and produce my own work based on social and architectural changes inspired by her.
The relationship between the practical work and the focus of the study: I have the intention to look at the way Shirley Baker captures these meaningful aspects of architecture and how she utilizes this to show how architecture interacts and affects people’s daily lives. I am also planning to directly respond to Baker’s approach of documenting social and architectural changes during Salford and Manchester. I want to explore how she strips the use of colour and presents life through black and white; this helps highlight the demolition of the houses and the good resilience of the people who it affected. I’d like to take photographs of Manchester in black and white, referring to baker’s work, exploring life and people now as in difference to during the 1960s and 1970s. Another form I will do is combining both street photography with architecture as Baker did, photographing buildings and people but transforming it into black and white.
Sources to be used:
Books (at least THREE):	Websites:	Other sources:
Without a trace: Manchester and Salford in the 1960s Women and children; and Loitering Men Early Colour Hulme Manchester 1965 British Seaside 1960- 1970 Street Photographs Manchester and Salford. Shirley Baker	https://shirleybakerphotography.com https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shirley-baker

List the pieces of work that you will analyse in the study. Identify reasons for choosing these particular pieces and points that may be highlighted in the analysis. Mark the primary source/s with *
Name of piece: *Children at play, Shirley Baker Photographer	Reasons for choice/Points to be raised: I decided to analyse this as Shirley Baker depicts ordinary children cheerfully playing in the streets, the yards and the wastelands amidst rough urban settings. I want to explore how children are shown to adapt to the change and use creativity to still play.
1960s Black and white street, * everyday lives of working class *Now then Chris Killip and the making of in flagrante Henri Cartier Bresson: Principles of a practice	Shirley captures the everyday lives of the working class in Manchester and Salford. I want to indulge in the idea of how she uses black and white to really capture human expression whilst also drawing attention to the background. Whilst Baker documented the working class and the devastating impact of the government scum clearance scheme had on them in both Manchester and Salford, Chris Killip worked in Tyneside, Newcastle, focusing on documenting the impact of deindustrialization on working class communities. I'd like to go into more detail about how he used a very visible, big camera to capture these moments and how his pictures convey a more emotional sense of struggle and hardship for the working class. Similarly, Baker and Henri Cartier Bresson captured everyday life with informality and empathy. Both photographers capture children playing and just the realistic side of life for communities. However, while Baker evidently focusing on just the working-class communities in a manner that is potentially considered as informal and a more of a grounded style, Bresson does his work more formally, allowing composition to shape the message of the photograph
Visit/s made/to be made:
Ancoats, Salford Quay, The Northern Quarter
Possible conclusion/s to the study:
To really delve into Baker’s idea of how architecture is not merely the photographing of buildings and their structures, but how it can also be used to show the lives of people who surround it. It helps create a storyline of the working-class communities during a time of urban and architectural change.