Unit 27 Marsden Montage

Marsden Texture Montage

Final Montage 

The final montage I created was as a result of memories I had of a day I spent in a historic town called Marsden in Yorkshire.

Image 1. This picture gives a sense of life in Marsden today and yesteryear. 

The picturesque stone built cottages along the river Clone. These give a sense of history that would have existed when this area was important in the production of woolen and cotton cloth. The washing hanging outside gives a sense of life in the village.

Image 2. The image of the two boys gives a glimpse of the future of Marsden. Children living, playing, feeding ducks by the side of the river in this historic town.

Image 3. This image of a map of Marsden was created in bronze. I used this in the final montage to give the final image depth and texture.

Image 4. The lady in the picture maybe a decedent from the woolen workers, or even a Luddite. All I can say for sure is that she is still hungry in this image!

Making The Marsden Montage

. I opened all the images in Photoshop

. All the images where the same resolution

.To create the montage i used layers and layer masks in Photoshop

. I played with Opacity (reducing from 100%),  to create a textured and interesting look to the image.

. I introduced image 3 as texture, but also this image provided significant history.

. To highlight certain colours, used the blending tool and the opacity tool. For example the purple in the final montage.

. I used the Free Transform tool to rotate image 1, this was to achieve texture and play with the texture and light across the montage.

. I reduced the image of the boys (image 3), using the Transform Tool and Scale.

. I flattened the layers.

. Finally i used levels and curves to improve the final image.    

. Note i created the Final montage image prior to using a scanner, if i was to recreate it, i would use 3D objects that were reminders of Marsden. These could add texture  depth  meaning and a new dimension to the montage.  

. I have not added text on to the final image because i think it works well without it. I have demonstrated that i know how to add text onto montages in previous blog posts.  

Research

The Colne Valley was famous for the production of woollen and cotton cloth regarded as some of the finest quality produced anywhere and all due to the soft acidic waters of the River Colne and its brooks running down through the side valleys (cloughs) from the peat moors above.

The river flows from west to east through the Colne Valley passing through the villages of Marsden, Slaithwaite and Milnsbridge toHuddersfield and then on to Cooper Bridge where it feeds the larger River Calder.

Who were the Luddites?

The Luddites were an organised group of workers in the textile industry, who destroyed the machinery that was taking their livelihoods. The movement began in 1811 in Nottinghamshire, and quickly spread to Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

The Luddites in Marsden

Towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars, food was scarce and unemployment was high. James and Enoch Taylor, two brothers who were smiths in Marsden, developed and made a cropping machine that could do the work of 10 hand-croppers. The mill owners in the Marsden area were installing these machines. Enoch Taylor also made sledgehammers, which were called "Enochs", so the Luddites would quip, "Enoch made them, and Enoch shall break them."
Apparently, the law-abiding menfolk of Marsden were stirred to riot by "desperate men of Longroyd Bridge!" The first riot was at the scene of William Horsfall's mill, which had been fortified.

The leader of the Marsden Luddites was George Mellor. He could read and write, and while in prison signed a petition calling for Parliamentary reform.

The Luddite Myth

The word 'luddite' has come to be used to describe a mindless opposition to change, particularly technological change. However, this is something of a myth. There is no record, for example, of them opposing the new canal in Marsden, nor of any threat to the Taylors' workshop, which made the new machines.. All the violence was against machines in mills, and there appears to have been an element of radical, even revolutionary, political thought in the movement. To lose one's livelihood would mean poverty and starvation, smashing machines carried the death penalty, and trade union activities were illegal. With this in mind, the luddite response seems neither mindless nor unfocussed.

Evaluation

Even though the main picture of the lady sitting is mundane, the layering looks textured and interesting. Texture is created by the light and dark tones in the image.

Colour blends through the image, there are splashes of red echo from right to left and makes the montage cohesive. The swirls of iron also give movement with in the image.

Even though the image is very abstract and looks mixed up, there are still recognisable elements that are distinct. There is a feeling that the montage can be deconstructed into its original components.