Regarding this shoot I wanted to respond to the works of Edward Weston due to his focus being mainly around the idea of capturing texture and pattern present within natural forms of the landscape. Overall what I found to be particularly interesting was his photographs surrounding trees and rock formations which use high aestheticism as the main form of attraction and the intricate beauty each resembles. This as a result has inspired me to go onto produce a shoot looking at the natural formations regarding textures of the landscape in the North of Jersey. From this I hope to achieve a new style of photography I can later go onto use to portray the environment in a new way and possibly go onto include them in my final prints and photo-book. Using Weston as my main source of inspiration I decided to have a look at some of his particular works that I thought reflected my mind-set of the shoot the most:
After I had looked over some of his works that inspired me the most I then decided to move onto creating a mind-map for my shoot. By doing this it would allow me to jot my ideas down for future reference whilst reducing the time wasted on the shoot. Not only would creating a mind-map prevent me from wasting time but it would also allow me to direct my intentions immediately during the shoot, instantly understanding what it was that I intended to achieve by the end of it and what I could focus on to get the results I wanted. Here are some of my ideas:
After looking at my initial ideas I decided upon going to the area of Le Dolmen du Couperon . I chose this location because of its wider range of different areas such as woodland and beaches, allowing for the perfect area to photograph my intended areas of focus. What drew my initial interest was how some of the woodland had been cut down and would have left behind stumps and ruined trees which would be great to photograph regarding the idea of bark and grain texture. Here is a map of the intended area to photograph:
Here are the results of my shoot:
Once I had finished the shoot I then went on to whittling the selection down to only ten images, by doing so this would allow me to decide and make easier which image best reflected my overall intentions and goal of the shoot. Here are my ten best images:
After I had done this I then decided to go onto further and whittle the selection down to only five images this time. By doing this it would allow me to analyze the images in more depth looking at the visual, technical and conceptual aspects of each. These are my choices for the five best images:
What I loved about this image was how the low exposure allowed for the over emphasis of the contrast between each piece of seaweed. For me the inclusion of highlights inbetween the pattern allowed for greater emphasis of the overdefined overlapping pieces as the monochrome filter perfectly captures this. Personally I found that the darker border around the pieces added to the overall affect, this is because of how it boxes the seaweed in and creates a great contrast which increases the aestheticism of the photo. Overall I thought the outcome was very effective as it captured exactly the subject as I wanted whilst providing the viewer with one of natures patterns.
I selected this image because I loves how the dead tree branches out from the bottom of the composition with varying dead ivy producing from its side which provides a stark contrast to the overcast backdrop. By taking the image against a overcast backdrop for me it added extra definition to the subject as it over exaggerates the features whilst isolating the subject from its surrounding environment and limiting the viewers perspective of what it is. Personally I found this this piece came out really well as it provided me with the patterns desired from the outreaching ivy whilst also being close to my goal within my pattern mind-map stated above.
The reason I chose this was mainly due to its link to the previous pattern shoot which highlighted the mane of a horse instead. I selected this because I loves the huge contrast within the photo with the individual hair of the pig being highlighted by the limited amount of natural lighting from the sun. For me this adds a huge amount of character to the image as by limiting and abstracting the rest of the pig from view it makes you really look into the piece to further explore what could be hidden in the darkness. As a result of this I found this piece worked well and would be well suited to work with the other picture in the previous shoot which could be further used in a composition.
What made me choose this image was the pattern created from the sea going out and leaving behind the bumpy pattern that leads outwards for miles. By using a higher exposure I found that I was able to highlight certaom parts of the bumps leaving the rest of it in an exaggerated shadow which as a result creates the impression of a sort of sandy sea with various bumps overlapping or breaking up others. For me I really liked the result as it carries a sort of natural aestheticism where it makes the bumps seems too artificial to be true, therefore creating an almost surreal landscape as if from a birds eye perspective.
Finally I chose this image because I really liked the contrast between the dark and lighter aspects of the woods surface. When looking over the image I found that the clear contrast between the darker right side of the wood and the lighter left side added a much needed definition through how it induces a sense of mystery by removing most of what would be seen of the log. I also liked how the hole in the log adds a sense of depth through it removing the continuous grain present on the surface of the wood, instead breaking it up and becoming the main focal point of the image. As a result of this I was really pleased with this outcome as it reflected my intentions for the shoot whilst linking itself back to the topic of abstract patterns.
Once I had analysed each image I then decided it was time to move onto selected the best image that represented my overall aims and intentions of the shoot. This was my choice:
For me the image of the overly contrasted seaweed represented my aims for the shoot the most, this was because of how the overlapping pattern created when the tide goes out became really aesthetically pleasing for me due to the gaps of darkness inbetween highlighting the various shapes of the seaweed as it progressed along the composition of the photograph. Looking over the image for me it is clear that the small air sacks of seaweed add a very much needed aspect to the entire photograph, this is mainly due to how they tend to be a lighter shade from that particular area inflating and stretching the surface area as a result, whilst presenting them as more light and eye-catching to the rest of the piled seaweed.