Kodachrome became the first colour film that made use of a subtractive colour method successfully mass-marketed. It was the successor of Autochrome and Dufaycolor which had been used for screenplating methods. Kodachrome has become the longest living brand of colour film due to its manifacture for 74 years in various formats to suit still and motion picture cameras including 8mm, super 8, 16mm. As a result of this Kodachrome can be appreciated due to its archival and professional market regarding dark-storage and longevity making its qualities desired by many professional photographers.
The brand name itself is for a non-substantive, color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935, becoming one of the first successful colour materials used for both cinematography and still photography. Over years Kodachrome was widely used for professional colour photography as the images produced were intended for publication in print media. However the film started to be sold process-paid in the US until 1954 due to legal ruling which prohibited this. Due to its growth and rising popularity of alternative photographic materials and complex processing requirments, widespread transition to digital photography resulting in Kodachrome to lose market share eventually leading to it becoming discontinued in 2009 with its processing ending in December 2010.
Some examples of Kodachrome and its photographic results can be seen below:
Over the years Kodachrome became a registered trademark of the Kodak company, with its method of colour transparency becoming more commonly known as a type of colour film the company started marketing in 1935. “Kodachrome” might sound familiar. Kodak eventually had at least three different processes that went by this new trademark, the first in 1914. In the early years of the twentieth century Eastman Kodak pursued the development of a simple color photography process that could be used by amateur photographers.
What is Autochrome?
Autochrome, also known as Autochrome Lumiere was invented in France by the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiere. Originally they presented their research into colour photography to the Academie des Sciences in 1904, with commercial manufacture of autochrome plates soon starting 1904. This led to the first autochrome process taking place on the 10th of June 1907 at the offices of the French newspaper L’Illustration. The process works by covering autochrome plates in microscopic red, green and blue coloured potato starch grains. When the photo is eventually taken the light passes through these colour filters to the photographic emulsion, with the plate becoming processed to produce a positive transparency. As a result this creates a full colour image of the original subject.
These processes were undertaken at the Limiere factory in Lyon, and included a complex process. Transparent grain was first passed through a series of sieves to isolate the grains between ten and fifteen microns in diameter. These grains are then separated into batches and dyed red, green and violet which are then once again mixed together over a glass plate coated in a sticky varnish. Charcoal powder is the spread over the plate to fill in any gaps between the grain and a roller is used to pressure the grain and flatten them out, and finally leaving the plate to be covered in a photographic emulsion.
Here are some examples of autochrome:
Overall the photos did not require much special apparatus as photographs could use their existing cameras, however they did have to remember to place their autochrome plate in the camera with the plain glass side nearest the lens so that light passed through the filter screen before reaching the sensitive emulsion. To view the image autochromes could simply be held up to the light, however for ease and comfort they were usually viewed using special stands called diascopes which incorporated mirrors. These gave the image a brighter result and allowed several people to look at the plate at the same time, they could also be presented using magic lanterns.
When photography was invented in 1839, it was a black-and-white medium, and it remained that way for almost one hundred years. Photography then was a fragile, cumbersome, and expensive process. In order to practice, photographers needed a lot of extra money and time, or a sponsor. In that early period, the people advancing photographic technology tended to focus not on achieving color photographs but on making improvements in the optical, chemical, and practical aspects of photography. For many, the goal was to make photography more suitable for portraiture—its most desired application. For that, photographic technology needed to be more stable, portable, and affordable, not more colorful. But people wanted color photos. (Portraits before photography were paintings—in full, glorious color.) By 1880, once the early technical hurdles had been overcome, portrait photographers began experimenting with color. They employed artists to tint photographers’ daguerreotypes and calotypes by hand.
British photographers introduced hand coloring photographs to Japan, where the practice became widespread and Japanese artists further perfected the technique. The refined, delicate hand coloring became a defining characteristic of Japanese tourist photography, the results of which were carried back to the West, influencing the art of hand coloring there. This wildly popular technique persisted in Europe and the Americas until twenty years later when Autochrome plates arrived. In Japan, hand coloring lasted yet another twenty years beyond.
When first attempted in early 1840s people were trying to find a sort of chameleon substance which would be be able to assume the colour of any light falling upon it. The first results were typically obtained from projecting a solar spectrum directly onto the sensitive surface promising an eventual success, however a comparatively dull image would form in the camera required exposures lasting for hours or even days. The quality and range of the image colour were sometimes severely limited mainly due to primary colours, such as the chemically made ‘Hillotype’ process invented by America Levi Hill in 1850. Many others tried to experiment with other methods that prevented colours from fading over time such as Edmond Becquerel who achieved better results to some extent. Over about seven decades there was continuous experiments along these lines which would occasionally raise hopes but having no value at practical level. Here are some examples of early coloured photography:
Regarding the first ever colour photograph it was taken as early as 1826 by Nicephore Niepce, however it took until 1861 to be developed by technology which could incorporate very basic colour. Overall though it was the Scottish Physicist and poet James Clerk Maxwell who produced the first true colour photograph that didn’t fade immediately or need colour adding afterwards by hand. The image can be interpreted as sinister and mysterious, this is because the colours red, green and blue have been used to take a still image of some tartan ribbon which had to be taken three times using different coloured filters each time. The technique itself was developed because of the theories about how the eye can process colour. This is the first non-fading coloured image:
The three-colour method, which is the foundation of virtually all practical color processes whether chemical or electronic, was first suggested in an 1855 paper on colour vision by Maxwell. It is based on the Young-Helmholtz theory that the normal human eye perceives colour because the retina is covered with millions of intermingled cone cells of three different types: In theory, one type is most sensitive to the end of the spectrum we call “red”, another is more sensitive to the middle or “green” region, and a third which is most strongly stimulated by “blue”. The named colours are somewhat arbitrary divisions imposed on the continuous spectrum of visible light, and the theory is not an entirely accurate description of cone sensitivity. Nevertheless, it coincides enough with the sensations experienced by the eye that when these three colors are used the three cones types are adequately and unequally stimulated.
In his studies of color vision, Maxwell showed, by using a rotating disk with which he could alter the proportions, that any visible hue or gray tone could be created by mixing only three pure colours of light red, green and blue in proportions that would stimulate the three types of cells to the same degrees under particular lighting conditions. To emphasize that each type of cell by itself did not actually see colour but was simply more or less stimulated, he drew an analogy to black-and-white photography: if three colorless photographs of the same scene were taken through red, green and blue filters, and transparencies made from them were projected through the same filters and superimposed on a screen, the result would be an image reproducing not only red, green and blue, but all of the colors in the original scene. Because Sutton’s photographic plates were in fact insensitive to red and barely sensitive to green, the results of this pioneering experiment were far from perfect.
Long exposure photography is when we are using a much longer shutter speed, and it’s usually used as a specific technique to achieve a certain effect. There’s no defined transition point at which a shutter speed becomes slow enough to define your shooting as ‘long exposure photography’. Generally speaking, I tend to think of it as when we are talking about our exposure times in terms of seconds, rather than fractions of a second. These kind of long exposure times (shutter speed is the same as exposure time), are often used to blur something in a photo, for example running water in stream, or the movement of stars across the night sky. A long exposure helps us to trace the pattern of time and render things in a different way to how we are used to seeing them. When we see things differently, it naturally fascinates us and that’s a significant factor in creating a compelling image.
In order to achieve long exposures during the daytime, it’s often necessary to use neutral density filters on a lens, which cuts down the light entering the lens. With less light entering the lens, the shutter speed needs to be much longer to achieve the same exposure. Neutral density filters can allow you to shoot exposures of several minutes long, even in bright daytime situations. Here are some examples:
For this mini shoot I wanted to explore how the twisting roads of Jersey would create long exposure by focusing on cars and the variety of coloured lights that are created from them. I want to particularly look at the different textures and patterns I could make out of moving the camera whilst keeping the camera still. However when taking some of the photos I may try at experimenting with a monochrome filter to see if it would effect the outcome of the light trails looking at whether or not they blend the colours together. Here are some of the results from the shoot overall:
Once I had finished the shoot I decided to select ten images that I thought represented the shoot best whilst also reflecting my overall intentions behind what I wanted to achieve and have the outcome of photos look like. When doing the shoto I made sure to try a variety of things such as using a monochrome filter to produce some of the pictures, my aim behind this was to experiment and see whether by devoiding the image of colour if it would provide a smoother transition between shades. Here is my selection of my ten favourite images:
From here I wanted to then go onto whittle the selection down to only three images out of the mini shoot, by doing so it would allow me to analyse each of the image to more detail and understand the visual, technical and coceptual aspects behind the photos and my thought process behind selecting it. Here are my favourite three images:
I selected this image because of how I really love the contrasting colours of red and white which also complimented each other against the emerging floor underneath. The image itself is of a moving car taken going over a speed bump during a long exposure, I really liked how its movement of bumping was captured through the pattern created with no actual goal of where its going. Overall I liked how the image relates well to long exposure as it creates an abstract pattern of the lighting, removing the car completely and leaving me with a series of lights with no coordination.
The reason I chose this image was because of the coordinated composition of the colours against the black backdrop. Personally for me I found that the lightings approach from the bottom left to top right of the photo created a great sense of aestheticism due to how the black space left behind in certain areas leaves enought room so that neither the lights or the darkness becomes too overpowering for the viewer. By mixing together a variety of different colours into the light sequence I found that it really stopped the lighting from becoming repetative and boring, as a result for me the added blues and reds emphasise the movement in the image.
Finally I selected this image because of its simplicity, here I loved how the use of black negative space to highlight a smoke like effect created from a swaying lamp on a boat. What drew me to the image was the symmetry created from the light and how by using a monochrome filter on the image it puts arcoss the impression of smoke filtering down the screen. For what the image lacked I found it made up for it in contrast against the black backdrop with the ghost like lines presenting the viewer with a great sense of aetheticism.
Overall I found the shoot to go quite well as it highlighted the movement in our everyday lives but instead by removing the subjects and leaving on the light sources they have left behind. As a result of this all textures lights and landscapes are a direct reflection of our everyday transport to and from work or school.
Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. Engineers used the process well into the 20th century as a simple and low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints. The process uses two chemicals: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. The process was first introduced by John Herschel in 1842, just over three years afterLouis Jacques Mandé Daguerre and William Henry FoxTalbot had announced their independent inventions of photography in silver, using substrates of metal and paper. Sir John was an astronomer, trying to find a way of copying his notes and featured in his paper “On the Action of the Rays of the Solar Spectrum on Vegetable Colours and on Some New Photographic Processes,” . Herschel also gave us the words photography, negative, positive and snapshot. For him science and art were inextricably linked.
The name cyanotype was derived from the Greek name cyan, meaning “dark-blue impression.” The inorganic pigment Prussian blue, which is the image-forming material of cyanotypes, was prepared first by Heinrich Diesbach in Berlin between 1704 and 1710. Cyanotypes were not widely used until 1880, when they became popular because they required only water for fixing the image.
John Herschel
One of the first people to put the cyanotype process to use was Anna Atkins, who in October 1843 is said to have become the first person to produce and photographically illustrated a book using cyanotypes. The cyanotype to the right is from a book of ferns published in 1843 by Atkins called Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. She was a pioneering figure in photographic history, having produced the first book to use photographic illustrations.
Following Herschel’s death in 1871, cyanotype was appropriated by entrepreneurs of a more commercial turn of mind than its true inventor, and exploited as a reprographic medium, although Herschel himself had previously demonstrated its use for copying text and images.Thee acceptability of cyanotype as a pictorial medium had been seriously inhibited, at least in Britain, by the intolerant response of critics to its powerful colour. The arbiters of contemporary taste in ‘the art of photography’ were at the time had become accustomed to anaesthetic of monochrome images that were mostly brown, so they declared the unremitting blue of the cyanotype to be anathema. Foremost among these critics was Peter Henry Emerson who said “… only a vandal would print a landscape in red or in cyanotype.” Emerson spent an important part of his life tormented by the debate between those who believed photography could be distilled into a set of hard and fast rules and those who believed that it was a flexible form of expression and impression. In 1886, Emerson began to deliver a series of lectures that defined the correct, naturalistic, way to approach the new medium. He attempted to define an unassailable position in which a photograph should always aspire to represent an artist’s true aesthetic vision, as in the Impressionist painting movement.
John Tennant, the editor of the influential American periodical The Photo-Miniature , conducted quite a spirited defence in one of his issues of 1900:“This prejudice against the blue print because of its color is, in itself, curiously interesting. In every-day life we are inclined to be enthusiastic about everything blue, from the deep blue of the sea or the deeper depths of blue in a woman’s eyes, to the marvellous blue of old Delft ware or the Willow plates of years ago.”
Today we come full circle in witnessing a second revival of the cyanotype process among contemporary photographic artists
Symbolic blue in art and religion
The universal scarcity of blue pigmentation in the natural world, explains why the cyanotype image might have been considered‘unnatural’. Its low status in photographic art, however, still remainssomewhat paradoxical when we contrast it with the elevated role of bluein the traditions of painting.
The association with the colour of the celestial hemisphere adds anextra dimension to the symbolism of blue. Because it appears in the skyafter the obscuring clouds are dispelled, blue is said to be the ‘colour oftruth’. C J Jung conjectured that:“…blue, standing for the vertical, means height and depth (the bluesky above, the blue sea below).”
In a religious context, blue is the colour symbolising some of theloftiest sentiments: spiritual devotion, heavenly love, and innocence. Inthe traditions of Western religious art, for instance, the Virgin Mary’smantle is invariably rendered in blue, and so is that of Christ during hisministry on earth.
Sabattier effect and Solarization
The Sabattier effect, also known as pseudo-solarization, is a phenomenon in photography in which the image recorded on a negative or on a photographic print is wholly or partially reversed in tone. Dark areas appear light or light areas appear dark. Sabattier effect is sometimes incorrectly referred to as solarization which is an increase in the exposure of a film to light or radiant energy by 10 to 1000 times the normal amount of exposure (4 to 10 f/stops) which leads to the film becoming lighter rather than darker, whilst the Sabattier effect is a manipulation of the printing process in which the print is re-exposed to light midway through the development process.
The Sabattier Effect results in a partial or complete reversal of image tones on either film or paper emulsion, as well as distinctive outlines (known as Mackie lines, after Alexander Mackie who first described them) which border adjacent highlight and shadow areas. It was first discovered in 1862 by Armand Sabattier as a result of an accidental exposure to light during development of a wet collodion plate, producing a partial reversal of tone.
Man ray
Amongst Paris of the nineteen-twenties, the artist Man Ray, born Emmanuel Radnitzky, expanded the horizons of photography well beyond its representational means, and through relentless darkroom experimentation, liberated that medium from its place as a mirror to nature. His chosen name would come to reflect that mysterious and intrepid realm his photographs occupy in Modern Art. His experiments with photography included rediscovering how to make “cameraless” pictures, which he called rayographs.
Like a mad scientist, Man Ray conducted a multitude of chemical and optical experiments in his darkroom, exploiting the elasticity of light and its unrealized affects on light-sensitive paper. “I deliberately dodged all the rules,” he once described his method. “I mixed the most insane products together, I used film way past its use – by date, I committed heinous crimes against chemistry and photography, and you can’t see any of it”.
Man Ray claimed to have invented the photogram not long after he emigrated from New York to Paris in 1921. Although, in fact, the practice had existed since the earliest days of photography, he was justified in the artistic sense, for in his hands the photogram was not a mechanical copy but an unpredictable pictorial adventure. He called his photograms “rayographs.”
Man Ray
By placing a variety of translucent and opaque objects directly on the paper during exposure, Man Ray was able to bend and mold that light into abstraction. Left behind was a shadowy imprint of the object’s form, completely dissociated from its original context in his 1922 series, Champs Délicieux. Man Ray’s “Solarizations” shamelessly broke what may have been the golden rule of darkroom photography—Do not turn on the light while in the darkroom. During the developing process, Man Ray would momentarily flicker his studio lights, forming that distinctive inverse of tones around in his subjects.
Man Ray also made films. In one short film, Le Retour à la raison (1923; Return to Reason), he applied the rayograph technique to motion-picture film, making patterns with salt, pepper, tacks, and pins. Le Retour à la Raison (above) was completed in 1923. The title means “Return to Reason,” and is a kinetic extension of Man Ray’s still photography.
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.
Edward Henry Weston was born March 24th, 1886, dying January 1st 1958. Weston grew up in Chicago and moved to California when he was 21, from a young age he knew he wanted to be a photographer and initially his work became viewed as a typically soft focus on pictorialism which was a popular theme at the time. Within a few years of photography he abandoned his original style and went on to use one of the now regarded as most highly detailed photographic images. However in 1947 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and he stopped photographing soon after which led to his remaining ten years of his life overseeing the printing of more than 1,000 of his most famous images.
Currently Weston is known as one of the most innovative and influential American photographers, being regarded as a master photographer of the 20th century. Over his career he range of subjects to photograph had widened, photographing things like landscapes, nudes, still life, portraits and genre scene even including parodies. Weston today can be seen as creating what is quintessentially seen as American, especially Californian approach to photography, this is due to his focus on the people and places of the American West where in 1937 Weston became the first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship. Because of this he went on to produce up to 1,400 negatives using an 8 x 10 view camera which many of his famous photographs being taken of trees and rocks around the area of Point Lobos, California where he lived for many years. Some examples of his photograph can be seen below:
After looking over some of his images I decided to analyse one of them that I thought related best to my overall topic of variation regarding abstraction through different presentations. The image is called Point Lobos named after where it was taken where he photographed different rock formations using different compositions each time. By analyzing the image I can look into three sections, technical, visual and contextual, these will give me a greater understanding of how the image is taken and the underlying thought process beneath it.
Visual:
Visually the piece is extremely aesthetic due to its symmetry and use of different tones. What drew me to it originally was how the rocks mostly grey surface was complimented by the boarder of black waters and edges, for me this brought the photo together as it boxed in what Weston wanted to focus on, the texture of the surface. By using the divide between the two sides of the rock and composing it in the center of the image I found that it stopped the formation from becoming too overpowering and prevented it from becoming too bland and generic. For me this area of rock is effective because of how the darkened cracks all face the same direction whilst using the dark water as a gradient to eventually fade in and create an eerie result.
Technical:
When looking at the image its fair to say that a relatively lower exposure was used to create the darkened effect of the water and corners of the piece, allowing as a results for the areas where the sun hits to pop out against the rest of the composition. A regular shutter speed has been used as when looking at the water there is some slight movement blur which indicates that the photo was taken intentionally to capture its crashing against the rocks surface and as a result produce a greater transition between rock and water. It is clear when viewing the image that the composition has been greatly taken into consideration due to the placement of the dividing crack and the portion of the image taken up by the water.
Contextual:
During the late 1940s when this image was taken, Weston’s photography was becoming increasingly personal. He began to capture private picnics, trips in his car, and his family and friends—all of which were subjects he avoided in his earlier years. The beauty in this image derives from Weston’s overpowering sense of place at Point Lobos, the sharp lens focus, the flawlessness of a natural form, and the thorough attention to detail in his printing. This image, among many, illustrates how Weston often renounced the use of manipulation in his photographs in order to depict the realities of the world. This style of photography is referred to as “Pure and Straight Photography,” a term coined in the late 1800s when photographers began to create photographic prints that were not manipulated in any way. Weston will always be recognized for the simple, yet emotionally charged, clarity of his pictures. In viewing this photograph we find that Weston’s main goal was not to manipulate but rather merely to capture the beauty of Point Lobos.
Aesthetic comes under a branch of photography which examines the nature of art and our own personal experience with it. The term originally emerged during the 18th century in Europe, soon developing in England as philosophers grouped together images into fields of poetry, sculpture, music and dance. As a result of this they became all classified in art as one category which was called les beaux arts, or fine arts. From this philosophers have began to reason that no description could define or explain beauty. They argued that there were only some rational properties of it such as order, symmetry and proportion, however it is mainly regarded as an experience from an individuals perspective rather than a reason alone.
It is clear for us to say that through our understanding of intuition and experience with human feeling and emotion, aesthetic experience could include a mixture of feelings such as pleasure, rage, grief, suffering and joy. One particular philosopher named Immanuel Kant interpreted aesthetics as a field which gave priority to form over function, with him stating that beauty was independent of any particular figure which it was attached to. Today many historians and philosophers have argued that there is no such thing as aesthetics in art but rather there only being artists. Some of the earlier examples of aestheticism from different generations and cultures can be seen below:
The first use of the term aesthetics in something like its modern sense is commonly attributed to Alexander Baumgarten in 1735 with Francis Hutcheson marking the first systematic inquiries into aesthetics in the sense of them being a distinct branch of philosophy. Undoubtedly the 18th century saw the flourishing of inquiries into beauty, taste, the sublime, and genius, but few would be content to start a history of aesthetics in that century. For many centuries earlier, going back to ancient Greece, there had been philosophical reflection, even if only in a piecemeal fashion, on poetry, painting, music, and the beautiful, and these reflections had an enormous influence on later philosophizing. What is noticeable, though, is that prior to the 18th century it is not always clear where the boundary lies between aesthetics, as such, conceived as a distinctively philosophical inquiry into judgments of taste and the foundations of the arts and more general theorizing about art, including, for example, treatises on the arts often aimed at practitioners themselves.
Regarding a more modern approach to aesthetics it can still be seen as the basis for much of our societies development through our architecture to our art. Various examples can be seen below:
Named after the Japanese word for “blur” or “haze”, bokeh is an optical phenomenon that stamps the character of the lens on each photo in the way that bright out-of-focus elements are rendered. When out of focus, bright pinpoints become attractive, ghostly circles of light. Or at least they are circles with the right lens.Out-of-focus elements can be just as important to finishing the composition and can dramatically change the viewer’s perception of the piece. The key to using bokeh in a shot is to use a wide aperture on a close focused subject so that elements in front and behind the point of focus blur readily. If the lens has curved aperture blades, these will be reflected in the shape of the bokeh.
By tradition, bokeh hunters prize these circular shapes more. But straight aperture blades can create different shapes, such as hexagons if the lens has six blades and is used at a larger f-stop, such as f/8. These can be just as effective creatively. A more obvious way in which lens construction has influenced photographic trends comes with the zoom lens. The zoom-burst effect provides a way to guide the eye to the centre of the shot by turning the surrounding field into a blur of movement. The effect is easy to create although mastery takes a little longer.
The key is to focus on the centre of the image and during the shot quickly turn the zoom ring. It helps to have the camera on a tripod as this will minimise shake during the relatively long exposures needed to give you enough time to turn the zoom ring. Similar to creative use of bokeh, zoom bursts often work best with bright, colourful elements in the out-of-focus area. Although it needs a steady hand to pull off well, you can bring swirls into zoom-burst shots by holding the zoom ring and turning the camera instead. Here are some examples:
To ensure a clear image in the centre, photographers often combine the zoom burst with flash, using slow sync flash to fire extra light at the beginning or end of the exposure to freeze the subject. This can work extremely well in night-time city shots when you have streetlights to help emphasise the zoom effect. At the other end of the scale, zooming can be used to create extreme focus effects, particularly for macro shots. Even at high f-stops, it is difficult to capture a depth of field of more than a few centimetres of in close-up images. Here I wanted to explore a few ways in which I could experiment with the way I could take future shoots and so found walking around town at night was one of the best ways to do so. These were my outcomes:
Once I’d experimented a little with the technique I decided to have a go at photographing the lights in tunnels and on car as they seemed to produce the best outcomes regarding variety of composition and brightness. When taking the images I really enjoyed taking into consideration a new style of composition not previously used where block lights could be overlapped or on their own. Here are three of my favourite outcomes from the experimental shoot:
What I liked about this image was the use of the mainly blue lighting fading out as it progressed through the photo. For me this effect created a great sense of aestheticism as it highlighted the dirt of the window it was taken from, this for me added extra texture to the image whilst also making use of the negative space so that it would not be predominantly black and leave the product as a bit of an eye sore. The shades of blue present within I found to cast an ambient light throughout, with the primary light source becoming the main focal point for viewers due to the sequence of other lights deriving from it.
Here I particularly liked the variety of different colours present which make use of the black backdrop which separates each light so that they become a sort of structured shape. Looking at the blues, whites and greys they all compliment each other so that they do not become overpowering, with the occasional different colour such as red or orange breaking up the pattern and adding more depth to the overall outcome. For me the blackness of the top right corner brings together the whole image due to how it adds a space and stops the continuous lights from overpowering the entire piece.
Finally what drew me to this image was the appearance of murky greens, reds and yellows which add a sense of eeriness to the photograph. These darker colours are complimented by the surrounding black which envelops each light merging them into the next whilst the sequence snakes off image. I particularly found the implementation of the reds and oranges to be of great effect due to how the prevent the mainly greens and yellows from taking over and making the image overall quite dull.
Overall for me this experimentation was useful as it broadened my stance regarding photography and the styles and techniques that could be used to take new and original perspectives of my surrounding environment. For a future reference I could combine certain bokeh images together to form a more abstract result combining patterns from both so that they merge and create something almost alien like.
The realities explored in science and spirituality are often assumed to be unrelated to one another. Science explores the outer world with a series of questions beginning with the basic query, “What is this? What is this world all about?” while spirituality begins with the question, “Who am I?”.
In the ancient world these two forms of knowledge were not in conflict but were understood to have a deep and subtle connection. Man’s knowledge of himself complemented his understanding of the universe and formed the basis for a strong and healthy relationship to the creation in which he lived. It is the disconnect between these two types of knowledge that is causing many of the challenges that we face as a global community today.
Ancient wisdom describes human beings as having five layers of experience: the environment, the physical body, the mind, the intuition and our self or spirit. Our connection with the environment is our first level of experience, and one of the most important. If our environment is clean and positive, it has a positive impact on all the other layers of our existence. As a result, they come into balance and we experience a greater sense of peace and connection within ourselves and with others around us. Historically, nature, mountains, rivers, trees, the sun, the moon have always been honored in ancient cultures. It’s only when we start moving away from our connection to nature and ourselves that we begin polluting and destroying the environment.
Religion
While many human beings choose to measure the importance of Nature through economic value or scientific worth, the most difficult of Nature’s gifts to “measure” is its connection to our spirituality. While the spiritual self is not always linked to religion, it is more than relevant to explore the revered place that Nature has been given in so many of the world’s religions.
Christianity tells the story of a paradise on Earth, rightly situated in the beauty of a garden, and documents the efforts of Noah as he’s commanded by God to save two of every species on the planet. Buddhism teaches that all life is sacred. Muslims believe that Nature was given to humans as a gift from Allah. Indigenous cultures all over the world have celebrated the existence of Nature as their “mother”.
Humans & Nature
Japanese Shinrin-yoku had compared how the body reacts to being immersed in nature (woodland), to being in an urban environment. The results of the analysis supported the story told above. Finding that being in the woods was calming, activating the parasympathetic nervous system associated with contentment. Whereas the urban environment stimulated the sympathetic nervous system associated with drive and threat. There’s plenty of evidence that exposure to nature is good for people’s health, well-being and happiness.
Research has consistently shown that increased connection with nature results in decreased stress, anxiety, anger, aggression, depression, and a sense of gloom; while it increases a variety of measures of physical health.
“From the smallest microorganisms to the largest animals, all life on Earth has a common ancestor. Everything is connected to everything. ” Our relationship with nature has historically been one of imbalance and overuse. Nearly every step in human history has unfortunately been accompanied with a leap in environmental degradation. At first, humans were incredibly in-tune with their surroundings. With advancements in technology and agriculture though, humans began to find more efficient ways of sustaining themselves. These advancements allowed for more permanent settlements, which led to rapid population growth and a distancing from nature.
Nature and Mental Health
New studies find evidence in support of what we see clinically. It found that virtually any form of immersion in the natural world, outside of your internal world, heightens your overall well-being and well as more positive engagement with the larger human community.
Exposure to nature has been shown to evoke positive emotions, as well as strengthen individual resilience (Marselle et al. 2013) and coping skills (van den Berg 2010). Getting into nature has been shown to have positive impacts on concentration, learning, problem solving, critical thinking capacity, and creativity as well as enhance mental health and wellbeing through encouraging physical fitness and social engagement.
One study is from the University of British Columbia. It highlights an essential dimension of true “mental health” – the realm beyond healing and managing conflicts and dysfunctions. Mental health includes the capacity to move “outside” of yourself, and thereby Increase and broaden your mental and emotional perspectives about people and life in general. That’s the realm that grows, for example, from meditation – the mindfulness state of being grounded in awareness of the present moment.
Sir David Attenborough talking about Nature and Mental Health
Rinko Kawauchi who i have previously looked at, believes the fleeting nature of these dualities is what ultimately determines our fragile existence. I like how she photographs things that are ‘ephemeral’, that won’t last for long which are unified by an unapologetically sublime aesthetic, a sense of wonder, and by her linking of the earthly and the celestial, the physical and the spiritual. Wassily Kandinsky, who I’ve explored also looks at spirituality in his book ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’ where he writes about his beliefs on how art links to humans and spiritual life. “The spiritual life, to which art belongs and of which she is one of the mightiest elements, is a complicated but definite and easily definable movement forwards and upwards. This movement is the movement of experience. It may take different forms, but it holds at bottom to the same inner thought and purpose.”-Kandinsky.
The term psychogeography was invented by the Marxist theorist Guy Debord in 1955. Inspired by the French nineteenth century poet and writer Charles Baudelaire’s concept of the flâneur – an urban wanderer – Debord suggested playful and inventive ways of navigating the urban environment in order to examine its architecture and spaces.
“the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals.” – Guy Debord
Guy Debord, Guide Pychogéographique de Paris
As a founding member of the avant-garde movement Situationist International, an international movement of artists, writers and poets who aimed to break down the barriers between culture and everyday life, Debord wanted a revolutionary approach to architecture that was less functional and more open to exploration. The reimagining of the city proposed by psychogeography has its roots in dadaism and surrealism, art movements which explored ways of unleashing the subconscious imagination.
One of psychogeography’s principle means was the derive, or drift, defined by the situationists as the ‘technique of locomotion without a goal’, in which ‘one or more persons during a certain period drop their usual motives for movement and action, their relations, their work and leisure activities, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there’. The dérive acted as something of a model for the ‘playful creation’ of all human relationships.
Psychogeography gained popularity in the 1990s when artists, writers and filmmakers such as Iain Sinclair and Patrick Keiller began using the idea to create works based on exploring locations by walking.
Patrick Keiller’s 1994 documentary, ‘London’ consists of many simplistic shots that acknowledge the often unnoticed scenes of London.
