Fay Godwin is very much a writer’s photographer, in more senses than one. Poets and novelists are drawn to her work, and she worked closely with several. The work comments on both the romanticism of the British Landscape and the harsh man altered reality.
Godwin’s involvement with photography stemmed from the hobby of photographing her children which led in the early 1970s to commissioned portraits of poets and writers. Her interest in landscape was stimulated by her love of walking. She subsequently co-authored many essays, guide-books and poems on the theme of British landscape.
When photographing landscapes she worked in black & white and her genuine concern for the environment made her a unique figure in British photography. Her images were noted for their clarity, careful composition and expert control over tonal values. She was known for great tenacity and determination when creating an image. When someone once remarked to her that she had been lucky to catch the ideal cloud formations in a particular picture she quickly replied, ‘I didn’t “catch” it. I sat down and waited three days for it.’
Image Analysis:
- The image contains horizontal lines which divides the image into three sections demonstrating the rule of thirds.
- It contains a hill in the foreground and more hills in the background creating sections within the image that join together to make shapes, similar to three triangles.
- The placement of the horizontal lines makes the image a good composition as each section is a different tone: the foreground starts off the darkest followed by a lighter grey followed by the white in the sky to emphasise the dark clouds.
- The darker tones allow for the beams of sunlight to be emphasised coming forward creating a misty effect in the middle ground which is also emphasised by the dark bushes and trees.
- The main cloud in the sky on the left is the same tone as the foreground making it stand out from the white sky and make a complementary picture.
- Fay Godwin’s image is an example of romanticism in landscape photography as it shows an interest in the natural world and has a powerful and dramatic composition and provides an expression of personal sentiment.
Romanticism is a term in use by the early nineteenth century to describe the movement in art and literature distinguished by a new interest in human psychology, expression of personal feeling and interest in the natural world
Romanticist practitioners found their voices across all genres, including literature, music, art, and architecture. Additionally, in an effort to stem the tide of increasing industrialization, many of the Romanticists emphasized the individual’s connection to nature and an idealized past.
Painters began using current events and atrocities to shed light on injustices in dramatic compositions that rivaled the more staid Neoclassical history paintings accepted by national academies. Powerful compositions also erupted during this time, with artists often painting mythical, landscape, or historical scenes focused around a particular message.
The invention of photography very nearly coincided with the Romantic movement. These included responses to nature, the environment, atmosphere, spirit of place, heightened moments of awareness and reflections on antiquity and ruin,
Adams himself was a photographer but also an environmentalist,he was born California ,San Francisco. He grew up surrounded by nature happening to be in a sand dune golden gate area,although using these years his once wetly family lost their worth and Adams broke his nose making him distinct for his future life.Due to his older family he has a very historical upbringing which influenced him to be interested himself in a Victorian society both socially and emotionally conservative.
who all shared a similar photographic style – sharp-focused and carefully framed images. The pictorialist photographic style had been dominating for most of the early 20th century, however, the group wanted to offer an alternative with a new modernist aesthetic.
