Artist study – Bruce Davidson

Bruce Davidson

Bruce Davidson was born September 5, 1933 in America. He has been a member of the Magnum Photos agency since 1958. His photographs, notably those taken in New York, have been widely exhibited and published. He is known for photographing communities usually hostile to outsiders. Bruce was interested in photography from an early age and at age 10, his mother built him a darkroom in their basement.

Davidson went on to attend the Rochester Institute of Technology and Yale University, where one of his teachers was artist Josef Albers. For his college theory, Davidson created a photo essay that was published in Life magazine in 1955, documenting football players behind the scenes of the game. After graduating, he was drafted into the army and was stationed near Paris, France. It was there that he met his lifelong mentor, Henri Cartier-Bresson. He took inspiration from Henri, and went on to reevaluate the genre of photojournalism with his singular style and methods. He is best known for his photo-essays documenting subversive and counter culture groups. 

Once Bruce left the military service in 1957, Davidson worked as a freelance photographer for Life magazine and a year later joined Magnum photos. Unlike other photographers before him, Davidson embedded himself in the world of his subjects for extended periods, the results of which formed a series of powerful photo-essays. One of the earliest examples of this dedication was when he joined the circus in 1958 in order to become fully immersed in the environment.

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USA. New York City. 1980. Subway.Image result for bruce davidson brooklyn gang

USA. New York City. 1959. Brooklyn Gang.

 

Artist study – Alex Webb

Alex Webb

Born in San Francisco, Webb was raised in New England, Webb first became interested in photography as a high school student and in 1972 attended the Apeiron Workshops in New York where he met Magnum photographers Bruce Davidson and Charles Harbutt. Alex Webb is best known for his vibrant and complex color work within his images.

He went on to study history and literature at Harvard where he graduated in 1974, but also studied photography at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. By 1974 he was working as a photojournalist and in 1976 he became an associate member of Magnum Photos. During this time he documented small-town life in the South American . He also did some work in the Caribbean and Mexico , which led him, in 1978, to begin working in color, which he has continued to do. Webb now lives and works in Brooklyn with his wife, Rebecca Norris Webb, who is also a photographer, and they have collaborated on a number of photo books.

Webb’s work has been exhibited around the world, including at the Walker Art Center, the Museum of photographic arts and many more. His work is also seen in numerous collections. He has received commissions from the High Museum of Art as well as the Banesto Foundation in Spain.

Image result for Alex webb photography

 

Artists to reference in my essay and analysis of their work

Artists to reference and how they discuss emotions and the sublime:

Tim walker:

Tim walker is a photographer who specialises in out-there and almost wordy tablo shots for magazines and lots of fashion looks and developments. Similarly Peter Lindbergh has a similar fashion style. Walker is evidently the most vibrant artist I have chosen, and he will be subject to interpretation as a comparative to my other two photographers. His work is something of a fantasy and brings the word sublime into a chaotic visuality. I would love to develop and experiment more in his style, however for me to create these scenes of such a strong tablo photography would be difficult due of the large set pieces used, However I could use a combination of both a set and photoshop in order to  show a negotiated  medium of his style into my work itself. I have recently read the following articles from Tim walker which addresses his work in order to connote a whole story, although he clearly states ‘When you work as a photographer you’re working more with a mood and with a suggestion of something that enables the viewer to be able to put themselves in to the picture and imagine themselves in that situation’ his work is done in order to be generous to the reader. The production of the image is essentially allowing someone to be part of a fantasy. It is inviting them to enter his work and his element of ‘escapism’.  To my mind he does this as when developing a portraiture of someone you’re playing with their identity, this is not a fantasy, this is a very vulnerable. When collaborating with  a person you are in a direct expression of what that person is feeling to the camera. This is why I think Tim Walker is such a necessity when thinking about how emotions and surrealism work hand in hand to connote abstract themes of the sublime . His images have so much meaning and fluidity to them, the vibrancy does not take away from the emotions given by the persons themselves.  A photograph should enable yourself ‘to learn something’ there should be an ability to tell a story of the person themselves. 

Claude chaun:

Claude chaun I have previously spoken about in depth and the way she uses gender in order to form and effect her emotions. Interestingly I have responded to a set of her works already, with a model being submerged within the landscape. I believe there was a delicacy within that work. Claude Cahun was born October 24th 1894 in France. She was a surrealist and performance artists who was well known for self portraits that portray her as  ambiguous gendered. Cahun outwardly rejected identity and wanted a new political reform of more freedom. Her portraits presented herself occasionally as man sometimes as a woman, sometimes thoroughly androgynous. By refusing several gender stereotypes into a single character, she obstructed her identity In some of her work cahun departs radically from a linear or chronological telling of her life and she talks the reader through her attempts to discover who she is. I belive much of her work is about self discovery reflected in a political refusal to be normal. Her work is such a vulnerable exploitation fo her inner most emotions and has allowed herself. Her work soon become increasingly radical with political views and constructs she soon cofounded a philosophy book discussing the radical cultural groups at the time, Perhaps I could further use this as a explorations to how her philosophy could compare to someone such as Burke or Barthes.

Peter Lindbergh;Through his lents fashion meets art and photos see under the surface Fashion photography can not be confined to a mere communication and advertising expedient, especially if you look at one of the names that have made it a form of art, excluding it from historic, cultural and geographical landmarks.he sues fashion and his table works in order to access a true inner beauty of women and capture a personality through their emotions which makes up his main inspiration, intangible to be captured through the lens, the desire to go beyond the other fashion photographers.

Francesca Woodman:

Is an electronic artist. Woodman started taking photographs when she was 13 years old. She moved to New York in 1979 with the dream of pursuing a career in fashion photography. She took inspiration from surrealism and fashion, blurring her images in order to create movement and express conceptual themes into the narrative of her work. ‘Ordinary objects and materials, such as mirrors and pegs, to transform her body parts into distorted and surreal versions. She experimented with glass panels, pressing them against her body to squeeze, reshape and flatten her flesh to make her physical features appear grotesque and exaggerated. When questioned about why she was the subject of her own photographs, Woodman replied ‘It’s a matter of convenience, I’m always available’. Many of her images have a Secretive quality and a powerful sense of backstory. Not that I should get the wrong idea. “This wasn’t a performance. She was concentrating on the picture. That was why she didn’t want people around. She didn’t want any distractions.” Her work somewhere managed to combine an array of emotions succeeding of funny, artful, neurotic, and occasionally painfully honest. She was whole heartedly letting herself and all her emotions be so painfully shown to everyone and exploited. It shows how emotions can not only be so powerful, scary and beautiful but also a discussion of surrealism. However she soon become suicidal and killed herself as just 22, however this raised extraordinary attention as her primary subject was herself.

Roland Barthes :

Roland Barthes had a great fascination in what photography is and what it really means to be in a photo and if this photo should be considered reality or even a reflection fo time. He link his personal past memories within photos and question why photography creates an emotional effect occasionally. Camera Lucida is a book written by Barthes to determine a new mode of observation, and a new consciousness by the way of photography. He attempts to account for the fundamental roles of emotion and subjectivity in the experience of and accounting for photography. He stated that the irreducible singularity of the photographic images as an index indicating, ‘that has been’. photography is distinguishably from all other forms of representation, this is a symptom of a disorder which renders it ‘unclassifiable’ photography is mechanically a repetition of that which could never be repeated existentially. ‘When we look at a photograph, it is not the actual photo that we see, for the photograph itself is rendered invisible; thus the photograph is unclassifiable, for it resists language, as it is without signs or marks—it simply is’ I find this fascinating as it questions how the sublime comes to be an actually occurrence. A photo is just a a chemical reaction not repeated existentially, how does a piece of paper allow such a strong emotions to be relevant within work. How does something which does not exist, and only did exist for a moment show such a prevail of passion and pain for so many. Are people so vulnerable and materialistic they do not have to see something in the moment but can feel such strong emotions over something which possibly never even happened. However Barthes soon goes into focus on the factor of ‘duality that was characteristic of certain photographs: a ‘co-presence of two discontinuous elements’—what he terms, the stadium and the punctum. The studium refers to the range of meanings available and obvious to everyone’  the studium speaks of the interest which we show in a photograph, this inspires to want to know and think more about the own subjectivity. Puntum is a word to describe trauma, it is as private meaning to escape language, it is an experience which is irrefutable intertextuality of the photograph. it attracts the view and pick a wound. This could be were we see emotion, we use our own emotions and memory and amount them onto a photo, this is the way in which we would be able to see and fell the sublime. The ambiguity of the book lends itself to address the photographic meaning to have grander implications for the human consciousness in the pursuit of truth. His formulation fo a new science called  ‘absolute subjectivity’ this is an escape of ho a photo can bring the conscious and also the unconscious into a meaning.

Edmund burke:

Burke was probably if not THEY most influential philosopher when it comes to scissions upon the sublime and what it means and it able to achieve. Most of his ideas are those which are capable of making a powerful impression of the mind, wether this is pain of pleasure. this could even be seen through the preservation and society. This piece of work by burke is divided into many different sections talking about, sublime, sex, society, beauty  and solitude. All of which are combined and made successfully to fit into the sublime, however I will focus on the main themes of the sublime itself. whatever operates in a manner analogous to terror is a source to the sublime. It is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling. Burke is said saying ‘ When danger or pain press too nearly, they are incapable of giving any delight, and are simply terrible; but at certain distances, and with certain modifications, they may be, and they are delightful, as we every day experience. The cause of this I shall endeavour to investigate here after.’ He speaks about the differences to which sexes belong in society, this could be further divided into man and animal. this answers the purposes of propagation of the individual. when men talk about f pain and danger they do not dwell on heath and comfort for security, but the actually pain and horrors itself which they endured, however if you listen to these complaints of a lover he is is insistently on the pleasure he enjoyed from it. Men differently to women did not fear the lack fo comfort of security  but the effect of love which lead to madness and loss. Love is capable of producing extraordinary  effects, not that its extraordinary emotions have any connection with positive pain.  I believe it would be fascinating to not only look into the effects of emotions on people such as love and pain, but perhaps and depending on your sex the different reactions people have to the event and what they feel and can see of the situation. ‘ Beauty is the passion which belongs to generation’ passions are more unmixed and which pursue their purposes more direct.  The relationships of sexes chance when talking about the emotions of friendships, we derive these off of kindness, whereas love is one based off beauty. To my mind this is Burkes way to which he is able to explain humanity and our action are all consequences of emotions linked o that of the sublime.

Overall I think these five texts all intertwine and will create a successful text. I believe forming and expanding on this information that I already know I will successfully be able to communicate my themes visually throughout my work, and analytically explore the conceptual’s behind my work and why I am intending to do something in a piece.

Future of St Helier

Then write your own evaluation / experience of  being part of  the newspaper and hoarding installation etc.

 

Hoarding Installation

The unveiling of the Future of St Helier Hoarding at the International Finance Centre on the Esplanade in St Helier took place on Thursday 13 Dec 2018.

First published as a 52 page newspaper supplement in September by the Jersey Evening Post the work produced by A-Level Photography students at Hautlieu School have been transformed into a 34m outdoor installation as part of Masterplan Community Arts and Education Project

We were challenged with responding to specific areas, streets and neighbourhoods divided up along the urban vingtaines of St Helier and to explore through research, archives and photography the built-environment, urban living, diverse communities, town planning, land use and re-generation projects.

We thank all sponsors and collaborators for making this a successful contribution to the island’s cultural records and historic archives Jersey Development Company, Camerons Ltd, MJP ArchitectsArchisleLewis BushPhoto-Archive Societe-Jersiaise, Kevin Pilley, States of Jersey and Connétable of St Helier, Simon Crowcroft

Earlier today we unveiled the Masterplan Future of St Helier hoarding display at the International Finance Centre. Lots of local media interest from Jersey Evening PostITV Channel TV and BBC Jersey who broadcasted live on radio talking to photography students at Hautlieu School, Constable of St Helier, Simon Crowcroft and sponsors Jersey Development Company, Camerons Ltd, MJP Architects about the future of the island and its capital. An excellent example of how a community arts and education project can generate a debate that affects all those who either live, work or visit St Helier.

If you are interested in our views of young people tune into BBC Radio here (listen from 3:18:30 onwards or watch the six o’clock news tonight on ITV.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06rlpdw

If you missed the news last night at ITV Channel TV you can catch up here with Hautlieu students talking (15m.12s) about their images on display at the Masterplan Future of St Helier hoarding on the International Finance Centre.

See link here

The outdoor installation on the hoarding around the construction site is a great way to engage the public in art and debates concerning the future of the island’s capital but, what we need in Jersey is a new contemporary art space that will provide a new venue to showcase art produced in the island, but equally also bring international art to Jersey for the public enjoyment of its residents and visitors alike.

The recent Culture, Arts and Heritage Strategic Review, commissioned by the Government of Jersey makes 20 new recommendations that will revitalise the island’s cultural infrastructure and achieve a wide range of social and economic objectives from tourism, to health and well being to external relations, to planning and environmental developments – in the hope that in partnership with Government it will enrich and enhance Jersey’s quality of life.

Let’s hope those in power who can make real changes to St Helier’s build environment will include such a new art space in the revised Masterplan of the Waterfront. All we need is political will and re-prioritising public funding for the arts. States of Jersey

Future of St Helier Newspaper

The outcome of students work was first published on Tuesday 18 September 2018 as a 52 page newspaper supplement, Future of St Helier that was printed in 14,000 copies and inserted into a daily edition of the Jersey Evening Post and distributed island wide.

Here is a video browser of our Future of St Helier supplement printed and distributed in today’s edition of the Jersey Evening Post. Hautlieu photography students were challenged with responding to specific areas, streets and neighbourhoods divided up along the urban vingtaines of St Helier and to explore through research, archives and photography the built-environment, urban living, diverse communities, town planning, land use and re-generation projects. Each student designed a page spread which was then split in half producing a fragmented image reflecting on the nature of experience and diversity of St Helier.

Here is a video browser of our Future of St Helier supplement printed and distributed in today’s edition of the Jersey Evening Post. Hautlieu photography students were challenged with responding to specific areas, streets and neighbourhoods divided up along the urban vingtaines of St Helier and to explore through research, archives and photography the built-environment, urban living, diverse communities, town planning, land use and re-generation projects. Each student designed a page spread which was then split in half producing a fragmented image reflecting on the nature of experience and diversity of St Helier. Make sure to get your copy before the shops close!Thanks to everyone involved in the creative process Archisle Lewis Bush, Jamie Cole, Simon Crowcroft, Kevin Pilley – States of Jersey and our sponsors Jersey Development Company and Camerons Limited.

Posted by Martin Toft on Tuesday, 18 September 2018

Essay questions/ Hypothesis

Questions used for inspiration

How does people control, interact and construct the environment in which they live?

Questions I have created using the questions above as inspiration that could be used for my personal study.

  • Compare How Alex Webb and Josef Koudelka’s photography represent the concept of isolation?
  • How do people react, control and effect the environment by creating man made structures that cause a sense of isolation.

Emily Alchurch – Artist Reference

On a recent gallery trip with school, we had the opportunity to see some of Emily Alchurch’s work at the CCASM Modern and Contemporary gallery. Emily was born in Jersey in 1974 and was educated at Jersey Collage for Girls and later studied Fine Art at the Kent institute of art and design and the royal collage of art in London too. She has since established an international reputation for her complex and intricate photographic compositions.

Using inspiration from old paintings, Emily Alchurch works with photography and digital collage to re-imagine the paintings landscape from a contemporary perspective. The old paintings work as the framework for her to build her image and explore around architecture, place and culture to emerge, combing present day with a sense of history. On our visit, a representative of Emily’s work spoke to us about how she goes about creating these masterpieces. He told us that her starting point is an intensive encounter with a city or a place, to observe and absorb an impression, and gather an extensive image library. From this resource, hundreds of photographs are selected and meticulously spliced together to create a seamless new fictional space. Each piece of work represents this journey into a single scene in order to focus on a social narrative.

As we saw at the gallery, Emily presents her work as light-boxes which enhances the photographic work immensely and almost creates a window into another world. Quoted from the Artist herself, “Using the original image as my map and guide, I source and photograph buildings and landscapes, which I use to recreate the scene from a contemporary perspective”.

Image result for emily allchurch

Analysis

Image result for emily allchurch

When we visited the gallery, this image instantly drew my attention and captivated me. I think it it visually pleasing and very well constructed with a large depth of field and so much to look at. The use of paths act as a leading line to direct the viewer around the image and I believe the archway is inviting for the audience to look deeper into the photo.  Overall the light tones, dreamy colors and overall fantasy constructed landscape, creates a unique piece of work which is captivating for the viewer to look at. I think that the incorporation of contemporary signifies such as the flying drone, are effective in showing Emily’s present perspective. There are many indications throughout all of her works on her standpoint in society and how she views the community.Celebrating the legacy of the architect Sir John Soane, Grand Tour II presents Joseph Gandy’s vision of Soanes unbuilt projects, as if they had been built. By photographing examples of existing neoclassical architecture around the UK, Allchurch collated a comprehensive ‘kit of parts’ from which to construct Soane’s designs. These composite buildings are placed in a hybrid Arcadian landscape comprised from numerous English gardens, the mountains of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh and Scarfell Pike in the Lake District. The inspiration for this piece can be seen below. Image result for Joseph Gandy’s vision of Soane

Essay Plan and Introduction First Draft

  • Essay question:  How is the work of Guillaume Bression and Carlos Ayesta and Fernando Maselli questioning the politics of environmental issues and the way in which we treat our earth?
  • Opening quote;
  • Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?

The area which I have chosen to study is the sublime and the  political debate about how land is used and the destruction that urban environment is causing to the natural land. This has been a reality since humans first existed. The land and how it is used is important to me as I believe it is vital to keep the earth natural and not ruin the sublime environment with man made features. My initial passion for this subject is due to the environmental issues that i am aware of and the rapid increase in urbanization which is heavily contributing to it. Photographers that explore the sublime environment are often giving the viewer an insight to a landscape that is rare and the experience is uncommon due to the destruction humanity is causing to them. This area of study that I have chosen to look at deals with political, social and cultural issues that have impacted people all across the world. Essentially, my area of study is a non-verbal communication about raising awareness of the beauty of our earth and prevent people from destroying it. Psychologists believe that this non-verbal communication can reveal much more than words which I believe can help spread my passion for the natural environment and preserving it too. The representation of the land has been explored by many artists including the photographers Fernando Maselli and Guilliaume Bression and Carlos that I will be analyzing. Both of these photographers use the land to portray their views on how society treats and uses it. Within my essay i will be discussing how the two photographers have taken a different approach in portraying the land in relation to their perspective of it. I have chosen to analyse the work of these two photographers due to their somewhat similar messages yet very different approaches in telling the story. While Maselli focuses on portraying the sublime directly by capturing extraordinary mountain ranges, Fernando Maselli and Guilliaume Bression focus on humanities destruction to the world that is eliminating any recollection of a sublime environment.

  • Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. Link to powerpoints about isms andmovements M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Personal Study

 

  • Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  • Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  • Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
  • Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

Essay introduction and plan

Essay Question:

My hypothesis and narrowed down six possible questions are:

.Examine how the sublime and reality work hand in hand to  visualise how they reflect a personal emotion. And how the artists… and ….. show this in different ways.

.How can politically movements of photography such as surrealism and the sublime effect the way which photographs see and demonstrate emotion in their work.

.How does the power of pain and beauty found within the sublime, have such s strong influence on the emotions of artists and photographers.

.Does objectivity and reality effect how we view and react to our emotions. How does the sublime have such an emotional response dependent on the persons current emotional status. And how do photographers capture such a unique set of emotions all at once.

.Merging the boundaries of the sublime and surrealism; How are emotions and personal identity represented conceptually throughout photography. Why do these photographers …..consider their work to be sublime.

.Examining the sublime: A photograph should not be able to have such strong emotional occupancy, so that it effects how someone perceives reality and views their own emotions.

I belive I am able to start writing this essay now as all of these titles link in a  successful manner and I should still be able to communicate the same ideas and themes through the beginning of the essay without knowing the specific title itself.

Essay Plan:

Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph – essay structure.

  • Essay question:
  • Opening quote:”the sublime is something which has power to compel and then destroy us. Pleasure is only pleasure if it is felt and the is to be said about pain. ” Edmund burke 
  • Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?

“The sublime is something which has power to compel and then destroy us. Pleasure is only pleasure if it is felt and the same is to be said about pain. ” E:burke .The area I have chosen to study is the Sublime. I have done so as I belive the sublime owns such power it is often metonymic. It allows the thinking eye to add more value of what it is sees, but it is sole proof of seeing emotion as a medium. To develop a photo is a chemical reaction but what is develops is undevelopable in the essence what has been taken and experienced by someone, can not ever be repeated. The sublime is an instance of instances, It causes an independent reaction to each persons’ emotions and what they believe to have seen. It is not only something to be shown through art and photography, but a philosophical question which I want to look further into. My area of study will be how can the sublime be shown through the representation of emotions through the human body. I have chosen to compare two artists and two philosophers within my own subject of work, as they both focus on the ideals of human form reflective through such powerful emotions. The hypothesis I propose to answer is ‘Merging the boundaries of the sublime and surrealism; How are emotions and personal identity represented conceptually throughout photography. Why do these photographers …..consider their work to be sublime.’ The argument I intend to prove and also challenge, is the argument derived  as a  defence of the deliberative value of immoderate speech from an unlikely source, the  account is ‘ I say the strongest emotion, because I am satisfied the ideas of pain are much more powerful than those which enter on the part of pleasure. Without all doubt, the torments which we may be made to suffer are much greater in their effect on the body and mind, than any pleasures which the most learned voluptuary could suggest, or than the liveliest imagination, and the most sound and exquisitely sensible body, could enjoy.’ Burke states here how a persons emotions are strongest when pain and terror are so closely used, yet not to the extend of deat. This certain pleasure has a breadth of imagination that people can use for enjoyment. To my mind, this is has some truth, so through my three artists and two philosophers I will develop and explore their hegemonic and oppositional ideas, responding  trough the work of Tim Walker and how his style has such a strong juxtaposition to that usually expected within the sublime. Walkers tablo worldly images that inspired a transgressions of out of place beauty combined with incoherent objectification of mythology form interesting compositions that could be addressed as ‘sublime’. However I will be comparing his work to Claude Cahun and Franceseca Woodman, These two women’s styles catapulted the understanding of social and political issues when it comes to dealing with emotions It is ironic how they were both raised and worked in a time before the period of post-modernism, as their work stemmed from the view to change and explore how authorship of work should be an expression of identity and not to follow a path paved by those gone before. Historically the sublime is a term in which refers to a greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement, or imitation’  It was first written in the 1st century AD though its origin and authorship. However it is evident that the sublime did not become a common influence until the 16th century, having a strong contextual reference to that of the renaissance period and its association to ‘romanticism’. My official aim is mimicking how photography can access political and emotional dependancy of reality through landscapes and portraiture to express a non direct emotion. My images will form a narrative of emotion further expressed through the colouring and text developing the surrounding piece itself. My investigation to how strong emotions can be seen such as pain and beauty ( which makes up the sublime) links successfully from my practical work and both my analytical.  This ares of work has always fascinated me as it s so fabricated and philosophical that there is no direct answer but just a group of proposals and theories. This allows my artists never to be wrong while expressing their opinion but just subject to exploring in various ways without being deemed as wrong or incorrect. The relation to romanticism and emotions seen within a landscape still has a clear connection to the subject matter of political landscapes, and if anything forms more themes of cohesion throughout my project itself.

Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. Link to powerpoints about isms and movements M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Personal Study

  • Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  • Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  • Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
  • Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

Essay Introduction, to include: 

  • Begin to read, make notes, identity quotes and comment to construct an argument for/against.
  • Explain how you intend to respond creatively to your artists references and further experimentation and development of your photographic work as part of your POLITICAL LANDSCAPE project.
  • Complete a draft version of your introduction 250-500 words) and upload to the blog by Mon 26 Nov.
  • Establish coherent and sustainable links between your own practical work with that of historical and contemporary reference.

Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study e.g. what and who are you going to investigate. How does this area/ work interest you? What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument? Include 1 or 2 quotes for or against. What links are there with your previous studies? What have you explored so far in your Personal Investigation, or what are you going to photograph? How did or will your work develop. What camera skills, techniques or digital processes in Photoshop have or are you going to experiment with? Show evidence for an on-going critical and analytical review of your investigation – both your written essay and own practical work in response to research and analysis.

Overall essay structure: 

The plan: ,My question,Post modernism,Barthes analysis of photos,The emotion ,Cahun living and working what movements and ism why (modernism and post hadn’t come about),Sublime,Edmund Burke ,Discuss what I want to capture,Discuss about those three words of reality and such,Tim walker ,Tablo and created the likelihood and false reality of the danger of the sublime itself,My official aim wanting to access political, emotional dependancy of reality,How this links to political landscape,Overall what I want to have in my images and shoots,How these artists and philosophers have changed what I think about my work,My overall aim,Closing and finial analysis of question

 

Sublime Shoot 3 (Long Exposure)

For this shoot I wanted to really focus in on the sublime environment and exaggerate it to seem truly special and create an appreciation for it. I tried to capture a softness of the water with a strong juxtaposition from the rocks being hard. This creates a  conflict of pain and beauty that creates the sublime environment. To achieve this I have decided to complete a photo shoot where I take  long exposure photos using the sea and other water feature’s to create a tranquil atmosphere as the water will come across as misty and cloudy. This will portray the sublime as even more calm and beautiful than it originally is which will stem my audience into appreciation for the natural environment. For this shoot, I have mainly been inspired by Darren Almound but I will incorporate aspects of the research that i completed on Fernando Maselli too. I will take a similar approach to Darren Almound and try to plan my shoot in relation to the full moon to allow me to get successful photos at nighttime to produce a surreal mood that is different at nighttime than daytime.

Contact Sheet

Edits

Black And White Edits

 

For my next shoot i want to carry on the exploration of the coastal area as a sublime environment due to the intense emotions it can create with the beauty and danger it entails. To achieve better photographs i intend to capture images on a still evening to ensure there is no wind to disturb the camera whilst taking a long exposure picture. To create a shoot that will slightly differ from this one, i will create pictures at sea level yet still incorporate the contrast of the soft water and sharp rocks.

Analysis

The above image is my favorite image from this shoot, mainly due to the composition and overall moody tone within the landscape. Following Darren Almound’s ‘full moon’ project, I too took this picture under a full moon. Although the outcome does come across as it being day-time, I feel as if there is a more tranquil and almost sinister vibe that is subtle within the image. Compared with the first image at the top of this post which were shot in broad day light, this image is a lot softer and calmer which helps to exaggerate the sublime. The biggest challenge when capturing this image was focusing the subject due to it being very dark. To achieve an adequate focus I directed my assistant to walk down the cliff face and shine a spot light onto the nearest rock faces whilst I focused the the camera. I used a 30 second exposure with an ISO of 650 and my aperture at F/4. Overall I believe this image and the shoot has been successful in portraying the natural environment as sublime and as an accurate response to Darren Almound. Following on from this shoot I intend to create another possible shoot similar to this one however in a different location and also introduce a model into the sublime environment and use the figure to reflect emotion towards nature. The key emotions i intend to reflect are the feelings of freedom and peace.