Rothiemurchus in Scotland

This photograph was taken in Rothiemurchus, Scotland, linking to concepts of sublime photography and focusing on nature as being the main subject.. The Rothiemurchus estate is one of the largest surviving areas of ancient woodlands in Europe where the average age of the Scots pines exceeds 100 years with some more than 300 years old. Le bas’ panoramic landscape photograph expands what is seen by the audience of the scene. The underlying story of this photograph to me is the detrimental  effects that mankind have had on the environment over the past years. This photograph was taken in 2012 which I think is Lebas’ way of expressing to people how mankind is effecting the environment today and is still very much a relevant issue. The way this photo was documented makes it seem to me as though she has stumbled across this on her walk which adds the to shocking nature of it. The surrounding trees are perfectly in tack but the tree in the centre of the image  is completely snapped in half on it’s side. This makes the audience question why it’s like this and creates mystery behind the scene.

The surrounding trees are all tall and straight, some going out of the frame on the left side of the image which adds to the contrast of the standing trees to the broken one. As well as this, most of the green tones in this image are on the surrounding trees, the broken one being a light brown tone which is different from the rest of the image, further emphasising the contrast of the two elements in the photo.   This follows on from Lebas’ environmental series looking at how the environment has changed over 90 years in comparison to Salisbury’s photograph. This image in comparison to Salisbury’s is shocking which I think emphasises the effect of climate change. “My photograph shows more trees than Salisbury’s black and white plate. Mark Spencer explained that these could have been growing thoughout the 90 years surrounding the older tree seen in the center of the image. Thus showing me that in order to understand that habitat one must understand its history.” So Lebas’ true meaning behind this image in particular was to show how landscape changes over time, portraying new trees that have grown over the 90 years, and the older tree falling apart on its side, portraying how trees are growing, falling apart and re-generating themselves.

The loss of plant and animal species due to human activities have been more rapid in the past 50 years than at any time in human history, increasing the risks of abrupt and irreversible changes to ecosystems. (www.anthropocene.info) When Lebas revisited the areas that Salisbury did she found that species that were there over 90 years ago weren’t there anymore, reflecting her views about species going extinct within her photography. The book is “an investigation of a landscape that now has such a heavy human footprint as to no longer be “natural” in the way Salisbury would have understood the term. ” stated in his article in The Guardian. I think this is true as the landscape she visited has changed so much that a whole plant species has gone extinct. This reflects the ideologies of anthropocene where atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic and other earth system processes are now altered by humans, which is a concept I think Lebas is trying to represent.

I also think many of her photographs  greatly link to the ideologies by philosopher Edmund Burke in ‘Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757)’ where he talks about the thrill and danger of confronting untamed Nature and its overwhelming forces. This image displays nature as untamed through the broken tree in the centre of the image and the towering trees filling most of the photograph, nature overwhelming the senses. “Lebas sees her works as referring to the Romantic tradition, citing Casper David Friedrich and notions of the sublime as key influences. With images of escape, wilderness and the grandeur of nature, her practice relates some of the main tenets of Romanticism to photography and raises significant questions about how the contemporary (urban) viewer engages with nature.” (Deborah Schultz, Portfolio Catalogue – Contemporary Photography in Britain). I can see how Lebas’ work takes inspiration from the 19th-century Romantic landscape painter Casper David Friedrich through the tones she’s emphasises to portray vast nature as well as the bright backgrounds against the darker subject, creating a romanticised aesthetic.

Caspar David Friedrich Cairn in Snow 1807, Midday 1821-22

Sean O’hagan thinks that “Lebas’s images have a kind of heightened elementalism. She uses a panoramic camera and often shoots at dusk when the light quality in these still, quiet places can be almost otherworldly” (Sean O’Hagan, Photography reviewer, The Guardian). I agree with this statement as i think her use of cool dark tones adds to to an elementric quality. Elementalism refers to ‘worship of the natural elements of earth, air, water, and fire.’  and i think Lebas’ photography  has an awareness of spirituality in living things. In this image the way she’s accentuates the patterns in the dark green trees against the bright sky makes them seem alive and spiritual in comparison to the broken tree. Also the way she shoots at dusk emphasises the mystical atmosphere and shadows that consumes the image adding to the elementalism.

I agree that Lebas “alerts people to the changes wrought by man and the climate on the landscape, than by drawing them in through these photographs to consider how fragile it has become.” (Liz Jobey, Photography reviewer, Natural Histories, Weekend magazine) to an extent. Although she does present nature being ‘fragile’ and vulnerable to changes of  human activity, she also presents it as vast and powerful through her use of cool tones and boundless landscapes. Overall she presents  her underlying message that the changes in natural landscapes are due to humans and climate change and portrays nature as immense and beautiful at the same time.

Field Studies by Chrystel Lebas

The narrative behind this photo book is the ‘grim reality of climate change leaving it’s marks on the landscape.’ She looks at the work of Sir Edward James Salisbury between 1925 and 1933 in Scotland and looks at how the landscape has changed over 90 years looking closely at botany and identifying locations he visited.

For example, she walked around the envions of the village of Arrochar in Argyll and Bute in the Trossachs National Park searching for Salisbury’s viewpoints. She observed how the sea appears to have risen dramatically in comparison to Salisbury’s black and white photograph. Salisbury was interested in the Scirpus [Bolboschoenus]  maritimus species that was now abundant in this particular place. A car park had been built on the same spot and the course of the road had been altered and now it seems that the species has disappeared.

She made these observations and documented them in her photobook, using panoramic images to show the changed landscape. Each chapter in her photobook she re-visits particular places that she found in Salisbury’s photographic records and his notes.

Chapter 6 in Field Studies changes from the archival and panoramic images and looks at ‘Plant Portraits or Weeds & Aliens Species’. The chapter starts with a quote from Salisbury, “We can in fact only define a weed, mutatis mutandis, in terms of the well-known definition of dirt as matter out of place. What we call a weed is in fact merely a plant growing where we do not want it” . Lebas took inspiration from the way Salisbury documented species by uprooting them and placing them directly onto paper or fabric to photograph them by using  photogenic paper in a darkroom to produce her own interpretations of his work. A few of the chosen plants are part of the species that Salisbury researched extensively and described in his book ‘Weeds and Aliens’.  The filtration values and exposure times are carefully annotated beneath each photogram.

http://www.chrystellebas.com/Re-visiting/re-visiting.htm

Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper.

The book feels quite big as it has nearly 200 pages and is nearly A4, making it quite long compared to other phonebooks. It feels new and well put together through the brown card, making it have a strong front and back cover.

 Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.

The front and back cover are made from brown card and the spine of the book has canvas around giving the book a more authentic look. One of Chrystel Lebas colour images is displayed on the bottom half of the book and the way its printed makes it look as though its been stuck there by hand barbecue of the contrasting material to the card. One of Edward Salisbury’s black and white archival imagery is printed in the top right , the brown card behind the image replacing the whites.

Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.

The size of the book is just bigger than A4 and is portrait. There is a total of 184 pages with a contents page at the front explaining the different chapters of the book e.g the different places Lebas re-visited and the pieces of writing included by other people.

Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping.

It has a cover made for brown card, with canvas on the side of the book. The image on the front appears as though its been stuck on giving the photo book a handmade look. The archival image has been printed straight onto the card, Le bas telling the reader that the bigger image thats been stuck is her image, rather than the archival image.

Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.

The title of the book is ‘Field Studies: Walking through Landscapes and Archives’. On the first page of the book it states ‘The Sir Edward James Salisbury Archive Re-visited: observing environment change in British Landscape’ which is literal. It indicates the scientific nature of the book.

Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?

The story of the photo book is looking at the changes in the landscape over 90 years and re-visiting the places that Edward Salisbury documented. Its looks at his landscape imagery as well as his scientific and botanical images. She looks at how factors such as climate change effect the environment.

Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.

She displays her images in chapters looking at one specific place and then in the next chapter going to another creating a journey travelling to different areas. The end of the book is like an evaluation of the objects she found there which is then followed by three pieces of text by Dr. Mark A. Spencer, Bergit Arends, and Liz Wells.

Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.

Lebas uses her panoramic landscape imagery on most of the pages on the first couple of chapters in the book. She uses fold out pages so the images can be full page, she then contrasts her images to Salisbury’s from the same location so you can see the effects of time. She writes alongside the image where it was taken, information about the place and what was found there. Chapter 6- Plant portraits or  Weeds & Aliens Studies displayed some of the plants and weeds she found in these locations formally with no writing. This contrasts with the start of the book that has a lot of writing.

Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.

She uses the juxtaposition of Salisbury’s archival imagery with her new panoramic images to show the effects of time and climate change on the environment

Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others.  Use of captions (if any.)

Her photobook include pieces of writing by others such as Dr. Mark A. Spencer, Bergit Arends, and Liz Wells alongside her writing and photos all linking to nature and the changing environment. This makes the book a lot more informative than other photo books as a lot of it is writing informing the reader about the places she’s visited and what she found there in comparison to Salisbury.

“My work is increasingly focusing on these particular issues around the environment and how we, human beings, influence it, however sometimes it is more complex then it appears and that is why we need science to step in and demonstrate the urgencies we face. In my photography and film works I am pointing out at the issues, hopefully engaging with a wider audience to share my findings and at the same time asking questions that might just provoke a reaction or a dialogue. My photographs are accompanied with GPS coordinates so that the locations can be retraced back and observed years after my photographs and Salisbury’s were taken, hence the recording of potential change in the landscape will continue.”