The definition of a political landscape actually refers to : The current state of things, as well as how they are looking in the future. While these metaphors are never actually used, you could say that a recession is hard work, climbing up a hill, and then a boom is the exhilaration of riding down the other side in a go cart. Political landscapes can be connected to conceptual or narrative Forms of photography.
Fernando Maselli was born in Buenos Aires in 1978. He studied Fine Arts and moved to Madrid where he worked for major advertising agencies, shooting professional assignments for brands such as Coca Cola. This work won Maselli numerous awares at festivals such as Cannes.
In his current project ‘Artificial Infinite‘, Maselli appropriates the concept of the sublime through natures effects on the mind to develop his own investigation using elements like the vastness, the darkness and the hugeness of nature, but especially an attribute called artificial infinite: an element that is repeated many times in a constant and uninterrupted configuration generates in the viewer a sense of infinity. I think that the way that Maselli presents his work is very interesting due to the ways he cuts pictures up and puts them back together to create a collage style photograph but due to the gentle subject that is the nature he photographs I think that it could be more aesthetically pleasing without the photo manipulation.
Maselli spends several days in the mountains, taking pictures and later, in his studio, he rebuilds different parts of the landscape into a new landscape,trying to get, through the repetition of these images, the artificial infinite effect.
Guillaume Bression and Carlos Ayesta and Fernando Maselli have a common link in their approaches throughout their photographs as they intend to capture and document what the world is like in places that ordinary people wouldn’t visit without a strong purpose. Both of their photographs contain elements of staging in them as Guillaume Bression and Carlos Ayesta may place subjects to make photographs more intriguing and Fernando Maselli rearranges photographs in his studio to create the setting that he wants.
A contrasting feature in the works of Guillaume Bression and Carlos Ayesta and Fernando Maselli is that Maselli focuses on settings untouched by humans in order to show the aesthetically pleasing sublime of nature, wheres Bression and Ayesta look at the destruction of a man-made city.
I think that the purpose of this project is to show how aesthetically pleasing nature is when it is left alone – and still can be aesthetically pleasing if humans treat it with care, as Maselli has done through carefully creating a collage of photographs.
Maselli has a statement on his website explaining further his interest in photography and the style in which he enjoys working.
The below photograph uses the natural lighting of the mountainous landscape along with a deep depth of field to create a photograph that shows the different layers within the natural landscape. Maselli creates a photograph that demonstrates high contrast in the lower half and low contrast in the upper half due to the fog and weathering of the setting. There is quite a large tonal range within the photograph ranging from the dark shadows within the mountain faces to the white blankets of snow on top of the mountains. A shutter speed of 1/60-1/150 will have been used in this photograph along with a low ISO in order to keep the photograph as high quality as possible whilst allowing plenty of light to enter the camera lens.
There is no colour in this photograph – only black and white. Whilst this black and white helps to create contrast and shadows within this photograph I feel that it makes the photograph slightly bleak with no area of the photograph standing out as a main viewpoint. The difference between the light tone in the upper half and the dark tone in the lower half creates an feeling of how extreme the weather is in the mountains. There is not much of a 3D effect in the photograph due to their not being any subject in the foreground – which it feels like there should be. The eye is led to the bottom of the mountains where it looks like there should be a viewpoint but there is only more snow.
Maselli took this photograph as part of spending several days in the mountains, taking pictures and later, in his studio, rebuilding different parts of the landscape into a new landscape,trying to get, through the repetition of these images, the artificial infinite effect. The natural sublime has been a part of the arts through literature such as in Frankenstein for a long time and it representative of peace and tranquility.
I think that through these photographs Maselli is trying to convey the fact that there is so much of the world that most humans’ will hardly see or experience and that these hidden parts of the world are better off because of the absence of human intervention. This links to political landscape as Maselli is showing and contrasting how different landscapes really are without humans building on them and altering on them to meet some of their selfish wants.
Since the tsunami and the nuclear catastrophe of March 2011, Carlos Ayesta and Guillaume Bression have made regular visits to the region of Fukushima, Japan, and especially to the “no man’s land” around the stricken power station. Their visits mix posed situations along with a documentary approach. The title of this project is ‘Retracing Our Steps‘. I think that the street photography/documentary photography style that has been introduced in these photographs make the photographs more interesting as they appear to come from the view of an average person. An interesting point of view would be to see more dramatic photography approaches as this area is unseen by many so to explore it in multiple ways could be successful.
Guillaume Bression and Carlos Ayesta and Fernando Maselli have a common link in their approaches throughout their photographs as they intend to capture and document what the world is like in places that ordinary people wouldn’t visit without a strong purpose. Both of their photographs contain elements of staging in them as Guillaume Bression and Carlos Ayesta may place subjects to make photographs more intriguing and Fernando Maselli rearranges photographs in his studio to create the setting that he wants.
A contrasting feature in the works of Guillaume Bression and Carlos Ayesta and Fernando Maselli is that Maselli focuses on s
ettings untouched by humans in order to show the aesthetically pleasing sublime of nature, wheres Bression and Ayesta look at the destruction of a man-made city.
I think that the purpose of this project is to document the damage that can be done to a once over-populated city and how environments change without the presence of humans.
The below photograph by Guillaume Bression and Carlos Ayesta uses the natural light of the evacuated ‘no-mans land’ to create shadows and contrast within the photograph. The shadows created by the frame of the windows replicate the Japanese text onto the walls creating a feeling of a natural average environment – which contrasts with the fact that this area has been abandoned. There is not a massive tonal range within the photograph but there are enough tones developing throughout the photograph such as the contrast between the light sky and the dark cafe. A short-medium depth of field appears to have been used in the photograph as the subject in the foreground is in focus but the forest in the distance is slightly out of focus. A fairly low shutter speed of 1/40-1/80 will have been used in this photograph along with a low-medium ISO as the cafe gives a dark environment with not much light so the lens needs to be open for more time in order to allow more light to enter.
This photograph is not overly colourful but the touches of colour that it uses is very effective, such as the red flag against the blue sky contrasting with the dark grey/brown of the cafe. The darkness of the cafe creates a contrast against the light outside which further pushes the image of a deserted cafe. There is quite a 3D effect of the photograph as the seats and the subject in the foreground create an immediate viewpoint for the eye as opposed to the deserted area in the background. The cropping of the photograph allows for the subject to be placed on the left vertical line in the rule of thirds which create a more aesthetically pleasing photograph from the viewer and tears the photograph slightly away from the documentary photography genre and more towards contemporary photography.
Carlos Ayesta and Guillaume Bression composed this photograph after making regular visits to the region of Fukushima, Japan, and especially to the “no man’s land” around the ruined power station. Their visits mix posed situations along with a documentary approach, which is clearly seen in this photograph as they document how quiet and deserted the area is whilst setting up as a posed photograph. This links to political landscape as it shows the artefacts that humans have left behind but it also shows how the land has become a quiet place left to nature. It looks at the impact of humans on landscapes and how they change it.
I think that the purpose of this photography is to show how quickly and dramatically urbanised areas around the world can develop in either a negative or positive way and how much land is left to be used/discovered. It primarily looks at how the humans that once populated this area have left everything exactly as they were with no signs of chaos shown.
The definition of the word ‘political’ is “relating to the government or public affairs of a country”. This shows that politics is focused around what is currently happening in a country and the consequences that these happenings will have. Politics also relates heavily to the government, the people who decide what happens in a country through debate, who have the answers to questions such as why are these events happening in our country? The word ‘politic’ comes from late Middle English which comes from the Old French word ‘politique‘, via Latin from the Greek word ‘politikos‘, from ‘ ‘politēs‘ meaning ‘citizen’, from the word ‘polis‘ meaning ‘city’ – this shows that politics revolve around the city/country and its current affairs.
The definition of the word ‘landscape’ is “all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.” This includes the way that land changes and the different imprints left behind by changing land as these features are often visible in newer areas of land, such as the foundations of original buildings. Landscape includes all of the visible features of an area of land as well as the parts that are not seen or the parts that happen behind closed doors, such as the businesses or families that occupy land. The word ‘landscape’ comes from the late 16th century from the Middle Dutch word ‘lantscap’, which comes from the equivalent of ‘land’ and ‘ship’.
There is no clear definition for political landscape as every individual seems to have their own interpretation of the concept. To me, political landscape is a genre of photography that incorporates documentary photography to show how land is being used/abused, how land changes over time, how it is protected, what it means to people and why it changes in the way it does. Throughout this project I will be looking at how land changes and develops through the intervention of humans.
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An example of political landscape in Jersey is the current situation with the hospital as in where the new hospital will be built. This has been under debate for quite some time and a lot of money has been spent on research and planning with nothing being built yet. Currently, it seems as if the new hospital will be built on the current site.
An example of political landscape on an international level is the struggles in Ireland as ninety years ago Ireland was split in two after people living there went to war against their British rulers. The south became a separate state, now called the Republic of Ireland. But the break-up led to decades of unrest and violence in Northern Ireland, which remained part of the UK. This caused lots of riots and damage to the landscape in Northern Ireland as the atmosphere of the area and in places the buildings were damaged.
To further explore the topic of political landscape I am going to be focusing on how land changes and develops over time through the intervention of humans. One way that I will possibly look at exploring this is through how my house and the land it is on has been destroyed and rebuilt upon by taking pictures of the current state and comparing these photographs with old personal archival photographs including some dating back to 1870. Another route that I could possibly take to explore political landscape is by adopting the same approach but looking at public areas of land and how the government has changed it for better or worse. I think that a perfect site that I could use for this if I pursue it is Portlet where the Butlin’s holiday camp used to be.
HERE IS A LINK TO: PLANNING-TRACKING-PERSONAL INVESTIGATION-AUTUMN-TERM-2018
It is important that we all have an understanding and interpretation of the term “political landscape” before we venture into un-ravelling how a range of influential photographers have tackled elements of this theme…
The theme for the 2018 Festival is Political Landscape. This has always been present throughout the history of photography. From the Crimean war battlefield photographs of Roger Fenton; Ansel Adams’ sublime American landscapes; the objective and conceptual typologies of Bernd and Hilla Becher’s industrial buildings; to the iconic pale blue dot, taken by Voyager 1. These historic landmarks and many more have helped develop the way photographers work with landscape.
You can clearly see in each of the contributing artist’s work how they have approached, embraced or integrated the theme…but we want you to now engage with the nature of the work itself and develop your knowledge and understanding.
Documentary photography tends to take place over an extended time. Some photographers will set a specific time-frame to what they are documenting and how they are documenting the event(s), happenings, locations and characters attached to the story or narrative.
Social documentary photography or concerned photography is the recording of how the world looks like, with a social and/or environmental focus. It is a form of documentary photography, with the aim to draw the public’s attention to ongoing social issues.
Usually, there is a point to this process. We may, as photographers, document how land is being used / abused, how land is passed down through generations of families, how land is protected, why land often has a spiritual connection to communities and society as a whole, how and why land physically changes to fit with political agendas and so on…
But you may be more interested in exploring creative and conceptual approaches to taking / making your images. Tableaux photography relies on setting up, staging and capturing scenes, events or incidents usually involving people.
Archive driven / reliant work often stems from extensive research and even appropriation of pre-existing material including photographs, film, legal documents, transcripts, maps, plans, articles and more.
Valeria Cherchi has combined archival material with tableaux arrangements to explore a controversial and secretive program of vigilante action in Sardinia towards the end of last century in “Some of you killed Luisa”.
This should help YOU to formulate a plan for the practical element…
To successfully complete this task you must choose 2 of the options below to inspire your ideas…
…and create a set of blog posts that clearly demonstrate your ability to respond to the theme of Political Landscape. You may want to extend your ideas from the Future of St Helier…or embark on a new and different approach.
You may want to choose from the following prompts…
You must clearly outline your intentions and reasoning for your approach to the theme…define and de-construct what political landscape could be
You must devise and complete at least 1 x photo-shoot (min. 250 images)and produce a range of outcomes that are the result of careful and intelligent camera techniques, selection, editing and presentation methods.
Remember to analyse and evaluate your process carefully, using specialist vocabulary…
Useful articles to help you explore some recent / current examples of local starting points re : political landscape
I have decided that I want my zine to be very creative and unique I want the images to be on large paper, differing between glossy and card. I will then cover the front of my zine with a cover of fabric and will make a small piece of card ontop with perhaps a small picture stuck to create a clear visual demonstration of what is inside the zine. This will create a more interesting eye catching zine and will allow the project to be about contemporary contrasts and comparisons.
inside my zine I want a mixture of double page spreads that change wihtin sizes in order to create the best effects for the picture as possible. I want to exaggerate the size of a building by having the image on large paper,I also want many of the images to contrast each other, some to have a boarder and some to have multiple on one page as I want this zine to be more forwards thinking than the previous traditional zines.
my zine experimentation:
Zeroten, and The Shaved Guy by Lin Yi-Hsuan
I think this double page zine is effective due to the similarity between the base colours of grey being but the slight different shades to point out an obvious divide between the two pieces themselves.I think the text allow a more interesting composition to the piece and gives more attention to detail and I think this is something I might use within my own project, such as quotes from people within the zine talking about St Helier. I would interpret this zine as more of a contemporary arts style inspired by the 60’s and 70’s I think the photographer was trying to communicate the way in which drawing and art can be unique and quirky and still have a message wihtin a piece. I think many poeple would judge this piece harshly and say this is not a successful due to the child like influence the artists is seen emphasising throughout his work. My work of course would not be artwork like this but I think the main importance is the synrinarity between the pieces themselves.
I will take inspiration form the covers over these zines due to their vibrancy and interesting drawing and imagery. It will be highly effective,especiall when I will wrap up my booklet in a cover with an interesting mark and then make another card cover with a title and an image of my own onto the top.I am fascinated within the contemporary style of this artist and although my images are not similar I think it will really help me in the long run. The colours of the pages themselves are always the same within both pages, I think this shows cohesion within the pages and also allows the differences between each page to focus more on the tonal black and white contrasts.
when looking for zines I decided to explore the well known cafe royal and the chosen pieces Craig Atkinson. I chose his work as inspiration due to the way in which it is so unique and art based. There is a strong sense of character and individuality between each of the chosen photos within the book and yet all clearly have a solar pattern and theme and continue as a narrative.I think I need to open my images and also the creativity up when designing my zine,I think the more contemporary and more abstract contrast within the colours and composition and displayed more creative and overall a lot more effective. I want to show juxtapositions of colours, size and also the type of image thsemlves I think this will attain the interest of the reader and present st helier visually and compositionally in a interesting way.
mood board:
I created a mood board in order to look at a quick overview of what many zines layout are like and was I think will be the most effective and also the best composition for each page. I have taken four photoshoots so when creating my zine want to expand more on images that I might not have previosluly experimented with throughougly enough.
The main difference between a magazine and a zine is that zines are not out there to make a profit but, rather, to add other, often unheard voices into the mix.
Historically, zines have been self-published as pamphlets or leaflets as early as the 1700s. They were circulated independently by socially-marginalized groups to give voice to their opinions and beliefs. Over time this developed into an array of other topics, with the first “boom” of zines starting in the 1930s. Known as “fanzines” and “perzines,” these were started by fans of science fiction magazines who self-published zines about both science fiction and the connected fandoms behind them.
I created this moodboard to showcase a variety of different zine types, this is because I want to experiment with multiple designs before picking a final selection.
Turves, a remote village amidst the Cambridgeshire fens, is home to a unique and profound world that, until now, has been little documented. This series showcases the world of greyhound racing, and its struggle in today’s society to withhold mainstream appeal. Christopher’s unique approach observes relationships between greyhound and trainer, and explores an absolute intimacy that exists beyond the race track.
I really like this zine, the photographer manages to document everything happening at the greyhound training house in an unbiased matter, however,he still manages to comment on the circumstance with his use of the camera. The photos are dark, stark and cold; they’re deliberately shot in this way to portray feelings of sadness and sorrow the photographer probably feels towards the topic. In terms of design and arrangement, there is a lot of blank space in this zine, the photos aren’t arranged in any clear pattern or manner; this further reinforces his views and adds a sense of disorder to the zine.
Joseph Patterson created a zine in order represent underground music as a creative renaissance of generations.The grime and hip hop scene was flourishing and he wanted to develop emerging themes and allow them to flourish within his work. The mainstream coverage of this work is typically poor and actively neglecting the scene and portraying a harmful approach to the music by the conservative media. His work shows a space that was ‘actually invested in underground music in youth centre’ they described as wanting their images less formal so a zine would be a unique format to enhance their work.
His images are a mix between a shoot on location and rarely people on stage as they do not want a featured person to be perceived a certain way in which they would not deem themselves. They use a mixture of overlapping imagery within their displays and writing quotes on some pages, usually the images have a strong contrast of time periods and the colours connecting them are overlapped between vibrant and black and whites.
This particular artist and group are typically based online which is why they launched this zine issue as it features a Longform and creates something in which you can look back at in years to come. lots of their work was inspired by DIY culture and stripping back and keeping the core elements of a photo and celebrating a passion and making your work personal by the intricate way In which you put it together and the people you surrounded yourself with. They want to highlight the importance of interconnectivity between the worlds of online creativity and physical when coming to photography.
Analysis;
I think this zine has conceptually a really interesting subject matter and narrative,although their is no chronological order or a method to which the story is being told but a representation of a current state of living for people within the underground crime music industry.It demonstrates a subjectivity of community within passions of people and the importance and influence music can have upon young people. The images itself develops the narrative construct of time and the comparison of having two highly different timeframes being presented as one (renascence and modern day) the images have an interesting composition of overlapping images to be placed upon older original works of art, these allow the placements to look more abstract and be Random in their framing but close up allow a intertwined structure to the narrative. The colours while are light do not reflect any vibrancy and come across as dim, this is to symbolise a similarity when forming to the older more dim and reserved older images. Overall I think this zine is highly effective with its message and is highly unique in comparison to many other zines.
I chose to look at this zine because the dark and contrasting full-bleed photographs appealed to me as I am using full-bleed photographs in my design. The design of this zine is very dark and simple which fits in with the dark theme very well. The full-bleed photographs help to convey the bold theme as it almost makes the photographs more invasive and in your face.
I found this zine very interesting as it has a strong theme as well as a message. Each double page consists of a symbol with a quote from the subject on the left side and then a portrait photograph of the subject with the face scratched out. This theme of identity carries on throughout the zine and is further pushed by the similarities between the cover and a passport. This simplistic design allows the message to be carried further and looks very aesthetically pleasing.
I chose to look at this zine as it has a more professional design to the booklet. It has a spine and is done through binding whereas the other zines are just stapled together. The design and placement of the photographs are very simplistic and minimalistic, there is one photograph per page with a wide border in order to allow the viewer to focus on that one photograph, which I think is very effective.
