As a response to Emily Alchurch I wanted to construct fantasy landscapes that are aesthetically pleasing. By creating fantasy worlds, i have the intention to exaggerate the beauty of the natural environment and essentially show my perspective on the world. I want my viewer to connect with these images and build a relationship with the environment with the hope to stimulate respect for it. Not only do i want my conceptual ideas to come through in my photos but i also want to make high quality visual content that can be appreciated as a well constructed image.

The inspiration which stimulated these edits were as a result of our visit to a gallery displaying Emily Alchurch’s work and one image in particular which can be seen below. I was really drawn to this image mainly due to the depth that is included from the tree really close, all the way to the bridge in the distance, assisted by lots of interesting subject matter in between.

My Edits

I think these images have been successful in showing the fantasy landscape which i intended to do. Clearly elements of the photographs are unrealistic for example, being above the clouds on a floating island which help to convey this dream/fantasy world. The overall aim with the creation of these images is to question what words like landscape and nature can possibly mean in a world where environmental change is so rapid that both are fast disappearing into myth and memory. To further explore this environmental change I will continue with manipulation photographs however incorporate some man made features into them similar to what I have previously done in response to Tanya Deman.

Whilst out shooting the urban landscapes around Manchester I came across a piece of graffiti that really stood out to me and gained an emotional interaction with myself. I was really inspired by the message the piece told and it linked directly with the political message that I am trying to portray through my book. The few images that i took of the piece of graffiti can be seen below.

I think this artwork is very powerful in spreading the message about the destruction of our planet and how urban areas are leading to our natural environments to fall into myth and memory. This piece of art shows a significance and a reminder that we need to protect our natural land and not let humanity destroy them. This image is also ironic in the way that the artist has destroyed the building with his graffiti yet the political message is to do with a form of destruction. I edited my favorite photos ready to be embedded within my photo book to add impact about my message.

Although I was somewhat satisfied with my long exposure shoot inspired by Darren Almond, I wanted to create a more fantasy representation of the land. I wanted to do this to try and exxagerate the beauty of the natural landscape to influence the viewer of how we should treat the land to preserve it and keep it like this. So, using the images from the previous shoot and others I had collated, I have created a series of images that represent a utopian view on the environment. They display my views on how the world is and should be kept thus being naturally beautiful. This conflicts with some of the current situations in the world of high demand for urbanization. Therefore these images act as a statement to show people what we are destroying and to try and influence them to contribute to the prevention of natural destruction.

Before 

After  

Before

After

Editing Process

I think both of these edits have been very successful in creating the fantasy landscape like I intended. The deep blue tones throughout  give a dreamy mood which helps to influence the viewer that the natural land is a beautiful thing. I think the long exposure shots in the first place really helped to bring a fantasy element to the overall edit as in real life you cannot view the ocean in this way. By downloading Photoshop brushes i was able to construct the clouds in the sky as well as the stars in the sky itself too.

From my previous shoot I really wanted to exaggerate the beauty of the natural environment whilst keeping to the theory of the sublime. By having harsh shadows and high clarity within the rocks, this allowed a juxtaposition with the soft sky and sea. Thus creating the aesthetic of beauty and danger embedded into one scene creating a sublime photograph. For the first image i replaced the sky with a sunset image from another shoot and adjusted the rest of the image in relation to this. For the second image I masked in the stack on the side as i felt this gives a m,ore surreal atmosphere which creates a more interesting concept. Within the last image i added in a stock photo of the moon whilst adding the red light on the edge of it and creating an overall nighttime feel to the image that finished it off with a dreamy feel.

Unsatisfied with my previous shoot in response to Darren Almound I wanted to capture another series of long exposure photographs. Again, I wanted to focus on a coastal area to capture the water as silky and cloud like. To improve on my last shoot, I will better prepare myself with lighting sources which i can illuminate my landscape with helping me to focus my subject matter better. I will also try to photograph a larger variety of angles and locations to widen the possibility of a successful image. For this 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 the last one, i will create pictures at sea level yet still incorporate the contrast of the soft water and sharp rocks.

Contact Sheet

Edits

Overall I am happy with this photo-shoot which was influenced as a result of seeing Darren Almounds ‘full moon’ project. As well as the initial idea of getting long exposure shots i also incorporated shots taken at a natural shutter speed for the day lit scene. To achieve the long exposure shots I used a variety of shutter lengths but was most satisfied with 30 second ones as it gave the greater effect of the silky water. I used an ND filter to help reduce the amount of light entering the lens and allowed me to shoot at longer shutter speeds without it getting over exposed. Using lightroom i made subtle adjustments to my images with regards to the lighting and colors to create a more intense and beautiful scene completing the sublime environment which was my aim.

Describe in detail what your book will be about in terms of narrative, concept and design.  Produce a mood-board of design ideas and consider the following:

Narrative: What is your story?
Describe in:3 words:  romanticism surrealism sublime 

A paragraph: I belive it would be possible to show a written objective within my photobook  using the following: poems, of past stories and experiences that are deemed to have a relation to the sublime experience. I belive this would be interesting as the sublime is a concept which cannot be experienced through writing, it is something with is seen through subjectivity of the seeing eye and something no one else will ever have the capability of knowing. So the fact of me trying to share this concept is hard to put into thought, so using text perhaps might influence the images in a positive manner. How do you describe a feeling? much of my work is formed off the basis of romanticism, love and the sublime, the subjectivity of love is a feeling which cannot be explained, so the linking of language is the meaning derived from what someone is seeing, however the connection is still impossible to describe the experience itself.

possible titles: I decided it would be interesting if I had a sense of correlation between my essay I have written and the title, Also doing so enables myself to have more of a conceptual and contextual title, that creates a sense of question and answer within the narrative of the book. The titles I have pulled are from the beginning of my essay, they either have an opened ended question, or have an inspired concept to that of the imagery within the book itself, e.g linked to water, girls, emotion, the sublime, the titles are .An instance of instances, The evolution of essentialism, sirens, universal immersion of creative minds, traditions of antiquity, sentiment and sentimentality. These to my mind have the capability of transcending rational thought and creating a subjective internal narrative to the book within the context of the images.

The basis of my photobook : The starting point for my development was one of a few factors, the first being the sublime, the second surrealism, and the third being romanticism. This was then further categories into emotions of , pain, love, anguish, exoticism, fear, dependency and fate. All of these are derived from consequences of an action and purpled by an emotion. I have read and seen many philosophers talk about how individual subject topics such as this are such an interesting concept as there is no correct correlation between an image and the words themself. .Because of this I could have taken this project many routes. It started off as emotions reacting to an environment, then a reaction to the sublime, then water, and now it has formed almost a combination of all of these elements in order to create  a-subjective narrative and representative of a story of a powerful relationship of women to their environments and based off the inspiration of real and interpretative stories. This could be seen in more of  a mythical theme or perhaps to some people the images and stories which could be viewed as sublime. It is such a unique and off brand scenario for a book to be, but because I wanted all the images to be surreal they all hold their own  personal stories, so their stories should be shown within the text.

Design: Consider the following, How you want your book to look and feel:I want my book to feel as though you are about to uncover a secret. I want the cover t be hard but also thinking about a possible fabric like cover of softness, in order to create a unique style which systematically creates an interest for people. I what it to look rich, All the images are developed in an conceptual manner of deliberation in order to show surrealism, and each image to be able hold their own story, because of this it must look as through everything within holds importance.

• Paper and ink: Due to my images because focused on the surreal, I believe it would be the most suiting to have glossy paper in order to exaggerate the dramatic colour scheme complimented by the complex composition to some of the pieces
• Format, size and orientation:I want my book to be slightly larger as I feel as though the pieces would have the most impact in the larger format, I also belive this would help benefit the use of the glossy paper too. Due to my combination of portraiture and landscapes I decided I would do a square book, as I belive a direct orientation to either landscape or portraiture would not be the best suiting option.
• Binding and cover:I am currently between two options for my front cover, with creating a wrap around with a hard cover of a very surreal image, or either creating a hard cover with a softer fabric over cover with a symbol that I belive would suite the book, similarly to ‘ the Earth is just a little spec of dust under our feet’ . Perhaps a mermaid would be suiting such as the conceptual cover of a unicorn for the book i studied as it would pursue both options.
• Title : My title originally was going to be surrounding that of the more mythological side, so considering that the title was going to be called ‘sirens’. However after doing research into two books they have much more interesting and more profound titles that give an in-depth question o the book itself. SO because of this factor I believe I will call my book: The listed names of ideas is as following: An instance of instances.The evolution of essentialism, sirens, universal immersion of creative minds, traditions of antiquity, sentiment and sentimentality, 
• Structure and architecture: The structure of my book will focus primarily on that of an overall topic narrative, and not showing a chronological or perhaps inspired story. I have decided this due to my images being focused more on surreal aspects.
• Design and layout; For my design I want a variation between how the pages are displays, I want to show my images in the format most complimentary to them, this will be over double spread pages, complimenting images next to each-other, and shown in a way which creates a interesting composition to the narrative concept of the book itself. I believe a main priority for me is to make sure not all my most successful images are at the beginning but spread put throughout the book itself. This is also a large part of the editing and sequencing of the images.

Photography essay

Question:

quote : “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 historical movements which have inspired many surrealism concentrated artists such as; Tim Walker. I have chosen to do so, as I believe his work can be viewed within the premise of romanticism, and often shares similarities between the aesthetic theory of the sublime. This combination of power is often seen as metonymic. (not needed – begin intro with sentence below – you may be able to use last sentence in relation to Tim Walker elsewhere in the essay)

During the 1800’s, many creative pioneers (such as) philosophers, writers and artists ,began to propagate a new vision of the world, to which they coined ‘romantic’ It was an exploration which covered the ideas of nature being a divine spirit, this universal immersion of creative minds yearned for the harmony of man and nature. These ideas soon developed into traditions of antiquity, soon many artists no longer wanted to produce work which was characterised as ‘named artistic style’ turning their back on traditional renaissance work. In contemporary usage this subsequent art movement now carried with it many connotations seen as ‘romantic love’. Romance is formed off the combination of sentiment and sentimentality, However, It allows the thinking eye to add more value to what it sees, So subjectively many would agree 

The sublime is said to be ‘an instance of instances’ This was said by Roland Barthes, when he was staying why and how photography has the ability to enable emotions. It causes an independent reaction to each person’s’ emotions and what they believe to have seen, as romanticism. These experiences are those which transcends rational thought, words or language. It is an experience which is a meeting of subjective-internal (emotion) and the objective- external (nature). (well written!)

The creation  of romanticism as well as being an emotional response and an ideological concept was not only to show beauty within a non -altered landscape, but it was a reaction against religion. And an  emotional response to their work as it was an ideological concept as it went along  with the revoltionsairies and other forward thinking painter. In the 18th century break from religion, when science become the hegemonic ideology, the inventions heathen? started o undermine god, and creates a scientific basis of the world. So (don’t use word so – be more assertive and state your case!)  the Romanticism was apart of such a revolutionary time, war of independence, in colonial history …. British

End your introduction with describing which artists or work of art that you intend to discuss in your essay and why. How does their work relate to your themes of Romanticism and the sublime. Last bit should be you talking about your photographic responses ad how they interpret the same themes and essay question

(Paragraph 1) The hypothesis I propose to answer is…..To start off my investigation I intend to look into a painting which is based from the ideas of the romanticism movement, and also to which I personally consider to be sublime to myself. The piece I have chosen is called ‘a sea storm’ by Claude-Joseph Vernet. The piece was formed off the impulses of the eighteenth century, this new philosophical artistic view of the world incorporated a new intellectual view in to their art pieces. They incorporated the validity of aesthetics , including the ineluctable values of the sublimes alongside beauty based off individual taste and sensibility. The new physiological impacts concentrated more on the sensational aspects of nature and less on the subjectivity to each individual person. To my mind this painting denotes excitement, Power and strength. The Reserved strokes of genius from a oxymoron of spontaneity creating a intoxication of fasciation of man versus nature within this painting. The incorporation of narrative charters a new exotic archaic means of experimentation. Finally the colours of the pupils and dark tonal colours mimics that of the fallen, this is a pavement for ‘pleasurable terrors’ of human passions. I believe the impact of Edmunds Burke’s ‘A philosophical enquiry into the origins of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful’ creates a formal description of figurative passions. Burke states that  ‘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.’ (reference using Harvard system) At this time Photography was not a normal means of developing a landscape, This encaptures the thought of the individual emotion.  (reference using Harvard system)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 ,What the developable outcome is from a piece of art of photography in an essence  (reference using Harvard system)what has been taken and experienced by someone, can not ever be repeated. So Both romanticism and the sublime, have the challenge of capturing a feeling which was only experienced by themselves. Developing from romanticism this combination of nature, fantasy and undertones of imagination, leads us to the intellectual artistic transition of Tim Walker.

(space new paragraph) Tim Walker has many associations many with international magazines, his exposure exposes a history of deep lasting knowledge and understanding of British culture. Many of the areas his work is accomplished through a romantic ‘spirit of place’ said to be rural and paradisal?. His exciting talent made him friend with many, describing him as ‘ A strange fox-like person’ (reference using Harvard system) He is fearless to capture human physiognomy, his sensibility is overshadowed by his glorious colour of flamboyance. The raw freedom of eccentricity creates himself a ’ artistic bohemia’. Walkers tablo? tableaux worldly images inspired a transgressions of ‘out of place’ beauty combined with incoherent objectification of mythology. Forming interesting compositions that could be addressed too as ‘sublime’. He encapsulated an understanding of social and political issues in a childlike expression of beauty rather than disagreement or anger. His angel of postmodernism fashion photography is stemmed from the authorship of expression paved before him through the creation of romanticism and the ideas of the sublime.

A Tim Walker piece that had a great influence over myself was this piece, Its named ‘ ‘ I chose this image due to the confluence of meanings. The piece enquires a generosity of spectical. The elements of surrealism echoed through the mystical atmosphere and reflected within the leant pose and bright colours that the model herself radiates. It does not objectify for but give herself an understanding of infinity, as she has an obvious place within the narrative.  The aesthetic of darker colour gives the icon a dominant strength and agency of female empowerment, something typically not expected to be seen through the perspective of a male photographer. The plurality of…

The connotations this image has to the sublime ,is the effects of pleasure and pain. Although there was no direct reenactment of this word, it still obtains influence of words derived from his, such as desire. Desire and erotisism is prevalent is much of surreal works, this provokes the image so the reader sees and endorsement of excitement. This soon can either transpire into love or power, and in this case, it is the power that is entirely bounded between normal living. The height and bottomless depths forming from both ends of this pieces, transpired into the pengamanan that is a physic; a representation of ecstasy. This moral …….This image in relation to Burke…… The mystery and smokey effect of the light itself, creates a trakuent influence of romanticism, creating a delicate sense of atmosphere, mimicking the femininity of the women centered in the image.

This leads myself onto the analysis of my own work. I had such a strong influence of surrealism, and emotion depends on the judgments of pleasure and pain. And I think this is evident through my images. I have chosen this piece; as it undergoes a repugnant change it is as if the image itself is a distant reality and and a dream like desirability of towering virtues of ecstasy. It is essentially a surrealist image, although my intentions of this was the development of the inability to breath underwater, creating a juxtaposition of the beauty that if water, essentially is the effect of nature trying to kill you. It creates an irony of how the sublime is  alive for pain, and how we take pleasure from being submerged in something that has the ability to end our lives.

How the sublime and Edmund burke goes into my work?

An older art piece, based off that of pictorialism, also gave me inspiration to focused more towards female models and friends in order to re-create and make an effective embodiment of surrealism and not sexualization. Pictorilasm was occurrent in the 1880s-1920’s this is when new cameras were developed in this time and jersey was part of a large revolution and hot bed for photography and experimentation.Soon photography was the  height of impressionism and was developed less from science and derived more into art. These allegory paintings, they are based off a short story and myths from more biblical tales and then further depicted into literal paintings. These allegorical and spiritual matter of religious scenes applied the principles composition and design but the subjective spiritual motive.

 The Artists who I looked at was that of; Artist: Julia Margaret Cameron. Cameron was a photographer in the victorian era. The bulk of her work from the categories, this being illustrative allegories based off religious and literary works. In the allegorical work in particular her work had a clear influence from that of pre rapaetlite. her work has delicate limp poses with soft lighting. Her work was unconventional through the intimacy created through he long exposure, her subject moved and by leading the lens intentionally out of focus. -allegory and symbolism within this image

A second piece by Tim walker that was influenced by pictorials, surrealism and romanticism, was that of.. Surrealism within his work is the most prevent aspect, surrealism was founded……..

Male gaze: For as long as it is known, the female body has been used as decoration in much of photography, many models seen naked with a cornucopia of little respect given to them other then what the male bodies desire. The reaction to the continuously provocative use of women to my mind is a predicament of the current cultural time we live in today and If it is still okay to use women as a fundamental trend of pleasure. During the age of when art was born it was visual culture to pain them naked, however; This art would only ever be made for capitalist men creating a fallacy. The exorcism son continued into Pictorialism, usually only prevalent within male works. The visual of female nakedness attributes a sentiment of ‘the male gaze’ to Tim Walker’s work. I don’t believe there is such a thing as ‘female’ or ‘male’ photography. Through only showing the dominant rhetoric of narrowing women to their nakedness, it connects to an unfortunate wider view of gender inequality. We need an artist who despite them being male, they strive on the unprecedented phenomena  of focusing on femininity being heard. A dialogue, purpose, s prolific sense of womanhood having a significant meaning other than their bodies. I believe Tim Walker is this photographer. It is key there are photographers not only female such as ‘FEMALE PICTORIALS PERSON” who too can establish a neutrality and establish an enquiry and impulse to photographing a woman without misconceptions as to why.

This was also reflective when I was looking into that of pictorialism, and the way to which ,, Interdisciplinary approach ,,My own imagery which is an indicative to that of the influence of pictorialism and perhaps also able to be seen as a rejection of how….

Artist: Julia Margaret Cameron is an artists who was a photographer in the victorian era. The bulk of her work from the categories, this being illustrative allegories based off religious and literary works. In the allegorical work in particular her work had a clear influence from that of pre rapaetlite. her work has delicate limp poses with soft lighting. Her work was unconventional through the intimacy created through he long exposure, her subject moved and by leading the lens intentionally out of focus. This leads me also into looking at how unique it was to have a own who has. algae influential photographer at the time. Her work is very different to anything that a man would produce . Women are looked at as pure and seen to have. loving relationship with family and sister in a clearly taboo and posed setting, almost table like. The has a strong juxtaposition to that of the male sense of photography at the time.The mans eye and the photographical gaze, Women historically are being looked at different through the representation is often eroticised and objectified.these naked figures seen as art for only the pleasure of men. However a female would show herself being empowered as a mother and ally clothed showing the sexism within the period and soon this leads onto larger post modernism topics such as feminism and the fight for women rights and want for less sexualisation of their bodies.

I decided to create my book I would not use indesign and blurb itself, but I would create my own book from scratch using book wright, also enabling myself to work on the development as much as I am able. I want to record the processes to which It has taken me in order to create my book. I originally started with creating a folder of all of my images from every single one of my shoot, the ones from the sublime and previously. This led me to choose from around 12 shoots. However I know my concept now is inspired from emotions from the dependency of water with a surreal aspect of being represented and a sublime influence. Because of this I narrowed down my shoot collection to around 7. I not only want only conceptually interesting images, but also a similarity in colour scheme to create a bettering narrative story.

I want to create an almost surreal type of book with my imagery, most of which I want to correlate with the colour. Many of my images I purposely edited in such a way that they would have a blue effect in order to have a clear connotation to that of water. Because of this I belive it creates another aspect which need to be thought out when sequencing my images. I have started off by experimenting within 5 different ways in which I can experiment within the lay out of the images, these being the following: a double page spread, 3/4 of a page, a singular image between two pages cropped or overflowing the page, two images beside each-other sequenced in the middle of the book and finally a long image next to a squared image to create an unsequenced essence of variation.

Three issues I am having to experiment with is the amount of images and pages I should include within the book itself, This is also down to the amount of photos I should have over the two pages and how many images I belive should be included within the book itself. Secondly is the issue of having images which are too similar in the book or too close to each-other. I have decided My best shoots are my 3-4 most recent ones using water, because of this a lot of the images could be considered similar. I do not want to show an element of repetition within my images as I belive this would be considered as boring. Because of this I am unsure weather I should expand and add previous less sublime images, or use the best water images and just creating a smaller book. Lastly I do not know what I am doing with the text yet. I have prepared and left spaces for poems and stories if I believe it would be the best way for me to enhance my work, however I am still unsure what the written work would be. I am planning to do a physical print off and examination of all my photos in order to see what is best and the most appropriate, however I thought it would still be beneficial to start with the development.

Narrative: What is your story?
Describe in:

3 words – Humanities environmental presence

A sentence – Showing the Utopian view i have of the world and displaying how this is conflicted by the way in which humans are treating the land.

A paragraph – I want my book to have a hard back cover that will feel professional and secure, keeping my book well kept together. I will include a standardized A4 landscape formatted pages throughout to ensure the pictures are a big enough size to bring out details. I will use a variety of design layouts throughout the photo-book such as full-bleeds and centered photographs that create a white boarder. Varying the styles will help to engage with the audience and keep them interested in the important messages that i am conveying about the environment. My photo-book will consist of mainly images rather than adding text as I believe the text will not add value in connecting with the audience. My narrative will consist of two clear opposing views on the world from an Utopian and Dystopian  perspective. The Utopian ideas will be portrayed by beautiful landscape images of the sublime environment that surrounds us here in Jersey. I will then incorporate some manipulated images that really exaggerated how beautiful the natural land is to clearly show these Utopian values. The above will take up the first half of my book followed by the dystopian ideas which will give the viewer a sense of how we are manipulating the environment and creating problems. This will include raw and manipulated images mostly including buildings to show a sense of urbanization that is the main factor contributing the the wreck of the natural land and other environmental issues.