For this shoot i want to portray a woodland area as sublime. I intend to focus on the woods from two perspectives, one being positive and this shoot being negative. I intend to do this by simply taking portraits in a woodland area and direct my model to show signs of fear which will show the psychological emotions that this sublime area can connect with. The concept for this shoot is to show the emotion experienced as a result of the surrounding that the person is confined to. I believe combining the eeriness of the woodlands, with the model and her facial expressions will help to portray the pain and stress for the sublime. This shoot will give the viewer an indication of how powerful this sublime environment is in connecting with humans emotions and perhaps influence the viewer with a certain emotion too.

Contact Sheet

Edits

Overall, I believe this shoot has been successful in showing the forest as a sublime environment. I believe the images help to show the emotional interaction gained as a result of ones presence in this environment. Specifically I tried to focus on the negative impacts of this area and later i will explore the positive impacts. To further develop and enhance the influence of the forest as creating fear and distress I will use a surrealist method and manipulate my images. I believe from the moody/dark tones in the edits i have been able to portray the forest as a dangerous place however i believe it would be interesting to exaggerate this using a surrealist approach to really show a sense of distress.

Analysis

Overall, i think this image has been my most successful out of this shoot. I think that the composition has worked well with my model placed in the center which indicates that she is the main subject. By framing her in the middle, it allows the viewer knowledge that she is the most important subject in the image which immediately connects the viewer with the person allowing them to interact with her emotionally. I think that the backdrop has worked well in portraying the sublime environment as a feared place due to the eeriness that the trees create. With no leaves on the trees a sense of death is present which creates this influence of danger. This is then mimicked through the feared body language that i have directed my model to do which overall creates this scary environment. Furthermore, within the editing process I have de-saturated the image as a whole and completely removed the blues and greens to create this moody vibe. I ensured to crush the whites to reveal grey tones which enhance this fearful mood.

How does the work of Sophie Calle and Henrik Malmström, stand out and breach the conventional approach of documentary photography?

Sophie Calle and Henrik Malmström have created very different and conceptual pieces of work; though, what they do share is the controversy, confidence and unique approaches to their work. In this essay I plan to explore, contrast and compare their particular approaches to different subjects, their techniques, concepts, choices and photography as a whole. The essay question I have constructed and asked at the start will involve exploring the conventional rules of documentary photography – looking closely at how the chosen artists break/challenge these rules, concepts and guidelines. I will also analyse how this has successfully captured and maintained the audience’s attention; especially since all of the photographs produced by these two artists were able to evoke some sort of feeling and response. Whether it was a positive or negative response is another discussion. My final images are heavily influenced by the work of these artists. I have taken inspiration and mimicked the style and approaches of these photographers in the early stages of my project; though, as the project progressed I branched away from copying and mimicking their work and developed a much more personal style that I feel more confident in.

The basis of this investigation lies in the understanding of Documentary and also parts of Street Photography; how the chosen artists challenge the traditional concepts and ideas surrounding these two genres of photography. Both styles have emerged from Photorealism (commonly known as Straight photography) ; a movement started in the late 1960’s/ early 1970’s.

IMAGE

When the first image was created using a Daguerreotype, in 1839 by Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, (a scientist who wanted to find a way to document scientific observations in a precise and quick way,) photographs became a reliable medium that, hypothetically, could tell no lies. Artists quickly adapted this medium and began creating dreamlike images; ones that very often resembled paintings. The pattern between these images was that they were all blurred, scratched and further manipulated as a rebellion against the clean, scientific and industrial exploitation of photographs. This rebellion, became a movement that is now known as Pictorialism.

 

Photorealism, was the rejection of the principles and ideals of Pictorialism. Artists rebelled against the perfect, surreal and whimsical photography by creating very plain, narrative-driven and documentary images. The leading artists that influenced the photorealism movements were Richard Estes and Chuck Close, both famous painters who, at the time, believed that realism was the future of all art. Though, both artists came around much later, still managing to leave a impact. . Richard Estes painted hyper-realistic city streets and geometric landscapes. Chuck Close focused on highly realistic, large-scale portraits. Together, their combined, distinct styles provided a foundation for what was considered ‘tradition realism’. Essentially realism responded to the “ever-changing political and social upheaval by challenging the previous art movements through focusing on simple representation of everyday people and nature, as opposed to the fanciful, high-class traditional art forms”(Sousa 2018). Photorealism stemmed from this, the photographed subjects being the “average, working-class people, contemporary settings, and day-to-day scenes”(Link). Documentary Photography emerged from Photorealism and it now covers a very vast spectrum of images. Photographs that fall under the Documentary genre “capture the world or everyday life, as it exists, without stage managing or directing or editing the scene” (Gregg 2018), they tend to be unstaged; the exact opposite of Tableaux photography. Both Sophie Calle and Henrik Malmström are documentary photographers in that sense, their work is very thorough yet has aspects that feel very spontaneous – which is a common trait in this genre since, most of the time, the subject is unpredictable.

Sophie Calle was born on the 9th of October 1953 in France, Her father, Robert Calle, was a renowned art collector and director of Nimes’ Carré d’Art, a contemporary art museum. Her mother, Monique Findler, was a press attaché and book critic. Her mother also had a huge influence on her life and artistic choices, this can be seen “in the installation Rachel, Monique, (2014) which was a tribute to the life and loves of her mother, featuring a video of the final moments of her life”(Sommer 2019). Though, Calle had an evidently strong bond with both of her parents, this is rather visible in her exhibition My Mother, My Cat, My Father, In that order (2017) – which “follows upon the deaths of Calle’s loved ones, examining loss and absence from the artist’s characteristically unsentimental perspective” (Herman 2017). Calle’s parents had a very direct impact on her perception of the world and this is also very obvious in her photography, especially since she had never attended art school “and often brushes off the label of artist, describing many of her projects as a ‘private game'”(Collection Online 2008).

The image above is from Sophie Calle’s Suite Venitienne. The image is of a man in a suit, walking in between old-looking columns and arches. He is turned away from the camera so we cannot see his face and the image seems to be taken from a ‘hiding spot’; with the man most likely unaware that he is being photographed. The photo can be described as rather sinister, mysterious and invasive. The genre of this image is most likely documentary, with a possible hint of street photography. It is a naturalistic image, imitating real events instead of a staged ones. The photograph is taken outside but from the shadows, looking out – therefore the lighting is predominately natural. Due to its black and white nature, white balance and the actual colours/tones remain a mystery to the audience. Though, using an online tool, it is possible to colorize and convert the image to its original colours. The original, warm colours hint at a cloudy/shade white balance and a little bit of over-exposure. In reference Ansel Adams’ tonal range, this image is very successful, it captures the blackest black and explores different tones up to the whitest white. Calle would have used a standard 50mm lens to be able to capture the man in full focus from her distance and blur her foreground completely. Though, she mentions in her book, Suite Venitienne, that she owns a Squintar – which is a specific lens that allows the photographer to take a picture of the subject without directly pointing the camera at them. In addition, because of the advantage of natural lighting and sharpness of the lines, it’s likely that Calle used very short shutter speed to capture the image. The image has a certain degree of grain to it but that is most likely from the camera and scanning processes rather than the photograph itself, hence the ISO value used would be low. Visually, the image is peaceful in terms of composition – containing very linear shapes in the columns, windows and street. 

The image follows the golden ratio – drawing our eyes to the subject. The gold ratio generally allows compositions to appear more natural and pleasing to the eye; many studies show that our brain will subconsciously pick images that follow the golden ratio over ones that do not. I know that this image was taken in Venice, the subject is Henri. B,  and this image is one out of many Calle has taken following him around. To a viewer who has read the book, the image may feel creepy, disturbing and intrusive as Sophie Calle has taken countless photographs like this one, ones that impose on the day-to-day life of Henri.B. To the larger, unaware audience this image may seem like a perfect, heat of the moment shot. Though still sinister and perhaps a little intrusive, the unaware audience would write this image off as a one-off image – not expecting the same subject to keep appearing. The images for Suite Venitienne were taken during 1980, this particular one has the date of February the 19th.

I will focus on a particular project by Sophie Calle in this essay, that being Suite Venitienne, arguably one of her best and most famous projects. To briefly outline Suite Venitienne (1983) is rather difficult, it’s much more than just documented stalking; it takes the audience on a journey, it has a strong narrative that is immensely capturing and allows Calle to expose her own vulnerabilities in a morbidly yet poetic way. The photobook and narrative take place in Paris,  “for months I followed strangers on the street for the pleasure of following them, not because they particularly interested me,” (Calle 1983:5) says Calle in the opening pages of the book. She follows a certain man but loses sight of him in a crowd of people, coincidently she gets introduced to him later that night; the man is referred to as Henri.B. The story could have ended there, yet he mentions he has a flight to Venice the next day. Calle follows him. The photobook becomes a diary, Calle records her feelings, findings and fears, the audience becomes the intruder. She spends days searching for him in Venice, calling in to hotels and asking them about him – this continues fruitlessly for a couple days. The audience becomes impatient along with Calle, the photographs at this point are just observations – some of the subjects include a passing flower boy, alleyways, her room and other strangers. The images are in black and white, taken skillfully and convey emotions of resignment. Once Calle finally finds the man the images change, the photographs are still strictly documentary, but Calle takes them from the shadows, following the subject around in a disguise. They feel much more intrusive and invasive as Calle crosses the line into obsessive stalking. Calle uses a Squintar which is a specific lens that allows the photographer to take a picture of the subject without directly pointing the camera at them, this allows her to take images of Henri.B much closer as well as unsettling the audience with how far she is prepared to go. The book ends in a very anticlimactic way, Henri.B. approaches Calle while she is in her disguise and says that “your eyes, I recognised your; that’s what you should have hidden”(Calle 1983:36). The audience feels distraught and disappointed at this outcome, everything leading up to this moment feels very intense and yet the final confrontation doesn’t live up to the expectation. Personally, I think it is the best ending to that story; It didn’t give Calle the satisfaction and thrill she expected, causing her to resign and give up on following him; snapping one last image as he walks away and they both go separate ways.

Henrik Malmström was born in 1983, Helsinki, Finland. Though little can be found online about his personal life and upbringing, a lot of that is explored in his works. in 1999, Malmström’s sister was diagnosed with Cancer, she fought for years and what we discover in On Borrowed Time is her final fight, when she went back to hospital for the last few months. In the foreword of the book, there is a quote from Jörn Donner that reads, “most of us are not afraid of death, but we are afraid of the painful period that can accompany each of us on the way to the passing away” (Malmström 2010:2), Henrik Malmström manages to explore and capture that period; documenting and observing every passing moment by his sister’s side. Also in black and white, the pictures portray feelings of immense sadness and hopelessness, though as the photobook progresses, acceptance becomes a much more dominant theme. The images were photographed during 2007-2008 but the book was self-published in 2010. It is the first project that appears on his website, most likely being his first major and recognised piece of work.

• (?)mention his previous surveillance work – ode to surveillance

The work of Henrik Malmström that I’m going to focus on is called A Minor Wrongdoing (Photographed: 2011-14 but published 2015), the concept for this photo book revolves around voyeurism; “particularly in film and cultural studies, [voyeurism] has attracted much debate, often invoking psychoanalytical theories. However, it can be straightforwardly defined as the pleasurable, illicit observation of someone else’s acts, not necessarily sexual”(Lenman 2005:656). In that sense, most photography that depicts humans and allow them to become the main subject is voyeurism and we, the audience, become voyeurs for that brief moment. The book is set in St. Georg, Hamburg, an area of great gentrification which is forcefully placing more and more people in poverty as they struggle to maintain a stable job/house/income.  Malmström is fully aware of this as he sets up his cheap digital camera and photographs a street corner by his house. The camera renders blurry images of female sex workers “standing, walking and occasionally being approached by punters”(Grieve 2019), the images are immensely grainy and obscure as they mimic surveillance cameras and create this intense feeling of close observation. They’re unsettling, the audience feels like an intruder once again – despite their opinions of the subject and the validity of their job. Under the new law in St. Georg that was passed in 2012, any form of prostitution is forbidden and is heavily fined, this creates a bigger sense of wrongdoing in the images as what is being depicted is strictly illegal. The book contains 288 pages, each illustrating an image of a different person – showing just how many people had no choice but to turn to this line of work. Each image has heavy grain as the ISO of the camera is set to the highest possible, pushing its ability to capture images in the dark with only the street light to provide some illumination to the characters. The images are all close ups; cropped in a way that shows the subject but tends to obscure their face and features ; this is something Sophie Calle used Suite Venitienne, we never see the true identity of Henri.B. but we see his body and build all throughout. This purposeful avoidance of revealing the identity of the subject could be simply in respect to their privacy or it could be to build suspense in the audience as the subject could be anyone.  Malmström’s photographs are undoubtedly documentary; they are recordings of his observation.

Both Sophie Calle and  Henrik Malmström have worked on very abstract and original concepts, both of them have also worked under the genre of documentary; observing their subjects, their movements, intentions and environment very closely. Conventional documentary photography tends to be very spontaneous, capturing a certain moment in time once – not usually returning to that exact place or subject. Calle and Malmström breach this practice, Calle follows and photographs a very particular subject repeatedly, the surrounding and environment changes though the person being photographed does not.  Malmström on the other hand, does the opposite, he photographs a particular environment and spot as the people he photographs constantly change. This practise contributes to the appeal and consistency in both of their projects; I will try to maintain this in my work too. Both artists are voyeurs, they take pleasure in observing, recording and following others, though I’m certain it can be argued that one photographer takes it slightly further than just plain surveillance for the sake of interest. Nonetheless, Suite Venitienne and  A Minor Wrongdoing are unique and individualistic works of art that explore the human psychic and the need to constantly watch and observe others. Most documentary photographs follow vague guidelines. Images are to be as close to reality as possible- meaning the scene is not to be tampered with and definitely not staged- Calle and Malmström follow this very carefully, depicting reality in a very factual way; this contributed immensely to the success of their work, the reality and genuine narrative make their projects appealing to the larger audience. Images under the documentary genre tend to give a lot of context and the story in the image itself, I strongly doubt that anyone without previous knowledge of Calle’s and Malmström’s work could understand what is happening in each image. The text that accompanies the photographs in Suite Venitienne gives a lot of context to each image and, in my opinion, makes it much more fascinating and captivating.

 

 

 

Bibliography:

-Calle. S (originally published 1983, this edition 2015) Suite Venitienne. Los Angeles: Siglio

-Collection Online (2018) Sophie Calle. https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/sophie-calle

-Gregg. R (2018)The Beginner’s Guide to Documentary Photography. https://www.creativelive.com/blog/documentary-photography/

-Grieve. M (2019) Henrik Malmström A Minor Wrong Doing Kominek Books.  http://www.1000wordsmag.com/henrik-malmstrom/

-Herman. R (2017) SOPHIE CALLE: MY MOTHER, MY CAT, MY FATHER, IN THAT ORDER. https://fraenkelgallery.com/exhibitions/my-mother-my-cat

-Lenman. R (October 13, 2005) The Oxford Companion To The Photograph. Oxford: Oxford University Press

-Malmström. H (2010) On Borrowed Time. Self published by Henrik  Malmström. Buenos Aires, Argentina

-Sommer. C (2019) Sophie Calle Artist Overview and Analysis. https://www.theartstory.org/artist-calle-sophie-life-and-legacy.htm#biography_header 

-Sousa. G (2018) Art Movements In History – Realism Art. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-was-the-realism-art-movement.html

https://www.theartstory.org/artist-calle-sophie.htm

 

The Met Museum writes:

The outbreak of World War I essentially ended the Pictorialist movement as a viable aesthetic program. The inherent violence of the war soon engendered a new commitment by the world’s photographers to document every aspect of the fighting, from life in the trenches to views of fighter planes cruising the skies. Nothing was left hidden from the camera’s burrowing eye.

Prepare a 3-5 mins presentation on something that you are working on right now in your Political Landscape project. For example:

An idea
An image
A photo-shoot
An experiment
An inspiration
New research
New development

Use blog posts to present in class. As a class we will give constructive feedback on how each student can develop their work and project

Wed 5 Dec:
Craig, Charlie done!
Woolsgrove, Megan done!
Ayling-Phillip, Sky done!
Da Silva, Shanesia
Worthington, Orla complete
Fenn, Jordan done!

Thurs 6 Dec:
Evans, Jenna done!
Grindheim, Benjamin done!
Hoy, Charlton done!
Vibert, Oscar done!
Kent, Alice done!
Taylor, Ryan complete
Dias, Liana

Tue 11 Dec:
Gallery, Nicholas done
Webster, Thomas done
Rabet, Timothy done
Horgan, Conor done!
Laszniewska, Julia
Lucas, Stanley done!
Cullinane, Juliette
Jervier, Imani done!

Thurs 13 Dec:
Mulliner, Evan postponed
O’Grady, Declan postponed
Regan-Hughes, Eve done!
Runacres, Hayden done!
Waigh, Anya done!
Liron, Jay done!
Luis, Erin

Tue 18 Dec:
Le Cornu, Kobi done!
Kulig, Wiktoria
Jones, Stephanie done!
Fry, Lily-Mae done!
Haynes, Oliver
Lutkin-Clarke, Georgina

MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora, is a publication which is committed to establishing, representing and promoting a collective of woman photographers of an African descent.

MFON’ was founded just over a year ago, by Lalah Amatullah Barrayn and Adama Delphine Fawunda. The book is dedicated  solely to 118 woman photographers of African descent. The title ‘MFON’ takes its name from Mmekutmfon ‘Mfon’ Essien, the Nigerian born American photographer who died ages 34 form breast cancer,  the day before her series “The Amazon’s New Clothes” was exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art as part of the critically acclaimed exhibition “Committed to the Image: Contemporary Black Photographers.”

The first edition of the book features over 100 woman from across the Diaspora. The book  features a collection of  essays written by women scholars, journalists and artists. The main of the book is too;

1. Promote an international representative voice of women photographers of African descent.
2. Fill a void while creating a space for intellectual discourse around issues represented by women photographers of African descent.
3. Create a powerful collective of women photographers, journalists, and scholars to build their practices through solid representation of their voices within the field of photography.

Diaspora – A diaspora is a scattered population whose origin lies in a separate geographic locale. In particular, diaspora has come to refer to involuntary mass dispersion of a population from its indigenous homeland. An example of a diaspora is the 6th century exile of Jews from outside Israel to Babylon.

The book has been featured in numerous publications, Vogue, The New York Times and the BBC. They first attempted to publish the book in 2006, in which they where unsuccessful, as the publishing houses saw to relevant market for the book. But now with the rise of black culter coming more widely  accepted the the main stream market.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2018/march/women-photographers-african-diaspora/

Unsatisfied with the previous artists I had looked into for my essay I decided to take an alternative route and focus in on two new artists yet with similar messages. I was much more inspired by these two artists work and I felt like i could connect with their photographs on a more personal level than the other photographers which stimulated my willingness to change. The artists which i have chosen to now study are Darren Almound and Tanya Deman and i have therefore amended my first paragraph in relation to these two visual artists. This can be seen below.

Red-done First Draft with new photographers.

The area which I have chosen to study is the sublime and the political debate about how land is used and the destruction that urbanization 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 to 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 Darrem Almound and Tanya Deman 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 Darren Almound focuses on portraying the sublime directly by capturing extraordinary scenic shots, Tanya Deman uses a manipulation approach to focus on humanities destruction to the world that is eliminating any recollection of a beautiful natural environment. For Darren Almound I will specifically be looking into his ‘full moon’ project where he leaves you wondering 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. In ‘Fullmoon’, British artist Darren Almond catches landscapes around the globe, under the particular light of a full moon. With the shutter kept open for over a quarter of an hour, rivers, meadows and mountains are illuminated almost like daybreak, but the atmosphere is different: a mild glow emanates even from the shadows, star-lines cross the sky, and water blankets the earth like a misty froth. The enhanced moonlight fill the landscapes with a sense of the surreal or the sublime, and with haunting ideas of time, nature and beauty. In relation to Tanya Deman I will explore a particular image of hers which links directly to the ideas that Darren Almounds full moon project portray about the ever changing land and destruction of the the natural landscape. The particular image that I will focus on has these ideas about the natural landscape fast disappearing into myth and memory which is exactly what Almounds project focuses on. The reason i chose to focus on these two artists are due to the similar political issue they have tackled yet the differeing approaches they tackled it with.

Selected images

Final Images

Cropping

Selection Before editing

Editing

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”.

Analysis

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. 

• 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

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.