Following the recent artists I have taken influence to, I want to re-create pictures that stimulate the same agenda as contemporary female artists. Marina Abramovic incorporates performance into her work which is something I would also like to integrate, through directing my subjects in scenarios that summarize their identities through displaying their characteristics and traits in forms of performance. I will shoot my subjects in one location which I have decided to be in a personal space which therefore adds to their identity – these will fundamentally be environmental portraits. I want to capture my subjects interaction within their room though objects and the space itself as I believe every object someone collects has a personal meaning and connection with the person – a reference to artist Iiu susiraja. I also interpret someone’s bedroom as a personal landscape that embodies someones personality. My concept is influenced behind women in art and the struggle to gain a creative outlet that has no dominance in masculinity, like traditional paintings. Instead this photo shoot is significant to me because I am a female producing pictures of other females and therefore representing them without hegemonic hold of masculinity, also presenting them as individuals rather than objects. This is something I have noticed within Izumi Miyazaki’s self-portraits, a movement away from the classifications of female stereotypes of beauty and ‘femininity’. My goal is to create a series of images that are an insight into a strangers life without the use of words.
Essay
How do Rita Puig Serra Costa and Linda McCartney both share their relationships and memories with their family through the medium of photography?
Family Photos have been taken for hundreds of years as a way of capturing precious moments of people with their loved ones. In this essay I am going to look at two different photographers who have studied members of their family in their work. I will compare and contrast their work in a hope to gain a greater understanding of their photographic style and meaning behind their work. I want to look into the relationship between the photographer and their subject to see how and if it effects the the end result. I also want to explore how this relationship is communicated to an audience, and how these private and personal photos can also be seen and read by outsiders. I also want to look at the theorist Roland Barthes, a philosopher, who amongst many things wrote a book on the nature of photography, I will be looking specifically at the idea of studium and punctum and how he was affected by different photographs. The two photographers I am planning on looking at have developed their work in very different ways but both manage to show great connection with their subjects and tell beautiful stories with their work. Rita Puig Serra Costa created a book surrounding the loss of her mother, the book contains a variety of images, from portraits, still life, landscapes and archival copies it creates a broad description of her relationship with her mother and the memories she has of her. Linda McCartney, on the other hand was originally a professional photographer of celebrities until she met her husband and musician Paul McCartney. As they got to know each other and build a family she captured and shared a large selection of photographs. Being in the public eye, the family were regularly photographed however there is something very special about the connection they had which came across in the images. By researching this area I hope to gain a greater understanding of family, relationships and memories in photography to help me with my own project about my Grandpa.
Roland Barthes wrote the book ‘Camera Lucida’ talking about the nature and essence of photography, in this he spoke highly of his late mother and used photos of her as a way to cope with his grief. In the book he also looked into the effects of individual photographs on the spectator. Barthes found that most images did not move him emotionally, they simply pleased or displeased him, he called this the ‘stadium’ “Many photographs are alas, inert under my gaze. But even among those which have some existence in my eye, most provoke only a general and, so to speak polite interest” (Barthes, 1980) He also describes stadium as the parts of an image which are simply for aesthetic reasons, for example the composition and colours things which can been seen by everyone. The punctum, on the other hand is the part of an image which pricks the individual viewer, this could be through any signifier with resinates and had a bigger impact for an individual. “A photograph’s punt is that accident which pricks me (but also bruises me, is poignant to me)” ( Barthes, camera Lucida, 10 pg 27,1980) In his book he describes a photo of corpse lying on a torn up street covered by a white sheet, an image captured after a bombing in Nicaragua. This photo, to Barthes has punctum due to its emotive narrative, the success of this photo on having an effect on the audience could be simply down to skill or luck, being in the right place at the right time to capture this bleak scene.
Rita Puig Serra Costa’s book displays some of the memories she has of he mother in a delicate and personal way. The book as a whole is not intended to be seen and viewed by a large audience, but by a more niche group who can pull their own meaning from the pages related to loss and memories of their own loved ones. As a viewer of the book, not knowing the subject personally we are intrigued by the interesting narrative and aesthetic images but also drawn in to a personal story, the details of which are left open ended for us to put together ourselves. We get the sense that we knew her due to the images being so varied but specific to her, for example the archival family images seem familiar to us since every family has boxes of these stored away and help us relate to how Rita is going back to her memories, some of which purely from photos. It is interesting how a photograph has the power to spark a memory that would have otherwise been forgotten and although they only capture a split second in time, they can unravel and mean so many different things. “I remember you when I’m on my own too. You are always with me. Sometimes it’s difficult and I can’t seem to find the way. It’s as if no matter how hard I try, I can’t hold on to any memories of you.” ( Rita Puig Serra Costa’s, 2015) Here Rita talks about how the memories of her mother are fading, I see the book and photos in it as a way of her hanging onto these memories. Capturing a thought or feeling within an image and creating a visual story out of it. This book would mean a lot more to Rita than anyone else looking at it due the personal connection she has with it, however, I also think other people can derive a similar feeling from the overall sense the book gives.
This image is a double page from Rita’s book “where mimosa bloom” displaying two photographs, one a still life and one a portrait, which work together conceptually and aesthetically. The image on the right where peoples eyes will be drawn to first, is a portrait of a women with red hair, wearing a light floral shirt in front a of a textures pale blue background. The image on the left shows a type of calendar with blue and pink card, these colours have connections with the opposite image and share a pastel aesthetic. It is perfectly composed in the centre of the frame with an off white background. These are both naturalistic images showing important parts of the photographer and her mothers life and relationship. The circle shape on the left is parallel with the woman’s face and help to draw the viewers eyes to the important parts of the image. The format of the images next to one another is important, the simplicity of the image on the left doesn’t take away from the portrait too much but they compliment each other well. The Background colour of both images is in the same tone, the on the left appears white at first glance but is more of a pale grey blue which matches the blotchy, slightly darker, textured background on the right image. The portrait image looks like it was taken in natural lighting but not direct sun light, this is because of the subtle shadows on the subject’s face. The space in this image has also been represented by the foreground and background, which are distinguished with different focuses from the small dept of field. In both these photographs the subject has been placed in the centre of the frame intentionally so the page spread is balanced. Compared to real life the portrait image has been slightly manipulated to look paler and more gentle with a romanticised feel. When I look at these photos the first thing that stands out to me is the woman’s red hair which is one of the darkest parts of the two photos. The image of the left has not been much affected by flattening what we can see in real life to the 2D image because the object is flat anyway, however seeing it in a simple set up would make us appreciate it more than we would when just coming across the item in real life. On the other hand the portrait captures a split second of what was happening, meaning the facial expression pose and setting could have been very different in person. If I could ask the artist anything it would be about the relevance of the two images being placed together, I would like to know if their is a specific story behind it or if they just fit the theme and aesthetically match. The book does not explain the reasoning for the photographs in anyway other than a title page at the back of the book listing the name of each photo.
My second artist reference is Linda McCartney whose work surrounding family has also be viewed and consumed by a variety of people both publicly and privately. Wife of Paul McCartney and photographer in her own right she became known after being randomly selected to a take photos at a promotional party for the rolling stones on the SS Sea Panther on the Hudson River. She documented the event and took relaxed and intimate photos of the band, the magazine was so impressed with her candid style they published her images in an editorial feature. I am interested in the photos she took of her family over the years and the relationship she created with her subjects to make the photos so natural. “She would have the camera with her but wouldn’t hold it up in your face for a long time, so she wouldn’t be clicking all around you – she’d chat with you, take a snap, put the camera down, so you didn’t have time to start posing and feeling self-conscious. She never intimidated people.” (Mary McCartney, 2011) making her subjects comfortable and treating them all the same as she would treat her family when photographing them makes her photos so special. This image of Paul McCartney, taken by Linda was used on the back cover of his self titled album and has become a well known image. The photo of his daughter, Mary, poking out of his shearling coat will be valued most by Paul, Linda and the child herself due to their direct connection to the moment and the memories they have of the time. To fans of Paul McCartney the photo is the face to the album and may trigger personal memories of a time in their life where they listened to this music. The image reflects the message of Home, Family and love which was the albums ultimate message.
My personal response after looking at these artists work and the themes of memories and loss along with public and private images is a photographic book displaying my own memories of my Grandfather through the use of his poems as a source of inspiration. I Have decided to split my response into 3 sections each one correlating to a poem which he wrote and I have a personal connection to. Similarly to Rita I am using the book as a way of collecting and hanging on to memories of a lost loved one through the use of photographs. The book will collate a variety of mediums and types of photographs to help build up a story and narrative for the book. Archival images of my Grandpa writing poetry and playing with me as a child will help to connect the new images I make to old memories. In terms of audience, these archival images will give people who did not know him or that do not share the same memories a better understanding. I will also make scans of the notes he wrote whilst creating poems as a form of image making and use these throughout the book to show the naturalistic process and writing and bringing ideas together to create poetry. The new images I make will be a mixture of landscapes specific to those mentioned in the poems and portraits of family members who share memories on the topic.
In conclusion both Rita Puig Serra Costa and Linda McCartney utilise the medium of photography in similar ways to connect with family members, whether this is by displaying and holding onto old memories or by creating special images which show a connection between the subject and photographer. Both these photographers create work which displays Barthes idea of studium and punctum to different audiences. With Rita’s work the puncture is probably more personal to her however Linda’s could be seen as more universally meaningful to a wider audience. Finally my own work plays around with memories for two perspective, those of my grandpa displayed through the written poems and mine from the responsive photos I then created.
Bibliography
http://blog.photoeye.com/2015/02/book-review-where-mimosa-bloom.html
Link To My Photo Book
Here Is A Link To My Book : WATCH OUT
Essay
How do Birthe Piontek and Richard Billingham, express the notion of family relationships within their work?
INTRODUCTION
This essay discusses family relationships and how they are explored within the work of photographers Richard Billingham and Birthe Piontek. I have chosen this subject because it is something that is closely linked to my own personal investigation, in which I am exploring relationships and illness within my own family. Many photographers have explored different aspects of family, that being of their own family or exploring events or relationships within other families. One artist that has explored family relationships within their work is Birthe Piontek, in her recent project Abendlied, she explored “how we are shaped by the place we call home” by visiting her family home where she grew up and her parents had lived for 40 years. Another photographer that has explored family relationships within his work is Richard Billingham, he has done multiple projects where he has photographed his family, the most notable one being Ray’s a Laugh, a book focused on his unemployed alcoholic father and his overweight puzzle loving cat obsessed mother.
CHAPTER 1
The first artist that I will be looking at is Birthe Piontek, she was born and raised in Germany, where she lived with her parents and siblings. Piontek’s project Abendlied focuses on her relationship with her childhood home whilst visiting it before her parents who had lived there for 40 years moved out due to her mother’s dementia, throughout the project Piontek explores different aspects of the home and how she and other members of her family have a relationship with the house and how the house affects their relationships with each other. Throughout the book Piontek uses carefully arranged objects that she grew up to create portrait like images that have a nostalgic feeling, in many of the images she has members of her family posing with the objects which creates a good juxtaposition with the images of just the objects and adds more of a sentimental value. The title of the book “Abendlied translates to “evening song” from two well-known German songs, a hymn and a lullaby. Throughout the images there is a strong sense of nostalgia with references to the past and passed away family members and family culture, in one picture of her father she uses a framed picture of her grandfather, which her father holds, in a military cap which bears the Nazi sign, this image has a strong impact on the rest of the imaged in the book as it holds a strong significance as to the culture, heritage and identity of her family.
CHAPTER 2
The second artist that I will be looking at is Richard Billingham, he was born and raised in the west-midlands, this is where most of his work is focused, mostly concerning his family. His book Ray’s A Laugh portrays the extreme poverty and deprivation that he experienced whilst he was growing up, the images mainly focus on his relationship with his parents, the images portray a sense of distance between him and his parents as on creates the images with the with the sense that he is more of an onlooker rather than a member of the family.
Final Personal Study
Looking at the work of Sophie Calle and Thomas Ruff: How does mass surveillance and the ‘big brother theory’ cause a common paranoia and feeling of insecurity within the general public?
”The notion that “Big Brother Is Watching” has been around for decades, it is an often-used catchphrase to describe surveillance or privacy infringements. The evolution of the Internet, cellular networks and the growth of high speed connections worldwide has allowed an endless supply of devices to connect to this global network and produce an infinite supply of very specific, personal data.” [2]
Introduction:
Mass surveillance has become an overruling and unavoidable force of governmental power, which puts the general public in a state of unease and discomfort, sometimes even as far as paranoia. There are many theories and ideas behind the subject of mass surveillance and what exactly it consists of. So what does it directly consist of? The idea of ‘The big brother’ is something that has remained apparent for several years now, becoming very relevant since the publication of the dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ by English author, George Orwell, in 1949. In this novel Orwell looked at the way in which he believed in the near future, the population of the world would become victims of boundless mass surveillance by the governments around the world. It seems that since this publication was made that somewhat, if not completely, this has become the harsh truth which we are faced with in this day and age. Being surrounded by different forms of visual surveillance such as CCTV cameras and cameras on our own personal technology is just one of many ways in which we are watched and kept track of by large corporations and the government. Among various other techniques of surveillance such as audio, data and location surveillance. In this personal study I will be looking into the different ways in which two photographers, Sophie Calle and Thomas Ruff, explore these themes of surveillance in their work. I will look at the ways that their work intends to make comments on this subject matter and how visually responsive I have and will be in developing my own work on this controversial topic.
Sophie Calle:
Sophie Calle is a French photographer, writer and artist born in 1953. She explores the concept of what it is to be an observer and to be observed by others. In one of her most notorious works ‘Suite Venitienne’ Calle investigates the theme of surveillance in a physical form as stalking. It began when she met a man at a party who said he was moving to Venice, she then moved to Venice herself, and there began to follow this man named as Henri B. Calle documented her attempts at following the man. She went to great lengths in order to keep on-tail of the man that she was following; going as far as phoning hundreds of hotels and visiting a police station in order to find out where it was that he was staying. She even went as far as persuading a woman who lived opposite to let her photograph the man from her window. A section of text from Calle’s Suite Venitienne book explains how she went about all of this in her own words, she said ‘’For months I followed strangers on the street. For the pleasure of following them, not because they particularly interested me. I photographed them without their know-ledge, took note of their movements, then finally lost sight of them and forgot them. At the end of January 1980, on the streets of Paris, I followed a man whom I lost sight of a few minutes later in the crowd. That very evening, quite by chance, he was introduced to me at an opening. During the course of our conversation, he told me he was planning an imminent trip to Venice. I decided to follow him.’’ [3]
The photographs that she produced as part of this project show the back of the coated man, Henri B, whilst he walks around Venice, the city making for a beautiful aesthetic backdrop to her unusual internalised mission. Looking at her Suite Venitienne project, it is clear that Calle produces her work with the obvious intention of exploring concepts surrounding surveillance, as I said before in a physical from of stalking. This theme of stalking is very relevant in comparison to modern forms of mass surveillance, as Calle intimately follows her subject without him knowing, which closely relates to the ways in which people in the modern world are being followed at all times without even being completely aware of it. Going back to Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, it is that concept of the ‘Big-Brother’ watching you at all times creating a feeling of restlessness among those in question, which is definitely somewhat portrayed in Calle’s Suite Venitienne, as the photographs definitely have a sense of discomfort and tenseness by the way they are not set up and framed to perfection. However this is not to say that the photographs aren’t perfect for what Calle is trying to portray.
Thomas Ruff:
Thomas Ruff is a German photographer born in 1958 (5 years after Calle), he is a considerably conceptual individual of his craft and has been described as “a master of edited and reimagined images” [4]. In his ‘Nacht’ series which he produced over 4 years from 1992 to 1996, Ruff blatantly explored the subject matter of surveillance, stating himself that these were his intentions of the project. In this series of photographs Ruff used his camera as tool of observation and documentation of night-time scenes of suburban and industrial areas in his home city of Dusseldorf.
But he did not just do this in and ordinary manner; he produced the images with the aesthetic qualities of a long-lens night-vision CCTV surveillance camera. This unusual nocturnal abstraction which Ruff has managed to create in this series is something which I believe does not just make these photographs but also artworks of their own right. Something which Ruff has explained about his work himself, as he states “Photography lies because it purports to represent reality; but a photograph remains a picture, and photography is merely a technique for the creation of pictures, just like painting” [5]. This particular project created by Ruff shows a clear message and link to government surveillance and how what cannot be seen at night by the every-day person’s naked eye can be witnessed by those with authority and higher power. This being part of the reason as to why citizen paranoia caused by the concept of ‘the big brother’ is becoming more and more common. In my personal opinion I believe that Ruff’s work, from this series especially, is amazing at making social comments in a subtle way but which after thinking about become very apparent to the viewer. This is something which I try to, and wish to continue developing in my own photographic work.
Comparing Sophie Calle and Thomas Ruff’s work:
There is one photo in particular from Calle’s ‘Suite Venitienne’ that stands out to me; this photograph unlike the rest of Suite Venitienne has other main subjects which distract from the man she was stalking, supposedly the main focus of the project.
The lighting used for this photograph is natural daylight as the photo does not seem to be staged despite the unusual occurrences within the image. The image was most likely taken either side of it being midday as the light is not overpowering, and the exposure used for the image seems to be fairly balanced as the lighter tones such as the edges of the steps are balanced and contrast with the darker tones in the image such as the door and the coated man by the camera. The photograph has various visual aspects starting with the composition; the viewer is immediately drawn to the dark figure in the forefront of the frame as the figure takes up a considerable bit of space and catches your eye straight away. The eye of the viewer is likely to go from their backwards through the image passing from the stairs to the two other people, to the door and then to the background of the image where the buildings overlook the Venetian canals. As you can see the image is in black and white, most likely due to the traditional and dated aesthetic that Calle wanted to put across, somewhat like that of an old European film. However this may have been done as a means of creating a mysterious or eerie feel to the photographs as the idea of following a stranger around reflects this. The concept behind this photograph, as a part of project consisting of similar images, is that it is a single snapshot of the documenting process of Calle stalking her subject around Venice. This photograph however focuses on multiple human subjects despite the overall body of the project consisting of the man in question being the main subject within. In this photograph Calle is also going against historical stereotypes within art, where men portrayed women rather than women portraying men. So therefore by Calle stalking the man, she is actively creating a role reversal as it is now a female following and producing work based on a male.
There was also one photograph that stood out to me from Ruff’s ‘Nacht.’ This was the first photograph in the series of others similar, titled ‘Nacht 1 I,’ this of all the photographs consisted of certain visual elements that others didn’t, which drew me in as a viewer.
The first part of this photograph which your eyes are drawn to as a viewer is the light shining from a third storey window which appears to be part of a residential building. This is because the bright white tones completely contrast with the dark black and green tones of the rest of the image. This use of light is something that is a repeated visual element within the ‘Nacht’ series, which could be done purposefully by Ruff or could just be due to the fact that at night any source of light becomes aesthetically prominent. The photographs that the series consisted of were ‘’shot at night using a 35mm camera and a Zeiss equipment with the ability to amplify available light’’ [6]. Which has assisted Ruff in replicating CCTV surveillance footage with a night-vision smoky green aesthetic. It is evident that Ruff is not bothered by and infact embraces the low resolution quality of his images. For this project in particular this is very fitting, since genuine footage from surveillance cameras tend to be of a low resolution and use a green tinted night-vision light after they are unable to capture footage using natural daylight. I believe that this photograph as well as the others which make up the series, show how surveillance can be used at all times and in fact in some ways is unavoidable. It is clear the Sophie Calle and Thomas Ruff go about exploring the subject matter of surveillance in two very alternative ways. Their work has obvious visual differences such as Ruff’s use of colour opposing to Calle’s monochromatic style, and also their composition as Ruff uses a square format with a centrally focussed image whereas Calle uses landscape and portrait formats in which her photographs tend to fill the whole frame. Also the other main difference between these two photographers’ approaches is what they are trying to convey and explore with their work as Calle investigates surveillance in a more subtle and less direct manner whereas Ruff clearly makes it blatant from his work that he is directly producing a response to existent means of surveillance used in the modern world. However despite these dissimilarities, I believe that from looking into their work they do share some common intentions. I believe that both photographers produce work that makes people question their personal security as they become aware of how easy it is to be watched at all times; because if it is possible for photographers to replicate these forms of surveillance, then it is certain that it will be made much easier for specialists within the field of surveillance and the government.
Conclusion:
Overall I have come to understand different ways in which the subject matter of mass surveillance can and has been explored in photography. The work of Sophie Calle and Thomas Ruff has backed up my initial ideas and strengthened how I feel about surveillance in general and also how I can put across these thought in my own work. My initial thoughts on the subject matter is that some people are not as aware of the circumstances involving mass surveillance as I believe they should be, however it seems that as time goes on more and more of the public are becoming aware of the problems and consequences of mass surveillance in the modern world. The modern world is a consistently developing place, and therefore surveillance is just becoming more and more common, and also more advanced as well as personal. This ubiquitous increase in surveillance is something which is slowly causing more and more people to become paranoid and feel like they are being controlled and watched at all times; again a concept which is covered within George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four novel, that is worryingly becoming more realistic by the day. As I said these thoughts are ones which I now feel even stronger about due to investigating the topic in more depth in terms of how it can be photographically interpreted. I believe that this is something which has successfully reflected in my photographs and narrative, as I have taken inspiration and influence from the research which I have executed. In terms of how I have shown similarities in my work to the work of Ruff and Calle, I have used the general visual aesthetics of Ruff’s work in two of my images (pg 24 & 25), and have used the stalking concept of Calle’s work in 4 of my images (pg 36, 37, 40, 41)
Bibliography:
(Opening Page Quote) George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four, Part 3, Chapter 4, Pg. 37 [1]
Robert McMahon – Quoted from ‘surveillance and privacy in the digital age: a primer for public relations’ Page 1 [2]
sigliopress.com/book/suite-venitienne [3]
“Thomas Ruff’s manipulative photography”. The Economist. 30 September 2017. [4]
http://lossyculture.altervista.org/thomas-ruff-nacht/ [5] & [6]
Sixth Photoshoot
Photoshoot Plan: I wanted to do a photoshoot in the area that my Grandpa lived for a lot of his life, the natural landscape and environment surrounding him was very important and would of had a big impact of his writing. I will explore the area and photograph anything that links to my Grandpa and his poems.
I knew I wanted to take photos of birds (preferably a robin) for the book but I had struggled to find one to photograph at tis time of year. When I was on this shoot I found a group of coastline bird nesting in a thorn bush and decided to photograph them using my long telephoto lens. I love the mixture of neutral colours and contrasting textures in them image and how the depth of focus brings out the details in the birds. Although this photos does not directly link to the “little change” poem I think it does reflect my grandpa’s attitude and interest toward wildlife.
Final Essay – Personal Study
How is the work of Tanya Deman and Darren Almoud questioning the politics of environmental issues and the way in which we treat the earth?
Introduction
The area which I have chosen to study is the sublime and the political debate about how natural land is used and the destruction that urbanization is causing to it. This has been a reality since the industrial revolution where humans are clearly contributing to the destruction of the planet. This subject matter is important to me as I believe it is vital to protect the earth and not ruin/destroy the last remaining natural habitat. Our ancestors were much better at looking after our environment which we need to be influenced from. Photographers that explore the sublime environment are often giving the viewer an insight to a landscape that is rare and evoke an experience that is uncommon. My personal study 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 Darren Almound and Tanja Deman that I have previously taken inspiration from and will be analysing in this essay. Both of these photographers explore 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 through their works. 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. Darren Almound focuses on capturing beautiful imagery of the natural landscape with a subtle conflict of pain and beauty that creates the sublime environment. Tanja Deman uses manipulation and photo montage techniques 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. Within my own work, I have taken inspiration from this project and created two photo shoots where I proceeded to keep the shutter open for between 15-30 seconds to create dream like images that can’t be seen by the naked eye. I think these images will play a major part in my project in telling the story about the conflict between pain and beauty within the environment. The harsh rocks conflict with the soft water to show this sense of pain and beauty and the rocks/cliffs act as a metaphor for the urban development occurring in other areas.
In relation to Tanja Deman I will explore a particular image of hers which links directly to the idea that Darren Almound’s 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 Almound’s project focuses on. I have responded to Tanya’s work where she places urban infrastructure into nature by creating my own manipulation imagery using St Ouen’s beach and the skyline of London and New York to juxtapose.
In the late 18th Century the aesthetic theories of the sublime and picturesque emerged and inspired many landscape artists. Burke’s ideologies of the sublime were first established in the book: A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful written in 1756 suggesting that the sublime and beautiful cannot be seen at the same time. Burke illustrated the sublime as a ‘character of a particular scene imbued it with a special quality of beauty, which was at the same time admirable and awe inspiring, but also capable of imparting a fission of fear’ (Mayer. L. (DATE) Masters of English – Landscapes. Pierre Terrail Edition, Paris Page 10). Whereas the picturesque was established by Uvedale Price, is when ‘the artist concentrated on those details which he knew would delight the viewer’ (Mayer. L. (DATE) Masters of English – Landscapes. Pierre Terrail Edition, Paris Page 10). There was a clear need to establish a distinction between the sublime, beautiful and picturesque when it came to art. The sublime and picturesque were a chance for landscape painters during the Romantic period to showcase their style of painting. The term ‘picturesque beauty’ was first used by William Gilpin for an item being neither beautiful or sublime. The pictorial qualities of picturesque landscapes are, ‘roughness, sudden variation, or broken tints’ (Rosenthal M. (DATE) Constable – The Painter and his Landscapes. Yale University Press, New Haven & London. Page 31).
Tanja Deman is a Croatian visual artist whose recent photo compositions have taken the relationship between the built environment and natural landscape to its extremes. The dreamy images depict familiar urban forms like skyscrapers and highways, dropped into natural landscapes such as mountain terrains. The more close-up shots of a theatre and stadium, seem to make a spectacle of nature’s wrath and Deman’s anger towards the mistreatment of the planet. The image which stood out to me the most was the one inside of the theatre. This is because it clearly remarks a series of messages about the destruction of our land and proposes the idea that one day the natural world will be part of history and we will have to go to the theater to view it. What most interested me about Deman’s work is how she points a surreal spotlight on the relationship between nature and humans. Her work acts as a voice to humans about the problems we are facing and the environmental problems we are creating. This is really intriguing to me as I have a strong interest in preserving our environment and keeping it untouched by humans and too want to communicate this political message through my photographs. I think that Deman’s work will be a strong reminder to the general public that we are now having undeniable impacts on the environment at the scale of the planet as a whole. This debate has sparked a new battle between geologists and environmental advocates over what to call the time period we live in. It would appear that Deman’s work agrees with the argument for “Anthropocene” a time period that is viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. The word combines the root “anthropo”, meaning “human” with the root “-cene”, the standard suffix for “epoch” in geologic time. Experts argue that the Holocene is outdated which began 11,700 years ago after the last major ice age and Deman’s work would shows her agreement with this and her belief in the Anthropocene time period.
I think the image conveys a very powerful story about the relationship between urban landscapes and the nature. My interpretation of this manipulated image is that at the rate humans are developing our land with man made features, one day we will have no natural land to see. Therefore going to the theater is the only way that people can see the natural land due to the destruction of it. Essentially her message is that the one day the natural land will be part of history and this is clearly dealing with the politics of environmental destruction. There are many other ways this can be interpreted for example, the message that nature needs to be appreciated mimicking the way in which people appreciate theater performances. However most interpretations will follow the intended message of the photographer about having respect for our natural world and bring a realization of the harsh man made urban development. There is a large tonal range within the image from the dark shadows in the foreground to the highlights in the background. The sections where people are seated, there is a use of dark shadows which I think were purposely created to show a sense of danger that humanity is to nature. The forest area is bright with increased highlights to show the significance and importance of it. The framing and composition of this photograph is really appealing to the viewer. I like how the theater creates a frame for the main subject which is also positioned central to show the audience that it is the focus point. Also, the use of leading lines from the balcony and rows of chairs at the front help draw the viewer to the main subject. Overall all it is clear, through this image and many of her other pieces, that Deman is questioning the political issue of man vs nature and the impact that we are having on it. This is achieved through the use of a juxtaposition between the natural land assisted by urban landscapes dropped into them. These compositions depict a changing environment and creates an oddly disturbing message to us; who is destroying the natural land.
My second artist is an English based photographer, Darren Almond. One of Almound’s projects that stood out in particular was his full moon project taken in Patagonia and Cape Verde. Looking at this work presents us with picturesque images shot by the light of a full moon. To achieve the photos in his project he stood attentively by his camera waiting for clouds to clear, then used long exposures of between 12 and 30 minutes. The results are both natural and unearthly, recognizable and oddly alien. Quoted by Sean O’Hagan from The Gaurdian – “Volcanic rock emerges from a sea that looks like misty cloud seen from an aeroplane window. A river’s torrent is rendered smooth and sculptural, and the eucalyptus forest it runs through seems impressionistic and ghostly. Shadows lose their edges; they become soft and almost indistinct.” “With long exposures, you can never see what you are shooting,” Almond told The Gaurdian, “But you are giving the landscape longer to express itself.”
Almounds work in this project reminds me of the initial artists who painted with the aesthetic theory of the picturesque containing significant amount of detail. His outdoor landscapes show a connection with these ideas of the picturesque which has a deeper meaning, understood by reviewing the image to gather all the detail which is contained in a single photograph. Almond has the ability to connect with the audience’s emotions using his images to reflect environmental change with the motion in his pictures signifying the ever changing environment. Linking with the theory of the sublime Almonds images clearly have aspects of beauty and danger with the contrast between the elegant silky water and the harsh sharp rocks. It may also be seen that the motion of the sky and waves is a depiction of the force of nature that is dangerous. The vortex of sea and mist draws the audience to look at the image. It showcases the experience of awe and power which the natural elements behold evoking a feeling of fear within the audience. My interpretation of his images is that the rocks act as a metaphor for the urban development that is occurring, a clear environmental issue within our world. The fear of the unknown is a key element within Darren Almounds work but at the same time there is true beauty within his work. His landscape work present environments devoid of human activity however we know that by looking in detail that there is a reference to the human activity in the world today. The de-saturated color scheme showcases the life which has deteriorated from presence of human interaction. A sense of the sublime aesthetics comes from the alien nature which these images represent, which do intrigue us but add a sense of fear due to the unrealistic environment which is being captured. As an audience we are free looking into Almounds landscape series, as there is large room and space in the frame. This creates an overwhelming or intimidating feel which introduce the fear factor involved in the sublime. Furthermore, the ideas of not knowing what is lurking beyond the sea or rock formation, presents us with the aesthetics of the sublime. Capturing these images in the style of the sublime clearly shows how the environment is unstable with the destruction that humans are causing to it. Despite the fact there is no presence of humans or the direct destruction they are causing to the landscape in Almounds project, through the inspiration of the picturesque and incorperation of the sublime, when the audience look in detail we can understand the messages about environmental change that he is displaying.
To conclude, over the course of this personal investigation, my own work has been inspired to capture elements of the aesthetic theories of the picturesque and the sublime. I have further taken inspiration from the photographers Darren Almound and Tanya Deman which has led to my exploration of the rural vs urban environments as well as the Utopian world too. My work on this project began looking at the beautiful natural environment inspired by the picturesque and sublime theories where i photographed coastal areas and their beauty. This was later influenced by Darren Almound which further triggered me into exploring the beauty of the natural environment whilst trying to incorporate subtle signifies of human presence whilst them not actually being there. This was seen through the photoshoot I did using long exposures to try and capture a sense of time and movement which is relevant to the change in time period from the Holocene to the Anthropocene which links to both artists. This change in time period links to human activity causing the most significant change to the planet ever. This not only links to Almound’s full moon project in the way he portrays the picturesque but also links to Deman’s work where there is a clear presence of human activity. I mostly took inspiration from Deman’s work to create the fantasy landscape images that can be seen in my photobook. Inspired by her montage and manipulation techniques I wanted to create a utopia world from my perspective to show the viewer how I see the most ideal world. This later stemmed the urban photoshoot that played a major part in my project and book too. The idea of utopia was fascinating to me and I wanted to explore it from others perspective whilst still keeping to the ideas of natural vs man made. This brung me to photographing urban landscapes where artists graffiti their ideal world onto buildings. This not only explores the utopia from another perspective but also shows reference to humanities destruction to our planet and the urbanization that is present. Overall, it is clear to see that Almound and Deman have strong beliefs in the mistreatment of our earth and have demonstrated their perspectives of it differently yet both very effectively.
- Bibliography: List all relevant sources used
https://books.google.je/books/about/A_Philosophical_Enquiry_Into_the_Origin.html?id=pdpDAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://archive.org/details/gri_essayonthepi00c2pr
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-is-the-anthropocene-and-are-we-in-it-164801414/
http://www.anthropocene.info/
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jan/21/darren-almond-moonlight-landscape-photography
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/darren-almond-fullmoon-article
Final essay Draft
How do images of P.H.Polk and Khadija Saye, show change of representation of black identity?
‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character’. – Martin Luther King, Jr. March On Washington, 8th August 1963
In this essay, I will be looking at the way that the depiction of black people has progressed over the last 150 years. I will be comparing and contrasting with the 19th century when photographic records began to emerge with modern day technologies, such as social media platforms. YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, where an individual is in control of their own representation. With old technologies, such as newspapers and TV one person or group of people were in control of the messages that would be broadcast to the public, as discussed by David Gauntlett. However, since the growth of the internet, there are multiple platforms in which a person is able to express their voice. So audiences have a much wider range of direct sources of information in which they can use for their opinions on topics, groups, or people. The 18th to 19th century was the height of colonialism, at this point in history slavery was being used all over the world. Slaves were being transported largely from Africa, this continued until 1835 when Britain abolished its slavery throughout the whole of its empire by the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. The U.S abolished Slavery in 1865 with the 13th Amendment, but segregation in America was not ended until 1963. In modern day society, all nationalities legally have equal rights, but there is still some social inequalities. Such as workers who come over from countries such as Poland and Romania, they face prejudice from many white English groups, due to them living and raising families in the UK, this tension had only been made worse by events such as Brexit. I will be looking at the works of P. H Polk, who photographed acute portraits of African Americans post civil war that first gave black people an equal photographic representation. I will compare him to Khadija Saye, her self portraits express her multicultural background. I have chosen to analyses these artists due to their links to my personal project on ‘Political Landscapes’, in which I am looking back at my life growing up as a mixed-race child in a mainly white society in the island of Jersey and having little connection to black culture. These artists look at the expression of the black identity through photography, when the images are compared it is clear how the view of black identity has changed.
The first documentation of Black People in Photography
As western society progressed much quicker than other countries in the world, due to colonization and economic progression, they developed many new technologies faster as they had a larger amount of resources to draw on. Louis Agassiz 1807 -1873, was the founder of comparative zoology at the University of Harvard who had an avid interest of photographic data. Due to his photographic documentation interest, he authorized the portrait commission on the front, back and side views of slaves from a North Carolina plantation in 1850. These were one, if not the first images of black people for scientific purposes. He wanted to provide visual evidence for his theory that the races were created separately at different times in the world. Whites being developed first then other nationalities, because at this time many people believed that humans were created from God. An idea that slavery supporters felt would have scientifically justified their use of slavery and saw no problem with racial inequality. Fifteen daguerreotypes of the slave who was name ‘Jack’ where taken by J.T.Zealy. In the image below Jack is romantically lit, emphasizing facial features that make him appear noble, pensive and unassuming. This romantic side lighting has been used to intensify his facial features and prove Agassiz’s theory. Although these images were meant to be compared and contrasted with other physical body types to prove his theory, no other images of compatible exposed white men and woman went along with these daguerreotypes. The main purpose of Zaley’s image were to convince viewers that racial inequality was acceptable because blacks, had been created later and therefore are less intelligent. His way of thinking has been influential in the term. Theorist Edward Said theory of Orientalism describes their reasoning behind their actions. ‘Westerners had no evidence apart from their upbringing and experiences in life in to which they made the judgments on other races. So they showed it in a limited way as it was too different from the culture that they had experienced'{6}. Agassiz was validated that what he was doing was right as it was accepted by his peers who had the same viewpoint on the world. In their eyes, the western imperialist invasion and colonization was justified as they were saving themselves as they were the superior race. This photographs contributed ideas to the Eugenic Movement’s viewpoint of white racial superiority, these ideas were later adopted and promoted by the Nazis who actually invaded and occupied Jersey in 1940.
Pictorial and Straight Photography
The straight photography movement began in 1905 as a reaction against the Pictorialism movement, the dominant style of photography at this time. Pictorialism, aesthetic emphasized beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality. The images tended to look similar to romanticism in paintings which tended to be very fantasy and dreamlike. To create this effect pictorial photographers would often smear Vaseline around the lens of the camera to make the image distorted. Straight photography became the trademark style of many Western photographers the most famous being Ansel Adams. Straight photography emphasizes and engages with the camera’s own technical capability to produce images sharp in focus and rich in detail. Straight photographs have not been manipulated, either in the taking of the image or by darkroom or digital processes, but sharply depict the scene or subject as the camera sees it. The movement became associated with masculinity due to the sharpness of the images to contrast the femininity of the Pictorialist movement. My work on political landscape has links to both the Straight photography, and Pictorialist movements movement as all of the images that I have produced have been in a documentary approach, by looking back on the life that I have lived in Jersey. When shooting the images I have used s straight photograph approach. But on the shoot when I went around Jersey and visited places from my childhood I have manipulated the images to be blurry and fuzzy to show a disconnection to me as a teenager, so my editing process has been greatly inspired by the Pictorialist movement.
H. Polk
H. Polk was an African American photographer born in 1989 in Bessemer, Alabama, he first became involved with photography after he met C.M.Battley, who was the head of Tuskegee’s Photography Department, who later became his mentor. He was speaking of the potential of the photographic movement and was encouraging students to come and see if they had any interest in the subject. After this meeting, Polk went up to Chicago to further his study of photography with his blessing. He then returned to his home town and opened his own studio and then took over as the head of Tuskegee photography department. In which he documented many critical moments in the civil rights movements on the campus. In much of his early work, he photographed his subjects on a Kodak box camera with a Graphex lens, in which he has been praised by credits for his technical mastery of the medium but not having the best equipment. His book Through These Eyes: The Photographs of P.H. Polk is a collection of over 100 hundred photographs that depict southern life in all of its different forms, the images range from the African American scientist George Washington Carver to images of the farmers working the land the cotton fields in Macon County. These collection of images are essential in my eyes, in showing the differences of how African/ Americans saw one other, to how white Americans saw them. One of his most influential series, ‘Old Characters’, in which he documented ex-slaves from Macon County. One of the reasons that I decided to pick P.H.Polk as one of my photographers to references is because of that way that he documented African Americans. In his images, they are presented with class, dignity, and humanity. When compared to the first documentation of African Americans, in which they are shown as specimens of nature, and photographed as freaks of nature who need to be studied. Polk’s images show a great comparison of how the civil rights movement started the change of attitude towards blacks in America culture.
This image was taken in 1932 and is entitled ‘The Boss’. The image looks as if it was taken in a studio using artificial lighting that looks to be coming from the left-hand side of the frame. The woman in the frame who looks to be from the working class from the look of what she is wearing has been positioned in a powerful stance with her hands on her hips. It looks as if the camera was taken from a lower angle as the woman in the frame is looking down into the frame, which is in turn giving her the power. She is looking directly down the lens to the viewer which, draws the onlooker into the image makes the images more personal.
Khadija Saye
Khadija Saye born in London in 1992 was a British – Gambian artist and photographer, who tragically lost her life in the Grenfell tower Disaster in 2017. At age 16 she won a full scholarship to the prestigious Rugby school where her passion of photography first began to grow, she then went on to take a BA in Photography at UCA Farnham, where she first began to experiment with her Gambian identity in relation to photography. In early 2017 Saye, completed nine tintype photographers from she project she entitled ‘Dwelling: in this space, we breathe’ these self-portraits where on Gambian spiritual practices. This project was set to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale, which is a prestigious international art exhibition held every two years in Italy. Her works were meant to be included in a project entitled ‘ Diaspora Pavilion’, in which a group of contemporary artist from racially diverse backgrounds presented work on the theme of migration and displacement. Each image was a self -portrait, in which Saye performs a different, time-honoured, Gambian spiritual ritual. For the project she drew on her own self-interest and explored the emotions, feeling and consequences of her journey and heritage.
These images were created to look a certain way, inspired by the Victorian era of tintype photography, in which the image is created by using a wet metal plate and collodion solution. Tintype photography is affected by the environment that they are developed in such as the consistency of the light and the temperature. I personally think that she decided to present her work in this format because there are very few portraits of black woman in the 19th century when this type of technology was being used. It gives the images a sense of incongruous to them which then makes the viewer think about the historic documentation of black people throughout photography. When I look at the image the first thing that I connect it with is images of slaves from the 19th century when black people were being photographed as a part of their plantations owners property. Making the images became impactful for Saye, ‘whilst exploring the notions of spirituality and rituals, the process of image-making became a ritual in itself ’.{4}.In the images, Saye in wearing a traditional Gambian headwrap, and is holding an incense burner which is an item considered to be sacred in The Gambia. The image looks as if it was taken in a studio, it is unclear if Saye took this image using a shutter release so she would have been pressing the shutter, as her hand is out of the frame, or whether there was somebody on set with her. Saye’s eyeliner looks as if she is looking up to the burning incense, this may be a symbolic sign because the incense is used is spiritual practices, that maybe she is trying to seek approval from a higher power. The fact that she is facing away from the camera in his image, maybe representing the fact that she like many other black woman face prejudice, and are seen as the stereotypes set around they are seen to be connected to.
Conclusion
There are more similarities than differences between P.H.Polks and Khadija Saye work, but both of them show black self-expression, in its purest form. The person in front of the camera is in charge of the message that is being expressed. Which is greatly important as for a lot of history, the way that the black identity was depicted in images and history was the way that white people saw ‘the other.’ The main difference between the two artists work is that Says, has taken more of a tabuex approach to her project ‘ Dwelling: in this space we breathe’. As she is recreating parts of The Gambia spiritual practices, rather than taking a documentary approach to these traditions. Whereas P.H.Polks images, are more formal and were trying to communicate to the audience at that black people are equal, what this project did at the time was show them as individuals with humanity behind them, as at this time there was still a massive racial divide in America. These two photographers have greatly influenced the way that I have looked at myself, in the Political Landscape project. In the project, I haven’t taken any images of myself in the present day, but studying these photographers it has made me see how these images could be interpreted in a different way. Because I grew up in a white society, I forgot to look at myself and see that I was different from most of the people that I was surrounded by. Which did help my experience growing up in some way as I was oblivious to the differences that society saw, but the society that I grew up did see me as different. Which I mainly think was due to the fact that I had a very happy childhood, and I felt accepted in the environment that I was in so I had no need to have a sense of longing for anything else. One of the ways that I expressed this in my project was through the editing of the archival images that I used.
In this project I have distorted the pictures of me and my father together he was the only black person that I had around me when growing up to look up to. I wanted to get across that the image of black/mixed race families in the media is often distorted, and makes out that the child of the relationship will not be as happy as a child of a nuclear white family. One of the things that I really liked about Kahijas images was use of The Gambia headscarf that she can be seen to be wearing in her images, by wearing this it shows a connection to her country and to her heritage. One of the ways that I did this is my project was thought the techniques of ‘Rephotography’. In which I found images of myself as a child and then went back to these locations now and line up the images with what the area looks like now, by doing this I felt as if really drew the connection of Jersey becoming apart of my identity and how the island has shaped me into becoming the person that I am today, into the project in a visual way. To conclude, Saye and Polk have shown a dramatic change in the way that black people and the black identity have changed by taking control of the messages that are being communicated to the audience .
Bibliography
1.Wikipedia ( December 2018), P.H.Polk, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.H.Polk
2.Wikipedia ( November 2018 ), Khadija Saye, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadija_Saye
3.Wikipedia ( February 2018 ), Straight Photography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_photography
4.Christies (27 September 2018), ‘Heat warming and haunting – two works of Khadija Saye’ https://www.christies.com/features/Heartwarming-and-haunting-works-by-Khadija-Saye-9410-1.aspx
5.Mary. W. M (2002), Photography: A Cultural History. Laurence King Publishing
6. MACAT.(4 April 2018), Edward Said – An Introduction to Orientalism.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aNwMpV6bVs
analysis, sequencing and development of final book display
The sequencing and development of final photo-book, started off with thinking and discussing the final theme and narrative story which I want to show throughout my book. I believed I wanted it to still have strong connotations to the sublime, but also relations to emotions given off by the images. This then led me to ask myself, which of my shoots were the most successful, yet also work together through a sub- chronological story. To my mind, I believe my most powerful, emotional and successful shoots I have so far, are the sublime water ones. This leads me to choose the primary imagery from 4 shoots, and the other 10 shoots to be used to separate and create a more interesting narrative, yet without removing the theme that I want. I then wanted to choose a handful of 50 images from the primary shoots, and an additional 20 additional edits and images from the shoots less linked to the sublime, in order to create a variation and to keep interest throughout the photo book. These images where then categorise to what sizes would be most complimentary for their simply. So I ended up with a variation of images able to be on a double page spread e.t.c. I was very careful that when I started my composition for the book itself, not to allow two similar images, or similar layouts of images next to each-other and this repetition does not look correct and does not feel natural when going through the book. I wanted the structure to flow easily, yet still have a clear peak interest in each and every one of the images I used landscapes, and underwater images in order to operate many of The portrait’s throughout my work. Although all of the images have a clear conviction and interest of a certain point or another, It was still clearly apparent I needed an interesting set of images to divide up my photo-book. Because of This I decided to add images which have a mystical influence of rocks covered in different developments of rainbow patterns.
The development of my photo-book:
Other options, I decided on my final layout however as there was a good natural flow of colour synergy and the amount fo images within he dynamics of portraiture and landscapes.
My final photo book presentation:
Front cover and back cover:
I chose this image in particular for many reasons, The first being the dark tones and deepness of the water creates a sense fo mystery and reinforces he fact of the book being about pleasure and pain. Secondly the use of water in itself is important as this is a key essence continuously repeated throughout my photo-book. So I believe it is a necessity to demonstrate clearly what will also be seen within my book. The front cover is also quite interesting in that side is quite abstract, it is divided into two half, giving away any information about the rest of the image itself. This plain front allows a clear and informative title, which can easily be shown. However due to the amount of portraits within the book itself, To have a face visible as part of the front cover is important. However due to it only being visible on the back is interesting as it almost creates a narrative experience, and puts the aspect of human vs nature all into one narrative image. This is why I feel as though this image is definitely the most successful.
what my book title is and why:
I chose ‘The Evolution Of Essentialism’ Due to it being a pivotal part of my photography essay, additionally, essentialism has a clear link to water as it is a primary part of living, so also creates a clear indication of my subject from right at the beginning. The evolution part links in well throughout how water can be linked back to romanticism, Pictorialism and surrealism yet still be used to make an array of different sublime imagery seen through portraiture and landscape, as seen within the book.
The stories I used within my final photo-book are the following:
1:“Whereas the beautiful is limited, the sublime is limitless, so that the mind in the presence of the sublime,
attempting to imagine what it cannot, has pain in the failure but pleasure in contemplating the immensity of the attempt”
2:’A meditation rose on me that night
Upon the lonely mountain when the scene
Had passed away, and it appeared to me
The perfect image of a mighty mind,
Of one that feeds upon infinity,
That is exalted by an under-presence,
The sense of God, or whatso’er is dim
Or vast in its own being’
3:“Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling.”
4:’The sounding cataract Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,The mountain, and
the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me An appetite;
a feeling and a love’
Photo-book layout
