Romanticism

Romanticism as a mind-set. Romanticism may be best understood not as a movement, but as a mind-set. The artists, poets and musicians of the Romantic period were united by their determination to use their art to convey emotion or provoke an emotional response from audiences.

Romanticism is built up of key features.

Some of the main characteristics of Romantic literature include a focus on the writer or narrator’s emotions and inner world; celebration of nature, beauty, and imagination; rejection of industrialization, organized religion, rationalism, and social convention; idealization of women, children, and rural life; inclusion …

It was used as a way of rebellion. people were less bothered about religion and were exploring nature. people realized the importance of individuals rather than having kings and queens. People used romanticism to to show different ideas about the meaning of life.

The image of the mountain was one of the influential landscape photograph that started landscape photography taken by Ansel Adams. The other black and white landscape photograph was taken by Ernest H. Brooks.

The use of different lenses created a nice contrast between the shadows and the light in both the black and white photographs to highlight the important things in these photographs: for example it highlights the seal in the water.

landscape photography shows spaces within the world. they typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man -made features or disturbances of landscapes.

romanticism is an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe in the late 1700’s and categorized by heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual’s expression of emotion and imagination departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules. It would often be shown in either art pieces or poetry at the time but eventually it evolved into other things like photography.

romanticism has long since been associated with landscape. In photography, the sense of romance and landscape features its prospering spirit. While difficult to categorize, it is uncontrollable and unpredictable because its mostly all about nature.

what is landscape photography?

Photos that embody the spirit of the outdoors. Photos that are awe inspiring.

mood board of landscape photography

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romanticism landscape photography

what is romanticism?

The artists, poets and musicians of the Romantic period were united by their determination to use their art to convey emotion or provoke an emotional response from audiences.

To describe the movement in art and literature distinguished by a new interest in human psychology, expression of personal feeling and interest in the natural world.

mood board of romanticism landscape photography

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Ansel Adams was an influential landscape photographer most widely known for his black and white images of the American West. He helped develop a method of understanding and using tonal range called the Zone System, and his images are well-known for their wide range of dark shadows and bright white highlights. ​

He became a pioneer in Romaticised landscape photography, taking many series of images in the American West, particularly Yosemite National Park and the mountainous structures found there.

Key Image Analysis:

TECHNICAL:
Adams uses natural lighting and a high tonal range to have a highly contrasted image and make the photo more intense. The high tonal range causes the sunlight reflecting off the river to stand out as bright, as well as increase the shadows in the dark rock on the mountains and the darker trees in the foreground. He has most likely used a tripod and a slow shutter speed to capture all this  detail and focus the entire image, creating the high tonal range that can be seen here.

VISUAL:
This image has a range of different textures, from the water in the river to the hard rock mountain and the trees and scrub-land , as well as the clouds in the sky, which creates balance throughout the image and  stays with the theme of the harmony of nature that the Romantic photographers strove for.​

CONCEPTUAL:
The ideals of Romanticism in art and photography are that nature is powerful, beautiful and unpredictable. This is reflected in the almost heavenly light coming from behind the mountain, which imposes over the whole scene and creates a sense  of majesty.​

CONTEXTUAL:
Adams himself spent a lot of his life taking photographs in this region of the American West and he was inspired by the untouched landscapes and the power of nature there. ​ This is represented through the use of photography as his own view, and of the camera lens as his own gaze.

Romanticism as a movement started in late 18th century Europe as a response to and rejecting the Age of Enlightenment and the focus on logic and reason that it brought, as opposed to the Romantic emphasis on emotional sensitivity, imagination and the sense of spirituality or religion. Romanticism in art used nature as inspiration and broke from the traditional use of Bible scenes in painting, instead looking at nature as the “dwelling place of God.” From a non-religious standpoint, Romantic artists portrayed nature as beautiful, powerful and occasionally destructive.

Romantic photographers drew from these ideas in their work, capturing the landscape as unpredictable and uncontrollable. Mostly it simply relies on the landscape to tell the story, but sometimes humans and animals are involved in the narrative as well.

The Romantic movement in photography was also heavily inspired by the old Romantic painters and their work, often taking some aspects of paintings directly and transferring them into photography, so therefore to be a successful Romantic photographer, it is important to recognise the themes of Romantic paintings in the 18th century.

This clearly shows the common themes of using nature in its unspoilt and pure form, as well as natural lighting and conveying various emotions through the visual art.

LINKS:
https://www.nephotographyguild.com/2018/01/romanticism-landscape-photographer