Urban Landscapes – Altered Landscapes

Case Study

Gabriele Basilico

Gabriele Basilico was an Italian landscape photographer, born in 1944, best known for his fascination with the changing landscape that was becoming urbanised. Before taking on photography as a profession, Basilico first studied to be an architect, which may explain his eye for the geometric structures showcased in his work. This striking architectural photography soon caught peoples eyes, including the French Government which commissioned him to record the transformation of the Transalpine landscapes, amongst other photographers in which he was the only Italian. Later Basilico also went on to document the effects of the war in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, which had previously been ongoing for 15 years.

Analysis

This black and white photograph taken by Gabriele Basilico showcases a curved building, located in the centre of the frame. This structure is framed by empty space both above and below the building, as the street shown appears to be desolate similar to the overcast sky. Here, it can be seen that Basilico took this photograph from a pedestrian viewpoint, looking slightly upwards. The leading lines in this composition are created by the curved, horizontal, white stripes that encompass the building, leading your eye from the right into the centre of the image, which is highlighted by the sun. In addition, these lines strongly contrast with the dark shadows underneath each balcony.

From a technical viewpoint, it can be said that Basilico only used natural lighting in order to capture this landscape, due to the fact it has been taken in a large open space outside, most likely at midday as the few shadows that are visible are going straight down, rather than at an angle. Furthermore, this means that the ISO setting used must have been a medium to low one, due to the large amount of natural light flooding the lens, allowing for a photograph that is not over exposed. This also could mean that Basilico used a fast shutter speed because of this large amount of light, also there are no visible blurs or movements here. It appears that the aperture was on a medium to low setting, as the focal structure is located far away from the photographer and the building in the background also seem to have a similar amount of focus placed on them.

Photo-Shoot

Contact Sheets

For this photoshoot I took pictures around the modernised areas of St. Helier, such as the finance and banking building along the Esplanade. Here I have highlighted the image I believe are my best, and wish to edit, and crossed out the images that are either over exposed or blurry.

Edited Images

For these photographs taken in the style of Gabriele Basilico, I started off editing them by converting the images into black and white, in order to make them look similar to Basilico’s film photographs. I also adjusted other aspects, such as increasing the contrast to create a juxtaposition between light and dark.