Image Analysis
Key Themes – Yao Lu’s work is inspired by the current dramatic change in China’s landscapes and how things are constantly under construction and how this effects the natural landscape disappearing. He believes that everyone must protect the environment and wants the world to change for the better.
Content – Some coastal scene or river/lake with mountains and cliff edges with small, traditional Chinese buildings on top of the mountains. The mountains are formed from rubbish. without focusing on the dump site piles, it is a very calm mountain top scene with mist surrounding the mountains. The title does not highlight the rubbish in the mountains which suggests that Lu did not want that to be the focus and wanted to get the tranquility of the traditional Chinese scene with when the viewer looks closer they then realise the mountains are actually dump site mountains.
Formal Elements – The tones of this image are of the same muted beige/cream colour with some darker grey’s. The mix of these tones creates a high tonal range in the image which builds more density and gives a 3D feel to the image as the mountains in the distance are less in focus which then also creates a deep depth of field. The colours in this image link to the traditional Chinese themes in Lu’s work as it is similar to the look of an old painting. The natural lighting he used makes it easier to manipulate them to look older and helps create the tones found in the detail of the big granite and cement blocks in the closest mountain. The image follows the Fibonacci spiral as the placement of the mountains leads the eye. Starting at the bottom right of the image with the closest mountain, then to the next mountain on the left, and next the mountain in the distance on the right where the viewer then ends the spiral in the big mist patch. It also follows the rule of thirds as the horizon is in the top third.
Mood – The image is very atmospheric in the way that it creates a clear peaceful and serene image through the muted colours used and the relaxing mountainous scene.
Photo Shoot Plan
| Who | I will not need anyone as I am focusing on landscapes. |
| Where | I will go to La Colette dump and the old harbour near there. |
| Why | To picture piles/mountains of rubbish so that I can later manipulate them to look like coastal features. |
| What | Dump- focus on tall mountains of old cars. Old Harbour- To find fishing equipment such as nets and baskets which are in piles. |
| When | It does not necessarily matter when I go as long as it is during the day so that I have a source of light because I will be relying on the natural light source from outside. It would be easier to go on a less sunny day so that the images are more cool toned and match the original tone of the cliffs/rock in my landscape photos. |
| How | I will use a camera and take them from multiple angles to make the nets look bigger than they are but also mainly from eye level so that when I edit the images they match the landscape images angles. |
Contact Sheet
When taking these photos I tried to get multiple different angles and compositions so that when I later come to editing them onto my landscape photos I can choose the best ones. The lighting worked well with the colours and made the images very clear. I am happy with how they turned out however some were rushed and therefore turned out blurry. I ended up taking some of my photos on my phone as it was not possible to take some with my camera as there were railings in front but the images still turned out well overall.
