Gustave Le Gray

a French photographer that lived between 1829-1884. Gustave studied painting in the studio of Paul Delaroche and shortly after in 1847 made his first daguerreotypes. Gustave did similar work to William Henry Fox, a process involving paper negatives to be waxed out prior to sensitization, therefore creating a crisper image. Gustave decided to stick to portraiture in his studio in France for the majority of his early photographer stages. Family and financial issues occurred and Gustave ended up in debt. In 1857, Gustave started to produce seascape photography. A series of dramatic and poetic seascapes that bought international acclaim.

When photographing the sea in such early stages of photography, Gustave likes to capture how the eye would perceive the image rather than change it. Gustave would do this by creating two negatives of an image physically, (one half the sea, one half the sky.) Then he would use these two parts of images and paste them together as well as creating two different exposure levels in each negative. This would create a contrast between the darkness within the clouds and natural light that beams down on the sea.

Joe Cornish

Cornish is a British photographer, born in 1958. Cornish, inspired by the sea and natural  landscapes, captures quality images from the surroundings of the UK and abroad. Currently Cornish is working and living in North Yorkshire taking photographs of the North York Moors and coastal areas. Joe uses the quality of light in every aspect of his photography and even plans for different light use every time before going for a photo-shoot. Joe states that light is the most important aspect of his images. Here are some examples of images taken within Joes best time of light being used;

Joes images seem to have a chosen colour theme to each one. Joe finds himself positioned with a camera to always have something set within the foreground and a wide background. When photographing the sea, Joe seems to capture the water always so still and travelling at smooth and slow way. Here we can see that Joe wants to capture the beauty and tranquillity within the world. Whether it be a cold scene of wintery sea or a summer day with the sun setting, Joes images all link and would not be mistaken for someone else’s work. in my opinion, linking these images together is the theme of intriguing colours and the smoothness found within the sea and sky.