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For this photo-shoot we went around the outside of school and Highlands as a class and looked for urban landscapes that could potentially work as a New Topographic image, such as mundane buildings that might intersect with any remaining nature surrounding it. Here I have highlighted the photographs I will edit in green, and crossed out the images that are either too blurry or overexposed to use, in red.

Edited Images

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To edit these photographs, I used Lightroom to convert the images into black and white. Then I lowered the exposure and increased the contrast to create a larger juxtaposition between light and dark. I also lowered the highlights and white tones of most of the photographs, making sure the images were not over exposed, due to the large amount of light flooding the lens.

Final Image

I believe that this is my best edited image, taken in the style of the New Topographic movement, as it displays a mundane man made structure from a front facing, pedestrian perspective. Another way this image links to this style of urban landscape photography, is that it is composed of many leading lines that seem to dissect the image.

Henry Wessel Jr.

Henry Wessel Jr. was an American photographer, born in 1942, best known for his black and white images, showcasing the every day life in America’s West, and his large role in the founding of the New Topographic movement. Wessel was known to always to carry his camera with him, taking photographs as he sees it, in an almost documentary like manner. These images are a result of the exploration of the crossover between nature and urbanisation in 1970s America.

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Analysis

This black and white photograph, taken by Henry Wessel Jr. displays an urban landscape, towered over by the mass number of telephone wires, and palm trees. These wires act as leading lines in Wessel’s image, directing the viewers eye down towards the pristine, white buildings. It can also be said that Wessel took this image at head height, looking up, due to the shadow of him in the lower right hand corner. Furthermore, the empty space in this photograph, seen in the vacant car park in the foreground and the cloudless sky in the upper half of the image, result in the photograph having an almost eerie atmosphere. Here there is a strong contrast between light and dark, fueled by the black and white tones of the image, seen in the drastically opposing shadows in the lower left of the photograph , and the white buildings highlighted by the sun

From a technical viewpoint, it can be said that Wessel captured this photograph with the natural lighting, due to the organic shadows created by the structures in the image. In addition, because of this large amount of natural light, a low ISO setting must of been needed in order to capture a piece that is not over exposed. By looking at the focus in the foreground and the background, it appears that Wessel used a low aperture as it seems that it is evenly spread. The shutter speed setting used to capture this photograph could of been a medium to fast speed, due to the lack of movement or blur in Wessel’s piece.

Looking at this photograph, it could be argued that here Wessel was aiming to draw attention to the urbanisation of the west, as part of the New Topographic theme his images posses. This could be seen through the towering palm trees that are intruding on this concrete landscape, signifying last remainder of nature that has not been destroyed by man. Furthermore, the telephone lines could act as a representation of the confines that man-made structures have had on the free flow of nature.

New Topographics

This style of landscape photography, named ‘New Topographics’ by William Jenkins in 1975, is the display of urban landscapes in a formal, black and white format. Said to be founded by photographers such as Lewis Baltz, Nicholas Nixon and Bernd and Hiller Becher, new topographic images usually consisted of man made structures, surrounded by the remaining nature in the area. It can be said that the intent of these photographers, was to raise awareness and concern over the destruction of the natural landscape, and the constant urbanisation of 70s America. This could be seen as a defiance of the traditional style of photography built by artists such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, aiming to show the reality of what most of the landscapes in America looked like, instead of a romanticised fraction of it.

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This movement went on to influence later photographers, some of which studied under distinguished New Topographic photographers, Bernd and Hiller Becher at the Düsseldorf School of Photography. This resulted in the images resembling similar properties of a New Topographic, and a commitment to the New Objectivity movement. These showcased photographs with a more contemporary and personal essence, whilst still retaining the formality and representation of the industrial issue.

Plan

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Edited Images

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When editing these coastal photographs, I used Photoshop to convert them first into black and white, then increasing the contrast, highlights and shadows for each image. In addition, I also adjusted the curves and levels on Lightroom.

Final Image

I believe that this is my best edited photograph, as it displays elements of romanticism through the harsh weather and the dramatic clouds, therefore replicating aspects of the sublime. Furthermore, this image also coincides with the rule of thirds as the horizon line is located in the lower third of the photograph.

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Here I have found a photograph from Jersey’s photograph archive, taken by Albert Smith, of people planting potatoes in the ploughed fields at L’Etacq. I will edit this image together with my own photograph taken from my rural landscape photoshoot, which displays the same setting of L’Etacq.

Plan

Contact Sheets

Edited Images

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When editing my landscape photographs, I used Lightroom to convert my images into black and white. I also increased the contrast in order to create a more dramatic landscape. Furthermore, by adjusting the curves and levels of the photographs, I made sure they were not either under or over exposed.

Final Image

I believe that this landscape photograph is my best image as it displays clear leading lines, created by the plough lines in the field, that direct the viewer towards the focal point, being the pointed hill in the centre. In addition, I think that this image also shows similarities with Fay Godwin’s rural landscape work, due to its moody atmosphere and dramatic, cloudy sky.

Romanticism, originating at the end of the 18th century, was a movement of European descent consisting of artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual forms. This new form of expression saw artists conveying their personal interests and feelings towards nature, allowing them to break free from the classical restraint, that had so long confined artists in their work. The pioneers in British romanticism are said to be artists J.M.W. Turner and John Constable, introducing the movement to the country through their dramatic landscapes. This ‘Age of Romanticism’ came shortly after what is known as ‘the age of enlightenment’, which valued the use of reason to bring about the improvement of humanity. This resulted in the many literary, philosophical, scientific and law creations and discoveries, including the revolutions of France and America.

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Romanticism in photography is said to have originated as a saturation of the movement, due to this new media being invented towards the end of this dramatic expression, therefore resulting in a larger focus on the mundane rather than the sublime. However the original intent of the romanticism movement immerged again through the work of photographers such as Ansel Adams, Roger Fenton and Fay Godwin, with the display of the immense beauty of nature.

Fay Godwin

Fay Godwin, born in 1931, Berlin, is best known for her rural landscape photography. Growing up in many different countries, with a diplomat father and artist mother, and travelling most of her younger life, Godwin was conditioned to have a love for the arts from a young age. At the age of 21, Godwin had found a place to settle in London, where she worked at a publishers. This photographer’s fascination with photography first emerged in the 1960s, when she would often take pictures of her children, later looking at it as a more serious career choice. From this she started out as a freelance photographer, then moving on to selling her own books containing these countryside landscapes. It was Godwin’s book titled “Land” however, that gave her the most recognition, containing all her work from the past decade of her photography.

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Analysis

This atmospheric black and white photograph taken by Faye Godwin, displays a rural setting containing a valley, running through a mountain range. Leading lines in this image are created by the curved river, flowing in the foreground, drawing the viewers eyes towards the mountain range, in the background, slightly covered by mist. The jagged outlines of these mountains also aid the structure of this image, by gradually leading the viewers eye down into the valley. Here Godwin has clearly exhibited strong contrast between light and dark, with the luminous river highlighted by the sun, and the dark grassy lands that encompass it. These dark tones also contrast with the upper half of the image, past the horizon line, which contains light to mid-tones. There is a small amount of symmetry in this image, which is created with the center placement of the opening of the valley, seen in the background. It can also be said that the viewpoint in which this image was taken, was from head height due to the horizon line being in the center third of the photograph.

It is clear that the light used in order to take this photograph, was natural, created by a gentle, translucent haze over the mountains, as it is a rural landscape image, with no artificial light in the surroundings, as you might see in an urban landscape. It appears that Godwin took this image at midday, due to the evenly dispersed and soft light that does not create many harsh shadows in the landscape. For this Photograph Godwin most likely used a low aperture, allowing for a large depth of field, this is as the foreground and background in this landscape photograph have the same amount of focus on them. In addition, the shutter speed that Godwin used must have been on a fast setting due to the sharpness of the image. The ISO setting used to take this picture most likely was on a low setting, due to the large amount of light flooding the image, and highlighting the river.

As an avid walker, and a member of the Ramblers association, Godwin had great respect and admiration of nature and the preservation of it, even going as far as protesting for the cause. This later lead to her claiming that she was in fact a documentary photographer rather than a landscape photographer, stating that she acted as a reporter of the land. This appreciation can be seen in this image, as it can be said it the captures unbounded essence of the sublime and romantic genre, creating a photograph from a perspective, that allows you to be in awe of the grand scale of nature and its immense beauty.

Landscape photography requires thorough planning before a shoot, for example you must think about the location of the photo-shoot, the weather you want to capture in your image, including the type of natural lighting, the camera settings needed for these conditions and the viewpoint of the images. This style of photography aims to amplify the essence of natural or urban features for the viewer.

Landscape photography that showcases a rural setting often displays recurring features such as fields, lakes and woodland areas within the countryside, focusing on natural forms rather than man made ones. Below are influential examples of this type of photography.

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Photo-montage is a medium that can be traced back to the Dadaists in 1915, a Zurich artist movement, who used this technique to make political statements, which can be seen in their protest against the First World War. Dada artist Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield and Hannah Hoch, used this medium in order to create propaganda for this opposing statement of the war. This propaganda often showcased what can be called the cut-n-paste technique, which consisted of section of cut out images layered over one another, creating a final piece. This Dadaist movement can be said to be a style of surrealism, in which conventional art is challenged with these distorted forms of reality, using the increasingly popular media of photography.

Mood Board

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John Stezaker

John Stezaker, born in 1949, is an English artist best known for his conceptual photomontages, in which usually display either two portraits, or a portrait and a landscape layered over one another creating a collage like result. The images that Stezaker uses for these pieces are found photographs, ranging from film stills, postcards, magazines, books or commercial photographs. It has been said that this style of photomontage takes a similar form as the work of early pioneers such as Hannah Hoch and Man Ray, showcases the features of Dadaism and surrealism. John Stezaker’s series named ‘Marriage’ appears to focus on portraiture, displaying two juxtaposing images of film stars overlapping creating one fragmented form. However, within Stezaker’s series named ‘Mask XIII’ the photomontages consist of one celebrity portrait in black and white, with a juxtaposing colour landscape, usually taken from a postcard, concealing the face.

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Analysis

This image created by John Stezaker showcases a photomontage of a black and white portrait, in which the upper half of the face is concealed by a colour landscape. The portrait used in this piece presents the subject directly in the centre of the frame, with only their head and shoulders visible, leaving only a small amount of empty space above and to the side of the subject. The landscape chosen by Stezaker showcases what appears to be a cave with two openings, which act as a sort of replacement for the eyes in this collage, with the connecting structure in between them resembling a nose. Furthermore, these outlines of the cave entrances also act as leading lines for this collage, as they not only resemble the facial features missing, but also correspond with the shape of the face, continuing the curve upwards. The overlay of this photograph juxtaposes the background image with its dark and earthy tones, creating a strong contrast with the lightness of the portrait.

From a technical point of view it can be said that chosen portrait was taken with studio soft lighting, due to the consistent light tone throughout the image and lack of harsh shadows behind the subject. In addition, it can also be seen that the lighting used to capture the landscape photograph must have been natural. It appears that the aperture used for both images was low, allowing for a large depth of field, as the focal range seems to be the same within the foreground and backgrounds. For the landscape the ISO would have been set high, as there is only a small amount of light entering the photograph, through the cave, meaning that the camera would need to capture as much light as possible. However, the portrait would only require a low ISO setting due to the studio lighting flooding the image.

This piece taken from John Stezaker’s mask series is said to be inspired by an essay written by Elias Canetti’s on masks and unmasking in his book Crowds and Power. Another form of inspiration was taken from teaching a course in the origins of art, with the mask being the point of origin, Stezaker has stated. This provoked Stezaker to create these collages, with the aim to exhibit the urge for ‘exile from life in the world of images’

My Photomontages

Magazine Cut Outs

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For these portrait photomontages I cut out sections of images from a magazine of film stars aiming to resemble Fujiwara’s ‘Marriage’ series. I cut these sections out using a craft knife, allowing for a precise and neat line. I then experimented with placements of the cutouts.

Photoshop Edits

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For these portrait and landscape photomontage edits, I aimed to replicate Fujiwara’s ‘Mask XIII’ series by using Photoshop to layer these images. Firstly I edited two of my own images by converting them into black and white for the background layer, then I layered over a landscape image of mine, concealing the upper half of the face. Next, I used two images taken from a magazine as a background layer, then again concealed the upper face with one of my own landscapes.

Final Image

I believe that this photomontage using magazine cut outs is my best image as it best shows resemblance to John Stezaker’s found image pieces. This is as like Stezaker’s, I used found images of film stars of opposite genders, in order to juxtapose each other, to create this final piece. In addition, these portraits used are of the head and shoulders, leaving a small amount of empty space around the subject. However, I also believe that I could produce a better result by taking more of my own images, and combining them with found images.