For my two photo shoots , I took photos of st ouens and the coastal/bay area of Jersey for my first shoot. For my second shoot I went up to fort regent in order to capture the urban area of Jersey with plenty of builds. I chose to photograph those areas for my shoots in order to be able to edit them together and successfully produce my final image that fits into the theme of Anthropocene.
contact sheets-
I have selected my favourite images or the images I will be using to make my final image and to use when I edit them on Photoshop. I chose the photos that captured the whole bay in a clear way and I wanted to make sure it was very open with some sand to make the edited buildings on it look more natural. I also selected the images where I photographed the most amount of buildings and from a good angle to make editing them easier and look more natural. Having more space and open areas will create a better and bigger impact on my final image as I’ll be able to add more buildings and move them around until they fit perfectly and look the most natural.
With these chosen photographs I’m now going to use Photoshop and edit them together. My Anthropocene idea is to show how our bay/ coastal areas will most likely turn into urban areas or get built on top of which fits into the Anthropocene project. By using Photoshop for this I will successfully produce my final images and take inspiration from my chosen photographers as they both use photo manipulation too.
I have decided that I want to present the theme of Anthropocene through landscape photography. I am also going to include altered landscapes and Photoshop into this unit. My idea is to photograph natural landscapes in Jersey that haven’t yet been affected or altered by humans – such as St Ouens bay, any beach, sand dunes and any woods, and photograph urban places in jersey such as town with many tall buildings and apartments. By photographing both of them I will then Photoshop and alter the images together by selecting a cutting out the tall buildings and pasting them over to the natural landscapes. By doing this I want to create an idea of what Jersey may look like in the future if we don’t stop building over our natural landscapes that we have left, this will link into the Anthropocene theme perfectly as it will show the kind of effect us humans have and will have on our planet in the future.
WHAT? I will photograph natural landscape sites in Jersey. I will photograph all of St Ouens bay from a high view and the sand dunes. As well as going into town and taking photos of the buildings and trying to find tall buildings/offices.
WHEN? I want to take my photos during the day as I want the sun to be out and have natural lighting, I will wait for a sunny day and possibly when the sun sets to make the coast look golden.
WHERE? St. Ouens and town/ places in Jersey with really tall buildings.
WHY? Once I alter my images on Photoshop I want to show how Jersey and our natural landscapes may look like in the future if we humans don’t stop building over any spare land we have left.
HOW? I will take my images on a quick shutter speed, to avoid my images going blurry if I move the camera. I am going to take most of my images from a high point of view/angle to capture all of the bay and dunes as well as capturing all of the buildings to make it easier and more presentable when editing them onto the coast by Photoshop.
I want to present the theme of anthropocene through landscape photography and altered landscapes through using photo-shop to edit my images.
I want to take photos of jersey beaches and very open landscapes as well as taking photos of tall buildings in Jersey and photoshop them on top of the beaches and bay areas to show how it would look or how it probably will look like in the future with buildings all along the coast.
I wanted to do landscapes as I think it fits into this topic the best as it shows our world like beaches, something that we humans havent ruined yet or built on top of. Then by adding edited buildings on top using photoshop and taking inspiration from altered landscapes I think it will be an interesting way to present anthropocene and how we humans change the world.
moodboard of ideas;
my first chosen photographer that I am going to be inspired by for this exam/anthropocene shoot is Jesse Treece
some examples of her images;
about- The artist only makes use of scissors, glue and vintage magazines and books and creates with these tools nostalgic scenes and surreal landscapes. Every image tells a different story that you can get lost in for hours. Jesse Treece himself even calls his work slightly disturbing. His images somehow made me think of science fiction and horror movies from the 70s.
His idea is to create artwork that excites and surprises no matter what the current trends or moods are. He’s mainly into old newspaper comic strips, dystopian sci-fi novels, crazy architectural drawings, designs from the 60’s and 70’s and works of artists like Salvador Dalí and Hayao Miyazaki. By this and his preference for the process and the look of handmade collages, he turns his inspiration into something unique and original. Being basically self-taught except for some not very serious art classes, Jesse Treece became a central figure in the underground collage art movement and was even recently included in AnOther Magazine’s list of the top ten collage artists in the world. He somehow manages to mix regular and absurd, beautiful and disturbing, science and nature, large and small and puts together these familiar imageries to create a whole new picture.
my second chosen photographer that I am going to be inspired by for this topic is Felicity Hammond
some of her photography;
Felicity Hammond is an emerging artist who works across photography and installation. Fascinated by political contradictions within the urban landscape her work explores construction sites and obsolete built environments.
In specific works Hammond photographs digitally manipulated images from property developers’ billboards and brochures and prints them directly onto acrylic sheets which are then manipulated into unique sculptural objects.
Recent awards include, British Journal of Photography International Photography Award: Winner 2016, Catlin Art prize: Finalist 2015, Magnum and Photo London Inaugural Photographer award: nominated 2015. Saatchi New Sensations: Finalist 2014.
Being inspired by both these photographers will help me achieve my final ideas and images. As I chose one photographer who focuses on manipulating landscapes by hand and combines nature with large buildings and cities and the other photographer who edited and manipulates her landscape images digitally
the anthropocene epoch is an unofficial unit of geological time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.
anthropocene in photography is a very powerful way of showing the world how we humans have changed the earth and how our actions are impacting the world everyday, usually this is shown through a negative perspective. In photography this can be presented and shown through landscape , abstract and portrait photography.
Many photographers show anthropocene through photographing how much waste humans produce or the litter found around streets and placing them in an abstract way.
some examples of anthropocene photography;
mind-map of different Anthropocene ideas/ ways of photographing it;
The photographer I have chosen to study and be inspired by for my first photoshoot is Thom and Beth Atkinson.
I chose to study them as they photograph old and destroyed buildings as well as missing sections of buildings. As I want to compare new and old jersey together I thought they would be the perfect photographers to get inspired by for my ‘old jersey’ photoshoot.
About Thom and Beth- In 2015 Thom published his first photobook, Missing Buildings through his own publishing imprint, Hwaet books The collaboration with his sister, Beth Atkinson, brings together an extensive body of work documenting the physical and imaginative landscapes of the London Blitz. Thom’s interest in Britain, conflict and mythology is ongoing.
Some of their photographs-
my contact sheets;
favourite images edited;
I wanted my images to be in black and white as I think it matches the atmosphere and mood of the images- as my images are of destroyed and broken buildings keeping them in colour wouldn’t be as effective as turning them black and white. I wanted to make sure I have a good palette of black and white shades in order to have good and clear contrast between extremely white and bright areas and very dark almost black sections. I think I achieved this well by increasing the contrast and lowering the exposure as well as increasing shadows while keeping the white balance quite high. I cropped these images down to make sure my images were focused on the buildings as the centre point as there were a couple of cars and people walking by in the background which wasn’t needed.
comparing my photography with Thom and Beths
DIFFERENCE- my image is in black and white with sharp contrast points however Thom and Beth’s image is in colour. I feel like that creates a different atmosphere and mood between our two images. Thom and Beths image is also taken slightly from the side which captures some of the windows on the building however mines more from a straight-on point of view. Beth’s and Thom’s image captures more of the building and its right in the centre however my image has two grids full of sky and the building is in the centre but on the bottom of the image.
SIMILAR- both of our images are of a broken or abandoned building that is definitely not used anymore. Both of our images are taken far away in order to capture the whole length of the building. Both of our images are taken at quick shutter speeds in order to not get a blurry photo
I took photos around the school area and around Highlands. I tried to find the best buildings that would fit in the new topographics photography area. This includes trying to find buildings that have loads of simple lines and outlines on them, mainly a boxy shape and a range of dark and light colours on them to show sharp contrast.
contact sheets;
my favourite images edited-
I really like how my images turned out. I tried to photograph simple sides of buildings that have many square shapes and simple outline to make the buildings fit perfectly into the new topographics theme. When I started to edit my images on light room I was inspired by Ansel Adams contrast pallet. His urban photography is filled with a variety of different black and white shades that make the contrast between white,grey and black extremely sharp. I wanted my images to contain all the different shades from loads of grey areas to very sharp areas of white and black around the images. I think I achieved this well by changing up the shadows and highlights until they matched perfectly together.
When it came to selecting my images I wanted them all to fit into one group therefore I picked the ones I thought worked the best together when presented one by one next to eachother.
Places in Jersey I could possibly photograph; the new offices along St.Aubins, the back exits of shops, old roads in Jersey behind houses, any kind of flats that have loads of floors, glass and new office buildings, parking lots(inside and outside), damaged buildings, building sites.
moodboard of urban landscape ideas;
The title I’d like to focus on is Old and New, I want to photograph old Jersey and new Jersey and compare the images along side together in order to show the different areas of Jersey and compare the changes. I’d like to photograph modern buildings in Jersey and then some old roads or even damaged areas in Jersey.
Photoshoot Plan;
Where? im going to photograph old small lanes in jersey or abandoned places. Then I will photograph new buildings in Jersey such as new finance offices that are all glass or just some more modern houses around the island.
When? any time during the day time as I want my images to be in natural lighting and not in the dark. Taking them in day light will always help me edit them better.
What? New building and very old buildings.
How? using a normal shutter speed and from far away to capture the whole building , maybe some from a lower point of view.
Why? to display my way of showing that I know what urban landscapes are and show the difference between new and old Jersey and how the urban landscapes have changed over time by humans.
Robert Adams is an American photographer whos mainly focused on the changing landscape of the American West. His work first started to get noticed in the mid-1970s through his own book The New West.
He has documented the extent and the limits of our damage to the American West, recording there, in over fifty books of pictures, both reasons to despair and to hope.
some examples of his photography;
my favourite image and analysis;
robert adams 2009- name unknown
technical- This image has a range of different lighting, as it’s been taken in the night time this would mean there is no natural lighting. However a lamp and the moon are being over exposed in order to create warmer and lighter tones in the image overall. They’re the two brightest sections of the image therefore grab your attention right away. I assume flash has been used in this photo as it would need some sort of help brightening the image up. The contrast between the white house and extremely dark sky works very well together as it’s very sharp. However this image could have in fact been taken during the day time and that could be the sun peaking through the trees and Robert Adams has just turned the image into black and white. The image is very focused and has been taken from far away or maybe through a wider/longer lens.
Visual- This image is clearly taken in black and white or has been edited afterwards. There’s a variety of different tones, from extremely bright and white areas such as the moon and lamp on the house to dark, black/navy areas such as the sky and trees surrounding the house. This image doesn’t focus on shape or texture as it’s a landscape photograph. The house has been centered to the left of the image and the lamp and moon light are in line with each other but in a slanted upwards direction. The viewpoint of this image is straight on in order to capture more at once on a more flat level.
Contextual- there isn’t much history behind this image that Robert Adams took other than simply wanting to photograph the ‘beauty and insight’ of simple landscapes. This a famous quote of his when he talks about why he takes the photographs he does,” To want to make pictures is fundamentally to want to share something that you have seen of value, and that you suspect maybe people haven’t paid enough attention to. The American West has been my primary subject, particularly the landscape. They are frightening landscapes and the only way I can get over my own anxiety about them is to go and keep working.” – Robert Adams
Conceptual- I think there isn’t a deep meaning behind this image that Robert Adams took however I think he wanted people to appreciate the simple details in landscape photography. For example this small little white house that looks like it’s located in the middle of the woods, most people probably wouldn’t think much of it but in the night time when the moonlight shines over it , it makes you see it from a different side. The way Robert Adams edits his images also makes them more interesting to look at due to all the different tones in the image that make certain areas stand out a lot more.
“New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape” was an exhibition that epitomized a key moment in American landscape photography
New topographics was a term coined by William Jenkins in 1975 to describe a group of American photographers (such as Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz) whose pictures had a similar banal aesthetic, in that they were formal, mostly black and white prints of the urban landscape
The new topographics was a reaction to the tyranny of idealized landscape photography that elevated the natural and the elemental. Each photographer was fascinated by the man-made elements of the world- such as car parks, warehouses and industries,etc.
The key features these photographs include are pristine or exceptional scenery found at national parks, they trained their cameras on the byproducts of postwar suburban expansion: freeways, gas stations, industrial parks, and tract homes.
Landscape photography shows spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes.
LOCATION- any beach such as grev de leq, st ouen or st aubins. The sand dunes, any woods such as St.Catherines woods. Steep cliffs in Plemont. Fields and farms up in Trinity.
Weather condition/ lighting- Sunny, bright and vibrant. Foggy and dull. Rain and stormy weather with loads of wind
Camera angle- worms viewpoint, bird eye point of view or straight on from your individual p.o.v.
