I went up to st ouens and photographed sand dunes and the coastline. I went when the weather was sunny with blue skies as I wanted bright lighting and not a rainy background.
contact sheet;
I like how these images turned out because there’s no sign of buildings or any man made aspects which is perfect for rural landscapes. I wanted to find a very open space and went to the sand dunes as well as photographing some coastal views.
Editing my favourite images/ final images;
black and white version-
mood board for potential places i could take landscape photographs off in a romanticized way.
I mainly plan on photographing the coastal areas of jersey and cliffs + sand dunes in sunny weather to make sure the sea looks bright and sparkly.
I used the old archive image of the sand dunes and pasted my image that I took and placed it over the old one. I tried to make it look like the headline is carrying on from one image onto the other. I like how this turned out because it shows you the difference in time.
key themes– the genre of this image is landscapes as it’s very obvious, its a photo taken of a pathway and reservoir in England in 1977 which isn’t too long ago.
content- the subject of this image is the path and the reservoir however this image also captures a lot of the land and a big section of the sky which could be sunlight coming through or it could be dull and rainy. This image is black and white therefore it’s slightly difficult to tell. Fay has titled this image ‘path and reservoir’ as that’s what she mainly captured in this image. The path is very close in frame and you can see it in more detail whereas the reservoir is very far away but you can just about tell that it’s a reservoir as it’s very reflective and bright in contrast to the different tones in the image. The image is very real as it’s in the nature and it’s been taking from a very high point of view in order to capture all of the nature.
formal elements- Fays image is taken in black and white which right away creates a more dull and sad atmosphere/feeling. This also makes all the different tones contrast very well together as there’s sharp white tones and very dark tones. The photo was taken in natural lighting of course as the image is of nature/ a landscape. The lighting however is very bright as the sky has opened up and created a large section of white and this reflects down onto the reservoir. The photo consists of very high tonal contrasts as there a variety of different tones that go from pure white(sky) to extremely dark almost black (shown by the grass). The composition of this image is done well through having the path being photographed very close up and capturing it in detail as well as photographing the land that’s very far back and it captures the sky too. It opens up the image a lot and it makes the viewer have a lot to look at and process. The photo being so opened results in every viewers attention to go in different directions, some peoples eyes may be drawn straight to the sky however some people may notice the path first.
process- this photograph has been taken outside, in the nature, from a very high angle. it looks like the image was taken any time from the morning to the afternoon as it’s still light outside and the sky is bright. however it could have been taken as the sun was setting but it’s unclear to tell due to the image being taken in black and white.
mood- I don’t think the photographer is trying to tell a story or narrative through this image however turning this image black and white might indicate that the photographer wants to create a sad mood. By photographing landscapes it might mean that she wants people to appreciate the views and doesn’t want them to be destroyed.
Romanticism placed particular emphasis on emotion, horror, awe, terror and apprehension. Emotion and feeling were central not only to the creation of the work, but also in how it should be read.
Romanticism was a particular movement in art that occurred during the first half of the 19th century. Romanticism had a particular emphasis on emotion and individualism. Painters, poets and writers drew particular inspiration from nature, which played a prominent role in their depictions. In particular, ‘nature’ was depicted as unsullied by the hand of man, or if humankind was evident, it was shown in a kind of symbiosis rather than exploitation.
Apart from photography, romanticism can be seen and explored through many different ways such as painting or even poems.
some examples of romanticism being shown through art-
Romantic art focused on emotions, feelings, and moods of all kinds including spirituality, imagination, mystery, and fervor. The subject matter varied widely including landscapes, religion, revolution, and peaceful beauty.
Artists expressed as much feeling and passion that could be painted onto a canvas. A landscape had to arouse a mood; a crowd had to show expressions on their faces.
The most common way of expressing and showing romanticism in an art form would be paintings. However these paintings are based on photographs first but were made to be more exaggerated when using colours and how the painter feels about this image.
Ansel Easton Adams was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advocating “pure” photography which favored sharp focus and the use of the full tonal range of a photograph.
He was best known for his ultra-sharp landscapes, which he achieved through the use of a 4×5 view camera. The view camera allowed Adams to adjust the film plane and the lens plane so he could control the depth of field and the size relationships of objects in the frame with tilt and rise and fall movements.
Adams’s professional life was dedicated to capturing through his lens the forgotten and unspoiled wilderness of America’s national parks and other protected conservation areas in the West. He was a committed environmentalist and nothing short of an icon for the 20th century conservation movement.
analysing one his photographs;
Technical- the lighting in this image is natural as its been taken of a natural landscape in the open. You can straight away see that Ansels control over how much light he lets in is good as its what makes his images so different from other photographers- due to the range of different tones. His tonal range goes all he way from 0-9 which not many photographers can achieve in every image.
Visual- The photo was taken in black and white ( as well as all his other photographs) this helps in seeing the difference between all the different tones. His tone palette is done very successfully as you can clearly see the white shades along the river and the completely black tones on the trees and the mountains. This makes the contrast significantly sharp across the whole image. The image has been taken from a very far point of view in order to be able to capture the whole view however its taken from a straight on point of view which makes the viewer think they’re looking directly at the river and mountains.
Contextual- In 1941, at the height of World War II but before the bombing on Pearl Harbor, Adams received a commission from the U.S. Department of the Interior to photograph National Parks and other notable landscapes. In exchange for film, paper, and darkroom chemicals, and a day rate of $20, Adams would provide photographic murals for display in the halls of the Department of Interior. Although Adams took some 225 photographs for the project (including this image), the project was later dropped (never to be resumed) due to America’s sudden involvement in the war.
Conceptual- I don’t think there’s a big meaning behind this image other than Ansel wanting people to see this insane view in a more different way , such as over exaggerating and romanticizing all the different tones he captured in his images.
They can be huge rural spaces, peri-urban areas as well as small spaces within built-up areas. Rural landscapes encompass land surfaces, subsurface soils and resources, the airspace above, and water bodies.
mindmap of rural landscapes that you can photograph.
Intro– A candid photograph is a photograph captured without creating a posed appearance. … However, if the subject is absolutely unaware of being photographed and does not even expect it, then such photography is secret photography, which is a special case of candid photography.
Street photography is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places. It can capture everyday life of strangers without them knowing you took photos of them.
Mind map of ideas-
My photoshoot action plan–
CONTACT SHEETS-
My favourite edited image- i increased the brightness levels as well as decreasing the contrast to make the christmas lights really stand out in the photo. I then increased the saturation slightly to get the red light on the street to reflect back. I chose this image as I like that it’s not busy and barely any people. This makes town look empty and create this feeling of being alone yet peaceful as not many people are around you.
A photomontage is a collage constructed from many different photographs to form one new image. The technique has been used to make political statements and gained popularity in the early 20th century. (from world war 1 – world war 2).
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The inspiration for my photo montage I got is from Joachim Schmid. He cuts two images in half to form one. This makes the image more abstract and gives you more to look at. He uses a variety of different images put together such as opposite genders- half female and half male, a young child in contrast to a grown up or just simply the same person but from a different angle.
my photomontage images edited on photoshop-
Overall, I really like how my photo-montage images turned out as I think they turned out more interesting than the original photos. I like when photography is presented in an abstract form, personally I think it gives more character and meaning to the photos. For example I got inspired by Joachim Schmid because I think combining two images into one is more interesting than having just one plain portrait image. In this case by using two images I think it can show how every person has two sides of them or two faces in a way, which can be seen by using twos sides of an individuals face and combining them. I cropped one of my two images and just simply dragged it on top of the previous layer and later on cropped it , in order to just focus mainly on the face like my chosen photographer.
photoshoot 2 plan-
who- I took photos of my friend as I wanted a student or a young individual in my photos. when and where– in the studio using normal lighting as I’m going to edit my photos anyways so I’m not depending on the light. why- I want my friend to cover her face with her hands to make her identity and I can link it to my chosen photographer.
contact sheet;
I used one big main light when taking these photographs I didn’t need to use any flash heads or extremely artificial lighting as when I’m editing my images the lighting is going to change completely anyways. I photographed my friend from a direct point of view and in line with her view point. I took some images from a much lower angle to make it look like the viewer is looking up towards her and it helped when I got to editing as I had different angles. I got her to use her hands as a way to hide her face(identity) because Jack Davison-my chosen photographer , presents lack of identity through that way. My last photo shoot was very based on editing and hiding the identity digitally whereas for my second shoot I wanted to use hands and make it more natural.
editing my images-
my 3 favourite images turned into black and white and that I’ll be working with to edit further.
I changed my images into black and white as that’s the style I want throughout this theme and I made sure the brightness was decreased by a lot as well as the contrast to create a variety of different black and white tones which all contrast well together. I cropped all my images down completely to get rid of most of the background as it wasn’t needed. By doing this is made her the focus of all images as the composition of the image changed – making her face in the direct center which draws attention.
using liquify tool to disguise the identity-
I used the ‘liquify tool‘ once again to smudge the eyes in the first image and then smudged all of her face in the 2nd and 3rd photo. I really like using this tool as it gets rid of her facial features in a very abstract way as well as erasing her identity. It creates a mysterious atmosphere as you cant tell what she looks like and I wanted to make the viewer question what he’s looking at.
cut outs-
With the ‘quick selection tool’ I selected specific areas of her face that I wanted to cut out and drag out further across the image. I like how these edited images turned out because I think that by using the quick selection tool it completely gets rid of who she is whereas when I used the ‘liquify’ option you could still see something on her face but it was smudged around whereas on these images its just an empty face with nothing to look at. I left the cut out white as it stands out the most because the photo is in black and white. When you first look at the images the first thing you’re drawn to will be where I cut the face out as the white colour stands out so much in contrast. I wanted the edges to be slightly ragged and not perfect when selecting the shape of it because I wanted it to look as if the face was ripped out of the image rather than just perfectly circled out.
final images , analysis and personal response-
I selected 3 images once again for a final image. I wanted to pick 3 as I think it gives the viewer more to look at and analyse themselves. I also wanted to use 3 images because I knew that when I print them out they will look more clean and presentable rather than just one big image. Overall I think I achieved my ‘lack of identity’ idea very successfully and edited them in the way I wanted to. I changed them all into black and white which was inspired from my chosen photographer, Jack Davison, and I edited them in my own way with some inspiration from his work too. I wanted to use many different ways of editing my images so that I can select my favourite technique and make sure I have many different styles to pick out my favourite ones. I liked all the techniques I used but my least favourite were the cut out out ones which is why I didn’t use it for my final 3 , compared to my ones I liquified.
comparison-
At the top is two photographs taken from Jack Davsion’s work, who was my chosen photographer, and at the bottom is one of my final photos. We both took our photos in black and white to create this contrast between the different tones, however Jack’s photos are more black and white whereas my images have a lot more grey tones and mid tones. This is because Jack’s models are wearing black clothing with a white background and I took my images in front of a black background which doesn’t achieve the same effect and the two tones can’ contrast as sharply. I took inspiration from his work by making my model cover her face with her hands too but I think my editing is a lot more advanced than what he did to his image which was just slightly distorting the face but still making it very easy to make out what the man looks like and I completely distorted my friends face.