LOCATIONS – North coast cliffs ( Grosnez, Plemont, Portlet ), St Ouen’s ( sand dunes ), rocky beaches ( Archirondel, Green Island, La Hocq, La Rocq ), fields.
CAMERA SETTINGS / VIEWPOINTS – Bird’s eye, worm’s view, straight on / eye level, through trees, ISO, shutter speed, different exposure levels.
ARTIST REFERENCES – FAY GODWIN
MY RESPONSE – CONTACT SHEETS
FINAL IMAGES
EDITING – BLACK AND WHITE
ARTIST COMPARISON
When taking my photographs I tried to always refer back to Godwin’s work, and I went to places and locations which looked similar to those in her own images. For example, in the photograph above I shot in a field that looked close to the one in her own image. There are many similarities between these two photographs, one being that the landscape is sloping downwards in both images. Fay Godwin has captured the slanting landscape in the background of her photograph, whilst in mine it is in the foreground. I aimed to keep my image as real and unedited as possible just as she had done in order to give the viewer a real depiction of the environment that I was in. The weather conditions in the two photographs are very similar, with the clouds in the background creating a moody and melancholy atmosphere. Additionally, the white colour of the clouds contrasts with the darker tones of the trees and the grass. The lines that appear in both of these photographs are natural and curvy, which shows how the environment hasn’t been touched or changed. If this was the case, there would be straight, rigid and repetitive lines, which is something that Godwin wanted to avoid in her images. I think that my final photograph successfully shows influences of Fay Godwin’s work, and that both images portray the same mood and feeling to the viewer.
“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.
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. These photographs generally represent the replacement of nature with man-made.
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.
For me it’s better to take pictures in the morning because it’s pretty quiet
Why:
What I’m looking to do is to create some images but influence by Fay Godwin style .
Contact sheets :
Edited:
Final selection :
This my final selection , I choose those two images because I think that they have a pretty resembling style to Fay Godwin style and it’s preety much what I was looking for. I like the images in black and white because there’s a lot of shadows that appears and that we can’t really see on colour.
Over the whole of the Rural Landscape task, I believe these 3 images were my most successful. Image 1 is of a wall down at Ouasne, which I found very interesting- It looks as though it has just been cut directly in half, creating a 2d effect. The composition of the photograph is very level, as though somebody placed straight vertical lines across it as well as an almost gradient of light to dark from the bottom up. There are many small details within the photograph that make it more interesting than just that, for example the tree stump with roots that looks unusual. Originally, the image was very bright and saturated as this natural wall is actually orange, it was a good image that way and was very lively but to create the man reference to Wynn’s work, I changed it to black and white along with image 2 and 3. However I really loved the way it turned out. As mentioned in previous blogs, it really made the different tones pop out and created contrast within the image. Image 2 is a close up of a pile of rocks on the coast. It has a diagonal composition, and almost straight cut, with a few trees in the centre. I like the contrast of the rocks and trees; the trees being dark in tone and the rocks and sky being quite light. There are also a range of textures with the smooth sky and the rough rocks and trees. Image 3 was an instant final selection. I like the illusion of a fish eye view, whereas it was actually just the natural shape of the small hill- this links to Wynn’s idea of perception and how what I saw in his image was actually something completely different (although my image does not go to that extent). There are also some very light spots as well as dark spots, creating good contrast within the image.
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.
JMW Turner- Hannibal Crossing The Alps 1835
Caspar David Friedrich 1832 Germany
Thomas Doughty (1793-1856)
John Trumbull
Samuel Palmer c. 1840-45
John Kensett
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.
For this photoshoot the lighting and weather allowed me to capture the subtle tones that Luigi Ghirri famously represents in his own work, however my work has a much darker tonal palette. Ghirri also takes many of his photos at the beach, so I felt like using him as an artist reference ties in well with the topic of coastal landscapes.
I believe the images highlighted in green are best photos because they capture the simple contrast of colours, shapes and the use of leading lines that is common in the works of Ghirri. To edit these photos I could use Lightroom or Photoshop in order to increase brightness and decrease contrast to make the tones lighter and more similar to those of Luigi Ghirri.
The photos highlighted in red are my least successful images because the horizon isn’t captured at a straight angle and in general I don’t think they represent Ghirri’s work as accurately.
Photoshop Development
Original Image
Edited Image
Original Image
Edited Image
I used photoshop to edit these photographs in order to make them more similar to the work of Luigi Ghirri. I did this by increasing the brightness and adding blue-toned hues to give the image the pastel aesthetic that Ghirri achieves.
How I edited these photographs
Firstly, I used the colour balance adjustment to add the blue tones and make the grey sky slightly more vibrant.
I then added a blue-green hue to the image to further accentuate the blue tones. I increased the saturation to highlight the pastel colours and increased the lightness to make the colours lighter.
Finally, I added a cyan colour filter to make the blue tones even more prominent.
Luigi Ghirri, born in Scandiano, Italy in 1943, was an Italian artist and photographer who gained recognition as a pioneer of contemporary photography. Ghirri began his career in the 1970’s, when he was heavily inspired by conceptual art. He went on to create his first two pieces, ‘Atlante’, in 1973, and ‘Kodachrome’, in 1978. Luigi Ghirri’s work was featured in many exhibitions around the world, as well as being invited to the ‘Photokina’ in Cologne in 1982, where he was acclaimed as one of the twenty most significant photographers of the 20th century for his series ‘Topographie-Iconographie’. He later died in 1992, due to a heart attack when he was 49.
Examples of Luigi Ghirri’s work
“Marina di Ravenna” – Luigi Ghirri (1972)
“Verso La Foce Del Po” – Luigi Ghirri (1989)
“Riviera romagnola” – Luigi Ghirri (1989)
Analysis of Luigi Ghirri’s work
“Campagna emiliana” – Luigi Ghirri (1989)
This photograph titled ‘Campagna emiliana‘ depicts a derelict Italian rural landscape. At first glance, there is a very muted colour palette and a very simple composition. This is an iconic combination for Ghirri’s work, as he captures the juxtaposition of nature and artificiality in a simplistic way. Ghirri’s use of subtle tones create an almost deadpan view of the world, as his contemporary lens produces an anthropological reaction to his surroundings.
The natural, soft lighting in this photograph forbids any prominent shadows or highlights from standing out, there is no true sense of direction to this lighting because of this as the angle of shadows indicate this, whereas there is a lack of this in the photograph. The lighting is evenly distributed for the most part in this image, although there is a slight sense of darkness towards the top right third of the photo.
There is a clue use of lines within this photograph which can be seen as a form of repetition. Due to the cropping of the image, the lining of the beach is very uniformed, as well as the thicker lining of the road and the juxtaposing thin lines of the walls separating the road and the sand. The use of thin lines can also be seen metaphorically as a separation between the natural world and the artificial world, which is shown as a fine line to separate the two. This could be said to prove the almost indistinct segregation between man and nature, and how they begin to merge in the modern world. There alternating lines also create the multiple leading lines for the viewer, to direct their eyes straight forward towards the horizon in the middle third of the image.
Repetition is represented in the form of lines in this image, however these lines are contrasted between each other with different sizes and colours, therefore the use of repetition in this photograph is contradicting. On the other hand, there is no representation of echo or reflection in this photograph.
Geometric shapes heavily influence this image as well as a lot of other works by Luigi Ghirri. This is proven once again by the repetition of straight-edged lines. The photo, for the most part, is made up of long squares that carry the viewers eyes to the horizon in the middle third of the image.
There is a slight shallow depth of field in this image as the image begins to fade towards the middle third of the image. This is due to the distance of the image paired with a lower f-stop of around 1.4. The majority of the image contains empty, negative space. However the bottom third of the image consists of positive space.
There is multiple contrasting textures within this image. For example, the smooth, even road is contrasted against the rough sand, which is then contrasted with the sharp-cut grass.
The darkest areas of the image would be the grey-toned road and the dim section around the horizon. These are juxtaposed against the lighter areas like the light yellow sand and the gleaming sky. Overall, the image tends towards the lightness, due to the muted, pastel colours in the photograph.
The colours in the photo are very muted and subdued, due to the use of natural daylight, which I believe was taken around midday as there is no sign of a sunset or sunrise. The dominant colour in this image, I would say, is the blue sky. This is because the light blue contributes to over half of the image. I think if this image was taken in black and white, the juxtaposing textures and tones would be increasingly exaggerated .
The image has a rather simple composition due to the repetition of lines as well as the image following the rule of thirds, as the leading lines simultaneously stop in the middle third of the image, and the horizon separated the top third and the bottom third. I would say the image is balanced as the positive space in the bottom third is evenly contrasted with the negative space of the top third.
